Research Guides: Pre-Law: Articles & Databases

Subject-Specific Article Databases

Here are some suggested databases to begin your research in the field of Law.

National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS)
Contains information resources on criminal justice subjects like corrections, courts, drugs, law enforcement, juvenile justice, victims of crime, and more.
The Virtual Library provides access to all known OJP works and sponsored research, as well as to thousands of government products, research reports, journal articles, and published and unpublished literature produced through 2014.

Civil Rights and Social Justice This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline’s Civil Rights and Social Justice database provides a diverse offering of publications covering civil rights in the United States. Collection includes hearings and committee prints, legislative histories on the landmark legislations, CRS and GAO reports, briefs from major Supreme Court cases, and publications from the Commission on Civil Rights.
Legal Information Institute (LII) This link opens in a new window
OPEN ACCESS. Maintained by Cornell University Law School, this comprehensive site offers federal and state statutes, codes and regulations, U.S. Supreme Court cases, and global legal materials.
Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law This link opens in a new window
This collection includes all known legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world, every statute passed by every state and colony, all federal statutes, all reported state and federal cases on slavery, and hundreds of books and pamphlets on the subject.
Pew Research Center This link opens in a new window
OPEN ACCESS. A nonpartisan "fact tank" that informs the public about the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis, and other data-driven social science research.
Statista This link opens in a new window
Statistics and data sets related to business & consumers, media, the environment, sports, communications, transportation, education, health care, and country and city-level economic and political information. In addition to tables and charts, Statista provides infographics and complete dossiers on selected industries and topics, analyst insights and case studies. Includes primary sources, unlimited downloads, and export of results in PowerPoint, Excel PDF and Graphic (PNG) formats.

Multidisciplinary Databases

The databases in this list are appropriate for all kinds of topics. Use these databases to search for scholarly journal articles as well as newspaper articles, reports, and other kinds of documents.

Academic OneFile This link opens in a new window
A premier source of peer-reviewed full-text scholarly content across the academic disciplines. With millions of articles available in both PDF and HTML full-text, Academic OneFile is both authoritative and comprehensive.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
A multi-disciplinary database of journals, monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.; many are peer reviewed. Nearly all areas of study are covered with articles as far back as 1887.
Gale Databases This link opens in a new window
General and discipline-specific periodicals coverage as well as general reference information with some full-text content. Databases include: Computer Database, Expanded Academic ASAP, General Business File ASAP, General Reference Center Gold, Health Reference Center Academic, Informe (Hispanic magazines), InfoTrac OneFile, Literature Resource Center, InfoTrac Religion and Philosophy, Military and Intelligence Database, Professional Collection, and Testing & Education Reference Center.
OneSearch@Evans Library This link opens in a new window
Performs a Google-like search of Evans Library materials including the contents of journals and books. Allows you to limit to items with full text and articles from academic publications, including peer-reviewed.
ProQuest This link opens in a new window
Abstracting, indexing, and full text access for core scholarly journals, magazines, major newspapers, and other publications covering a broad range of subjects. To allow linking to all Evans Library scholarly journals do not select "Full Text."
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Citations and abstracts for peer-reviewed literature and scientific data across all research fields and going back to 1960, with smart tools that track, analyze, and visualize these research results.