Research Guide for Law Research Assistants

Introductory-level secondary sources help you quickly get up to speed on an unfamiliar area of law. 

Here are some tools for locating reliable introductory information on your research topic:

• Law Library Subject Guides: an excellent source for locating the most up-to-date introductory texts on many legal ropics. 

• Essentials of Canadian Law Series: books in this series provide introductions to a broad range of legal subjects including tort law, contract law, environmental law, constitutional law, evidence, and more. 

• Elgar Advanced Introductions to Law: books in this series provide concise introductions to a variety of legal topics, especially those that have a global, comparative, or international aspect. 

• Halsbury's Laws of Canada: A comprehensive legal encylcopedia of Canadian law published by LexisNexis Canada. Available to law students with Lexis Advance Quicklaw passwords. 

• Canadian Encyclopedic Digest: A comprehensive legal encyclopedia of Canadian law published by Thomson Reuters. Available to law students with Westlaw Edge passwords. Instructional Video: How to Start your research with the Canadian Encyclopedic Digest.

Treatises, looseleafs and other types of books provide in-depth coverage of legal topics. Locate them using the following research tools:

• Law Library Subject Guides: Find the most current books (print and electronic) in a subject area that are accessible through the library.

• Omni: Search the entire library collection for books on your topic.

Law journals are a rich source of scholarly writing. Specialized topics that are too narrow for publication as books are typically published in law journals.

See the Finding Journal Articles on Legal Topics guide for instruction on searching law journal literature.