Law Librarian Research Hack: Searching across all titles in West Academic Study Aids

Hack #3: Using the search bar in West Academic to search across all titles

Have you used the study aids in West Academic? The study aids available to you include series such as Black Letter Outlines, Hornbooks, Gilbert Law Summaries, Sum and Substance Audio and more! You can also search for study aids by subject for 1L, 2L or 3L classes such as Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Family Law, etc.

Searching by subject or series can be useful if you’re studying for a specific class or know the series you are looking for. But what if you’re looking to find out more about dog law, or spite fences? There’s not a subject or series that is easily identifiable to search within for these topics.

Never fear, the search bar is here!

By using the search bar, you are searching across all available titles, subjects and series in West Academic. This is a quick and powerful way to find resources on your topic. For example, enter “spite fence” in the search bar:

Click on search and see the results. The keyword(s) you used in the search bar will be highlighted in blue in the results list. This blue text is hyperlinked and will take you directly to the area in the chosen resource where your topic is discussed or mentioned.

Using the Filter Results feature on the left side bar, you can identify the Type of resource. You can click on any one of the options listed within your chosen filter.  Do you want a Hornbook? Outline? Overview?

You can also search within a specific subject area, or limit by series: 

Practice exercise!
Now it's your turn! Want to find out more about adverse possession? Enter "adverse possession" into the search bar. How many total results did you retrieve? How many different series does "adverse possession" appear in? In the Short and Happy Series, how many titles cover your topic?

Answers: (total results = 82, total number of series = 20, total number of titles in Short and Happy Series = 6)