treatise: a book or multi-volume set, describes an entire area of law, with references to statutes and key cases (e.g., Farnsworth on Contracts)

legal encyclopedia: multi-volume set, describes all major areas of law for a given jurisdiction (e.g., Cal. Jur. 3d, topic on Insurance Law)

practice guide: practitioner-oriented, discusses a particular area of law (e.g., Rutter Group guide on Employment Litigation) or stage of a legal process (e.g., CEB guide on California Civil Procedure Before Trial)

law journal/review: scholarly article, source; often provides detailed, critical or theoretical examination of a specific legal question or a new case or statute

restatement: highly regarded distillations of common law covering broad topics (e.g., Restatement (Third) of the Law: Contracts), attempting to "restate" common law into a logical series of principles or rules; may help frame issues into a legal question and suggest key terms.

study aids: introductions such as nutshells, outlines or other overviews (e.g., Tort Law in a Nutshell or Emanuel’s Criminal Law outline) also offer background information and key terms, although they may provide fewer leads to primary sources.

Don't know where to find discussion of your issues? Look for:

Table of Cases - look up a case you know is relevant in this alphabetic list by party name

Table of Statutes - look up a statute you are starting from in this listing by statutory code topic and section number

Index - try the keywords you generated; the index may refer you to a relevant discussion or cross-refer you to other terms relevant to your issue

Table of Contents - skim the detailed table at the beginning of many treatises and practice guides or encyclopedia topics to see if you can figure out the context of your issue

Witkin's encyclopedias (four sets: Summary of California Law, California Procedure, California Evidence and California Criminal Law)

• reliable, detailed and authoritative; occasionally cited by court opinions - in print at KFC80 .W56 2005 (Summary),  KFC995 .W52 2008 (Procedure), KFC1030 .W57 2012 (Evidence) and KFC1155 .W5 2012 (Criminal)
• Witkin's California Materials on Westlaw - search across all four sets; or search the Combined Index and Tables by clicking on Witkin Finding Aids link at right side of screen
• Witkin on Lexis+ - Summary of California Law only, covering civil substantive law (not civil procedure, evidence or criminal law)

California Jurisprudence, Third Series (Cal. Jur. 3d)

• encyclopedic source citing key caselaw and statutory authorities
• CalJur3d on Westlaw - use search bar to search full text, or search General Index by clicking link at right side of screen
• CalJur3d on Lexis+ - use search bar to search full text and headings in Table of Contents
• drill down in the Table of Contents (use + signs to expand a topic) to get a sense of topic organization and/or to limit your search to relevant topic(s) (check box(es) for topics/subtopics) -
  • e.g., search for "trespass" only within "Criminal Law: Crimes Against Property" and not other topics relating to civil trespass

Some well-known California-focused practice guides:

• Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) publications via OnLaw
• Rutter Group publications on Westlaw
• Matthew Bender and CEB publications on Lexis+

American Jurisprudence, 2d ed. (AmJur)

• AmJur on Westlaw - search bar will search full text; search General Index by clicking link at right side of screen
• AmJur on Lexis+ - search bar will search full text and headings in Table of Contents
• drill down in the Table of Contents (use + signs to expand a topic) to get a sense of topic organization and/or to limit your search to relevant topic(s) (check box(es) for topics/subtopics)
• KF154 .A7 - in print, topic-specific indexes in last volume of each topic

Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS)

• CJS on Westlaw - search bar will search full text; search General Index by clicking link at right side of screen
• KF154 .C601 - in print, indexes and other finding aids can be easier to browse

American Law Reports (ALR and ALR Fed for federal topics): in-depth “annotations” on narrow topics, with background, analysis, and citations to relevant cases, statutes, law review articles, and other ALR annotations.

• ALR on Westlaw
• ALR on Lexis+

Moore’s Federal Practice - Civil: practice guide on civil procedure, appellate procedure, etc.

• Moore's on Lexis+ - search bar will search full text and Table of Contents headings
• KF8716.5 .M66 1997 - in print; organized according to the FRCivP and FRAP

Nimmer on Copyright: a leading treatise on copyright law

• Nimmer on Copyright on Lexis+ - search bar will search full text and Table of Contents headings; also available in print, KF2994 .N54

Rutter Group federal practice guides:

• Federal Civil Procedure Before Trial on Westlaw (California & 9th Cir. ed) - complaints and answers, discovery practice, dismissal and summary judgment motions, etc.; also available in print, KF8900 .S38 1989
• Federal Civil Trials and Evidence on Westlaw - jury trials, evidence, witnesses, post-trial motions; also available in print, KF8935 .F43