This Legal Research Checklist is designed to help you work through the 6 Stages in Legal Research as described in this Manual.
You won't necessarily need to use every type of information listed here, but the checklist helps you consider methodically if a particular type of information would be relevant to your research question.
Determine what jurisdiction and timeframe you are researching.
Identify the legal databases, search tools, and other information sources that are available to you.
Decide what research organization strategies you will use minimize inefficiency.
►Review Tips (Before You Start) for more information.
Identify the purpose of this research.
Determine the broad area(s) of law you are researching.
Write out a preliminary research topic or question.
►Review the Topic Definition Stage for more information.
Reflect on your level of knowledge in this area of law, in order to determine what level of exploratory research is needed.
Create a list of preliminary keywords.
Conduct initial research using introductory and practitioner sources:
Consult a legal encyclopedia (the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest (on Westlaw) or Halsbury's Laws of Canada (on Lexis).
Find resources by practice area using the curated lists in the Law Library's Research Guides by Legal Subject.
Check your library's catalogue (Omni at Queen's Law) for resources like textbooks and treatises.
Consult a legal dictionary if there are legal terms that you are unsure of.
►Review the Exploratory Research Stage for more information.
Locate in-depth secondary sources, considering what types of resources may include the information you are looking for:
Check Omni to find books, looseleafs, and articles on your subject.
Search periodical indexes such as the Index to Canadian Legal Literature (on both Westlaw and Lexis), Legaltrac, the Index to Legal Periodicals, or the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (see the chapter on searching Journal Literature).
Search any specialized databases in your research area (check out our Research Guides by Legal Subject for available databases at Queen's).
Search for non-traditional secondary sources if relevant (blogs, news articles, social media, grey literature, etc.). See the chapter on Non-Traditional Secondary Sources.
Search for non-legal resources if relevant (e.g. news articles, government information, social sciences research, business information, etc.). See the Library's Research by Subject page.
Critically assess your secondary sources for currency, jurisdiction, and other factors like bias.
Add any new terms and phrases to your keyword list and make note of any case law or legislation citations with potential relevance to your research.
►Review the In-Depth Secondary Sources Stage for more information.
Locate and read carefully all legislative provisions (statutes, regulations, bylaws, etc.) identified in the preceding stages, using official government sources wherever possible.
Update the provision to confirm it is in force, and to ensure there are no recent amendments that have not yet been consolidated into the official version.
Note up your target provisions by looking for cases that have considered, applied, or interpreted the section.
►Review the Legislation Stage for more information.
Identify and assess relevant cases:
Locate and read cases you have already identified in the preceding stages using a legal research service like Westlaw, Lexis, or CanLII.
Use pre-identified cases to identify additional cases on your topic (e.g. by finding cases that either cite or are cited by your target case).
Identify and use any case law finding aids at your disposal (e.g. subject classification, case digests, filtering) to identify additional cases.
If you need to know how a term has been interpreted judicially, consult tools like Words and Phrases Judicially Defined in Canadian Courts and Tribunals (available in Westlaw Edge), Canadian Legal Words & Phrases on Lexis+, or Sanagan's Encyclopedia of Words and Phrases (on Westlaw).
Read all cases carefully and assess for relevance and persuasiveness (jurisdiction, court level, etc.).
Note up all cases you intend to use for your research:
Check judicial history to see if your target case has been overturned by a higher court.
Look at how subsequent cases have treated your target case.
►Review the Case Law Stage for more information.
Note up the cases and legislation you are relying upon again to ensure nothing significant has changed since you first researched them.
Write citations according to the relevant style guide (e.g. McGill Guide, COAL).
►Review the Finalize Research Stage for more information.
