University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Division of Academic Affairs

Frederick Douglass Library

Legal Research with LexisNexis Academic

LexisNexis® Academic provides access to a comprehensive spectrum of full-text information from over 5,600 sources. These sources include:

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U.S. Federal and state case law, codes, regulations, legal news, law reviews, and international legal information

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Shepard’s® Citations for all U.S. Supreme Court cases back to 1789

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National and regional newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, international news, and non-English language sources

To access LexisNexis Academic, follow the steps below:

  1. Begin with Library's homepage (http://www.umes.edu/fdl)
  2. Click on 'Databases (Find articles, full text, and more)'
  3. Select the 'Government & Law' category
  4. Click on the 'Criminal Justice' subcategory
  5. Click on the link for LexisNexis Academic

There are several options provided on the screen above:

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  A quick search of the newspaper collection,

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  Find a court case,

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  Locate company information with Company Dossier, or

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  Change the search form by click on the desired search category

 Once you have clicked on Legal Research, there are several options provided:

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  Access to legal news and law reviews
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  Access to federal & state law and Shepard’s Citations
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  Access federal & state codes and regulations as well as tax laws
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  Access to international legal resources
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  Patent Research
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  Access to a legal & school directories and a guide to choosing a law school

To find a particular case, follow the directions in the table below: 

Click on Get a Case under the Case Law section

 

Search by entering either the names of the principle parties in the case,

 

 

OR

enter the case citation.

OR

 

 To find and retrieve articles, follow the directions in the table below: 

After you have accessed LexisNexis and clicked on Legal Research,  select Law reviews

 

Enter a word or phrase, then click on the   button

 Viewing the Results 

At the top of the results screen, you may “Focus” you search by entering an additional search term and clicking on the  button.

Just below the option to Focus your results, there are four (4) ways to view the results

        1           2          3      4

 

1 - Lists the results in reverse chronological order

 

 

2 - Displays a numbered list with each search word in context surrounded by about five words

 

 

3 - The KWIC format helps you quickly determine whether or not a document applies to your research topic.

 

4 – Full displays the full text of the document

Printing and Emailing the Results

Printing and emailing in LexisNexis is easy, follow the steps below to either print or email: 

  1. Select the document you wish to print/email
  2. Click on the either the  button
    1. Print
      1. To print click on the  button

      2. Click browser’s print button
         

    2. Email
       

      1. Enter the desired email address

      2. Click on the  button

     

      

    TBW/Lexis/Jan 2005