I. Getting started -- Primary database for this course - LexisNexis Academic.
II. Organization of LexisNexis Academic
A. Two “tabs”, Search and Sources, each providing a different way to find information.
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.
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