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Getting Started in Research for a Thesis - Old Guide: Identify

This guide will help law PhD and MPhil students to begin their legal research using the University Library's resources

Research Guides

Law Research Guides. These research guides are designed to help you find the best resources for your area of law, including both subscription and free resources. They are authored by law librarians. There is a wide variety of guides, including:

Note: Go to the research guide page to see the complete list.

Peer Reviewed Journals

  • Also known as refereed journals
  • Written by academics
  • Include a reference list and footnotes
  • Journal content is reviewed by experts before publication
  • Examples: Law and Society Review, the Journal of Legal Analysis, Australian Journal of Human Rights, Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
  • Check for peer reviewed status, use Ulrich’s Serials Directory

Trade Journals

  • Also known as practitioner journals or magazines
  • May be written by journalists or practitioners
  • May not have a reference list
  • Are not peer-reviewed
  • Examples: The Economist, the Law Institute Journal and the New Law Journal.

Identify the most relevant resource types

  • Legislation and extrinsic materials
  • Legal encyclopedias
  • Subject specific commentary
  • Peer reviewed journal articles
  • Print books or eBooks
  • Government reports
  • Standards
  • Theses
  • Company and industry reports
  • Statistics or financial information
  • Trade journal articles
  • Unpublished or grey literature
  • Newspaper articles

Journal rankings

Search the highest ranked peer-reviewed journals:

For more info about peer-reviewed journal, see the research guide: Researcher@Library – Publishing and Sharing

Citation Counts

Citation count databases can be used to determine highly cited articles.

Search citation counts of journal articles:

For more info about citation counts, see the research guide: Researcher@Library – Measuring Impact