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Citation CheckingThis selective guide highlights major electronic and print resources available to Cleveland-Marshall College of Law students verifying citations for Cleveland State Law Review (K 3 .L495) or Journal of Law and Health (K 10 .O8767) articles, faculty research assistance work, or their own student projects. Please contact the Research Services librarians during their scheduled hours, or via email to research.services@law.csuohio.edu, for assistance in locating and using these or other resources to meet your needs. Some of the links below lead to LexisNexis and Westlaw services and files, which require a student password for access. Other links lead to records in Scholar, the Cleveland State University electronic catalog. Use your browser's "Back" button to return to this Citation Checking guide. Citation Format Guides and Resources General Resources for Articles and Books Law Review, Journal, Periodical, and Newspaper ArticlesCitations in Materials of Other Disciplines
If you are trying to verify a short citation that relates to a citation in an earlier section of an article than the section you have been assigned, start by identifying the initial citation. Even if the initial citation is incomplete, it may provide information to help verify your assigned short citation. Your editorial staff or professor should be able to provide you with the initial citation. The two main examples of short citations that relate to a citation in an earlier section of an article are:
Authors often cite their own publications. If you are not having any luck determining a correct complete citation, consider reviewing footnotes in other articles by the same author. Remember that citations can refer to items published or produced in a variety of formats. In addition to traditional print materials, you may need to use microform or audiovisual materials, as well as electronic databases and Web sites. If you have an incomplete citation, or suspect a citation is inaccurate, use the information you have in a print or electronic index or database to try to determine the correct complete citation. For example, use keywords in the article title, journal title, book chapter title, or book title - as well as synonyms for those keywords - with the author's name. Electronic databases often do not cover periodical materials published before 1980, but there are exceptions. Before using a database, consult its coverage or scope information to see if it will help you find the information you're seeking. See the Law Review, Journal, Periodical, and Newspaper Articles section of this guide for additional information on databases with pre-1980 periodical coverage. Our Law Library may not own the item you need to verify a citation. Remember that you can search for and request items via the OhioLINK Library Catalog, but, in general, you cannot request entire journal issues via OhioLINK. If you cannot find a needed item in OhioLINK, or OhioLINK will not allow you to request an item, talk to a Law Library staff member at the Information Services Desk. We may be able to refer you to a nearby library that does own the item, or contact a library to obtain citation verification information for you. You may also want to make an Interlibrary Loan request for the item. See the General Resources for Articles and Books section of this guide for additional information on Interlibrary Loan.
Citation Format Guides and Resources The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, 18th ed. / Columbia Law Review Association, Harvard Law Review Association, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and Yale Law Journal, 2005. KF 245 .B58 The Bluebook provides many examples of citation formats that may help you to understand the citations you are trying to verify. Other good sources for citation formats include the Columbia Law Review (K 3 .O46 & Electronic), Harvard Law Review (K 8 .A69 & Electronic), University of Pennsylvania Law Review (K 25 .N69 & Electronic), and Yale Law Journal (K 29 .A4 & Electronic), the journals whose editors compiled The Bluebook. Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations, 5th ed. / William S. Hein & Co., 2001. KF 246 .P74 2001 Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed. / Thomson/West, 1999. KF 156 .B53 Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations, 2nd ed. / Donald Raistrick. / Bowker-Saur, 1993. KD 400 .R35 1993 [For Great Britain and United Kingdom.] Legal Looseleafs in Print. / InfoSources Publishing. KF 1 .L43 Legal Newsletters in Print. / InfoSources Publishing. KF 1 .L44 These annual publications may help you verify a title and publisher, as well as provide an ISSN number for precise searching in library catalogs.
Note: For information on Ohio case citations since 30 April 2002, see Ohio Rules of Court Rules for Reporting of Opinions As Amended Effective May 1, 2002, available from the Ohio Supreme Court Web site. In particular, see Rule 7. Form of Citation.
General Resources for Articles and Books
Use Scholar to find a print or electronic copy of a journal or book. Scholar is the electronic catalog for Cleveland State University's Law Library and University Library. If CSU owns the journal or book, Scholar will refer you to its print and/or electronic copies. Be sure to note the journal's or book's location and call number before heading to the stacks. For additional information on how to use Scholar, connect to Hands-On Library Instruction: Finding Books.
OhioLINK is a consortium of Ohio academic libraries that provides a central catalog of its member libraries' collections, as well as access to research databases, electronic journals, and digitized media. The OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center includes over 6,400 full-text journals. If the CSU libraries do not have a book, look for it in the OhioLINK Library Catalog. Note that the OhioLINK Library catalog may provide sufficient information to verify an entire book citation. However, if you need to get the book itself, request it by clicking on "Request This Item" in the book's catalog display. Then follow the instructions and prompts. OhioLINK requested items are usually delivered within several business days, and Law Library staff will notify you when your requested items arrive.
Cleveland Area Libraries Cuyahoga County Public Library is part of OhioLINK, but the Cleveland Public Library CLEVNET system is not. If the CSU libraries and OhioLINK do not have a journal or book, consider searching the Cleveland Public Library Catalog for it. You may get what you need faster by directly calling or going to a library in the CLEVNET Library Consortium.
If you cannot find a journal or book using Scholar, OhioLINK, LexisNexis, or Westlaw try to at least locate the journal or book title in the OhioLINK research database WorldCat. The WorldCat database is a catalog containing over 43 million records of items in libraries all over the world (including all Cleveland area libraries). WorldCat catalog records may provide sufficient information to verify your entire book citation.
Interlibrary Loan If you cannot get a book or a journal or newspaper article at a Cleveland area library, to get the book or article itself you will need to make an Interlibrary Loan request. You can do this in person at the Law Library Information Services Desk, or electronically by completing an InterLibrary Loan Book Request Form or Interlibrary Loan Copy Request Form.
Law Review, Journal, Periodical, and Newspaper Articles See the Finding Articles in Law Reviews, Journals and Other Legal Periodicals guide for an explanation of the legal periodical indexes and databases available to Cleveland-Marshall College of Law students and the CSU community. That guide covers print and electronic indexes, as well as electronic full-text journals.
Use Scholar or Journal Finder to find a print or electronic copy of the journal or newspaper in which your article is published. Remember, Scholar is the electronic catalog for Cleveland State University's Law Library and University Library. Journal Finder is an electronic tool for locating journals, periodicals, and newspapers in the CSU libraries. If CSU has the journal or newspaper, Scholar and Journal Finder will refer you to its print and/or electronic copies. CSU subscribes to HeinOnline, a searchable database of full-text articles in nearly 400 legal periodicals. Unlike many electronic periodical databases, Hein Online includes full publication years of its journals, a pre-1980 coverage unique to its service.
If the CSU libraries do not have the journal or newspaper in which your article is published, try to verify your article citation by using LexisNexis, Westlaw, an OhioLINK resource, or a periodical index. LexisNexis and Westlaw include thousands of full-text journals, periodicals, and newspapers, as well as Index to Legal Periodicals & Books and Legal Resource Index for 1980 to the present. OhioLINK has many resources to aid journal article citation checking. Its Electronic Journal Center includes over 6,400 full-text journals; note in particular the Politics, Political Science, and Law electronic journal group. Its Law and Legislation databases includes LexisNexis Academic. CSU subscribes to Wilsonweb's ILP/ILP Retrospective, which includes an electronic version of the full run of Index to Legal Periodicals and Books and links to full text articles in Hein Online. You may need to consult a print periodical index on select occasions, such as verifying pre-1980 citations. Print law-related periodical indexes in the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library:
Sample Article Citation Verification: Forte: Marbury's Travail. (1996) Is this to a book? Is this a complete title? What's the author's first name? What are the pages? Below is one method for verifying this citation. (A) To see if this is a book citation, conduct a keyword search in the Scholar and/or OhioLINK and/or WorldCat electronic catalogs. [For more information on book searching, see the Books and Book Chapters section of this guide.] Since nothing is retrieved in these catalog searches, you can be fairly certain that this is a journal article citation. (B) Use your citation's keywords in a print or electronic index or database to try to determine the correct complete citation. Since this is a post-1980 publication, it should be in an electronic index or database. In LexisNexis, you would conduct your keyword search in the Index to Legal Periodicals (ILP) or Legal Resource Index (LGLIND) files. In Westlaw, you would conduct your keyword search in the Index to Legal Periodicals (ILP) or Legal Resource Index (LRI) databases. Using LexisNexis or Westlaw, you can determine that the complete citation is: Forte, David F.: Marbury's Travail: Federalist Politics and William Marbury's Appointment as Justice of the Peace. 45 Catholic University Law Review 349 (Winter 1996) (C) To be absolutely certain that the electronic index is correct, you may want to verify the article by seeing it in print or in Hein Online. In Scholar, you would conduct a title search for Catholic University Law Review to determine its call number and location in the Law Library. In Hein Online, you would conduct a search using the volume number, journal title, and page. Note: You could have also gone with a hunch that this was a journal article citation and used Hein Online to conduct a search with your citation's keywords. [Once connected to the Hein Online Law Journal Library, simply click on Search at the upper left, then follow the directions and prompts.]
Editions If your book citation specifies a particular book edition, be sure to locate that specific book edition. If you use a different edition, it may or may not contain the information or exact quote used by your author. Reprints Classic and older books are often reprinted. In many cases the pages are printed as in the original publication. If you cannot find an original publication of a book, it is generally acceptable to use a reprint publication of it. Book Chapters Electronic library catalogs sometimes include contents notes for books, and you can often use keywords from a book chapter title to search for a book. However, if your book chapter title keyword search is unsuccessful, you will need to search for the book itself to verify the chapter information. Also remember that books can be edited by one or more individuals, and the chapters within such edited books can be authored by one or more individuals.
Sample Book Citation Verification: Mules, Madonnas, Babies. (2003) Is this to a book? Is this a book chapter? Who's the author? Who's the publisher? Below is one method for verifying this citation. (A) To see if this is a book citation, conduct a keyword search in the Scholar and/or OhioLINK and/or WorldCat electronic catalogs. (B) Conducting such a search in Scholar retrieves the book Critical Race Feminism: a Reader, 2nd edition, edited by Adrien Wing (New York: New York University Press, c2003), with one contents note that indicates Linda L. Ammons authored one of its book chapters - "Mules, Madonnas, Babies, Bathwater, Racial Imagery, and Stereotypes: the African-American Woman and the Battered Woman Syndrome." (C) Conducting such a search in OhioLINK retrieves the same book, but with much more complete contents notes, including the note that this particular book chapter begins on page 261. Conducting such a search in WorldCat retrieves the same book, with more complete contents notes than the Scholar record, but less complete contents notes than the OhioLINK record.
US Government publication citations - particularly administrative and legislative materials - may appear complex when first encountered. To verify such citations, you may need to use an agency name, report/document title, report/document number, and publication date, as well as the Superintendent of Documents number or another agency numbering system. Talk to a Research Services Librarian. The Law Library is a Federal Depository Library, and the Research Services Librarians can help you identify and locate U.S. Government publications. For a comprehensive description and discussion of administrative and legislative materials, including GPO Access, see the Administrative Law and Federal Legislative History research guides on the Law Library Publications page.
The LexisNexis CheckCite tool verifies citations through the LexisNexis Shepard's citation research service. Remember that Shepard's can only be used with cases, statutes, and regulations, as well as selected court rules, administrative agency decisions, patents, and law review articles. To use CheckCite, you must download the CheckCite software from the LexisNexis for Law Schools Web site. If you are a faculty member or student at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, you will not be able to download to your office computer nor to the computers in the PC Lab. You will need to download to your home computer. To download the CheckCite software: (A) Connect to the LexisNexis for Law Schools Web site. (B) Click on LexisNexis Tools (in the left column). (C) At the LexisNexis Tools page, click on CheckCite (in the Downloads column). The system will ask you to sign on with your LexisNexis Custom ID and Password. Once signed on, the system will display information on available "Software Downloads for Law Schools." (D) Click on Citation Tools, then follow the directions and prompts. Whenever you start a Check Cite session, the system will ask you to: (A) Name the session. (B) Name the client or project. (C) Enter the name of the document to be checked. [Note that you can browse your file directory to select a document.] (D) Indicate where you want the CheckCite report to be delivered. (E) Indicate what options you want CheckCite to use when checking the document; options include Shepard's, Auto-Cite, QuoteCheck, and Full Text. (F) Check the document (ie, by clicking the "Next" button). [If you have not already signed on to LexisNexis, the system will now prompt you to sign on.] (G) Create the report. Note that the system will display the document's citations and allows you to adjust options for each citation; only when satisfied with your options, should you click "Create Report." Consult the LexisNexis Citation Tools ... LEXLink v. 8.4 and CheckCite v. 8.4 for additional information on CheckCite. This extensive brochure is available from the Reference Literature section of Learning LexisNexis, a link on the LexisNexis for Law Schools Web site.
The Westlaw WestCheck service verifies citations through the Westlaw KeyCite citation research service. Remember that KeyCite can only be used with cases, statutes, and regulations, as well as selected administrative agency decisions and secondary sources. You can directly connect to the WestCheck Web site at https://westcheck.com. You can also connect to WestCheck via the lawschool.westlaw.com Web site. After signing on to Westlaw, note the "Quick Links" in the left frame. One of these links is to WestCheck. You can also download the WestCheck software from the lawschool.westlaw.com Web site. If you are a faculty member or student at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, you will not be able to download to your office computer nor to the computers in the PC Lab. You will need to download to your home computer. To download the WestCheck software: (A) Connect to the lawschool.westlaw.com Web site. (B) Click on "Discover Westlaw" on the left side of the top black navigation bar. (C) At the Discover Westlaw page, click on "Westlaw Services" in the left blue navigation bar. (D) At the Westlaw Services page, note the WestCheck information in the right frame. There you will see links to connect to WestCheck.com and download WestCheck software. Click on download WestCheck, then follow the directions and prompts. Whenever you start a WestCheck session, the system will ask you to: (A) Enter the name of the document to be checked, or the citation(s) to be checked. [Note that you can browse your file directory to select a document.] (B) Start the checking process by clicking the "Next" button. (C) Indicate what options (ie, KeyCite, Find, and Table of Authorities) you want WestCheck to use when checking the document, select KeyCite options for cases and statutes, as well as select report format and display/delivery options. (D) Check the document and display/deliver the report (ie, by clicking the round purple "Go" button). [If you have not already signed on to Westlaw, the system will now prompt you to sign on.] For additional information on WestCheck, connect to the WestCheck.com User Guides page at: http://west.thomson.com/westcheck/guides.aspx.
Citations in Materials of Other Disciplines As with legal citations, for citations in materials of other disciplines use Scholar or Journal Finder to find a print or electronic copy of a journal or book. CSU also subscribes to Wilsonweb's ILP/ILP Retrospective, which includes electronic versions of education, humanities, and social sciences periodical indexes, as well as links to full text articles. You may need to consult a print periodical index on select occasions, such as verifying pre-1980 citations. The CSU University Library has scores of print periodical indexes, including Chemical Abstracts (QD 1 .A51; 1907- ), Education Index (Z 5813 .A22; 1929- ), Religion Index (Z 7753 .A5; 1977- ), Science Citation Index (Z 7401 .S365; 1961- ), and Social Sciences Citation Index (Z 7161 .A3; 1969- ).
If the CSU libraries do not have the journal or newspaper in which your article is published, try to verify your journal article citation by using LexisNexis, Westlaw, an OhioLINK resource, or a periodical index. LexisNexis and Westlaw include thousands of full-text journals, periodicals, and newspapers in a wide variety of disciplines. LexisNexis includes source files in over 50 topical areas of law; business, medical, and statistical source files; as well as hundreds of news source files. Westlaw includes includes databases in over 40 topical areas of law; medical, social sciences, and statistical databases; as well as scores of business and news databases. OhioLINK has many resources to aid non-law article citation checking. The OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center includes over 6,400 full-text journals in a wide variety of disciplines. The OhioLINK Research Databases cover numerous academic areas and disciplines. For example, its Medicine and Health databases include MEDLINE (1950- ), Biological Abstracts (1980- ), CINAHL (Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, 1982- ), PsycINFO (1872- ), and Science Citation Index (1980- ).
If you do not have an exact URL (ie, Web site address) for a Web site, use a WorldWideWeb Search Engine such as Google or Vivisimo to try to connect to the site. See the Web Searching guide for a comprehensive review of Web search principles and search engines. Remember that Web sites change over time. You may have a citation to an item on a Web site that no longer exists. The Internet Archive may help you to verify such items.
Cleveland State Law Review and Journal of Law and Health Law Library Liaisons: Amy Burchfield, Access & Faculty Services Librarian amy.burchfield@law.csuohio.edu Laura Ray, Educational Programming Librarian
Interlibrary Loan: Tom Hurray
Laura Ray, Educational Programming Librarian Marie Rehmar, Head of Research Services February 2007; rev mr 8/1/07 |