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Legal commentary: Journals

Journal articles provide a depth of analysis and opinion which will inform your argument, especially when writing research essays. Use journal articles to:

  • provide an overview on the law related to a research topic
  • focus on a more specific or specialised aspect of the law
  • provide current information, not yet available in text books
  • summarise a recent case or legislative amendment
  • provide scholarly opinions of experts to backup your argument
  • lead you to other articles or cases on similar points of law
  • provide discussion on proposed reforms to the law.

This page provides information on relevant databases used to identify and locate articles on a legal topic. To check what journals the Library subscribes to, use Search to find a particular journal, or browse the Law category in electronic journals

You can use a mix of broad based searching and law specific database searching.
Broad based searching may provide a useful overview of what's available but be aware that some publishers such as Lexis and Westlaw do not allow their journals to be included.

Key databases for law journal articles

Other databases for law journal articles

Find more at our Law databases A-Z or Law databases by subject pages.

Find full-text

If you find an article record that does not provide full text, look for a link. Clicking this will open a new window to show you where the full-text can be located, or provide a direct link to the journal record in Search.

Note - not all databases have this facility, so, alternatively, use Search.

To help with locating the article and citing it, always make a note of the journal details (title, volume, issue, year and starting page number) as well as the author and title of the article.

If using Google Scholar off-campus to search for articles, set the Scholar Preferences to recognise Monash University (under Library Links) so that you can link through to subscribed full-text journals for participating publishers.

Browse law journals