What is a preemption check and why is it necessary? A preemption check is a fairly thorough review of the published material on your topic to help you a) confirm that your note will cover new ground and b) verify that there are no impending changes in the law that would render your argument meaningless.
How do I get started? You want to search for published books, scholarly articles, and works in progress. You also want to use current awareness tools that idenitfy developments in the law. In addition to the resources listed on this page, we advise that you also make use of the resources on the Locating Sources, Current Awareness, and Other Sources tabs within this guide.
In addition to the law-related current awareness information on the Current Awareness page, the following resources can help you assess whether your topic risks legal action that would render it meaningless.
Find articles, books, and more
(Note: additional content available in other databases.)
SuperSearch provides access to many full-text online materials and all of the Drake libraries print holdings. For print materials, SuperSearch indicates whether Law or Cowles owns an item, its location and call number, and if it is checked out or on the shelf.
Search for journal articles from the main or advanced interface or by clicking the Journal Finder link.
See the library's SuperSearch guide for instructions and tips, including how to find an article by citation.
An index will give you citation information (and sometimes an abstract, which is a brief summary of the article's content) but typically will not contain the full-text of articles. If you find an article citation through an index, check the Law Library's Journal Finder within the catalog to access the journal.
See Cowles Library for relevant sources beyond the discipline of law.
A few notable sources include both full-text and indexed databases:
