Legal Research Strategy and Finding Tools: every key term you need (+ practice quiz)
25 flashcard terms for Legal Research and Writing Topic 2, written to match the course framework. Study them here, then drill them as interactive flashcards, or test yourself with the 15-question quiz — free, no account needed.
A written list of the legal issue, the controlling jurisdiction, known facts, candidate search terms, sources to consult in order, and a stopping point, drafted before any database search.
TARPP method
A term generation checklist covering Thing, Action, Relief, Person, and Place, used to convert a client's facts into the vocabulary courts and indexes actually use.
Terms and connectors search
A Boolean query using operators such as AND, OR, NOT, and proximity limits to control which documents match, giving precise and reproducible results across databases.
Proximity operator
A connector requiring two terms to appear within a set number of words or in the same sentence or paragraph, which sharply reduces false hits compared with a plain AND search.
Root expander
A truncation symbol appended to a word stem so a query captures every ending, for example a stem for negligence retrieving negligent, negligently, and negligence.
Natural language search
A relevance ranked query written as a plain question. Good for orientation in an unfamiliar area but unreliable for completeness because the ranking is opaque.
Digest system
A topic and key number classification that gathers headnote abstracts from every case addressing a point, letting a researcher move from one good case to the full body of law.
Headnote
An editor written summary of one point of law in an opinion, added by a publisher for indexing. Useful for finding cases and never quotable as authority.
One good case method
A technique that starts from a single on point decision and expands outward through its headnote topics, its cited authorities, and later cases that cite it.
Citator
A tool that lists every later authority citing a given case or statute and flags negative treatment, letting a researcher verify that the source is still good law.
Negative treatment
Later authority that overrules, reverses, vacates, abrogates, questions, or declines to follow a decision. A flagged case must be read before it is cited or discarded.
Distinguished treatment
A citing court finds the earlier case factually different and does not apply it. The case remains good law, but the citing opinion signals a limit on its reach.
Cite checking
Verifying that every authority in a document still stands, supports the proposition asserted, and is accurately quoted and cited before the document leaves the office.
Annotated code
A statutory compilation printed with notes of decisions, cross references, and history after each section, so the researcher finds the text and the cases construing it together.
Session laws
Statutes printed in the order enacted for a legislative session, the authoritative record used to confirm exact enacted language and effective dates before codification.
Codification
The rearrangement of session laws by subject into a code, which is how researchers normally find statutes, and which may renumber or split the originally enacted sections.
Currency check
Confirming a statute or regulation is current by consulting pocket parts, supplements, or a database currency note, because codes lag behind recent amendments.
Practice guide
A jurisdiction specific how to source with forms, checklists, and deadlines, valuable for procedure and for its citations, but secondary authority that is never cited for the rule.
American Law Reports
A set of annotations collecting cases nationwide on a narrow question. An on point annotation can substitute for hours of case gathering and reveals the shape of any split.
Secondary source entry point
The strategy of beginning research in a treatise, encyclopedia, or annotation to learn vocabulary and leading cases rather than guessing search terms in a case database.
Cost effective research
Choosing free or flat rate sources for orientation, running targeted rather than sprawling paid searches, and tracking time so the research bill stays proportional to the matter.
Stopping point
The moment when new searches keep returning the same authorities from several independent directions, signaling that the relevant body of law has been located.
Research log
A running record of databases used, queries run, dates, and results, which prevents duplicated work, supports the bill, and lets a supervisor audit the search for gaps.
Docket research
Searching court filing systems for complaints, briefs, and orders in related litigation to find arguments, expert names, and unreported rulings that no case reporter contains.
Legislative bill tracking
Monitoring pending bills that would change the governing rule, so advice reflects law likely in force when the client acts rather than only the law of today.