Faculty Research & Writing Support

Research Assistance

Our reference librarians are available to assist faculty and staff with their research needs. Whether it's some quick advice or a more in-depth research consultation, we encourage you to contact our reference staff. Faculty may also contact their librarian liaison directly.

Research Resources & Guides by Subject

View a list of our electronic resources arranged by subject and our collection of topical research guides. Don't see a guide on your specific subject? Contact our reference staff and we'll create one for you.

Literature Review

Contact us if you would like a law librarian to conduct a preliminary literature review on a potential research topic.

LexisNexis & Westlaw IDs

Request a LexisNexis and/or Westlaw ID or report problems with your existing ID. Only law school faculty, staff and students are eligible for IDs. For assistance with IDs, contact Cheryl O'Connor.

Photocopy Card

Contact us to request a debitcard for course and research-related copying. Available to law school faculty and staff only.

Research & Citation Managers

There are several tools available which can help you manage your research sources and automatically create bibliographies.

Zotero, a free Firefox extension, is especially recommended.
RefWorks and EndNote are also available to members of the UW Madison campus community. For assistance, contact Bonnie Shucha.

Legal Citation (Bluebook)

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is currently in its 18th edition (2005). Several copies are available for check out at the Law Library. See our Interpreting Legal Citations for a quick guide to common citation types.

Note that Zotero can automatically create footnotes and bibliographies in the Bluebook citation style.

See also:
Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (Cornell University Law School)
Bluebook Abbreviations of Law Review Titles (University of Washington School of Law Library)

Research Funding

In addition to meeting the requirements of the funding entity, external funding proposals must be submitted in accordance with the guidelines and policies of the UW Office of Research & Sponsored Programs (RSP). Additional information and links to funding databases can be found at the RSP site. Proposals also must be approved by the Law School dean's office. For assistance with budget preparation, proposal submission, and approvals, you may contact Pam Hollenhorst.

Submitting Articles or Working Papers

Strategies for Submitting to Law Reviews Wiki
Faculty and staff may contact Technology Services and Support to view and contribute to wiki.

ExpressO
Upload your manuscript to be delivered to your choice of 550+ law school reviews. The UW Law School maintains an institutional account through which faculty may submit manuscripts at no cost. See the wiki for tips on submitting to ExpressO.

LexOpus
LexOpus is a free online law review submission service from Washington and Lee Law School. It allows an author to submit a work to a sequence of author-selected law journals. An author may also, or instead, invite offers from any journal by choosing to indicate the work as open to offers.... An author is free to simply upload a work to make it available for general viewing. There is no obligation to make the work available to journals.

SSRN (Social Science Research Network)
Submit articles and working papers to this repository of new and forthcoming scholarship.

UW Law School Faculty Bibliography
To showcase the scholarship produced by faculty and staff, a searchable bibliography of books, book chapters and articles resides prominently on the Law School web site. Help keep the bibliography up-to-date by regularly submitting your new citations or revisions to Cheryl O'Connor.