Legal Studies/Politics 132:
California Water Law
Instructor: Ruth Langridge
TTh 10-11:45 AM, Room 144 Porter
Syllabus
Assignment 1: Due October 1, 2009
Assignment 2: Due October 13, 2009
Exam 1 Study Guide
Research Paper Assignment
Citation, Writing and Oral Presentation Guidelines
Off-Campus Access | Legal Databases | Law Review Articles | Additional Info | Improve Search Results | Other Websites
Off-Campus Access:
If you live off campus, you'll need to login to the OCA (proxy server) to be able to use any of the library licensed databases listed below
Legal Databases:
Use these legal databases to find court cases by case name or legal citation, and to find statutes and regulations, and law review articles. It's important to familiarize yourself with both of these databases as they are heavily used in the legal world.
Use the Shortcuts menubar to find court cases when you have the legal citation or party names. Otherwise, click the "Basic Search" tab and enter terms that describe your research topic. Click on the box next to the type of source you need, and click the blue "Search" button.
Click on the "Legal" tab, select the type of information you are looking for: Federal and State Cases, statutes, regulations, etc. Click "Natural Language", type in words that describe your research topic OR fill in the forms below the search box and click the red "Search" button.
Law Review Articles:
Use Law Review articles to find background information and in-depth analysis about specific legal issues. Law Review articles will lead you to references or citations for court cases, statutes, regulations and related law review articles.
Use these legal databases to locate Law Review Articles. Consider trying your terms in BOTH databases since each contain unique environmental law review sources.
- Lexis Nexis Academic Contains 400+ full text legal journals and law reviews (53 specific to environmental law).
Click on the "Legal" tab, select "Natural Language", type in words that describe your research topic and click the red "Search" button.
Click the "Basic Search" tab and enter terms that describe your research topic. Click on the box next to "Journals and Law Reviews", select "All Journals and Law Reviews" and click the blue "Search" button.
Additional Information:
Find resources that relate to your topic by searching databases related to your subject area.
Suggested Databases:
- Lexis Nexis Congressional Find Congressional hearings, testimony and reports, track bills, laws, federal regulations and federal register announcements
- Academic Source Complete A good starting point: contains citations and abstracts for articles in peer-reviewed journals, magazines, and news sources.
- EnviroNetBase: Contains handbooks related to the environment. Look for link to "Environmental Law, Management and Compliance"
Improve Search Results:
Get an overview of your topic, and develop alternative keywords you can use in your searches. Examining legal encyclopedias, books, and evaluated web pages are a good way to refine your searches. See How to Evaluate Information on the Web for help with assessing web pages.
Legal Encyclopedias and Reference Sources:
- Westlaw Campus: Environmental Law. Scroll down left menubar for "Legal Guides" and select "Environmental Law"
- Westlaw Campus: American Jurisprudence "Am Jur". Click "Basic Search" tab, check box next to "Am Jur" under "Encyclopedias and Law Reviews". Enter search terms that describe your topic
- Environmental Law in a Nutshell McH Ref Law KF3775.Z9 F56 2008. Provides overview of environmental law related to federalism, pollution control, toxic chemicals, hazardous wastes, and preservation of natural areas.
When using these sources, note the following:
- Write down new terms, alternative concepts and phrases, key dates, facts, etc.
- Look for citations and references to other sources. Research Tip: Locate the prior history of cases,associated briefs if available, and citations to other cases. Westlaw Campus : Look up the case, view the full text, look on left menu for history, briefs, etc. Lexis Nexis Academic : Look up the case, view the full text, look for link at top of page.
- Use Cruzcat (UCSC library catalog) to find the titles of any reports or books referenced in the encyclopedias, law reviews, etc. and see if we own them at UCSC.
Other Websites:
California Water Impact Network: Conservation http://www.c-win.org/Conservation.html
Water Education Foundation http://www.watereducation.org
Findlaw Environmental Law websites: http://www.findlaw.com/01topics/13environmental/overview.html
Provides a plethora of links to international, national, state and local environmental law sources, environmental organizations, and Law Schools with strong environmental law programs.
LUPIN: California Land Use Planning Information Network. Contains links to state and federal laws, regulations, and assessments related to land use. To obtain a list of links to Calif. Water Districts look for "Organization", then click on Special Districts, scroll down to Water Districts.
Water Rights - California State Water Board Links to topics related to water rights, including links to all regional water boards.
Aquafornia: The California Water News Blog Aquafornia.com
California's Water: An LAO Primer http://cruzcat.ucsc.edu/record=b2970407~S5 : California Legislative Analysts Office overview of water issues, demand, and financing.
Lucia Orlando luciao@ucsc.edu
October 2009
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.