The D.C. Circuit recently affirmed the decision to list polar bears as an endangered species. According to the court, “a number of industry groups, environmental organizations, and states challenged the Listing Rule as either overly restrictive or insufficiently protective of the polar bear.” This might be an excellent issue for an AWR! 

 In addition to the legal materials that you can find on Westlaw and Lexis, you should also explore the scholarly, non-legal resources in ProQuest Research Library on endangered species, climate change and the effects of the loss of polar bears on Native Peoples. ProQuest Research Library can be found in the drop-down menu on the Library’s website under Library Databases. If you need help searching ProQuest, you can always drop by the Legal Research Help Desk, Ask a Librarian  or if you are a self-learner, check out this research guide about how to use ProQuest Research Library.

Another Proquest Database, Proquest Congressional has this research guide on endangered species.  

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Visit: www.phoenixlaw.edu/BAP

 Researching  a topic and want to know what congress has had to say about it? One of the best resources for congressional research is ProQuest Congressional .  Why would you use ProQuest Congressional instead of Westlaw and Lexis? Here are some examples.

Let’s say you are writing your paper on the Indian Court of Offenses and want to cite to the 1926 primary source hearings on that subject…it’s on ProQuest Congressional but not on WL or Lexis.  In fact, ProQuest Congressional has documents that go back to 1789! Maybe you are researching the recent Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 but want some historical perspective on the topic. ProQuest Congressional has hearings and congressional reports that pre-date the passage of the original Violence Against Women Act of 1990.  ProQuest also includes document types not found on WL or Lexis, like maps!  

ProQuest Congressional can be found in the drop-down menu on the Library’s website under Library Databases. 

It’s easy to see what you are searching when you go to the Advanced Search screen:

Questions? Ask a Librarian!

I’ve graduated.  Now what?  How do I afford research? Come find out at our workshop titled Real World Research, this Tuesday, February 26th, from noon-1pm in Classroom 1337. Learn about the most important legal resources for research, including those that are free, which are essential for legal practice.  Discover an affordable alternative to Westlaw and Lexis – FastCase. FastCase provides access to a variety of legal resources including cases, statutes, and secondary sources.

Are you a first semester 1L interested in the basics of legal research?  Come to our Introduction to Legal Research workshop, this Thursday, February 28th, from noon-1pm in Classroom 1535, where you'll discover how to navigate Westlaw and Lexis in order to find reliable authority.

Can't make it this week? The Law Library will be offering workshops on many different topics throughout the semester. Take a look at our library workshops page to view a list of workshop descriptions and a link to the workshop calendar.

Tried Googling HeinOnline or ProQuest and can’t get in? Want to search FastCase but don’t have the password it requests?

The BEST way to access those and all the other fabulous library databases for your AWR paper is to go to the Library’s website  and click on the drop down menu below Library Databases.

When you go through the library’s website and are on campus you won’t have to enter a username and  password (unless it’s a database like Lexis or Westlaw where you have been issued an individual password, those databases have an * in the list). If you are off campus, you will be asked for your full name (Joe Smith) and library barcode number (the long number on the back of your library card below the barcode).