Cite Checking Guide for Law Reviews & Publication: Newspapers, Periodicals, and Journals

Non-legal Journal Articles

Your first step is to search the entire collection on MARQCAT for the name of the journal.  Read the catalog record for the formats available and dates of coverage. 

If you do not have the journal title, or it is incorrect, try searching by the title of an article in the full Marqcat catalog.

If the journal is not available through the MU libraries, then you might run a search in Google with the journal name in quotation marks to see if it is available for free on the Internet in PDF format.  Many law reviews and journals are creating available online repositories of recent and historic articles. Make sure that you are reviewing an image of the published version of the article rather than a working paper or a proof. 

Ask a librarian for help if you need it!  

First, be sure the newspaper source you need truly is the print version of an article.  It is possible that you can or should use the electronic version of a newspaper with a url citation that is authenticated via a subscription database. Often, authors cite electronic versions of newspaper articles, so check with your editor once you have made a determination of what versions of an article exist.  If your footnote cites a source that only exists in a print version, then you probably need to get a scanned version of the publication.  See Bluebook Rules 16.8, 16.6(e) and (f), and Rule 18. 

If you cannot locate a PDF version online, and if the source material is held by Raynor, Eckstein, or the Milwaukee Public Library, get the film or fiche copied using a scanner at the particular library.  For example, scanned pages of the print version of the New York Times are available on microfilm at the Milwaukee Public Library. MPL does not fill requests for copies of microfilm images via interlibrary loan. Go to the Periodicals department at the Central Branch to get the material. You do not need a library card, just some identification, and there will be a copying charge. 

Marquette law students and faculty can get a free, personal online subscription to the complete run of the New York Times (from the mid-1800s to today) as part of the law school's institutional subscription to the newspaper. This benefit lasts as long as you have active Marquette credentials. Some advantages are that you can subscribe to email notifications, read the paper from the app, and create a profile so you can save articles. The visual format and navigation of the NYT database has some advantages over the Proquest platform.

To sign up for a Marquette-affiliated account the first time, you must be on a wired computer on campus that is connected to the MU network, not a laptop or other device. Use the reference area computers, or the computers in 226.

Make sure you are signed out of any existing NY Times account you might be on, and then visit http://nytimes.com/grouppass.

Choose the option to “Create an Account” and follow the prompts, using your Marquette email-address to register. When finished, you should see a message that your Group Pass account has been activated. Once you have set up your account, you can sign in from anywhere on anything.

..........................................................................................

NOTE: If you previously had a MU Law institutional NYT subscription, it might be time to reactivate your access if you have not recently taken that step.

To reactivate, you must be on a wired computer on campus that is connected to the MU network. Make sure you are signed out of any NYT website. After you reactivate, you will be able to access subscription content from any device with your credentials. 

1. Begin by signing into your Marquette-affiliated NY Times account.
2. Next, visit http://nytimes.com/grouppass.
3. You should now see a message verifying that your access is good for another year. If not, choose the option to Log In and enter your credentials to reactivate.

Steps for finding newspaper articles:

1. For non-legal newspapers, your best bet is to include the Raynor catalog and and use the Raynor Memorial databases. Search for the name of the newspaper (publication), not the title of the article (document). The catalog record often will link to electronic databases with original images or provide information on how to access the newspaper on microfiche.  If the newspaper is available at Raynor or the law library in print, PDF, or on microfiche, you are responsible for obtaining it.   

2. If your newspaper publication title search in the catalog fails, try the Raynor Memorial Library list of A-Z Databases and search that list for Access World News. Like many MU databases accessible from the Raynor Libraries page, you can access the material using your WIFI connection and simply sign in with your MU login credentials, from anywhere.     This database is also known as Newsbank, but search the A-Z menu for the Access World News name. There are three such databases in the Raynor A-Z list. Usually you would search the broadest one (linked above) that includes international newspaper sources. If you know it is a Wisconsin newspaper, you might use the smaller database focused on Wisconsin. Once in a database, experiment with search strategies. Try Author/Byline and world region. Or, try the newspaper title in a title search with author/byline. Often, too much information can be unsuccessful; if one word is different in a headline (title), for example. If so, try a different search like date range and author/byline. 

3. Beyond Access World News, Raynor Memorial's list of databases also offers sources with original images or electronic versions of newspaper articles. Use these links to search current and older newspapers by name in ProQuest or EBSCO; America’s Historical Newspapers, etc. You can reach these databases and information about them on Raynor’s website. Consult the chart below for more guidance for finding newspapers via ProQuest or other databases. You may have to try several of these locations to find the newspaper article you seek. 

4. If MARQCAT or your search of the above databases is unsuccessful, try searching the Milwaukee Public Library’s catalog.  Remember it can take up to four weeks to obtain materials via the ILL process and MPL is only steps away from the law school.  If the material is at MPL Central, go there and get it.

5. It can be very difficult to obtain copies of newspaper articles in hardcopy or microfilm.  The University of Minnesota Law Library offers this tip: “Most law review authors cite to newspaper articles they found on Westlaw, Lexis or the Internet.  If they cite to a hard-to-find newspaper, or to wire services like Reuters or Associated Press, you can sometimes use newspaper databases to find a nearly-identical story in one of the major newspapers (Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times).”  Ask your editor.

6. Badgerlink, Wisconsin's free online library for state residents has access to Newspapers.com, a source for online and scanned versions of newspapers in the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, N. Ireland, England, and Panama. Newspapers.com is not comprehensive, but has hundreds of local papers and extended coverage dates for many, ranging from 1700-now. NewspaperARCHIVE is another database that has a lot of older material, with a paywall;  it could be worth getting a free, one-time 7-day trial to search for a source that is hard to find anywhere else. 

See the Bluebook, 21st Ed., Rules 16.6(f) and 18.2.2 for proper citation of online newspapers in place of print.

ASK FOR HELP if you need it! 

This table shows some examples of where you might find PDFs and microfilm of major/local newspapers, or electronic versions of a newspaper. To access one of the databases, use the News Databases list on Raynor’s website. Note: Some issues published within the date ranges provided in the table below may be missing.  You can also search by Journal Title in the Marqcat catalog and find electronic database versions of many of these publications that are full text, but not always offered in PDF format. That type of search can help decipher correct article titles and dates, even if you must find the PDF another way.