Using electronic legal resources at Oxford

This tutorial is designed to introduce some of the legal and journal databases available to Oxford students. While legal materials are increasingly available for free online, many legal materials, and particularly the most authoritative sources, are only available via the subscription databases. The Bodleian Law Library (BLL) holds the most extensive collection of electronic legal sources in the UK. The free internet for legal research is briefly discussed below, and a link to a guide for using the internet for law is provided. There is also information about citing your sources.

How to access the legal and journal databases

• The BLL's Legal Databases web page - this is the best access point if you're not sure which database to use, or if special passwords are required, as it includes brief descriptions of database contents, links to online tutorials, and password information.

• OXLIP + by searching for the database by title (eg Westlaw or Lexis or Justis). OxLIP+ is the only interface to library materials in which it is possible to browse all databases by subject.

• SOLO - this search interface is in continual development. It is now possible to access legal databases such as Westlaw and Lexis via SOLO, and it is becoming possible to search for some journal articles by author and title. It works for HeinOnline and JStor, for example, but not for Criminal Law Review and Law Quarterly Review, which are only in Westlaw.

• Search engines such as Google. When searching for subscription databases on the internet, it is important to find the password entry point for Oxford University subscribers. To log in, look for Home Organisation or UK Access Federation, both of which should enable your Oxford shibboleth password.

The BLL provides information about passwords and access from outside Oxford.

Using free legal sources on the internet

While much electronic legal material is only available on subscription, there have been ongoing attempts to provide the law for free. The British & Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) provides free recent judgments and a growing number of older cases from the higher courts. Cases, legislation and other legal information from around the world is available via WorldLII. The BLL provides links to websites of many government bodies, non-government organisations and law firms also have extensive web sites.

Many students, and academics, use Google or other search engines as a first port of call when researching. Google Scholar can be particularly helpful for finding journal articles and online books, and now includes many US cases. The advanced search features in Google allow restricted searches. For example, to find a phrase, put your search term within double quotation marks, eg "legal research skills", and to find only UK goverment sites, add gov.uk to your search terms.

Online tutorial on using the internet for legal research

An excellent self paced tutorial on how to use the internet for legal research is provided by Intute: Social Sciences, a website designed for students in higher education. The tutorial provides an introduction to general search engines, law specific gateways, databases and how to evaluate web sites, and is designed to help you accumulate useful bookmarks along the way. Due to funding cuts, this service may not be available after July 2011.

Cite your sources!

When using online resources, always ask questions about the authority of the site, such as 'Who is the author of the site?' and 'How frequently is it updated?' When using material from websites in essays and presentations, always provide the source of the material. You need to provide the source for direct quotes, but you also have to provide the source for ideas, conceptions and arguments, and paraphrased material. This practice of citing one's sources is expected in universities, and indicates that you have read widely in preparing your work.

For more information about citing sources:

• OSCOLA, the Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities, provides guidelines for citing key legal sources, books and articles
• online tutorial in Citing the Law using OSCOLA.