Welcome back! This is one of the most exciting times of the semester. All possibilities are open and everything is new. Soon, you will need to start researching; whether it’s for class, papers, or journal comments, the search for information will begin. Here are some resources to help get you started on your research quest!
One of our favorite go-to databases is HeinOnline. This database is a collection of primary and secondary legal resources. If you are looking for current federal law, historical state statutes, federal administrative law, U.S. Supreme Court cases, and especially law journals, then HeinOnline is a great place to start your search. One fairly unique feature of HeinOnline is that all of the material is available as PDF files. This means that each document is a scan of the actual physical item and not just an electronic copy of the data that may differ in content and appearance from the original print copy. It’s easy to get to from the Texas Tech University Law Library’s main web page, just scroll down to “Research and Reference” and click on “HeinOnline.”
Another resource we have to help you locate difficult-to-find government documents is ProQuest Congressional. This database has an extensive collection of legislative histories, committee hearings, prints, reports, and bill texts and tracking. This database is also easily located from the Texas Tech University Law Library’s main web page (see image above).
As a reminder, don’t forget that there are many interdisciplinary databases and materials available to you from the main University Library’s webpage. While the Law Library’s collection of books and materials is focused on law and legal research and is the best place to start when doing legal research, the main University Library has material covering many other topics that can help you with interdisciplinary research.
The main University Library database collection includes Academic Search Complete and EBSCO. They also have access to JSTOR, which is a collaborative collection of digitized journals and books. If you have the name of a journal and want to know if articles from it are available, start your search in E-Journals A-Z.
The main University Library is also the place to get materials through ILL (Interlibrary Loan). If there is something you need and we don’t have it in our collection, use “Document Delivery” and get the item sent to you from another library. It is free of charge and easy to use.
This is just a quick peek at some of the materials that are available to you to help with your research projects. As always, if you need help with your research, ask a librarian! It’s what we’re here to do.
If you’re a student, contact Alyson Drake (alyson.drake@ttu.edu) with questions. If you’re a faculty member, contact Jamie Baker (jamie.baker@ttu.edu) or your faculty liaison for assistance.
During regular business hours, there is also an on-call librarian who can help. Stop by the Circulation Desk to ask for the on-call librarian.
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