Starting Your Research

How to find books and journals?

Search the SOAS Library catalogue . This will find print and electronic books and print journals. Widen your search to include other research libraries in the UK and Ireland by using Library Hub Discover .

How to find journal articles?

If you know the article you are looking for search the eJournal and eBook Finder &/or the Library catalogue for the title of the journal. If you want to find what articles have been written on a certain subject then start with EBSCO Discovery searching tool and then move on to more subject-specific databases. In particular, when searching for articles in law journals use Westlaw UK and HeinOnline .

How to find case law?

In many instances where students are referred to specific cases by members of academic staff direct links will be provided on reading lists on MOODLE.

However if you are looking for cases from specific jurisdictions where you have no direct links or if you want to search case law on a particular topic in a particular jurisdiction use the available law databases as follows:

• UK: Westlaw UK , LexisLibrary , Family Law Online , HeinOnline
• EU: Westlaw UK , LexisLibrary
• International & regional courts: Oxford Reports on International Law , HeinOnline , Westlaw International , Westlaw UK , LexisLibrary
• Australia: LexisLibrary , Westlaw International
• Canada: LexisLibrary , Westlaw International
• China: Westlaw China , Beida
• Hong Kong: Westlaw Chin a , Beida , LexisLibrary , Westlaw International
• India: Manupatra
• Ireland: LexisLibrary
• Israel; LexisLibrary
• Kenya: LawAfrica
• Malaysia: LexisLibrary
• New Zealand: LexisLibrary
• Pakistan: Pakistanlawsite
• Singapore: LexisLibrary
• South Africa; LexisLibrary
• South Korea: LawnB
• Tanzania: LawAfrica
• Uganda; LawAfrica
• UAE: Lexis Middle East Law
• USA: L exisLibrary , Westlaw International , HeinOnline

For all other countries/jurisdictions use links provided by the World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII)

How to find legislation & international treaties?

In many instances where students are referred to specific pieces of domestic legislation or international/regional treaties by members of academic staff direct links will be provided on reading lists on MOODLE.

However if you are looking for domestic legislation from specific jurisdictions or international /regional treaties and you have no direct links use the available law databases as follows:

• UK: Westlaw UK, LexisLibrary
• EU: Westlaw UK, LexisLibrary
• International/regional treaties: HeinOnline , Westlaw International , LexisLibrary
• Canada: Westlaw International , LexisLibrary
• China: Westlaw China , Beida
• Hong Kong: Westlaw China , Beida , Westlaw International , LexisLibrary
• India: Manupatra
• Malaysia: LexisLibrary
• Pakistan: Pakistanlawsite
• South Africa: LexisLibrary
• South Korea: LawnB
• UAE: Lexis Middle East Law
• USA: Westlaw International , LexisLibrary , HeinOnline

The United Nations International Law website is an especially important additional source for international treaties and agreements, in particular the UN Treaty Collection .

For all other countries/jurisdictions use links provided by the World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII)

How do I find newspapers?

• World-wide newspapers 1996- (including UK) on Access World News . This includes retrospective access to the Financial Times, up until the previous month.
• UK Newspapers on Lexis Library
• For other sources of newspapers, please consult our list of News Sources .

How to find theses?

SOAS theses

Some SOAS theses are available online at SOAS Research Online . There is also further information about Finding theses in SOAS Library either in printed or online formats.

Non-SOAS theses

• EThOS (Electronic Theses Online) EThOS , provided by the British Library, can be searched to see if a thesis has been digitised. If a thesis is not digitised on EThOS you can make a request for a digital copy to be made.
  
• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses: UK & Ireland : Lists all theses accepted for higher degrees at UK universities since 1716, many with abstracts. Check EThOS for availability of full-text.
  
• Proquest Theses and Dissertations: Humanities and Social Science Collections Database of US theses and dissertations dating from 1861 to the present day, with full-text access to most theses added since 1997, plus a growing retrospective full-text coverage.
  [ On-campus ] / [ Off-campus ]

SOAS Research online

SOAS Research Online - Open access e-print repository of academic publications (articles, book chapters, theses etc.) by SOAS staff and students. Content dates mainly from the 1990s, though the earliest items are from 1959.

What if SOAS Library does not hold what I need?

Try our e-book collections:

• SOAS's eBook Subscriptions (SOAS staff & students only), Notable ebrary that has over access to over 70,000 electronic books.

Try other University of London libraries. For Law, the following are recommended:
The IALS Library is a national and international resource for legal research and houses over 285,000 volumes. Its primary function is to serve the UK national legal academic research community. The collections of foreign and international law are the most extensive in the UK and contain much unique material, although you will find that SOAS Library holds more legal material on most African & Asian jurisdictions. Staff and students who register as users of IALS will also have access to a number of additional law databases and e-journals not available directly via SOAS.

• UCL
• LSE
• King’s College London (KCL)
• Birkbeck
• Queen Mary
• Senate House Library
  Only a very basic law collection but SOAS staff & students can register to borrow and get access to additional e-resources.

• British Library
  The national library and manuscript collection of the U.

• Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) (Staff, PhD, LLM & MA students only)

Try searching other libraries’ holdings using COPAC (Research Libraries UK Union Catalogue) & SUNCAT .

Try consulting the regional subject guides for listings of relevant libraries.

Try using the  Inter-Library loans service to request books from other Libraries.

Information on accessing other libraries – including use of electronic resources - can be accessed at Access to other Libraries .

How do I cite and reference sources?

• Citing and referencing is the way in which you provide details of quotations, arguments and ideas of others that you have included in your own work. To avoid plagiarism, always keep notes as you go along of what you have been reading. Using reference organising software (e.g. Zotero and Endnote Web ) would be recommended, although there are complications when gathering information about legal documentation, such as cases, legislation and international treaties.
• There are a number of different citing and referencing systems. Check with your Department (or the specific tutor/supervisor for the piece of work you are dong) which referencing system they prefer. The key is to be consistent.
• OSCOLA (Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities) is normally the preferred system for written pieces of work completed by SOAS law students, but in some circumstances an individual member of staff may recommend another system, most likely Harvard.
• There are three important guides available on the OSCOLA website:
  • Oscola (pdf; 437kb)
  • Oscola 2006 (pdf; 216kb)
  • Oscola Quick reference guide (pdf; 44kb)
• There are two further excellent guides which help you with OSCOLA
  • Institute of Advanced Legal Studies OSCOLA guide
  • Cardiff University Library interactive OSCOLA tutorial
• Referencing Guide (pdf; 452kb) (not including OSCOLA) are available from the Skills for Success site on MOODLE.
• A comprehensive guide to the Harvard System has been created by Anglia Ruskin University.

I'd like further training. Who do I ask?

• Check the Library Events pages for upcoming training sessions.
• Try the Moodle Skills for Success Site to develop both your library and study skills. Courses are available to all students and staff but you will need to register the first time you log on. To access go to BLE Moodle and select the Skills for Success tab.
• Contact the Subject Librarian for Law.