If you are confronting a new area of law and feel overwhelmed, don't forget that there are some valuable secondary resources available to help you! Below is a top five list of secondary resources that can provide you with overviews of particular areas of law. Most are available from the 8th Circuit libraries and some are online:

1. Legal Encyclopedias such as American Jurisprudence (AmJur) and Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS) provide excellent overviews of legal subjects areas, complete with annotations and references for further research. AmJur is now available on both Westlaw and Lexis. CJS is available on Westlaw.
2. American Law Reports (ALR) is not a true case reporter, but it provides case annotations/articles on a range of legal issues along with commentary and comparisons of treatment between jurisdictions. Available on Westlaw and Lexis.

3. Major treatises in the areas of civil and/or criminal procedure include Federal Practice & Procedure (Wright & Miller; on Westlaw), Moore's Federal Practice (on Lexis). For treatises on more specialized legal subjects, check our research guides and the online catalog

4. Nutshells, published by West, provide easy-to-read overviews of various legal subjects. While not intended for citation in documents, these little plain-english paperbacks are often a great starting point for the more complex areas of law.

5. Law review articles can be very handy for outlining new issues or areas of law. If you're on the cutting edge of a particular issue or subject that isn't addressed by the sources above, remember to search the law review databases on Westlaw, Lexis, and HeinOnline -- you never know what helpful little gem might turn up!