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Introduction to Law and Justice

 I. Library Homepage

Provides access to the catalog (OPAC), databases, interlibrary loan forms, etc.

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II. Find Books

• Catalog: use this to find books, periodical titles (NOT articles), government documents, reserve item, music,and movies owned by the Library. You may limit a search by language, year(s) of publication, type of material, etc. This may take a few seconds to load.

• In Basic Search, search the catalog using Keywords to find material, for example:

   

  • Search for justice or morality to locate a broad range of material and look for ideas for your project.

   

  • Use quotation marks around a multi-word phrase, e.g., "human rights,"or "rational behavior" to ensure that the catalog will locate more focused results.

                OR

• Use the Name Title Browse feature to locate works by a particular  theorists. For example, Kant, Immanuel

               OR

• Use the Subject Browse feature if you know the relevant Library of Congress (LC) subject heading, for example,

History--Philosophy    Jurisprudence    Law--Philosophy    Natural Law

 

Tips    

1. Start with broad searches. It's much easier to discard too much rather than start with too little.
2. If you don't know the Subject Heading, use the Subjects, etc... tab located on the top of a catalog record to get to the headings. This will help you focus in on more relevant material.
3. You can "virtually" browse the shelves by clicking on the call number in a record and viewing the records for similar items.

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III. Reference Material

• The reference stacks are located on the 3rd floor (this is also the library's entrance).
• Some useful materials for your projects:

Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy	Online Reference Shelf
Cambridge Encyclopedia of Philosophy	Online Reference Shelf
The Online Books Page	Online Reference Shelf
World Philosophies	Ref B 72 .S64 1999
The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy	Ref B 51 .R68 1998 (10v)
Political Philosophy: theories, thinkers, concepts	Ref JA 71 .P6226 2001
Routledge Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Political Thinkers	Ref JA 83 .R 725 2004
Encyclopedia of Law and Society	Ref K 583 .E53 2007
Blackwell Companion to Law and Society	Ref K 370 .B554 2004

Tips

1. Use reference books to browse for project ideas and to get started on your research.
2. Use the Bibliographies at the end of encyclopedia entries to find more information on your topic.

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IV. Electronic Resources

Some useful Databases for your projects:

    Tips

1. Switch to the Advanced Search page in a database. This will give you more control over your results.
2. Use Boolean Operators-AND, OR, NOT when running a search. For Example: morality OR morals AND ethics NOT torture
3. Always check your Spelling if the database results are Zero..

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V. Interlibrary Loan

Both of these links can be found under QUICK LINKS on the library's homepage.

• Interlibrary Loan: allows students to borrow a book or article that the Potter library does not own. There is a link from the Journal Finder page.

• Journal Finder: this indicates whether information in the library is either full-text, in print or in microfilm format.

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VI. Web Sources

• Use the following Subject Resource under Mutidisciplinary and Statistics to locate supplemental information on your topic.

• Academic Info: Provides topics in the humanities, social sciences and sciences.

• Bureau of Justice Statistics: Information and statistics on criminals, victims, prosecution, law enforcement, etc.

• Use Evaluating Websites to determine if the site is authoritative enough to use in your paper.

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VII. Bibliographies

• Use Basic Legal Citations for citing legal sources
• Use the Citing Websites and Print Sources for non-legal citation styles

• Use QandA NJ.org, a 24/7 virtual chat service with a reference librarian.

Need more help? Visit or call the Reference Desk: 201.684.7574
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