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Legal Research: About Legal Research

Essential Books

Primary and Secondary Sources

                                             

Harvard Law School Library Research Service. (2024). Types of Legal Research Sources [Infographic]. Harvard Law School Library. https://guides.library.harvard.edu/law/researchstrategy. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Primary Sources in Legal Research: 

In legal research, primary sources are official documents created by the three branches of government and include:

  • Legal statutes
  • Court cases
  • Constitutions
  • Regulations

Secondary Sources in Legal Research:

In legal research, secondary sources analyze, explain or provide critique of the law. They are often useful places to begin research as they can offer context and more explanation than primary legal resources. Different secondary sources cover topics to varying degrees so it is important to consider which type of resource will be most useful to your research. Secondary sources include: 

  • Legal treatises
  • Encyclopedias
  • Dictionaries
  • Books
  • Articles
  • Legal directories
  • Restatements

Harvard Law School Library Research Service. (2024). Depth and Breadth of Secondary Sources [Infographic]. Harvard Law School Library. https://guides.library.harvard.edu/law/researchstrategy. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Instructional Books about Legal Research

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