Library Research Guide
POLT 4963: American Constitutional Law: Equal Protection of the Laws

The address for this guide page is: http://www.library.okstate.edu/hss/chaney/class/polt4963.htm

This page should provide students of POLT 4963 with some links to information, databases, websites, and other relevant OSU Library information.

Before engaging in the research process, you may want to review the Finding Information tutorial on the OSU Library's Information Literacy web site. It will lead you through defining your topic, identifying and locating books and journal articles, evaluating their appropriateness, and citing them. It also discusses doing library research in a very broad context, including such topics as the steps to searching an electronic database,

The library has compiled some appropriate online resources for each department. There is a Political Science Resources Guide you may want to be aware of.

I have placed some links here to hopefully make your lives as student researchers somewhat easier.

Overview of the Court System

It might be educational to examine a graphic of the U.S. Court system.

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Electronic Databases and Indexes

• CQ Supreme Court Collection Historical analysis with timely updates and expert commentary of Supreme Court decisions, biographies of Supreme Court justices, Supreme Court institutional history, and the U.S. Constitution. Summaries and analysis of more than 4,000 major decisions including all the cases in which a written opinion was issued, with links to the full text of the cases "Dynamics and Alignments" is a powerful and unique tool to research justices' voting records and opinion alignments. The statistics are derived in part from the Michigan State University Supreme Court Database. "CQ Cases-in-Context" provides a selection of contemporary and controversial topics that are of enduring interest to researchers, including topics such as the death penalty, privacy, and free speech. "CQ Key Cases" are cases designated by the CQ editorial staff as the most important in America constitutional and political history.
• Academic LexisNexis Search the full text of today's news or search back more than 20 years, full text company news & financial information; full text federal, state & international legal materials; full text & abstracted medical & health information and general reference sources. Coverage: 1989 - present.
• JSTOR Includes full-text access to 47 law journals and 54 political science journals, in some cases going back to the late 19th century.
• Proquest General topic index. Good for background information on cases and Supreme Court justices. Abstracts available. Coverage 1986 - present. Partial full-text available.
• Academic Search Elite Covers topics pertaining to academics, social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multi-cultural studies, good for background information on cases.
• OSU Library Catalog: Useful for Supreme Court Justice Biographies. Try a Basic Search (last name first, for example "Scalia Antonin") and select Heading from the far drop down menu (Search by). If that doesn't work, try an Advanced Search with your justice's name as keywords. If you're still not finding things, try looking in WorldCat to identify books and you can request an Interlibrary Loan.
• Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School) Supreme Court Decisions, Orders, Case Updates, as well as archives by topic, justice and party.
• OYEZ: Supreme Court Multimedia (Website: http://www.oyez.org/) Has useful information on Supreme Court Justices and voting records.

Print Sources of Interest

• Legal Dictionary - Black's Law Dictionary, Call Number: 340.03 B631 2000 (5th floor, Legal Reference)
• Legal Encyclopedia - Corpus Juris Secundum, Call Number: 348.7344 C822 (5th floor, Legal Reference)
• Legal Encyclopedia - Words and Phrases, Call Number: 340.03 W924 (5th floor, Legal Reference)
• Rules of the Supreme Court of the U.S. - (U.S. Code Annotated, Title 28) Also available at http://www.supremecourtus.gov/ctrules/ctrules.html.
• Supreme Court Reference Books:
  • Decisions of the United States Supreme Court. Lexis Publishing Law Publishing. 1963 - . Call Number: 345.51 L425d (5th floor, Legal Reference) Serves as a quick reference guide to the work of the U.S. Supreme Court. Information includes: the Court's personnel, a survey of the term, summaries of decisions.
  • The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography. Congressional Quarterly, 1990. Call Number: 347.7326016 M379u (5th floor, Legal Reference) Comprehensive listing of references to works about the Supreme Court.
  • Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1980 : an index to opinions arranged by justice. 2 volumes. Kraus International Pubs., Call Number: 348.73413 B642s (5th floor, Legal Reference)
  • Congressional Quarterly's guide to the U.S. Supreme Court, Call Number: 347.7326 W827c 1990 (1st Floor, Reference)
  • The Supreme Court A to Z, Call Number: 347.732603 U58Zs9 2003 (4th Floor)
  • The Oxford companion to the Supreme Court of the United States, Call Number: 347.732603 O98 (1st Floor, Reference)
  • The Supreme Court justices : illustrated biographies, 1789-1995, Call Number: 347.732634 S959 1995 (1st Floor, Reference)
  • The Oxford guide to United States Supreme Court decisions, Call Number: 348.7348 O98 (1st Floor, Reference) Also available full-text at http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/BOOK_SEARCH.html?book=t51&subject=s12
  • Encyclopedia of the U.S. Supreme Court, 3 volumes, Call Number: 347.7326 U58Ze5 (1st Floor, Reference)
  • Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court, Call Number: 347.7326 B622g 2004 (1st Floor, Reference)
  • The justices of the United States Supreme Court, 1789-1969, their lives and major opinions, Call Number: 347.99 U58f9 (1st Floor, Reference)

Things to Keep in Mind

• Occasionally databases and indexes will cite journal names as abbreviations, and these abbreviations can sometimes be difficult to decipher. If you need to know the full jounal title (believe me, you'll need it!), consult Periodical Title Abbreviations: By Abbreviation (Call number: 050.148 P446 1996, located at the Reference Desk, 1st floor). If the first source doesn't give you the full journal title, you'll need to consult CASSI (Call number: 016.54 A5122c 1907/99, also located at the Reference Desk, 1st floor.)
• To determine if the OSU Library owns a journal article you've located in one of the above databases, please search the OSU Library Catalog for a call number. You can determine the floor the journal is located on by consulting a Call Slip. Remember that current journal issues (within the last current year, by and large) are located on the first floor, while older, back issues (or bound volumes) are shelved by call number. Here are OSU Library floor maps if you need them.
• The OSU Library also maintains a list of full-text periodicals. Feel free to cross reference your citations with the full-text list, but keep in mind this will add steps and time to your research process.
• You can request any book you find in WorldCat via Interlibrary Loan, using this handy Interlibrary Loan electronic form. While I think of it, there is also a form available for requesting journal articles via ILL.
• Finally, the Library has a nice website for student services. Please feel free to take a gander at it to see what the library offers, in addition to your class visit today.

If you need to get ahold of me, feel free.

Prof. Dan Chaney
Office: 306 Edmon Low Library
Phone: 405.744.9772
Email: dan.chaney@okstate.edu