Research Assistant Training

You need to find out what terms are used, how the topic is generally dealt with (in statutes or in regulations, or in both?). The best way to do this is to look for some laws to use as starting points for your research.

There are several reasons why you'll want to start with a survey that is already compiled. First, and most obviously, it will cut down on the amount of time you'll spend because it will give you some (or most) of the laws that you're looking for. Second, you can use the laws as a guide to see how laws or regulations on your topic are constructed, which will help you create a search. Third, you can use the pre-compiled survey as a way of checking your search results. If your search includes the laws from the pre-compiled survey, then you're on the right track. If it doesn't, then you need to adjust your search.

By this point you should have an overview of the types of laws and regulations that you're looking for, and you can start thinking about the features of the laws that you want to compare. Each column in your table should be a different aspect of the laws or regulations you're comparing. You may also want to include dates of enactment in your comparisons.

Most of the time you'll want to use a spreadsheet program like Excel, although Word tables work as well. The fields you're comparing should be the columns, and the states should be the rows.

You'll want to use a database that contains all 50 states' laws and regulations, so it's preferable to use LexisNexis or Westlaw. Keeping in mind the research that you have already done on your topic and the laws, create an inclusive search that will include all of the types of statutes you can envision. You'll need to use terms and connectors for this, so you may want to review the terms and connectors used in your database.

Check the search to see if it includes all of the laws you already know about; if it doesn't, you'll need to make some adjustments to your search in order to include those.