Law Subject Guide

'Secondary sources of the law summarise, describe, analyse, critique and provide commentary on the primary sources of the law'.¹

Start with secondary sources to research an unfamiliar area of law or legal concept. While secondary sources are not authoritative versions of the law, they are beneficial for developing your understanding. Examples of secondary sources include:

• books
• legal encyclopedias and dictionaries
• journal articles
• looseleaf commentary services
• some material found on the Internet such as research papers, organisational and government reports, grey literature, blogs etc

Searching effectively for secondary source information on a legal topic requires a well-planned search strategy.

Evaluating secondary sources

It is important to critically evaluate sources, especially web-based sources, to determine whether the information is credible and suitable for academic and professional use. Currency, authority and jurisdiction are of particular relevance for law resources.

REVIEW is an example of criteria used to evaluate secondary information sources:

• relevance
• expertise
• viewpoint
• intended audience
• evidence
• when published.

¹ Jay Sanderson, Drossos Stamboulakis and Kim Kelly, A Practical Guide to Legal Research (Lawbook, 5th ed, 2021) 6.
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