Skip to Main Content

Legal Research Tutorials: Cases Tutorials

Cases Tutorial Introduction

You will learn about basic court structure and the concept of precedent, how cases are published and how to interpret their citations, and how to find and update cases through full-text search, headnotes, and citators.

This tutorial is divided into five main parts:

  1. Understanding court structure and the concept of precedent
  2. Case citation, publication, and composition
  3. Searching for cases:
    1. General search tips
    2. In Lexis
    3. In Westlaw 
  4. Using headnotes and key numbers to find related cases
  5. Using citators to check for current case treatment and to find related cases

Video Tip: For best viewing results in YouTube, set video quality to 720p HD and refresh your browser.

These videos were last updated in 2023.

Part 1: Understanding Court Structure & The Concept of Precedent

Part 2: Case Citation, Publication, & Composition

Part 3a: Full-Text Searching Tips & Tricks

Part 3b: Searching for Cases on Lexis

Part 3c: Searching for Cases on Westlaw

Part 4: Headnotes & Topics/Key Numbers as Tools in Case Law Research

Part 5: Citators as a Tool in Case Law Research

Cases Tutorials Author

Related Guides