If your area of interest in not in the list below, try a google search using the terms "law library research guide ______" -- filling in your subject in the blank. You may also ask for assistance at the Reference Desk.
Searches of Case Law
Talk to a law professor, your alumni advisor, or an attorney or judge you have worked with for topic ideas.
Part of the topic selection process may be to determine whether any one else has already written on a particluar topic, in other words, is the topic pre-empted? This search involves multiple sources. There is more than one database to check. Westlaw and Lexis begin coverage of law reviews in the 1980s. To search for earlier articles, use HeinOnline or a legal periodical index. Furthermore, Westlaw and Lexis do not have articles that are "pending publication". The best sources for new articles, before they are published, is Google Scholar, SSRN, and BePress.