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POLS 202: Introduction to American Government & Politics (Nelson) ARCHIVED: Construct a Search

Know How to Construct Advanced Searches

FIRST, see below to know how to construct an advanced search and manipulate search words effectively to find info on:
  • your SCOTUS case
  • the larger civil liberty or constitutional issues involved in your case
    (note that you will need to do two different, separate searches to find the info above - - this is a normal part of research!)
AFTERWARDS, search for books and scholarly journals

FIRST, Identify Case and Keywords

1. TO START, identify your case below

2. THEN, find some background info on the case to know what civil liberty or constitutional issues are involved.  If possible, try to find the issues from both the petitioner/appellant AND the respondent/appellee points of view. 
Example:

  • case = Burwell v. Hobby Lobby 
  • petitioner/appellant issues = contraception, reproductive rights, health care
  • respondent/appellee issues = religious freedom

 

 

SCOTUS CASES
  • Mapp v. Ohio 
  • Engel v. Vitale 
  • Gideon v. Wainwright 
  • New York Times v. Sullivan 
  • New York Times v. US 
  • Heart of Atlanta Motel v. US 
  • Gonzales v. Oregon 
  • Miranda v. Arizona 
  • Lemon v. Kurtzman 
  • Playboy 
  • Griswold v. Connecticut 
  • Loving v. Virginia 
  • US v. Nixon 
  • Buckley v. Valeo 
  • Obergefell v. Hodges 
  • UC Board v. Bakke 
  • Texas v. Johnson 
  • DC v. Heller 
  • Lawrence v. Texas 
  • US v. Lopez 
  • Citizens United v. US 
  • Burwell v. Hobby Lobby 
  • Tinker v. Des Moines ISD 
  • Bowers v. Hardewick 

NEXT, perform this initial search:

NEXT, perform this initial search to find books and scholarly journals on your CASE

Note that you usually do NOT spell out "versus" when you search. Rather, you simply enter the official case name, such as: Burwell v. Hobby Lobby
However, if you are having difficulty finding info, you can also try "vs." as in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby

  • click image to enlarge example of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby:

First, do a simple search on the case name in quotes

THEN, perform this second search:

THEN, perform this second search to find books and scholarly journals on your CIVIL LIBERTY OR CONSITUTIONAL ISSUES

 

1. Add one civil liberty concept word in the first search box.  
If there are synonyms or related words to that concept you have the option to add them with an "OR"
2. "AND" focuses and narrows your search
3. To find a legal focus to your civil liberty, add this phrase exactly in the second search box:
legal OR court OR constitutional OR "civil rights"

  • click image to enlarge example of specific issue from the case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby: reproductive rights

4. Note that you will need to perform another search for different concepts, but the search construction is the same as above.  See example below for the other issue in the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case: religious freedom

  • click image to enlarge

Note that you will need to perform another search for different concepts, but the search construction is the same as above. See example below for the other issues in the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case: religious freedom