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Answered By: Mindy Kent
Last Updated: Feb 26, 2020     Views: 2568

Interpreting Legal Citations:

Legal citations are highly abbreviated and can sometimes be hard to interpret. If you have an abbreviation and you aren't sure what it means, a legal abbreviation index might help.

The online Cardiff Index of Legal Abbreviations at http://www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk/ allows you to search by abbreviation and will give alternate possibilities.

Another good source is Prince's Bieber Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations:a Reference Guide for Attorneys, Legal Secretaries, Paralegals, and Law Students by Mary Miles Prince. It is available in print in the Langdell Reference Collection at KF246 .B46 2017.

Table 13 of the Bluebook also contains a list of abbreviations for select English language periodicals and common words found in periodical titles.

Finding print and online journals and articles in the Harvard system:

Once you've identified the source for your article, you'll need to figure out if Harvard has it.

For journal articles, try the Citation Linker (http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.eresource:citelink). Enter the journal title and as much citation information as you have. The Citation Linker will link to any online versions of the article. It will also link to the HOLLIS catalog to help locate print copies. Please note that journals available through Westlaw, Lexis or other databases held only by the Law School may not be linked via the Citation Linker.

You can also search the HOLLIS catalog for journal or book titles to identify any Harvard holdings (http://hollis.harvard.edu).

If Harvard doesn't own the title, try WorldCat (http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.eresource:worldcat) to see if any other libraries have it. We may be able to get it for you via Interlibrary Loan.

If you still can't find it, ask us!

Answered by Mindy Kent
Last Updated: Feb 26, 2020     Views: 2568

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