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Education and Special Education Law

FINDING A TOPIC

Online Education Law-Related Blogs and Newsletters -

Newsletters on Lexis and Westlaw -

  • LEGNEWSL - contains databases of current legal newsletters available on Westlaw on a myriad of topics.
  • Combined Legal Newsletters - Lexis has a smaller newsletter database.
  • Education law-specific news is also available in both Lexis and Westlaw.
  • General (non-legal) news sources on both Westlaw and Lexis
    • ALLNEWS - Westlaw database, includes newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters, and more. You can restrict your search to materials published recently.
    • 90DAYS - Lexis database, includes general news articles published in the past 90 days.

Podcasts -

The Library's preemption check webpage can be used to find other resources on your topic or to make sure no one has already written on the exact same subject.

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FINDING A BOOK

In doing research for your paper or brief, it might be helpful to refer to a treatise, reporter, or handbook that specifically focuses on education or special education law such as:

Search Hastings Online Catalog for other print titles available at the Hastings Law Library. Be sure to use keyword searches for broad topics. Once you have narrowed your search down to a more specific subject heading, use subject searches to find all materials under your subject. Relevant subject searches might include:

Sample Subject Headings -

WorldCat -

You can search "WorldCat" on FirstSearch to find out if any books exist on your topic at local and worldwide libraries. If you find a book on your topic that we don't have at Hastings, you can submit a request to borrow the book through interlibrary loan (ILL). Simply click on the "ILL" button at the upper left corner of the WorldCat record. It can take up to two weeks to get books through ILL, so plan ahead.

There are lots of different ways to effectively search WorldCat. One possible "short-cut" search strategy is to:

- Search Google Books first. For example, search "Individuals with Disability Education Act" or "Lawyer's guide to Individuals with Disability Education Act"

- Find a few books that you would like to read, look at the Google Preview where available. If it is not in the Hastings catalog, do an author search on WorldCat.

The Sample Subject Headings listed above may also be useful in FirstSearch; you will have to manually put them together like this:

  • (su= "United States.") and (su= "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.")
  • (((su= "Children with disabilities")) AND su= "Education") AND (su= "Law and legislation") and (su= "United States.")

or find one good book and then click on the Subject Heading hyperlinks to find other similar titles.

For example, start with:

JONES, N. L., APLING, R. N., & SMOLE, D. P. (2004). Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): background and issues. New York, Nova Science Publishers.

and click on the hyperlinked subjects below (shown here without hyperlinks):

SUBJECT(S)

Children with disabilities -- Education -- Law and legislation -- United States.

United States. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.  

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FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES

Finding a journal article discussing the area of law about which you plan to write is a great way to start your research or to solidify an important point in your brief or paper. Check the following resources for relevant journal articles:

Periodical Indexes -

It's often helpful to search an index first to tailor your search to articles specifically on your topic.

LegalTrac - Indexing and full text of articles in all major law reviews, law journals, specialty law and bar association journals, and legal newspapers. Covers 1980 to the present.

Index to Legal Periodicals & Books - Indexes articles from more than 760 legal periodicals and over 2000 law books. Includes law reviews, bar association journals, university publications, yearbooks, institutes, and government publications. Check the "Legal Periodicals Retro" box to search articles published between 1908 and 1981.

Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals - Index of articles and book reviews from more than 450 legal periodicals, including journals, essay collections, festschrifts, and congress reports. Coverage includes international law (public and private), comparative law, and municipal law of countries other than the United States, British Isles, and British Commonwealth. Covers 1985 to the present.

Full Text Article Databases -


Westlaw - Search the full text of all of Westlaw's journals and law reviews [JLR] or search law reviews and newsletters specific to education law.

Lexis - Search Lexis' combined U.S. law reviews and journals database or search law reviews specific to education law.

ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) - A national information system funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences to provide access to education literature and resources. The database contains more than 1 million abstracts of education-related documents and journal articles going back to 1966. Some 107,000 full-text non-journal documents are accessible electronically in PDF format.

ABI/INFORM Complete - Four business, economics, finance and company research databases provided through ProQuest. ABI/INFORM Dateline covers local and regional business publications. ABI/INFORM Global covers nearly 1800 worldwide business periodicals. ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry covers trade and industry periodicals and newsletters. Hoover's Company Records provides current profiles of more than 40,000 public and non-public companies and 225,000 key executives.

Proquest Research Library - A large collection of full-text articles from journals, magazines and newspapers for information on a broad range of subjects such as business, political science, art, literature, law and psychology. Click on the "Select multiple databases" link to select/deselect specific subject modules, such as the Education Module, which includes titles on education subjects such as administration, policy, and teaching practices.

APA PsycNet - Includes PsycARTICLES (full text articles from over 50 top psychology journals), PsycBOOKS (scholarly books on psychology-related topics) and PsycINFO (index of nearly 2000 psychology titles).

JSTOR - Available to San Francisco Public Library cardholders. Includes the full-text of academic journals going back to 1838.

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AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS

Government Agencies

Non-Governmental Organizations

Disability Organizations/Education & Special Education Organizations

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STATISTICS

RESEARCH GUIDES

Special Education Law

  • Research Guide for Special Education Law - Guide prepared for the Ward E. Barnes Library, University of Missouri, St. Louis. Mostly highlights reference resources available in print, with some links to relevant websites. Focuses more on Special Education issues, less on law.
  • Online Guide to Special Education Law and Advocacy - Commercial Guide. Could be helpful for identifying current issues, for paper topics. Site is created by attorney and psychotherapist, Peter and Pam Wright. They attempt to provide current information about special education law and advocacy for an intended audience of parents, advocates, educators, and attorneys.

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GETTING HELP

The reference librarians at Hastings are available to help you formulate your research strategy and find the resources that might be useful in writing your paper. Feel free to ask questions at the Reference Desk during the hours it is staffed or email one of the librarians to make an individual appointment.

Created January 2010 by Hilary Hardcastle, Reference Librarian. Updated July 6, 2010.

Copyright © 2012 U.C. Hastings College of the Law. Redistribution or commercial use is prohibited without express written permission.