Shepardizing in Print

A new page - a tutorial of sorts - has been added to the Pierce Law Library web site on Shepardizing in Print.

When 10 words are not enough for a query

Google's ten-word limit for a search query restricts most serious researchers. But Yahoo! doesn't have this limitation and the results can be a real aid in searching. This article in Research Buzz on Yahoo's No-Limit Query offers a glimpse into Yahoo's search capabilities. Without limitation a researcher is held back only by his/her imagination.

Price's List of Lists

The List of Lists is a database of ranked listings of companies, people and resources freely available on the Internet. The LOL is organized by subject headings based on the two-digit 1997 U.S. NAICS Codes. A sampling of lists that might be of interest to law students at Pierce Law include:

• The Big 50 (California Law Firms)
• Who Represents America's Biggest Companies?
• Trademark Counsel for the Global 50
• Swords and Shields (Top patent practices)
• Women Who Head Fortune 500 Legal Departments

Studies, research reports, issue briefs and papers of all sorts

Studies, research reports, issue briefs and papers of all sorts emanating from government agencies, think tanks, research institutions and trade associations often contain a key statistic, contact information for an individual in a position to share valuable expertise, or maybe a helpful bibliography of related resources. Who keeps track of all this stuff? Docuticker is a blog with an RSS feed that collects this type of information so the rest of us can simply click on the link and find this ephemeral type of information already linked for us.

http://resourceshelf.freepint.com/docuticker/

Linking to Documents in the Online CFR

"Documents that exist within the CFR on GPO Access cannot be bookmarked. In order to link to these documents, a unique URL string must be created. This string consists of six elements:

1. the URL of the cgi script which retrieves the document
2. the CFR Title
3. the CFR part
4. the CFR section or subpart
5. the type of file (TEXT or PDF) you'd like to link to
6. the CFR revision year (OPTIONAL) (if no year is specified, the most recent will be used)

To assist users in linking to documents within the CFR, the following form has been created. Simply input the required fields and hit GENERATE."

Code of Federal Regulations: Linking to Documents

A Look at US Law Week

The United States Law Week, a Bureau of National Affairs publication, is now available to anyone on the Pierce Law network. The periodical is published weekly except for the last week of July, the first week of September, and the last week of December. Included are all issues published since June 24, 1997. The publication reports on "significant cases and key legislative, regulatory, and pre-decisional developments."

• Issues are presented in reverse chronological order.
• Each issue is arranged by: Section (in BLACK, boldface), Topic (in Red, boldface), and then by Documents (in black, non-bolded)
• Sections within The U.S. Law Week can include:

Summary & Analysis

Analysis & Perspective

Legal News

Conference Report

Electronic Resources

Highlights

The Supreme Court Today component of Law Week is a searchable database, with daily updates of certiorari petitions filed since the 1995 October Term. The database also contains the full text of Supreme Court opinions, oral argument schedules, selected oral argument summaries, annual reviews of the Court's decisions, etc.

SEARCHING BNA's US Law Week or its Indexes (limited to 2003-Present)

• The search function is NOT case-sensitive
• Between terms the search defaults to AND.
• OR (or a vertical bar, )
• NOT (or an exclamation mark, !)
• NEAR (proximity searching)
• Phrase Searching "phrase between quotes"
• Supported wildcards include * and ?

* replaces zero or more characters

? replaces only one character

• Nested searches are allowed - use parentheses (place nested search in here)

Feel free to also peruse the licensing agreement with BNA for the use of this database.