Get Research Help
On Demand Reference Assistance
Monday-Friday: 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Please feel free to call or email us (below) for assistance. If you have a larger research question, please contact us to set up an in-person or Zoom appointment.
Contact Information
reference@lls.edu
213.736.1177
Troubleshooting Bad Citations and Tricky Sources
It's common for authors to make errors when citing sources- that's why law reviews collect sources in the first place!
If you can't find a source, try these trouble shooting tips:
- Instead of searching a full title, search only the most important or unique keywords. (E.g. Instead of "Understanding Bioethics and the Law: The Promises and Perils of the Brave New World of Biotechnology," search bioethics biotechnology promises perils.)
- For author's names, search common alternative spellings and nicknames (e.g. Katherine, Catherine, Kathy, and Cathy)
- Search the title, author, or citation in Google or Google Scholar. Often other authors will have cited the same source more completely and correctly, putting you on the right track.
Finally, remember that you can always contact a reference librarian for help by stopping by the reference desk or emailing reference@lls.edu. We're happy to suggest additional strategies- or, in some cases, confirm that your editor will need to contact the author or place an interlibrary loan request.
Placing Interlibrary Loan Requests
Often, a source is available from other libraries. To check, you can search libraries worldwide at:
If a source is available from other libraries, please let your editor know, so they can place an interlibrary loan request:
Please do not place the request yourself. Every year our interlibrary loan staff are forced to sort through multiple requests for the same sources by law review staffers working on the same article. Spare them (and you!) the work and ask your editor to place the request instead.
Once the request has been placed, our interlibrary loan staff will obtain a copy of the source from another library. Depending on how many libraries own the source and how amenable they are to sharing it, the source may arrive in anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Once the source arrives, our interlibrary loan staff will email the requester to let them know the source is available at the front desk for checkout.