Skip to Main Content

Higher Education

This resource guide identifies key materials available to the Saint Louis University community that are useful for graduate students in the higher education program.

EDL 540 : Law and Higher Education

EDL 540-01: Law and Higher Education
January 20, 2009, 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m., Dr. Fowler
Georgia Baugh, Librarian (977-3598, baughga@slu.edu)

I.     Getting started -- Primary database for this course - LexisNexis Academic.

  • Guides and Tutorials to LexisNexis Academic™ are available on the lower, left-hand side of Legal Search page.
  • Features:  Search across state and Federal cases, print or download multiple cases at once, & Shepardize® most cases.

II.   Organization of LexisNexis Academic

A.    Two “tabs”, Search and Sources, each providing a different way to find information.

 LexisNexis Search Bar

       B.    Search tab has five broad categories:  General, News (Quick Info & News), Business, Legal, and People 

1.   Broad categories are divided into smaller sections

2.   For example:  General has 9 Sections, News has only 1, Busiess has 7, Legal has 8, and People has 1

      C.   Below are the current sections available under the Legal tab.

For this class, we will be using primarily the Federal & State Cases, Shepard's Citatations, and Law Reviews.

Legal Sections

C.    Sources tab provides a way to select Sources to search by browsing for them

1.  Select Area of Law to begin browsing law sources.  Other possibilities are Publication Type, News & Business 
               Topics, and Industry.

2.    Filter by Country (United States) and Publication Type (Cases or Legal News)

3.    Select a Category (Education Law) from which to view and select sources

III.   Searching LexisNexis Academic – Using Search Tab

A.  Choose a Category - Legal

B.  Select  “Federal & State Cases” from left-hand column, Shepard’s ® Citations, or Law Reviews.

C.  Form

1.  When entering terms in the Search Terms Box, type one word or short phrases using “connectors”.

2.  Select Sources:  Federal & State Cases Combined (or another appropriate source)

3.  Other options - Narrow search by  

a.   searching within Document Sections (Core-terms, Name, Dissentby, Opinionby, etc.)
b.   providing Case Name (Example:  N.Y. Times and Tasini)
c.   providing Citation Number (Example:  533 U.S. 483)
d.   specifying a date or range (date is, date after, previous 2 years, etc.)
e.   specifying Judge’s last name
f.   specifying Counsel or Firm name

D.  Tips

1.   Use Connectors   

AND      w/p      w/s      w/5      w/10     w/25  -  to narrow search

OR - to broaden search

2.   Use truncation  !  (for multiple letters)    * (for one letter - may be used multiple times)

3.   Combine ideas to get a search statement
                Example: Find cases about copyright and fair use in higher education.

4.   Revise a search – See “Next Steps” in upper right-hand corner.  Select Edit Search

5.   Use Search within results (upper right-hand corner) to search within results to
         further narrow a search (this provides a temporary search set only).

IV.   Other sources for information

A.   ERIC  -  In-library and remote access via the SLU Libraries’ Web site

B.   Education Source – In-library and remote access via the SLU Libraries’ Web site

C.   Bickel, Robert D.  The College Administrator and the Courts. 

Pius Library KF 4225 .A59 B45 Suppl
A loose-leaf service received 4 times per year through 2007

D.   Young, D. Parker.  The College Student and the Courts

             Pius Library KF4243.A59 Y68 1977 Suppl
             A loose-leaf service received 4 times per year through 2007.

V.   Access to addtional databases is available at