Legal Research

To start your legal research, you'll need to make sure you understand the issues you're researching. Use commentary sources, like texts or legal encyclopedias, to find overviews and help you define the issues that are applicable in your scenario.

Textbooks

Use Page 1+, the Library's search tool, to search the Library's collection of legal textbooks (online and in print) to find resources available to Conestoga students. Textbooks will summarize relevant legislation and cases and may also provide legal analysis and policy discussion.

To explore the legal literature beyond Conestoga's collections, search the Index to Canadian Legal Literature, found in LawSource. Submit requests for the library to make purchases using our request form.

Legal Encyclopedias

Legal encyclopedias help you understand the state of law on a topic by summarizing relevant laws and cases. They don't provide legal analysis.

The Conestoga Library provides access to two comprehensive legal encyclopedias:

Journals

Search for journal articles to find more specific details and discussion of a topic, particularly if you find that textbooks and legal encyclopedias don't have enough information for your needs. Journal articles may have been written on important cases or legislation changes.

Use Quicklaw's journals collection to for the broadest access to legal journals. 

Also try these other collections containing legal journals focusing on criminal law.