Research Guide for Prof.
Zamora's Seminar Class:
Problems in International Trade and Investment
by Chenglin Liu, Last modified: 1/26/2003
Introduction: Research for Your Seminar Paper
A seminar paper is a written report of your research. Unlike creative writing, you need to have evidence to support your arguments. Undoubtedly, imaginative hypos and creative ideas are essential. However, ideas alone may not always lead to a successful seminar paper. Sound and well-organized research is the key to develop your ideas into a convincing presentation.
Your seminar paper should be a natural result of your research. At the end of research, you should come to the point where you have a strong feeling that you really want to present your innovative idea to your professor and classmates or get it published.
If after two or three weeks of research, you still have no clue how to fill in a 45 page assignment (excluding footnotes!), it may well be that your research hasn't gone well. That's a warning sign! You need to talk to a reference librarian right way. Usually there are two reasons that your research may have gone wrong. One is that you have not been comprehensive, there may be some important sources you haven't consulted yet. The other is that there is nothing out there to support your ideas. This is a worse case scenario. Unfortunately it could happen from time to time. As a last resort, you might want to change your topic. If you decide to do so, with your professor's permission, act quickly!
The other extreme is that your research goes so well that you have too many materials to work with. You are overwhelmed! In this information area, it happens frequently to researchers. If this happens to you, prioritize your materials and be selective and picky. You can get exhausted, but you will never exhaust your materials in just a semester. It could be that at the last minute before you hand in your paper, there is a great article on your subject published in a leading law review. Don't let it bother you--hand in what you have. As to how to organize your article, in what way to make best use of your materials, that's entirely your own decision. It is also your opportunity to show your intelligence.
To avoid deadline pressure, you should budget your time. The best way to do it is to follow Professor Zamora's Syllabus closely.
A timetable can also be helpful for avoiding Plagiarism, which is a serious honor code violation. (please click here for: What is Plagiarism and How to Recognize and Avoid It.) Since most seminar classes don't require textbooks and meet on the irregular basis, some students do not allocate time evenly and begin their research in the last two weeks before the deadline. If there are few materials available on their subjects and there is no time to change topics, the risky way to finish their papers is to take a half of an article from Harvard Law Review and the other half from Yale Law Review. You can absolutely avoid this by starting early and searching wisely.
Legal sources take different forms. Each form serves its own purpose. This research guide shows you how to utilize different sources at different stages of your research.
Law Reviews
Monographs
Treaties
Statistics
Case laws (under construction)
Get Started-Searching Ideas:
A personal conference with your professor and class discussion are the most important sources for getting ideas for your research. In addition to those, the following sources are valuable:
You may not disagree with me if I call nutshell series "fast foods" or "finger foods" for law students. A nutshell provides a brief summary and overview of a branch of law. It normally won't take you more than few hours to read one. Most importantly, the nutshell acquaints you with the relevant legal principles and legal jargon that you need for further research. Using a nutshell is an efficient way to get your research started.
All nutshells in our library are alphabetically shelved on the reserve section. Please ask circulation desk for assistance.
Here is a list of Nutshells on international trade and related issues in O'Quinn law library:Folsom et. al., International Trade and Investment 2000 KF 3943.F64
Folsom, NAFTA 1999 KDZ 944.A4168
Folsom, European Union Law 1999 KJE 949. F55
Doernberg, International Taxation 2001 KF 6419. Z9 D64 2001
Folsom et. al. International Business Transactions 2000 KF 3943. W54
Guruswamy et. al. International Environmental Law 1997 K3585. 6. G87
Gellhorn et. al. Antitrust Law and Economics 1994 KF 1652. G44Websites have become a major venue for international or regional trade organizations to disseminate trade negotiation reports, trade rules and regulations. Unlike print version, some websites are updated on a daily basis. Therefore websites are an indispensable source for searching current issues in international trade law.
Most websites have "News Releases", which is a good place to start with finding "hot" issues.For general strategies on how to search websites efficiently, please click here.
Chenglin's Guide on International Trade Law search via Internet
Includes links to major international trade and regional trade organizations. It also provides links to U.S. Trade Representative, U.S. Trade Commission among others.Tim Mulligan's Guide on International Economic Law: Treaties
Provides sources for foreign law and international law search.Law review articles tend to focus on a narrow area of law but often provide great insights on a specific issue. Most law review articles have introductory sections where you could find a clear and updated account of development of the issue you intend to explore. Some authors would also summarize on-going debates and different views of the issue. So it would be a good idea to browse some law review articles before you choose your research topic. There are three ways to locate law review articles:
1. Use “Journals & Law Reviews Combined” section on Westlaw and Lexis. For tutorials please visit:
Four Steps to Find Law Review Articles on Westlaw
Three Steps to Find Law Review Articles on Lexis
Finding Foreign & International Sources on Lexis2. Use Legaltrac® (restricted to users within law library workstations). It is a comprehensive index to legal periodicals and news. But be aware that it does not provide full-text articles.
3. Use print versions. All current law review/journals that this library subscribes to are alphabetically shelved on the right-hand side of the reference desk. Please click here for a list of law review/journals on international trade law that the O'Quinn Law Library subscribes to.
BNA Publications Online (restricted to UH law center work stations)
http://www.law.uh.edu/libraries/electronic_resources.htmlBNA Publications are current-awareness sources updated weekly. The O'Quinn Law library subscribes to the electronic versions of several BNA reporters. BNA publications are also on Lexis and Westlaw.
Antitrust and Trade Regulation Report (includes antitrust issues from European Union and other countries)
Electronic Commerce & Law Report
Environment Reporter (includes international issues)
International Trade Reporter
Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal
Securities Regulation and Law Report (includes international issues)
U.S. Patents Quarterly/Intellectual Property LibraryNewspapers, Radio, TV, Conferences, Guess Speakers
Keep your eyes and ears open all the time and stay alert to current issues in the news. Believe it or not, your research could be inspired by a piece of news you listened to on the way to school in the morning. Not all important international trade law issues are able to get the media's attention. However, those on the news are more likely to be the "hot issues" for research.
Cocktail Party, "Arbitration" (student happy hours at UH law center).
Talking to someone especially from other countries is a good way to get information on foreign trade law. LL.M. students and visiting scholars at UH law center are lawyers or legal experts in their own countries. You could gain great insights on a particular issue without making a long trip.
Legal publications take different forms. Each form serves a special purpose. In the following section, you will get an idea on how to use these various materials to expand your seminar research.
At this stage, I would like to recommend that you read law review articles differently. In step one, you just read the introductory part for getting an idea. But this time, you need to read the whole article and keep asking yourself two research questions:
1. Where did the author get his/her materials?
2. Can I get those as well? Be "aggressive"!Answers are in the footnotes! Excellent law review articles are always heavily footnoted and accurately edited. Those footnotes will lead you to all the materials upon which the article has been based. I call it "reverse engineering", how about that?
For how to search Law Review/Journal articles, please go back to Step one for Three Ways of Locating Articles.
Statistics are not a legal source. However, in many occasions you would find it necessary to include economic analysis of trade and investment flow between countries and regions in your paper. In addition to making your paper look nice, statistics will usually lend strong support to your main thesis if you use them properly. Here are some ways to locate statistics.
Horn Books, Treatises and Monographs
While nutshells give an overview of a topic, horn books, treatises and monographs tend to explore a branch of law or a specific issue more thoroughly. I call them "heavy foods." To get an in-depth analysis of your concerned issue, this is the way to go. Monographs are where you can benefit from the works, to which the authors devoted a tremendous amount of their time and energy, even their whole life.
However, please keep in mind that it usually takes longer to write a book than an article, so you may not find comments on very current issues from books.
How to find books? Two ways--
1. UH Online catalogue
All of the UH collections are at your fingertips through this page! If you need a training of how to use the online catalogue, please don't hesitate to stop by the reference desk or contact me at: cliu@central.uh.edu.Selected Books on International Trade Law in O'Quinn Law Library
2. Worldcat (1200AD-) (restricted to workstations within UH campus)
Worldcat is a comprehensive catalogue, which covers the collections from all major U.S. and some European University libraries. It provides you with detailed information about the availabilities of the books that you try to locate. If UH library system does not hold the book, you can send your Inter-Library Loan (ILL) request to our library online. Please keep in mind that it will take few weeks to get a Interlibrary Loaned book shipped to our library. So it is a good idea to plan ahead for your ILL request.Treaties are primary international trade law. At both the international and regional level, the rules of conduct for cross-border trade activities are set forth in treaties. Therefore, no research on international trade law is complete without a treaty search.
Treaties are the result of trade negotiations between two countries (bilateral treaties) or among numbers of countries (multi-lateral treaties). Probably due to the tremendous volumes of treaties, there is not a central publication or database that covers all treaties on international trade. Consequently, a treaty search can be very time consuming or even frustrating.
You can use these resources to find treaties on trade:
Tim Mulligan's Guide on International Economic Law: Treaties
Provides strategies and sources for treaty search.Chenglin's Guide on International Trade Law search via Internet
Includes links to major international trade and regional trade organizations. It also provides links to U.S. Trade Representative, U.S. Trade Commission among others.Case Law and Decisions (under construction)
European Union Cases:
Official EU Websites | Lexis | Westlaw | Academic Universe (legal research section)
WTO Decisions:
From the set-up of this research guide, if you get an impression that research is separated from writing, that's my mistake. This guide is not meant to separate the two processes. Research and writing always go hand in hand. Research energizes writing and writing enhances research. It is really a circle. You get ideas from your research, but after putting your thoughts on paper, I am sure you will have a clearer view of what you need most.
Good luck with your seminar paper!
Special thanks to Pete Egler for editing, and to Harriet Richman for her comments on the first draft of this research guide. All mistakes are mine.
Chenglin
Liu Foreign & International Law Librarian