Legal Research & Writing for Publication By Vicenç Feliú, JD, LLM, MLIS & Helen Frazer, JD, LLM, MLIS

Finding a Topic The usual suspects Articles Books Online sources BNA – U.S. Law Week Lexis & Westlaw – emerging issues & news Blogs

The Pre-emption Check & Literature Review First step in literature review Use a research log Citations in Bluebook format Define your topic or thesis List search terms Search broadly

Where to Search I Books Mason Law Library Catalog WorldCat UDC Aladin Lexis, secondary sources Westlaw, texts & periodicals-all (TP-ALL)

Where to Search II Periodicals Current Law Index (LegalTrac) ILP&B (Wilson Index) HeinOnline SSRN UDC Aladan catalog, Journals & Electronic Books Lexis, US Law Reviews & Journals Westlaw, TP-ALL

Where to Search III The Deep Web SSRN, Legal Scholarship Network Academic & Scholar Search Engines & Sources Law library research guides Deep Web Research 2011, Marcus P. Zillman 99 Resources to Research & Mine the Invisible Web

Get an overview of your topic Secondary sources Legal encyclopedias Treatises, practice manuals, etc. Law review articles

Decide on an article type Case analysis Legislative analysis Law reform Interdisciplinary Empirical Theory Some aspect of the legal profession Legal history, et al.

Law Review Formats Skim some articles for format types Example Introduction Background Objective analysis Solution Brief conclusion

Plain English Write concisely and clearly Follow style and format conventions Follow citation conventions (The Bluebook!)

Advice for new scholarship Legal Scholarship Blog Columbia Law School Careers in Law Teaching Articles for new law professors Mary Kay Kane Nancy Levit Donald J. Weidner

Test the article Make presentations Submit it for calls for papers Ask friends, colleagues, mentors to read it Publish it as a working paper on SSRN or Digital Commons Remember to credit these contributions in the footnotes

Write an abstract The topic & thesis of your paper The problem you are trying to solve Talk about topics, not specifics Provide an example, if appropriate Show that you have an original idea Tie the article to a body of literature Why your article is important

Submit the paper for publication Look for symposia & calls for papers Decide which journals to send it to Two windows of opportunity March to April August to October

Submit electronically Individual law reviews Submission services ExpressO SSRN Washington & Lee Service

Evaluating Offers Law review prestige Using an offer to speed up the process Ask about the benefits & conditions Model publication agreement

Working with editors Take edits seriously Write new material yourself (or edit theirs) Reject changes when necessary Review all changes Check that change are made correctly Use the process to improve your article

Publicize your article Send copies to your mentors & colleagues Notify bloggers in your field (nicely!) Present it to faculty