Journal Cite Checking Guide

ASU Library Catalog - Journal Title Lookup

• Use the ASU Library Journal Search to search for both electronic and print journals by title.
• Click on the title to view databases with the select journal content.  Be sure to note the dates of coverage for each database.
• Click on the name of the database to access the journal’s articles.

Google and Google Scholar
Some journals make recent articles freely available as PDF files on their website so we recommend checking the journal's home page. Google Scholar may point you to a PDF copy as well, especially if the journal is online-only.

Internet Archive Scholar
Internet Archive Scholar makes scholarly resources from “vanished” open access sources such as open access journals, faculty webpages, and digitized microfilms available as PDF files. The site offers full text keyword searching.

HeinOnline
The HeinOnline Law Journal Library (available on campus and remotely with ASURITE) provides online, image-based access to law periodical titles. HeinOnline contains numerous complete runs of titles from the first volume, predating coverage available on either Lexis or Westlaw for most titles. It's most attractive feature for cite checkers is that it contains full-text exact page images of law reviews and journals, U.S. Reports, the Federal Register, and other primary and secondary legal sources. There is no difference between looking at a PDF version of a law review volume and looking at the actual print volume. 

Westlaw and Lexis
The Westlaw Journals and Law Reviews (Westlaw password required) and Lexis Law Reviews and Journals (Lexis password required) databases contain hundreds of full text law reviews and bar journals. These periodicals can be searched as a group, individually, by topic or jurisdiction.

Indexes
Indexes can be helpful in identifying articles on a topic or by an author or to fill in missing information of a citation. They also complement Westlaw or Lexis because even though they don't have the full text of an article, they may cover journals not included in Westlaw or Lexis.

• Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective: 1908-1981 
  This retrospective database indexes legal periodicals published in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Annual surveys of the laws of a jurisdiction, annual surveys of the federal courts, yearbooks, annual institutes, and annual reviews are also covered.
• Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
  The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals is a multilingual index to articles and book reviews appearing in more than 500 legal journals published worldwide. It provides in-depth coverage of public and private international law, comparative and foreign law, and the law of all jurisdictions. Indexes periodicals 1985 to date.

Ulrich’s Periodical Directory
Ulrich's Periodicals Directory is a source of detailed information on more than 300,000 periodicals (also called serials) of all types: academic and scholarly journals, e-journals, peer-reviewed titles, popular magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and more. Ulrichsweb covers more than 900 subject areas. Ulrich's records provide data points such as ISSN, publisher, language, subject, abstracting & indexing coverage, full-text database coverage and tables of contents, and reviews written by librarians. TIP: Use the advanced search to narrow by language, by subject, to find journals that have ceased publication, etc.

New York Times

• NYTimes.com: Full-text content to New York Times content from 1923-present; ASU users must sign up for an account through the authenticated link provided.
• Historical New York Times via ProQuest: digital reproductions of every page of every issue cover to cover are available back to the first issue in 1851 (1851-2012, on campus or ASURITE).

Washington Post

• Historical Washington Post via ProQuest: Digital reproductions of every page of every issue cover to cover are available back to the first issue in 1877 (1877-1996, on campus or ASURITE).

Los Angeles Times

• LA Times via ProQuest: access to Los Angeles Times content (1985-present, on campus or ASURITE).
• Historical Los Angeles Times via ProQuest: Digital reproductions of every page of every issue cover to cover are available back to the first issue in 1881 (18881-1989, on campus or ASURITE).

Wall Street Journal

• Wall Street Journal via ProQuest: Wall Street Journal articles (1984-current). 
• WSJ.com: Full-text content to the Wall Street Journal for the last four years; ASU users must register for an account at https://wsj.com/ArizonaState. 

Arizona Republic

• Arizona Republic via ProQuest: Contains full text of most articles, editorials, notices, and obituaries from the Arizona Republic. Does not include images and advertisements (1999-present, on campus or ASURITE)
• The Arizona Republican via ProQuest: The Arizona Republican became the Arizona Republic (1890-1922, on campus or ASURITE)

Arizona Cases
Information on locating Arizona court opinions is available on the Arizona Courts page of the Law Library’s Arizona Law Research Guide.

Arizona Court Dockets

• Bloomberg Law: access to select state court dockets (Bloomberg Law password required)
• Lexis: access to current Arizona Superior Court dockets (Lexis Nexis password required)
• Arizona Judicial Branch: The Public Access to Case Information database provides access to case information for 153 of Arizona's 180 courts, including county superior courts, justice courts, and municipal courts.
• Maricopa County Superior Court Case Information: access to case information, including court calendars, case history, and minute entries, for civil, criminal, family, and probate court cases filed in the Maricopa County Superior Court.

Detailed information on accessing federal slip laws (public laws), Statutes at Large, and the U.S. Code can be found on the Law Library's Federal Legislature - Statutes and Legislation Research Guide. The guide links to both free resources and subscription resources. Most subscription resources can be accessed on campus or remotely by Arizona State University students, faculty, and staff with an ASURITE ID. 

Slip Laws
The first official publication of an enacted federal law, whether public or private, is a slip law. Public laws are those that affect society as whole and are indicated with "Pub. L." Private laws are intended for individuals or small groups of people.

Copies of slip laws are available in the Document Offices of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as available from the Superintendent of Documents. Slip laws can be accessed online at:

• Congress.gov
• Government Publishing Office

Public laws are also reprinted by public law number in the unofficial United States Code Congressional Administrative News (USCCAN).  USCCAN publishes new laws monthly via advance sheets and then issues bound volumes at the end of each Congressional session. USCCAN is available in print in the Law Library Core at KF48 .U52 and electronically on Westlaw (Westlaw password required).

Session Laws
At the end of every Congressional session the slip laws are compiled, indexed, and published in bound volumes.  The official compilation of the laws of each session of Congress is the Statutes at Large, indicated by "Stat."

Statutes at Large is available in print in the Law Library Core at KF50 .U5. It is available online at:

• Statutes at Large 1789-1875, Library of Congress American Memory Project
• Statutes at Large 1951-2013, Government Publishing Office
• Statutes at Large 1789-2012, HeinOnline (on-campus or ASURITE)

Codified Law
The United States Code is the official statutory code of the federal government – it is the subject arrangement of all federal public laws and is published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Code has 53 titles; each title is divided into chapters and further subdivided into sections.  The U.S. Code was first published in 1926. A new edition is reissued every six years and is updated annually with cumulative bound supplements.  It is available online at:

• Office of the Law Revisions Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives
• Government Publishing Office
• HeinOnline (available on-campus or remotely with ASURITE)

There are two commercially published versions of the U.S. Code that are not official: the United States Code Annotated and the United States Code Service. These are both annotated versions of the Code and include historical notes, cross-references, and a Notes and Decisions section for each statute.

The United State Code Annotated is available electronically on Westlaw (Westlaw password required).

The United States Code Service is available in print in the Law Library Core and electronically on Lexis (Lexis password required).

Detailed information on accessing both current and historic bills/proposed legislation can be found on the Law Library's Federal Legislature - Bills and Proposed Legislation Research Guide. The guide links to both free resources and subscription resources. Most subscription resources can be accessed on campus or remotely by Arizona State University students, faculty, and staff with an ASURITE ID. 

Bills
Proposed laws are introduced in Congress as bills or joint resolutions.  House bills are indicated by “H.R.” and Senate bills are indicated by “S.” House Joint Resolutions are indicated by “H.J. Res.” and Senate Joint Resolutions are indicated by “S.J. Res.” Take note that as bills go through the legislative process, they can be changed many times.  

Bill text can be accessed through the following sources:

• Congress.gov – bill text and summaries, as well as information on major actions, amendments, cosponsors, committees, and related bills; information available in PDF format (1973-current)
• GovInfo.gov – bill text; information available in PDF format (1993-current)
• ProQuest Congressional – bill text; information available in PDF format (1789-current, on-campus or ASURITE)
• Westlaw – unofficial (current session of Congress, Westlaw password required)
• Lexis – unofficial (current session of Congress, LexisNexis password required)

Committee Reports and Conference Reports
Conference reports are numbered as either a House or Senate committee report and considered part of the same series. House reports are indicated by H.Rept. [Congress No.]-[Report No.] and Senate reports are indicated by  S.Rept. [Congress No.]-[Report No.].

Committee and conference reports can be accessed through the following sources:

• Congress.gov – (1995-current)
• GovInfo.gov – (1995-current)
• ProQuest Congressional – (1817-current, on-campus or ASURITE)

Hearings
A hearing is a meeting or session of a Senate, House, joint, or special committee of Congress. Hearings can be accessed through the following sources:

• GovInfo.gov – (1985-current)
• ProQuest Congressional: Hearings – (1824-current, on-campus or ASURITE)
• Some testimony is available on committee websites. A list of House of Representatives committees can be found at http://www.house.gov/committees/. A list of Senate committees can be found at http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/d_three_sections_with_teasers/committees_home.htm.

Debates
Discussions on the floors of Congress are available in the Congressional Record.  The Congressional Record can be accessed through the following sources:

• Congress.gov – (1995-current)
• GovInfo.gov – (1994-current)
• HeinOnline – (1789-current, on-campus or ASURITE)
• ProQuest Congressional: Congressional Record – (1985-current, on-campus or ASURITE)

Other Congressional Documents

• HeinOnline: Congressional Documents –  (1789-current, on-campus or ASURITE)
• Proquest Congressional: House and Senate Documents – (1817–present, on-campus or ASURITE)
• Proquest Congressional: CRS Reports – (1916–present, on-campus or ASURITE)

Detailed information on accessing federal regulations can be found on the Law Library's Federal Agencies and Executive Branch Research Guide. The guide links to both free resources and subscription resources. Most subscription resources can be accessed on campus or remotely by Arizona State University students, faculty, and staff with an ASURITE ID. 

Federal Register
The Federal Register is the official daily publication for final regulations, proposed regulations, notices of administrative actions, presidential proclamations and executive orders, reorganization plans, and other documents either required by statute or ordered by the President to be published.

The Federal Register can be accessed through the following sources:

• FederalRegister.gov – unofficial, HTML edition of the Federal Register (current)
• GovInfo.gov – authenticated, PDF versions of the Federal Register (1994-current)
• Regulations.gov – makes regulatory materials, including public comments, available online (current)
• HeinOnline – PDF versions of the official Federal Register (1936-current, on-campus or ASURITE)
• ProQuest Regulatory Insight – (1977-current, on-campus or ASURITE)
• Westlaw – unofficial (1936-current, Westlaw password required)
• Lexis – unofficial (1936-current, LexisNexis password required)

Code of Federal Regulations
The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the annual codification of the final regulations of federal agencies. It is divided into 50 titles, which represent broad subject areas. Each title is revised once a year; the schedule for revision is:

          Titles 1 through 16 —January 1
          Titles 17 through 27 —April 1
          Titles 28 through 41 —July 1
          Titles 42 through 50 —October 1

The Code of Federal Regulations can be accessed through the following sources:

• Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (ecfr.gov) – unofficial, HTML edition of the CFR (current)
• GovInfo.gov – authenticated, PDF versions of the annual CFR (1996-current)
• HeinOnline – PDF versions of the official CFR (1938-current, on-campus or ASURITE)
• Westlaw – unofficial (current, Westlaw password required)  
• Lexis – unofficial (current, LexisNexis password required)