Researching Legal Writing – Types of Sources and Initial Research

In my next few blog posts, the focus is on how to carry out research for your legal writing and assignments. Starting this can be quite daunting, but you will find it easier the further you get with your research. Of course, it will also get easier with each assignment that you do, as you will be gaining and improving your legal research skills. This is one reason why it is so important to do as many practice assignments as you can, as these will give you the experience and grounding you need to complete your real assignments. In this blog post, we will focus on the types of sources that you might use, while the next one will look at how to use these sources.

Types of Sources

The first thing to consider is how to identify which type of source you are finding in your research. There are two main types that we will be focusing on, primary and secondary. Ideally, you will want some of each to ensure your work is well-rounded, but you will certainly need some primary ones. If you are answering a problem scenario question, you might only use primary sources. Primary sources are those which are directly from lawmakers (in the case of legal research). For example, statutes, regulations, and case law from judicial precedents are all primary sources. They are a strong and reliable way to support any points you are making in your writing.

Secondary sources are ones that draw on primary sources and explain or interpret them. These are often the best place to start your legal research, as they tend to explain things more clearly than primary sources do, as well as give you some background information for context. For example, a secondary source will not only state what the law is, but it will also explain how this has been interpreted, why this law was created, or what the situation was before the change or addition to the law. Secondary sources are also useful to help you identify important cases and statutes, as it can be difficult to sift through all of these without a starting point.

Consider the Question

It probably goes without saying, but do take care to read the question before you start to answer it. You don’t want to be halfway through writing it when you find out you’ve answered the wrong question! Make sure you read it a few times, noting down some first thoughts and ideas. You can also underline or highlight the key points in the question. Think about what you will need to answer to the question and assess what you already know and what you need to research to include in your answer. Once you know what you will be researching, start making a list of where you could look for this information and what search terms to use.

You can also consider the scope of the question, which should give you a better idea of where to start. For example, think about what legal jurisdiction the question relates to. This will usually be obvious, but double-check before you start writing. Some questions might concern a different jurisdiction or more than one jurisdiction. Alternatively, you might be given a research question that asks you to compare the law in two or more jurisdictions, giving you free rein to choose these. You can also think about what time period you can be looking at. For example, how far back do you need to go? Will you be focused on historical law or current law?

Once you have established exactly what areas you will be looking at, start to plan how to do this. Look back to the list of search terms you made after analysing the question. What sort of sources are these best suited to? If you need a definite answer to a question, you are best off looking at primary sources such as the legislation concerning this area of law. If you are looking more at potential points to consider, you could turn your attention to secondary sources, such as journal articles that discuss the legal issues you are analysing.

Check Sources

Before you include any sources in your final document, you will need to check them for reliability. This is relatively simple with primary sources – just verify that they were created by an official source. For example, Acts of Parliament will be published on legislation.gov.

With secondary sources, you need to dig a bit deeper. Check the author of the source – do they seem reliable? Do they seem to be writing impartially, or are they trying to persuade the reader of a particular viewpoint? Consider how recently the source was created. The more recent the source, the more likely it is to be reliable, as it takes new laws and developments into account.

Wrapping Up

I hope that this helps you to start your legal writing and get some research underway. In my next blog post, we will be looking at how to find and check sources, so come back in two weeks for that!

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