Use law review indexes for the most comprehensive searches. Law review indexes provide access to articles in hundreds of journals. They provide access to historical materials not contained in computer indexes. Law review indexes are used to approach research questions by subject. As products of editorial, intellectual effort, indexes lead the researcher to articles that have been characterized as treating a subject based on analysis by an editor.
Indexes also vary in the selection of index terms to be used.
The most common of these, the Library of Congress subject headings, attempt to use terms that specifically describe the article's contents. While you may be led to the same reference more than once, you minimize the chance of missing something very important. Use subject heading lists or thesauri to make sure that you have found the preferred subject headings. Many appear in the indexes themselves. A copy of the Library of Congress subject headings list is kept at the Reference Desk.