Library Research Guide Periodicals are an important secondary source in the legal literature. The periodical literature is so extensive that, without adequate indexing, access to it would be difficult. There are many methods of finding references to articles in law reviews or bar journals. Judges give references to law review material in case decisions. Notes in annotated statutes or codes can include citations.
Some case law digests and most treatises give citations to periodical articles.
Shepard's Citations also list some law review articles relevant to specific cases or statutes. However, the most common method for locating citations is to use periodical indexes and bibliographies. Periodical indexes consulted frequently are described below. LegalTrac indexes over 800 legal periodicals since 1980. It also includes references to articles which appear in the major legal newspapers published in the United States.