University of New South Wales Faculty of Law
Advanced Legal Research

AustLII teaching resource

Teaching materials

• Guides about research sources:
  • 1. Legislation
  • 2. Case
  • 3. Commentary and secondary
  • 4. Int./Foreign
• Tables:
  • Legislation tables (x 3)
  • Case law tables (x 2)
  • Commentary / Subject table
  • Journals (full text)
  • Foreign national sources
    
    
• AGLC [PDF] | References
• Search Operators Table | AustLII Ops. Help
• Noting-up Methods (Legislation and Cases)
• MIRAT method | Notes on MIRAT
• Strategy for advising on a problem
• Videos for the LRW courses; Review Notes
  
  
• Sample past ALR exams, and [HD papers]
  
  • 08s2   [P1]   [P2]   [P3]
  • 08s1   [P1]   [P2]
  • 07s2   [PP]

• AustLII | LawCite | Journals/Scholar |  Operators
  • Research Guide ('05) | Guide
  • WorldLII | Guide | Catalog
• LexisNexis AU inc. CaseBase | LexisNexis Int.
• WestLaw AU inc. Firstpoint | WestLaw Int.
• CCH IntelliConnect | BarNet Jade
• Hein | AGIS+ | LSN | bepress
• Google | Scholar | Books | News
• 'Law on Google'/ 'Law on Google Scholar' in AustLII Libraries or hit lists.
• Cth Leg. | NSW Leg. | Caselaw NSW | LawLex
• UK cases: BAILII | LxNx | WestL | JustCite |
  ICLR (pre-15 Sep '17) ICLR (post-Sep'17)

UNSW Library tools

• Library | Adv. Search | Find dB | eJourn.
• Login: MyLibrary | eShelf
• Law Subject Guides | Law Library | Tours

(See Reading Guides and Tables for other sources!)

Other

• Backup and Archive notes: reduce risk of losing your data (and avoid 'the dog disk ate my homework'!) 

The ALR course is no longer offered, but the supplementary material here are for UNSW students enrolled in the new Legal Research and Writing (LRW) modules. It is updated periodically but please check currency before reliance on it.

(Other UNSW Law visitors, such as those in other courses with a research component, are welcome to browse, but some items are inaccessible without access credentials.)

• Australian law, for the LRW component attached to Equity and Trusts (E&T):
  See Moodle for videos, and Topics 1 - 3 in the Reading Guides and Tables here (in order:
  3. Commentary
  1. Legislation
  2. Case law).

• Foreign and International law, for the LRW component attached to Law in the Global Context (LGC):
  See Topic 4 in Guides Tables here, and Moodle for videos . [updated 6/9/17]

Highlights

• The Reading Guide has in depth analysis of the features of major sources, and its Tables can act as a detailed launch pad.
• The Tables, top left, include maps of alternative sources for key collections, and summaries of key techniques or tools, including AGLC.
• The Launchpad, bottom left, helps you jump to key sources.
• Videos of core skills are on Moodle pages, with Quizzes and assignments. These course videos are also accessible from this site as a backup. Best viewed on Moodle, but links here include an embedded browser version which may help with technical issues; and the direct links work better for access via iPad/iPhone.
  
• The MIRAT problem- solving method explanation is at top left.
• Legal problem-solving advice strategy: see notes at left. This advice given before the old ALR take home exam is applicable for any legal problem solving exercise.
• Review Notes summarise attributes of legal research sources, and how to assess the most efficient options for specific question on a particular day.

Get the Login / password for the Guides and Tables etc. from the Moodle reference page or your LRW teacher. It's NOT zPass!

• No exam: if you are doing LRW modules via Moodle, there is no ALR exam. They are assessed by LRW Assignments on Moodle and by research projects in the substantive course E&T or LGC. See LRW teacher or Moodle for details.
• Check this page for recent updates or corrections: click your browser's Control-Refresh or Shift-Refresh to ensure you grab the latest version, not a cached one.
• Please report bugs and errors - please include referring page URL, link text, and broken URL.
• Trouble logging in to UNSW computers or Library proxy service? Call IT Service desk to ensure your zPass is configured for those services.

David Vaile, or the other LRW teachers or convenor.

These pages were initially prepared in 2003 by Prof Graham Greenleaf and updated by David Vaile and Alana Maurushat for UNSW Faculty of Law students studying Advanced Legal Research (which is no longer offered), and the newer Legal Research and Writing modules .
Other visitors are welcome, but you may not be able to access some materials.
These pages do not provide legal advice and should not be used for that purpose.  Thanks to Philip Chung and others at AustLII for technical assistance. Last updated at the date of the most recent Notice above.