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Legal Research Skills Guide: Secondary sources

Learning outcomes

This section of the guide will help you develop your understanding of the different types of secondary resources and how they can help you in your legal research

Secondary resources

Secondary sources of law provide information about the law. They summarise the area of law, focus on relevant issues and list other relevant resources in the footnotes. Use secondary sources to hone down to the specific information you need. From there you will be directed to the relevant primary source material (legislation and case law).

Secondary resources include:

  • Legal dictionaries
  • Legal encyclopaedias
  • Books - including ebooks and textbooks
  • Journal articles
  • Commentary services
  • Law reform resources
  • Reports

Secondary resources menu

This section of the guide  will help you to develop your research skills using secondary legal resources, including: 

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