Accessing LexisNexis

• Go to the CSUS Library Homepage at http://library.csustan.edu
• Click on Find: Articles in Journals, Magazines, & Newspapers, then on Law/Legal Issues, and then on LexisNexis: Academic Search.
• At the opening screen, click the red Legal button in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.

 

 

Finding Case Law

• Choose Federal & State Cases on the right side of the screen.

 

To search by party names or citation:

 

• Click the Terms and Connectors radio button above the first search box.
• Choose Federal & State Cases, Combined from the Select Sources pull-down menu.
• Use the Case Name or the Citation Number search boxes.

 

To search by topic or keywords:

 

• Click the Natural Language radio button above the first search box.
• Use the Select Sources pull-down menu to choose a specific court or courts.
• Enter your terms in the first search box.
• When searching multiple terms, enter the most important terms first.
• The more search terms you enter, the less results you’ll retrieve.
• If your search doesn’t yield the results you’re looking for, try different search terms (synonyms, removing a word or words, changing the order of the terms, etc.).

 

 

Finding Statutes

 

• Choose Federal Code & State Codes on the right side of the screen.
• Select the Natural Language button above the first search box.

 

To search the California Code by citation:

 

• Choose State Codes, Constitutions, Court Rules & ALS from the Select Sources pull-down menu.
• Click the [ + ] Show link under the search boxes and change the Section pull-down menu to Cite.
• In the Terms box, enter your citation starting with cal, then the first three letters of the title followed by an exclamation point, and then the section number. So for the California Penal Code section 146, you would enter the following: cal pen! 146

 

To search the California Code by topic or keywords:

 

• Follow the instructions above but change the Section pull-down menu to State and then enter California in the Terms box underneath Section.
• Enter your search terms in the first box.

 

To search the United States Code by citation:

 

• Choose United States Code Services, Titles 1 through 50 from the Select Sources pull-down menu.
• Click the [ + ] Show link under the search boxes and change the Section pull-down menu to Cite.
• In the Terms box, enter your citation, putting the number of the title first, then usc, and then the section number, like this: 18 usc 1961

 

To search the United States Code by topic or keywords:

 

• Choose United States Code Services, Titles 1 through 50 from the Select Sources pull-down menu.
• Enter your search terms in the first box.

 

 

Finding Law Reviews

 

• Choose Law Reviews on the right side of the screen.
• Select the Natural Language button above the first search box.
• To search by citation, use the Article Citation box.
• To search by topic, enter your search terms in the first box.

 

 

Printing from LexisNexis

 

• To print just the first page of a case or law review, bring up the full text and then click on the small printer icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
• When the print window pops up, click the red Print button.
• When the Windows print box pops up, choose the button labeled Pages: From 1 to 1 and click OK.
• You can also email articles or cases to yourself by clicking the little envelope icon next to the print icon. The documents will be sent as MS Word attachments, and you can then print them using MS Word.