How to Find:
CASES BY CITATION

LexisNexis Academic 
Click on Legal tab in the red band at top of page. Click on Federal & State Cases under Legal Searches in column on right. Enter the citation of the case in the Citation Number box, e.g. 539 U.S. 558 and click Search.  

Westlaw Campus Research
Click on the Law tab at the top of the page.  Under Shortcuts and Find in the upper left hand corner, enter the citation of the case in the top box, e.g. 539 U.S. 558 and click Go. 

Case Reporters
To locate a print copy of a case using the citation, first identify the full name of the case reporter abbreviation, e.g. S.Ct. stands for Supreme Court Reporter. The following are the full names of the most commonly cited case reporters:

U.S.
S.Ct.
L.Ed., L.Ed. 2d
F., F.2d, F3d
F. Supp., F Supp.2d
A., A2d
Cal. Rptr., Cal. Rptr.2d
Mass.
N.Y.S., N.Y.S.2d
N.E., N.E.2d
N.W., N.W.2d
P., P2d
S.E., S.E.2d
S.W., S.W.2d
So., S0.2d

United States Reports
Supreme Court Reporter
United States Supreme Court Reports Lawyers Edition
Federal Reporter, Federal Reporter 2d, Federal Reporter 3d 
Federal Supplement, Federal Supplement 2d
Atlantic Reporter, Atlantic Reporter 2d
California Reporter, California Reporter 2d
Massachusetts Reports
New York Supplement, New York Supplement 2d
Northeastern Reporter, Northeastern Reporter 2d
Northwestern Reporter, Northwestern Reporter 2d
Pacific Reporter, Pacific Reporter 2d
Southeastern Reporter, Southeastern Reporter 2d
Southwestern Reporter, Southwestern Reporter 2d
Southern Reporter, Southern Reporter 2d

(For a more complete list of the reporters owned by UMass, check A Table of Abbreviations and Shelf Locatons of Selected Legal Material.  Copies are located in the files of each Reference and Research Assistance Desk drawer and in the elevator lobby of the 5th floor.)

Consult the appropriate volume and page for that case reporter to find the full text of the case. The first number in the citation is the volume number and the second number is the page number. For example, a case with a citation of 440 Mass. 309 would be found in volume 440 of the Massachusetts Reports on page 309.