Source Collection 1-2-3: (3) Primary Sources

U.S. federal Constitution

United States Code on HeinOnline - go to volume 1 of the most recent edition (the edition date is often 5-6 years out of date), and consult the Contents page (usually around page V of volume 1); under "Organic Laws of the United States"  find the page for the Constitution (e.g., vol. 1, page LXI in the 2018 edition). Unless there has been a constitutional amendment since the date of the most recent edition, you will not have to check the Supplement. Download PDFs of just the page(s) with the cited portion, as no publication-specific information is needed for citation formatting.

State constitutions

State Constitutions on Hein Online - variously-sourced versions of current and historical versions of U.S. state constitutions. Download PDFs of just the page(s) with the cited portion, as no publication-specific information is needed for citation formatting, but note which version from Hein Online.

• If you have any doubt that it is the most current or the correct historical version, check the "i" information icon to find out where the Hein Online version was obtained.
• You may also collect the current (and some historical) versions of state constitutions from Lexis or Westlaw - Navigate to State tab, select Statutes collection, and look for "[State] Constitution" among the topics or numbered titles list (often at the top, at/near the end, or alphabetically in the list as Constitution.

Other jurisdictions

Constitutions of the World Illustrated on Hein Online provides full text of many constitutions and analogous fundamental laws, current and historical.

Codified law citations

If an electronic version is acceptable, copy/paste up to 100 citations (do not include date) into Lexis's Get & Print or Westlaw's Find & Print tool.

• Set delivery and formatting options including download versus print, whether to include annotations or statutory text only (usually text only is sufficient), and sending separate files/documents for each statute.

If you require page image copies, these are available at the Law Library only for federal and California statutes

• United States Code on Hein Online: select the most current main volume in which the cited section appears. You may also need to check the most recent Supplement volume that includes the title number from your citation - the Supplement volumes are the pocket part for updates occurring after printing of the main volume.
• California - copy or scan (for free), from the West's or Deering's annotated California statute collections in the Reserve Collection behind the front desk on LL1; be sure to check pocket parts.
• Other states - check if the state's website offers copies of page image sources.

Session law citations

• Federal - U.S. Statutes at Large on Hein Online; look up by volume/page citation ("___ Stat. ___") or Public Law number ("Pub. L. No. ___-___" or "P.L. ___-___").
• States - Session Laws Library on Hein Online; look up by state, year of enactment, and page or chapter/statute/act number.
• If the session law you need is not included, check with a Reference Librarian.

Historical code citations

In rare cases, an author may cite to a codified provision as it existed at a particular date, rather than to the current code. If in doubt, confirm with the lead editor that the historical version should be collected.

• Federal - United States Code on Hein Online; select the closest main volume before the year (and check the Supplement volume of the year) for which the author is citing to a historic version of a code provision.
• States - Hein Online provides page image copies for many historic versions of state codes (varies by jurisdiction) in the State Statutes: A Historical Archive collection

Federal legislative history/congressional document citations

• Congressional debate (Cong. Rec. and predecessors, Cong. Globe, Reg. Deb., and Annals of Cong.)—
  • use Hein Online's U.S. Congressional Documents collection; select title, then volume and page numbers;
  • where a citation to Cong. Rec. has a page number with a letter (S, H or D) preceding the digits, that is Congressional Record Daily Edition, and often an error (once the permanent edition issues, that should be cited). Try Hein Online's Congressional Record Daily to Bound Locator to translate Daily Ed. citations to Perm. Ed. citation and collect the corresponding page(s). Double-check with the article editor to confirm if Daily Edition should be collected; volumes 126-current (1980-) are available in Hein Online's U.S. Congressional Documents collection.
• Congressional bills, documents, hearings, prints, reports, etc.: use ProQuest Congressional's Search by Number page; look under "Show search options for:" and choose—
  • under "Legislation," click "Congressional Bills" for a template to find bills by Congress/year, chamber/bill-type, and bill number
  • "Publication Search," click "Publication Number" for a template to find documents, hearings, reports, prints,journals, and other legislative materials by document type, Congress/year, and publication number from citation. E.g., for the citation S. Rpt. 113-55, you would search for "S.rpt." for the "113th Congress (2013-14)" with pub number "55"
• For official/authenticated versions (or if not on Proquest Congressional): try Congress.gov for committee hearings and reports (1995 to current, 104th Cong. to current), or for bills and resolutions (1993 to current, plus earlier, 103d Cong. to current plus 18th/19th/early 20th-century periods, with gaps). This resource can be unwieldy—a librarian may be able to help.

State legislative document citations

These citations may be difficult to decipher, and sources are often difficult to track down -

• try the state legislature's website to see if debates, committee hearings and reports, etc. are available
• try Google or DuckDuckGo, searching for an exact phrase (in quotation marks) from the title of the document; try adding a domain restriction (e.g., site:ca.gov) to see only results from the domain for the state's official website(s)
• consult a Reference Librarian

Federal regulations, rules, and other agency materials

• CFR—Federal codified regulations (including historical):
  • Hein Online Code of Federal Regulations covers 1938-prior year
  • use template: e.g., in "9 C.F.R. § 54.20 (2005)" select 2005 as year, enter 9 as title, enter 54 as part, and enter 20 as section.
  • download needed text and page i (cover/title page is a romanette-numeraled page) for edition/date information
• Fed. Reg.—Federal Register materials
  • Hein Online Code of Federal Register covers vol. 1-current (1936-current)
  • use template: e.g., in "78 Fed. Reg. 51,658, 51,661-62" select 78 (2013) as volume, enter 51658 as page
  • click the download icon and choose to download "current section" which should include from first page ("51,658" in the above citation example) through the end of the cited item (including "51,661-62"—the specifically cited page range in the above citation example
• Federal agency decisions & guidance
  • Lexis > Federal tab > Federal Administrative Materials > narrow down to more specific agency that issued the item, if known
  • Westlaw > Federal materials tab > Federal Administrative Decisions & Guidance > narrow down to more specific agency that issued the item, if known
  • DDG/Google: search for key terms or "an exact phrase" (with quotation marks) from the title of the cited item; try using a domain restriction to see only results from the official agency site—use as much of the domain as is known (e.g., document issued by U.S. DOJ's Civil Division, try site:justice.gov/civil)

State regulations, rules, and other agency materials

These are often hard to track down, or even recognize as such based on the citation information. Don't despair! Consult a Reference Librarian.

• Codified state regulations (current)—Lexis or Westlaw (though often without Building Code): Copy/paste each citation into Lexis's front-page search box, or a list of up to 100 citations using Westlaw's Find & Print tool
• Administrative register (rule issuance and other agency action)—often on Lexis or Westlaw (dates/coverage vary, check both): navigate to state materials tab, look under the "Administrative Materials, Codes and Regulations" group (Lexis) or the "Regulations" group (Westlaw)
• Other administrative agency decisions & guidance—sometimes on Lexis or Westlaw (dates/coverage vary, check both): navigate to state materials tab, look under the "Administrative Materials, Codes and Regulations" group for "All [state] Administrative Materials" (Lexis) or the "Administrative Decisions & Guidance" group (Westlaw)

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