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Nonlegal Research

Legal Research Guides

Updated Aug. 30, 2004.
Prepared by Mary Whisner for Bridge the Gap.


Introduction

Lawyers’ research often encompasses more than "legal research." Litigators, scholars, and policy makers need to know something about the real world -- so they might need statistics, news stories, scholarship from other disciplines, and information as basic as addresses and phone numbers.

Since law touches on so many aspects of life, some legal researcher may need to get information about almost anything -- from engineering (technical specifications about a piece of equipment involved in litigation, for instance) to medicine, anthropology to zoology.

Strategies

As you work on your various legal projects, be open to nonlegal information. Recognize that you will sometimes need to look beyond legal sources and might even need to leave the law library.

Become familiar with some standard tools (for instance, some of the sources we will use today). Remember the tools you used as an undergraduate and in the other work you did before law school. When you try out a new tool, look for a table of contents, an index, and an introduction that explains how to use it.

Explore nonlegal databases. For instance, through your law school account, you may have access to your university’s subscriptions to economics, business, and medical databases. LexisNexis and Westlaw both have many nonlegal databases. If you are working in a commercial setting, be aware of the pricing. Some of the nonlegal Westlaw databases, for instance, have a different price structure than the legal databases.

Ask a librarian for help. For instance, if you need business information, go to the Foster Business Library at the University of Washington and ask a reference librarian to suggest sources. Consult Chapter 10, Nonlegal Resources, in the Washington Legal Researcher's Deskbook 3d. KFW75.W37 2002 at Reference Area & Reference Office.

The UW Libraries Resources by Subject page, http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/, provides lists of recommended resources for several dozen topics, including American Indian studies, business, China studies, economics, environmental sciences, government publications, international studies, Japanese studies, medicine, political science and public affairs, and public health,

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Directories

See also the People-Finding guide for additional directories and biographical sources. For specialized directories search the Law Library's catalog, MARIAN.

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Statistical Sources

  • Fedstats, http://www.fedstats.gov/, links to many federal agency statistical sources.
  • U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States, annual. HA202, current at Reference Office, http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract-01.html
  • U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics. HV7245.S68, current at Reference Office, http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/. See also various statistical tables and charts on the Bureau of Justice Statistics website, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/.
  • U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports for the United States (Crime in the United States, annual. HV6787.A3, current at Reference Office, http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm.
  • U.S. Census Bureau and Centers for Disease Control, The DataWeb, http://www.thedataweb.org/. A network of data libraries covering census data, economic data, health data, income and unemployment data, population data, labor data, cancer data, crime and transportation data, family dynamics, and vital statistics data.
  • U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, Background Material and Data on Programs Within the Jurisdiction of the House Ways and Means Committee (The Green Book), http://www.gpoaccess.gov/wmprints/green/index.html, provides "descriptions and historical data on a wide variety of social and economic topics, including Social Security, employment, earnings, welfare, child support, health insurance, the elderly, families with children, poverty and taxation."
  • The World Almanac and Book of Facts, annual. AY67.N5W7, current at Reference Area & Reference Office
  • American Bar Association, Market Research Department, Statistical Sources, http://www.abanet.org/marketresearch/resource.html, links to sources for statistics about lawyers, law students, legal education, and related topics.
  • Nationmaster, http://www.nationmaster.com/, offers graphs comparing national statistics on a wide variety of topics.
  • Westlaw: Public Opinion Online (POLL) is a collection of U.S. public opinion surveys.

English Usage Sources

  • The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. PE1625.A54 2000 at Reference Office, http://www.bartleby.com/61/
  • The Gregg Reference Manual, 8th ed. PE1479.B87S23 1996 at Reference Area
  • Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus in Dictionary Form. PE1591.K54 1992 at Reference Office
  • Roget's II: The New Thesaurus. PE1591.R737 at Reference Area & Classified Stacks
  • Roget's International Thesaurus, 3d ed. PE1591.R73 1992 at Reference Area
  • The New York Public Library Writer’s Guide to Style and Usage. PE1421.N46 1994 at Reference Area
  • Bryan A. Garner, Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, 2d ed. KF156.G367 1995 at Reference Office
  • UW Libraries, Reference Tools, http://www.lib.washington.edu/research/, includes online dictionaries, encyclopedias, and related sources.

See also Legal and General Resources with citations to print and online sources.

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Quotation Sources

  • Familiar Quotations [Bartlett’s], 16th ed. PN6081.B27 1992 at Reference Area. The 10th edition of Bartlett’s (1919) is at http://www.bartleby.com/100/.
  • Fred R. Shapiro, The Oxford Dictionary of American Legal Quotations. KF159.S53 1993 at Reference Area & Reference Office
  • Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations Requested from the Congressional Research Service. PN6081.R435 1989 at Reference Area
  • The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations. PN6080.O94 1991 at Reference Area
  • Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 4th ed. PN6080.O95 1992 at Reference Office. Available on Westlaw (3d ed.): QUOTATIONS.

For other quotation sources, search the Law Library's catalog, MARIAN, for the subject heading "quotations".

Medical Sources

  • Physicians' Desk Reference: PDR. RS75.P5, current at Reference Area
  • Physicians' Desk Reference for Nonprescription Drugs. RM671.A1P48, current at Reference Area
  • Medical Abbreviations: 8600 Conveniences at the Expense of Communications and Safety, 6th ed. R123.D35 1993 at Reference Area
  • Stedman's Medical Dictionary, 25th ed. R121.S8 1990 at Reference Area
  • Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 15th ed. R121.T3 1988 at Reference Area
  • Westlaw: Attorney's Medical Deskbook (MEDDESK).
See also the UW Health Sciences Libraries, Healthlinks, http://healthlinks.washington.edu/.

Reference Tools on the Internet

For more reference tools on the Internet, start with:

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©2008, M.G. Gallagher Law Library, University of Washington