Finding Articles in Legal Periodicals
(Law Reviews & Legal Journals)

FIRST LOOK FOR A FULL-TEXT ARTICLE ONLINE

• Lexis and Westlaw
  • Lexis - Secondary Legal > Law Review & Journals > U.S. Law Reviews & Journals Combined
  • Westlaw - Legal Periodicals and Current Awareness > Journals and Law Reviews (JLR)
  • Can do complicated Terms & Connectors searches
  • Coverage in both services only extends back to approximately the early 1980's
• HeinOnline
  • Found on Deane Law Library's Online Resources webpage
  • Currently, only simple searches can be done
  • Coverage for most journals goes back to their inception, however the current year usually is not available
• Non-legal articles
  • There are many located online in Axinn Databases, arranged both alphabetically and by subject
  • Some suggested databases are:
    • JSTOR - an archive of the full-text pdf of more than 700 journals from various academic disciplines including economics, finance, history, philosophy, political science and sociology. It does not include current documents, those between one to five years old
    • Academic Search Premier - world's largest academic multidisciplinary database; includes full-text articles from over 4650 serials
    • New York Times Historical - 1851-2004 (Select New York Times Historical database)

SECOND, LOOK FOR A CITATION TO AN ARTICLE IN AN INDEX

• Hofstra has subscriptions to both Index to Legal Periodicals and LegalTrac
• The links to both can be found on the Deane Law library's Online Resources webpage
• They both have advanced search options
• Indexes may be searched by keyword, subject, author or title or a combination if you are in advanced search
• After finding a citation you must then find the full-text of the article (see section below). However, sometimes these indexes do provide full-text results
• The coverage of these indexes only goes back to approximately 1980
• If you are looking for articles dealing with foreign or international law you may want to use the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, the link to which can also be found on our Online Resources webpage

THIRD, ONCE YOU HAVE THE CITATION FROM THE INDEX, FIND THE ARTICLE

• Hofstra online catalog (Lexicat) to find paper copy of the periodical in the Deane Law Library
  • Do a title search using the title of the Journal (not the article)
  • Note the Call Number in the result
  • Go downstairs to the periodical room and locate the call number on the shelves. Find the volume (the number to the left of the citation) of the periodical and then open to the page (the number to the right of the citation) and there is your article
• HeinOnline
  • Use click link on front page
  • Just click the arrow next to "find a title" and see if your journal is listed. If so click on it and enter the volume and page you need and click Go
• Lexis and Westlaw
  • In Lexis go to "Get a Document" and type in the Citation
  • In Westlaw go to "Find and Print" and type in the Citation
  If your article is pre-1980 you will need to use a paper copy or HeinOnline.
  If the article is brand new you will probably find it most easily on Lexis or Westlaw, and possibly paper