Course resource help for Law

Law Trove is a digital collection of around 200 law textbooks and other law books. Many of the core textbooks for your law modules are available on Law Trove.

The library has paid for access to Law Trove, so all Oxford Brookes students and staff can access these crucial textbooks at no additional cost! 

When you're on the library's Course Resource Help Page for law students, click on the Law Trove 'quick access' button at the top.

Alternatively, click here to access Law Trove. You'll be prompted for your Oxford Brookes student number and password.

If your module leader recommends using a textbook that's on Law Trove, then you'll find links on your module reading list. Just look for the 'view online' buttons on your reading list.

If the reading list has a section for each week, then each 'view online' button may take you straight to that week's chapter.

You can still access all of the textbooks on Law Trove without creating a personal account. But, by creating a personal account you will be able to add notes, highlighting and bookmarks to your textbooks. These notes and highlighting are saved, so you'll see them the next time you use Law Trove. No-one else will see what you've highlighted or commented on.

To set up a free personal profile, go to Law Trove and click on 'personal profile' at the top right, then click on 'create a personal profile'.

Once you have created a personal profile you can start adding your own notes to your textbooks, as well as bookmarking useful chapters to come back to later.

Make sure you're signed in to your personal profile (if you can see your name in the top right corner of any Law Trove page, then you're signed in.) Highlight the useful sentence, paragraph or section you want to add a note to. When you release the mouse button, a pop up window will allow you to add your own notes, comments or ideas to the highlighted section.

To save a useful chapter, click on the save icon at the top of the chapter.

Click on your name then 'view personal profile' at any time to quickly find your notes and your saved chapters.

As well as textbooks, Law Trove also has a good selection of revision guides which you may find useful when preparing for exams. 

Click on 'subject' at the top of any Law Trove page, then choose 'study & revision'

Remember, for any modules that have exams, your module leader will talk through what you can expect. There is a good chapter with general law exam advice on Law Trove, which you may wish to look through too.

If you want to reference a book from Law Trove using OSCOLA, then reference it like any other book. You don't need to include the web address in the footnote or in the bibliography.

This video will explain more about how to accurately and confidently reference Law Trove books in the OSCOLA style.

Click here to access Westlaw. If prompted, log in with your Brookes student number and password.

The first time you access Westlaw you will be asked for your name and email address.

The homepage contains a single search box. This searches everything in Westlaw, but you can click on options to narrow your search down. However, you will have greater control over your search if you use the tabs along the top of the screen (cases, legislation etc.).

You can return to the homepage from anywhere in Westlaw by clicking on the Westlaw icon in the top left of the screen.

On the Westlaw homepage you'll see the option to browse by topic followed by an alphabetical list of areas of law.

If you click on one of these, you can then see:

• A new search box, allowing you search for materials just in this area of law
• A summary of what this area of law covers
• Latest developments - the most recent cases and publications in this area of law
• Link to the most important legislation on this topic
• Links to more specific areas of law

If you click on one of these more specific areas, you'll see an overview article as well as a selection of recent, relevant cases and journal articles. These overview articles are great places to start researching a topic. They are short posts written by legal experts.

Westlaw overview articles are not sources you should be citing in your coursework. Instead, they are a starting point to help you find other, more scholarly material. This process works in two ways:

• There are links throughout overview articles to key cases and legislation elsewhere in Westlaw. This is a quick way to see what the significant sources of law are in a particular field.
• Reading an overview article on an unfamiliar topic can be a great way to get an overview of the topic and learn some of the vocabulary used in it. You can then go on to use some of this vocabulary in the search boxes in the cases, legislation or journals tabs of Westlaw.

Download a one-page guide (contains screenshots) of how to best use topics on Westlaw (PDF).

Download a two-page guide (contains screenshots) about how to find and use cases in Westlaw (PDF).

Click on Cases in the dark blue bar at the top of any page in Westlaw.

You can search for cases by the names of the parties, citation (e.g. [1967] 1 WLR 716), or just put your topic of interest in the Free Text box. You do not need to fill in every box.

The results list displays a list of results matching your query. Each result includes the case name, subject, keywords and tells you where the case has been reported

You can see an abstract and the history of each case by clicking on the Case Analysis link at the bottom of each result

Westlaw can also provide you with the full text of law report. If a law report is available for the cases in your results list, a link will be included underneath bottom each result.

Down the right hand side of any case, you will be able to download a PDF of the case, print it, or save it to your personal Westlaw folder. You can also click on the alarm bell icon to create an alert. This means if something significant happens with this case in the future, Westlaw will email you and let you know.

English cases are published in law reports and there are many different series of law reports. Westlaw contain a wide variety of law reports but does not contain all law reports. Have a look at the library's case law information to learn more about law reports and case law.

If you have a long or complicated case name, try just using a couple of keywords from your reference. Alternatively you can search for the citation e.g. [1981] 1 WLR 711.

European case law:

• Click on EU in the dark blue bar at the top of any Westlaw page.

• Tick cases, then use the search boxes. You can search by the case name, case citation or a topic.

• If you get too many results you can use the filters down the left hand side of your results to narrow them down. Click on the title of any case to read it.

• Download a two-page guide (contains screenshots) about how to find and use EU content in Westlaw (PDF).
• Watch a video that walks you through finding EU sources on Westlaw and EUR-Lex.

US case law:

• Click on the Westlaw US link on the right of the Westlaw homepage. This will now open in a new window.

• Underneath browse, click on the word cases.

• You can now either use the search box to search all federal and state case law, or pick an individual court or case.

• As you move through categories, the left hand tab on the search box changes name to show you what you'll be searching.

• If you get too many results you can use the filters down the left hand side of your results to narrow them down. Click on the title of any case to read it.

Other international case law

• Click on the Westlaw International link on the right of the Westlaw homepage. This will now open in a new window..

• Underneath browse, click on the word cases.

• You can use the search box to search across multiple countries, or pick an individual country. Note that many countries' cases are not included on Westlaw.

• As you move through categories, the second tab on the search box changes name to show you what you're searching.

• To find multinational materials (e.g. International Court of Justice decisions): use the International materials index on the right of the screen to browse a full list of all sources, including ICJ decisions.

Click on Legislation in the dark blue bar at the top of any Westlaw page.

You can search for the title of the Act or SI (e.g. Equality Act 2010) or search for a phrase or word in the free text box (e.g. "houses in multiple occupation")

If you want a particular section, you can put the name of the Act/SI in the title box and then the section number in the provision number box. Remember to select the appropriate description (e.g. section) from the drop-down provision number box. You will then skip the screen with multiple results and jump directly to that section. You can get back to the whole Act by clicking on the Act's title at the top of the page.

Legislation is always evolving. Westlaw allows you to compare two versions of the same piece of legislation, and highlights the changes for you. Learn more about comparing legislation on Westlaw (PDF).

Download a two-page guide (contains screenshots) about how to find and use legislation in Westlaw (PDF).

Journals covering English and EU law:

• Click on journals in the dark blue bar along the top of any Westlaw page.
• You can search for journal articles by title and author, or search for a topic or phrase in the Free Text box.
• The results list displays a list of results matching your query. Each result includes the article title, citation, subject and keywords.
• If you get too many results, use the filters down the left hand side to narrow your results down. Alternatively, click on edit search to go back to the search page and put in additional search terms or  more precise search terms.
• You can look at an abstract (summary) of each article by clicking on Abstract.
• Westlaw may also provide you with the full text of journal articles. Look for a Full Text link will be included at the bottom of each result.
• If you only want the results list to include articles that have their full text in Westlaw, tick full text available down the left hand side of the results list.
• Remember, if the full text of an article isn't in Westlaw we may still have access to it through another database. To check, search for the journal title in the Journal Titles tab on the search box on the library homepage.
  
• Get more information and advice about using law journals and journal articles.

Download a one page guide (contains screenshots) about how to find and use journals in Westlaw (PDF).

If you search for cases or journal articles on a particular topic, then you may want to know when anything new is published on that topic. To avoid having to return to Westlaw and repeat the search, you can create an alert.

At the top of the results page, click on the alarm bell icon, give your search a name and save it. Westlaw will then regularly repeat the search for you and email you when any new results are found.

If you want to snooze or delete an alert, click on alerts at the top of Westlaw.

Look for the alarm bell icon down the right-hand side of a case. If you click on this, you can ask Westlaw to alert you by email if the case is appealed, cited by another case etc.

You can keep track of all of your research by saving documents into folders. You can have a folder for each module or assignment, to keep things organised.

To add something to a folder, look for the folder icon to the right of any document on Westlaw.

Click on folders at the top of the Westlaw to see all your research in one place.

Do you get too many search results in Westlaw? Are the useful results buried in lots of irrelevant results? One solution might be to use some of these tools.

You don't need to remember any of these. Just remember that next to every search box in Westlaw is a link labelled terms and connectors. This will remind you of all these tricks.

Finding words near each other:

• Use " " to glue words together into a phrase. For example, "gig economy" will find results where the words occur as a phrase.
• Use /s to find words in the same sentence. For example, jury /s reform will find results where both words occur in the same sentence.
• Use /p to find words in the same paragraph. For example, police /p review will find results where both words occur in the same paragraph.

Combining words:

• Use and to combine words and narrow down your search. For example, arbitration and medical will find results where both words occur in the same document.
• Use or to broaden your search. This is useful if there are a number of similar words (synonyms) to describe the same idea. For example, arbitration or mediation will find results where either word occurs.
• Use % to exclude a term. For instance, drugs % narcotics will find results which contain the word drugs but do not contain the word narcotics.

Truncation

• Use ! after the start a root of a word to retrieve all possible endings. For instance, employ! will find employ, employee, employer, employment and employing.

Universal character

• The symbol * represents 1 character. For example, wom*n will retrieve woman or women. When you place the character at the end of a word, you specify the maximum length of the word. For instance, object*** retrieves object, objects, objected, objective, objection and objecting.

A note about using connectors in the International and EU sections of Westlaw:

If you put more than one word in a search box, Westlaw  and Westlaw International will respond differently. Westlaw  assumes all your words are linked with 'and' so will only retrieve results where all your words occur. In contrast, Westlaw International assumes they are linked with 'or' so will retrieve results where at least one of your words occurs. To avoid this in Westlaw International, use and between words.

In the black bar at the bottom of every Westlaw page is a link to user guides. Here you will find step-by-step illustrated guides to using different parts of Westlaw.

You can also download or print the library's PDF guide to using Westlaw for English law.

If you are a GDL, LLB, Law Foundation or LLM student you will receive training from the Academic Liaison Librarian for Law at the start of your course. The slides from this training will be available in Moodle for you to refer back to throughout your course.

The library runs Lexis and Westlaw workshops, at both a basic and advanced level. These are open to all students in all years. If you want to come to the advanced workshop without attending the basic one first, make sure you are confident with the content of the basic workshop, as the advanced workshop builds on this. Book your place.

Westlaw UK Certification Training gives you an interactive walk-through of Westlaw UK with the option to then test your skills and become certified. There is no fee to certify, and it shows prospective employers that you are comfortable using this important legal database.

Firstly, step-by-step videos walk you through everything you need to know to be a Westlaw UK power user. You then complete a short online test. If you pass, you'll be sent a certificate in the post to demonstrate your skills, which you can add to your CV.

You can get certification at both basic and advanced levels.

Click here to access Lexis+. If prompted, log in with your Brookes student number and password.

 Watch this video to see how to find a case

Use the long search box on the Lexis+ homepage. By default, this box searches everything. Click on all on the right of the box and choose cases.

Type the name and year of the act in the box and press search. If you want to see a particular section, you can add that to your search e.g. Human Rights Act 1998 s.12

Click on the case name in the results list to open it up.

If you don’t know the name of the legislation you want, you can type key legal words or phrases into the long search box.

You can also browse a list of all UK Acts. From the homepage, click on content then legislation then Acts.

Watch this video to see what finding legislation looks like

Use the long search box on the Lexis+ homepage. By default, this box searches everything. Click on all on the right of the box and choose legislation.

Type the name and year of the act in the box and press search. If you want to see a particular section, you can specify that in your search e.g. trying searching for Human Rights Act 1998 s.12

Click on the Act or section in the results list to open it up.

If you don’t know the name of the legislation you want, you can type key legal words or phrases into the long search box.

You can also browse a list of all UK Acts. From the homepage, click on content then legislation then Acts.

Lexis+ allows you to search for cases and  legislation from: Australia, Canada, France Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA.

From the homepage, click on content then international. Now choose a country. 

Now you can search across all the available legal sources in that country. If wish to narrow it down further, choose a category e.g. all Malaysia cases. Note how the search box is re-labelled each time you choose a category or source.

A)To search for articles in any journal

Use the long search box on the Lexis+ homepage. By default, this box searches everything. Click on all on the right of the box and choose books and journals.

Type your search words into the search box. You could try searching for the name of an article, or for a topic or phrase. Click search.

Down the left of your results list you can now narrow down to journals by ticking the journals box.

If you click on sources you can choose to only show results from selected journals.

Click on an article name in the results list to open it.

B)To browse through articles in a particular journal

On the Lexis+ homepage click on the content tab under the search box. Next, click books and journals then journals.

You will now see an alphabetical list of all the journals on Lexis+.

Click on the name of a journal.

You will now see a list of all the issues of that journal, with the most recent at the top. Click on any of them to see what articles are within.

Alternatively, you are now able to search within that journal using the search box above the list of issues.

Coming soon...

Below the search box on the Lexis+ homepage, select content and then newspapers. Make sure you choose newspapers, not news.

You can use the search box on the newspapers page to search all UK national and local newspapers at once.

You may find it more helpful to choose a smaller category to search in e.g. UK tabloids.

If you wish to choose specific titles, first select the appropriate category in order to see a list of titles. Click select sources to search and then tick as many as you need to.

If you want to narrow your search down e.g. by date you can click on advanced search to see more options. Alternatively, click search and then use the timeline filter down the left of the results to add the time frame.

Click on the title of any article to read it. You can download it or print it from that page.

You can also download a batch of articles from the results screen by ticking them. When you click the download icon, you can choose which file format you want. You can also opt to have all your selected articles downloaded as a single file.

Look down the left hand side of the Lexis+ homepage. Click the practical guidance  tab. You’ll see the search box is now labelled ‘What task would you like to accomplish today?’

Searching in Practical Guidance will get you practice notes, forms, checklists, drafting tools and more. There are two ways to find resources:

Type words in the search box. You can use the drop down to search in one practice area, if you wish.

Alternatively, select a practice area from the list in the explore section. You can then browse through all the available resources in that practice area.

Clicking advanced search will give you more options, for example being able to exclude words from your search.

There are also lots of tricks you can use in your search in order to make your results much more precise. Have a look at our search tips and connectors guide to see your options.

And remember to think carefully about what words you put in the search box, as this will affect the outcome. Make sure you watch the Choosing words to put in a search box video.

Book a place at a Lexis+ and Westlaw: Advanced Searching workshop to learn more about these powerful tools.

There is a Help link at the top of every Lexis+ page, which provides further details on searching and using the database.

You can download the library's PDF guide to using Lexis+ for English law.

If you are a LLB, GDL, Foundation Law or LLM student you will receive training from the Academic Liaison Librarian for Law at the start of your course. The slides from this training will be available in Moodle for you to refer back to throughout your course.

The library runs Lexis+ and Westlaw workshops, at both a basic and advanced level. If you want to come to the advanced workshop without attending the basic one first, make sure you are comfortable with the basic workshop content as the advanced workshop builds on this.

These free workshops are open to any Oxford Brookes students who want to improve their Lexis+ and Westlaw skills.

Remember, you can always get in touch with Charlie Brampton, the Academic Liaison Librarian for Law. Charlie can see you individually or in small groups.

Lexis+ certification improves your legal research skills and confidence. Lexis+ is used throughout the legal sector, so it will look good on your CV if you have these skills.

To get certified, you need to watch a video then complete an online test. Certification will not cost you anything and should not take long. 

Go to the Lexis+ Student Hub and then choose either Legal Research Certification or Practical Guidance Certification.

NB: When you click on either certification link, you will get a pop up asking for your name and contact details. Once you've completed that form, you will see the certification videos and further information. 

This video about HeinOnline will show you:

• What HeinOnline is and why it’s so useful
• How to access HeinOnline
• How to search for articles in HeinOnline
• How to find similar articles
• How to see which articles are cited by other articles.

Connect to the database here. If prompted, log in with your Brookes student number and password. 

HeinOnline is made up of a number of smaller databases, and you can see these listed on the homepage. If you click on the i icon next to any database’s name you can learn more about its scope.

However, the simplest option is to use the search bar at the top of the homepage to search across all the databases at once.

If you have a long list of search results, how do you decide what is most useful?

Use the refine your search tools down the left hand side to narrow down your list, for example to the most recent five years or to only peer-reviewed articles.

Use the sort by box at the top to change the order your search results are displayed in. You can choose to sort by number of times cited by. This will prioritise the articles that have been most referenced by other articles. This is a quick way to see the most influential articles on a topic.

If you click on a result and decide that it’s useful, look for the more like this button above it to get a list of other recommendations. To do this, HeinOnline pulls out 5-6 interesting words from your first article and weights them, depending on how often they are mentioned. You can use the sliding bars to change this weighting and you can add and remove words from their list.

These powerful tools can help make your searching more focused and efficient.

Click on search help under the HeinOnline search box to get a reminder of these tools.

Finding words near each other:

• Use " " to glue words together into a phrase. For example, "gig economy" will find references where the words occur as a phrase.
• Use w/p to find words in the same paragraph. Copyright w/p infringement will find results where copyright and infringement occur within the same paragraph
• Use w/s to find words in the same sentence. Copyright w/s infringement will find results where copyright and infringement occur within the same sentence.
• Use w/n to limit how far apart words can be. Copyright w/5 infringement will find results where copyright occurs within 5 words of infringement.

Words with similar meanings:

• Use OR to broaden your search. For example, arbitration OR mediation will find results where either word occurs. This is helpful when there are several words that have similar meanings. You must use upper case for OR.

Truncation:

• Use * after the start of a word to retrieve all possible endings. For instance, employ* will find employ, employee, employer, employment and employing.

Universal character:

• ? allows you to search for variations of a word. For example globali?ation will find results containing either globalization or globalisation.

From any page in HeinOnline, there is a help link in the top right corner. You can also visit the HeinOnline Knowledge Base to find guides and videos.

You can contact Charlie Brampton if you’ve got any HeinOnline questions or would like to learn more.