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Legal Research Skills

What are secondary sources?

Secondary sources are those that evaluate, explain or define the law and include:

  • Dictionaries: define key terms
  • Encyclopaedias: provide an overview of a legal topic
  • Books: discuss and analyse legal topics or issues
  • Commentary: update and comment on legal topics
  • Journal articles: provide original research and scholarly analysis of the law

It is often best to use secondary sources at the beginning of your research to get a good overview of your legal topic. Secondary sources will also reference the key primary materials. 

Key databases for secondary sources

Legal Education & Research Books

Finding books in the library

Type author, title or keywords into the library collections search box below:

This short video demonstrates how to find a copy of a particular textbook.

Tutorial: Updating the law using secondary sources

Complete this tutorial to learn about the different types of secondary sources that can you update the law. Click at the bottom-right corner to expand to full size.