Reference Materials
Some sample reference books on this topic located on the Main floor of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library:
- Education Law REF KF 4115 R37
A comprehensive, in-depth, but concise treatment of all issues relating to education law. Looseleaf pages updated quarterly.
- Black's Law Dictionary REF DESK KF156 .B53 2004
The legal profession's leading and most heavily quoted legal dictionary.
Books
Search for books in the UMass Library Catalog.Some sample subject headings for topics in law and higher education:
- Academic freedom
- Sexual harassment in universities and colleges
- Tort liability of universities and colleges
- Universities and colleges religion
Use WorldCat and Other Library Catalogs for searching other catalogs if you don't find books in the Five Colleges Catalog.
Borrow books from the Virtual Catalog and Interlibrary Loan.
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Databases
Locate citations, abstracts and/or full text of journal articles, magazine articles, newspapers, dissertations, government documents, and other information sources in your subject.
Examples:
- Academic Search Premier - Citations, abstracts and full text articles from scholarly and general-interest periodicals relating to social sciences, humanities, education, as well as many other disciplines. Tip: For scholarly articles, limit the search to refereed publications.
- Education Complete - Contains references to articles from 550 periodicals in the field of primary, secondary and higher education.
- ERIC UMass Amherst Subscription - Citations and abstracts for education journal articles (EJ references) and ERIC documents (ED references). Links to full text are provided for many recent Eric documents. Older EDs are located on microfiche in the Du Bois Library Microforms Room. This link provides access to full text articles from e-journals to which UMass Amherst subscribes.
- LegalTrac - Citations to and some fulltext articles from law reviews and law-related journals.
- LexisNexis Academic - Full text articles from law reviews; state and federal case law; and statutory law.
- Westlaw Campus Research - Full text legal encyclopedias, law reviews, and legal treatises; federal and state statutes, regulations, court decisions; and newspapers, news wires, magazines and business and industry data.
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How to Locate Materials from Databases If you do not see the full text (or a link to it), try these steps.
1. The UMLinks button 
appears near the citation in most (but not all) databases. Click to view your options, which depend on the source (e.g. journal titles) and the UMass Amherst Library's holdings.
- If available, you will see links to the full text of your article in one or more of the other databases to which the Library subscribes.
- If you see UMass Amherst Library Catalog listed, the Library subscribes to the source in some format. Click on the link to view the record for the title. Make a note of the item's location in the Libraries and its call number. For journals, also note if we have the volume and year you need.
2. If the UMLinks button does not appear in the database you are using, open a new browser window, so you do not lose your place in the database. Search the UMass Library Catalog searching Title begins with (if a book) or Journal title begins with (if a journal article). Alternatively for journal articles, check the EJournal Locator for online access. Note: Be sure to look up journal titles rather than article titles. 3. If you have a citation to a book, article, or journal, enter the information you have about the item into the Citation Linker to view your access choices. 4. If we do not own or have access to the material you need, try these steps.
Search the Five Colleges Catalog and if found, click on the "Request Item" button. Request it through Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery.
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Citation Styles
See the Writing Guide for examples and links to standard style formats.
Prepared for David Schimmel, Education 617, 2/2005, revised 2/2007
Library guide by Barbara Morgan, Law Reference Librarian
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