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Cite Checker's Guide: Articles

Helpful tips for law review cite checking assignments.

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Find Articles & Journals

Step 1: Use the catalog to check if the library has the journal you’re looking for in print or online. First, try searching for the article title. If that doesn't return any results, search for the journal title

Step 2: Use Open Access Tools. Google ScholarUnpaywall, and the Open Access Button harvest scholarly articles from Open Access sources and make them freely available. All three services have browser extensions available; if you can't find the article you're looking for in Primo or the databases mentioned above, search for the article title in Google and Google Scholar, then use the browser extensions to see if the article is freely available through one of these tools. 

Step 3: Check Lexis and Westlaw, as well as the journal databases and indexes below, as not all journal databases are available to search through the library's catalog. (If you are a cite checker looking for articles with the original pagination, you may want to skip Lexis and Westlaw and move on to the databases below.)

The best bets for locating legal journal articles are HeinOnline's Law Journal Library and LegalTrac. The best bets for locating non-legal journal articles are EBSCO's Academic Search Premier and JSTOR

Legal Journal Sources

Non-Legal Journal Sources

Step 4: If you haven't located the article or journal you're looking for, here are some others to consult: 

Step 5: Tried steps 1-4 and still no luck? Fill out the online Interlibrary Loan Request form. We'll find other libraries who have access to the journal and get you a copy, usually via email. Please note: Only L&C Law students, faculty and staff may use this form to make ILL requests. ILL requests made by anyone outside the law school community will be rejected. 

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Finding Articles Video