Seminar in American Politics
Terri Peretti – Political Science 185

Background Reading

For some background on the U.S. Supreme Court and judicial review, look at the following:

Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States
Ref KF8742.A35O93 1992
Supreme Court A-Z
Ref JR8742.A35S8 1998
Guide to the United States Supreme Court 4th edition
Ref KF8742.W567 2004 v.1-2
Has a good index by case name and by subject.

Great American Court Cases
Ref KF385.A4G68 1999 v.1-4
Oxford Guide to U.S. Supreme Court Decisions
Ref KF4548.O97 1999
Landmark Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court
Ref KF4549.L47 1991 v.1-6
West's Encyclopedia of American Law
Ref KF154.W72 1998 12 volumes + yearbooks to 2003.

Shepard's Acts and Cases by Popular Names
Ref KF90.S52 5th ed (1999) + 2004 supplement

Before you start your research, focus your topic.
Try writing your topic in one sentence.
For example: What is the role of the United States Supreme Court in school desegregation?
Then, boil the statement down to keywords, or the most important elements of your issue.
For example: Supreme Court, school, desegregation
Then, separate the keywords with the connector and.
Use an asterisk to find variations of a word.
For example: desegregat* will find desegregate or desegregation
Your search could now be something like this:
Supreme Court and school and desegregate*

Go to OSCAR (the Library's catalog).
Click on Keyword search.
Enter your keywords in the box.
For example: Supreme Court and school and desegregat*
You would retrieve citations to four books on the topic.
Too many or too few citations retrieved, try narrowing or broadening the keywords you use.
In this case you only retrieved four citations, so try using these alternative keyword combinations to broaden your search:
Supreme court and (school or education) and (desegregat* or segregat*)
The books with the location Orradre Library are available for checkout. You must have a valid ACCESS card and you must be in the library's patron file to check them out.
Or, if the books you want are not available at Orradre Library, you can utilize the LINK+ . For further information on LINK+, go to: http://www.scu.edu/library/services/bx/link_plus.html. You must have a valid ACCESS card and you must be in Orradre Library's patron file.

Go to Library Homepage http://www.scu.edu/library
The Library subscribes to a number of databases that will retrieve either citations/abstracts to or the fulltext of journal articles on your topic.
From Electronic Database by Subject, choose Law and Legal Research from the drop down menu.
Click on the "go" button.
Click on the name of the database you want to search.
Enter your search, which should look very much like the search you entered into OSCAR.
Most databases use the connector and, as well as the asterisk.
You will need to input your name and barcode number off the back of your ACCESS card to access any of these databases from off-campus.

Lexis Nexis Academic: Click on Legal Research, then Law Reviews, then Guided Search.
Instead of using "and" as the connector, try using w/5 in the drop down menu.
This database only has fulltext.
Legal Trac: Click on Advanced Search.
This database has some fulltext and some abstracts.
Index to Legal Periodicals: No fulltext, just abstracts.

Go to Library Homepage http://www.scu.edu/library
Click on Electronic and Print Journals list, then type the title of your journal (not the title of the article) in the box. You could retrieve:
1. a list of other databases where your article is fulltext
2. or a statement that your journal is in the Library's print holdings
3. or a statement that the journal title is not available at the Library.
If the journal is available fulltext in another database, click on the name of the database.
If the journal is in the Library's print holdings, get the call number and come to the Library and photocopy the article.
If the Library does not have the journal title either electronically or in print, you can fill out a Bronco Express request form online https://sculib.scu.edu/patroninfo/0/redirect=/illj and the article can be sent to your GroupWise email account. Go to http://www.scu.edu/library/services/bx/illfaq.html for more information about Bronco Express. You need a valid ACCESS card to place a Bronco Express request.

Citing an Internet Resource APA & MLA Style: http://www.scu.edu/library/research/general/citing/internet.html
Simplified guide to citing Internet resources done by Orradre Librarian, Gail Gradowski.
Citations Style Guides: http://dept.sccd.ctc.edu/cclib/Research_Tools/Citation_Style_Guides
From the Seattle Central Community College Library, this site shows you how to cite using examples from Modern Language Association (MLA), Chicago (Turabian), American Psychological Association (APA), and American Anthropological Association (AAA) styles.

Still don't know where to start with your research, or need help with your search strategy, try asking a librarian either:

In person by coming to the Reference Desk and talking to the Reference Librarian on duty. Reference hours are posted at http://www.scu.edu/library/info/hours/reference
By phone: 408-554-4658 (this is the Reference Desk number)
Via email or online: http://www.scu.edu/library/services/reference/rs/

Created by Paula Popma on January 18, 2005