PennWest University Libraries: Legal Studies Guide: Start Here

Welcome!

Welcome to the Legal Studies Guide. This guide will introduce you to resources that may help you with your assignments and projects. It also introduces you to the paralegal career. If you need assistance, please visit the Help page.

Research Databases for Legal Studies

Legal Collection This link opens in a new window An authoritative source for information on current issues, studies, thoughts and trends of the legal world, Legal Collection contains full text for more than 250 of the world's most respected scholarly law journals.
Westlaw Campus Research This link opens in a new window Legal, news, and business-related research for students, faculty, and library staff.
Criminal Justice Abstracts This link opens in a new window The leading bibliographic database for criminal justice and criminology research. Criminal Justice Abstracts provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for over 800 journals covering all related subjects, including forensic sciences, corrections, policing, criminal law and investigation.
Journal of Forensic Sciences Archive This link opens in a new window Full text of complete issues of The Journal of Forensic Sciences from volume 17 (1972) to volume 50 (2021)
Sociological Collection This link opens in a new window This database provides coverage of more than 500 full text journals, including nearly 500 peer-reviewed titles, and offers information in all areas of sociology.

Other Databases

OneSearch This link opens in a new window OneSearch combines most of the library's resources into a single database. Rather than search databases separately, you can do just "one search." OneSearch includes articles, ebooks and books, and more.
Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new window
Alternate Link: Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO Classic Interface)
A multi-disciplinary database, Academic Search Ultimate offers students an unprecedented collection of peer-reviewed, full-text journals, including many journals indexed in leading citation indexes.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window Use this link to show PennWest full text in your Google Scholar results.
Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window Indexing and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals back as far as 1886 are included. In addition, searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,300 journals.
Company Investigator This link opens in a new window Profiles on more than 30 million public and private companies. Includes general corporate information, subsidiary data, legal disputes, and government filings. (Westlaw)
Statista This link opens in a new window Consolidates statistical data on over 80,000 topics from more than 22,500 sources and presented in a variety of formats including infographics, industry reports, and in-depth data analysis.

The Paralegal Career: An Overview (Websites)

Paralegal Career From LawyerEdu.org an overview that considers: Paralegal Job Description, Skills, Types of Paralegals, Education Requirements, Schools Offering a Certificate or Associate's Degree Program, Salary and Career Outlook.
Paralegals and Legal Assistants From the Occupational Outlook Handbook a description of job responsibilities, employment outlook, salaries, training, work environment, related careers.
Steps Toward a Paralegal Career in Pennsylvania A link from LawyerEdu.org focuses on the paralegal career in Pennsylvania and includes information on: Paralegal Education, Paralegal Experience in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Certified Paralegals, Paralegal Jobs in Pennsylvania, After Becoming a Paralegal in Pennsylvania (paralegal associations in the state).
U.S. News Money Best Social Services Jobs Overview of the paralegal occupation with salary data, reviews and advice, job listings, job satisfaction, salaries in your area, similar jobs.
Online Paralegal (Business Law) Day-to-day activities of a business law paralegal; job prospects; qualifications; advantages of paralegal specialization.

Media Resources

Seven Videos (Alexander Street Streaming Video) This series of streaming videos covers the basics for students pursuing legal and paralegal careers: Legal Briefs: The Briefer the Better; Legal Ethics: What Can I Do?; Legal Research: Where Do I Begin?; Legal Series Overview; Legal Writing: Just the Facts; Paralegal Employment; Paralegals in the Cyber World.
Paralegals and Legal Assistants Career Video A quick video on the roles and duties of paralegals and legal assistants in various professional settings.

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Library Catalog
Search the PennWest Libraries' online catalog to find physical items and eBooks.