Legal Research

Fall 2020 - Special Notice

STLCC Libraries are now open to STLCC students, faculty, and staff, but books may only be retrieved from shelves by library staff. Please visit our Help for Students guide for up to date information about requesting library materials. 

Reference Books

Reference Books are the best places to find concise summaries and background information on a topic. Reference books cannot be checked out of the library. Some of them are available as databases or ebooks. 

Circulating Books

Circulating books (books you can check out) may also provide summaries and background information, but usually go into greater depth about a topic.

Using Books for Research

Using books for research does not always mean that you need to read the entire book.

• Use the table of contents and the index to find where in a book information about your topic is located.

• The introduction to a book may be a good place to find background information on the topic the book is about.
• You should read enough of a book or chapter to understand what an author is saying and quote her correctly.
• Sometimes chapters in books are complete works written by different authors, making them ideal for research.

Search for books using St. Louis Community College's Classic Catalog.