Legal research is different than research in other fields. It often begins with secondary sources and ends with primary sources.
Secondary legal sources include:
These resources can be helpful in getting an overview of a new topic or identifying key cases in a particular area. Read the footnotes and annotations that reference case law to discover additional resources.
Secondary sources will lead into finding primary legal sources which include:
Primary sources establish the law and are what is cited in legal arguments. Secondary sources are helpful discovery tools to help locate primary sources on a legal topic.
Visit this guide to learn more about using secondary and primary resources in legal research.
Links to individual United States Federal courts