Research Guide for: Mass Communications and Theatre Arts

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COMM 4454

MASS MEDIA LAW

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LEGAL BACKGROUND MATERIAL, HANDBOOKS, AND DICTIONARIES

These books are located in the Reference Area on the main floor. They will help you to define your terms and give you some historical and background material on certain issues - a good place to start your research..

Black's Law Dictionary (West, 1990)

REF KF 156 .B53 1990

West's Encyclopedia of American law. (West, 1998)

KF154 .W47 1998

Mass Media and the Constitution; an Encyclopedia of Supreme Court Decisions. (Garland, 1989)

REF KF 2750 .A59 H58 1989

Supreme Court and the Mass Media: Selected Cases, Summaries, and Analyses. (Praeger, 1990)

REF KF2750 .A59 C36 1990

Communications Law : Media, Entertainment, and Regulation. (Anderson, 1997)

REF KF2750.A7 C66x 1997

U.S. Supreme Court Reports

JU6:8 (government documents section)

Lawyers' Edition, U.S. Supreme Court Reports

REF KF 101 .U7X

SEARCHING LEXIS-NEXIS

Finding Lexis-Nexis:

Go to the Library's Home Page [http://www.westga.edu/~library/]

Click on "Databases and GALILEO"

Click on "GALILEO Version 7" at the GALILEO Home Page

Click on "Fulltext Journal/Newspaper Articles" (Lexis is available from most of the other subject categories as well)

Then click on "Lexis-Nexis"

Lexis Nexis is a unique database because it provides a full library of legal and business resources. In addition, you can find general literature which can be used to supplement your research.

Most of your research will probably center on the "Legal Research" section. But you can also use the "News" section for general periodical articles.

From the OVERVIEW screen, you might choose any of the following, depending on your topic or specific law case:

Legal and General Information Links

General News fulltext articles from magazines and newspapers

Legal News fulltext articles from legal newsletters and publications

Law Reviews fulltext law review articles

Name and Cite (also known as "get a case") search here for a specific case

Federal Case Law search here by topic to find federal cases

State Case Law search here by topic to find state cases

Topical Law searching by topic within broad legal categories, such as criminal law

Help Screens

Citing References in AU examples of bibliographic citations for Lexis-Nexis material

How Do I ... answers to some common questions about searching the database

Source List a list of every publication that is indexed in the database

SEARCHING TIPS

Be aware of the drop down menus: be sure to specify in the drop down menu the

source you want to search e.g. in General News, you can search newspapers, magazines, TV and radio show transcripts, etc. and you can vary the date range.

Searching your topic to find a specific legal case: it is difficult to search Lexis cases by topic in the fulltext mode. It is better to choose the "More Options" search screen and then limit the search of your topic to just the Opinion field or the Syllabus field.

Searching for the text of a specific case, such as Branzburg v. Hayes: use the "Name and Cite" database, which searches both Federal and State cases. If you want to see a print copy of a Supreme Court Case, jot down the citation you find in the "parallel cites" e.g. 408 U.S. 665 for Branzburg v. Hayes and look for v. 408 in the Supreme Court Reports in the U.S. government documents area of the library or for the Lawyers' Edition Annotated (33 L. Ed. 2d 626) in Reference..

To find articles that discuss a particular case: use the "Law Reviews" option use a "KWIC Search". (This allows you to see how often your case is actually mentioned in the article. (KWIC is "keyword in context")

Truncate: if you need to expand your search, use the root of a word plus the !, e.g. medic! will find medical, medication, medicine, medicinal, etc.

Printing and downloading to disk (from the browser) and emailing, are all available.

Look at "Citing References in AU" for help when putting together your bibliography if you are citing a Lexis article.