GB 6360 - Legal Issues in Human Resource Management

Welcome to the library's Research Guide for Legal Issues in Human Resources.

Research Assistance

Library staff members are always willing and eager to help you with your assignments.  Please contact us by email, phone, or text message, and we will respond to your questions as soon as possible.

General Email: library@delval.edu
​Call or Text: 215-709-8851

Elise Georgulis is the Distance Learning & Graduate Studies Librarian.
Feel free to contact her directly if you'd like. 

Elise's Email: elise.georgulis@delval.edu
Elise's Phone: 215-489-2386

Off-Campus Database Access

If you're doing research from home, click on the name of a database and then enter your myDelVal login credentials. These are the same as your DelVal email username and password.

Book/DVD Circulation

Most books may be checked out for three weeks.  If no one is waiting for the titles, you may then renew them for another three weeks.  There is no limit to the number of books you may check out.  DVDs are available for three-day loans.  Did you know that the library has more than 1,500 popular movies and TV series?  You may check out a maximum of three DVDs at a time.

from the Society for Human Resource Management...

Image from: http://moneycrux.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/humanresources.jpg

The huge Lexis-Nexis database contains U.S. and state case law, along with other useful materials.  Below are three ways to get started, searching by topic, searching the case law, or looking at law review articles.  Note that you can sort your results by date or relevence.

What gets searched
You can search case law sources by jurisdiction, state and time periods. The following are just a few of the available sources:
Supreme Court Cases (back to 1790)        Courts of Appeal
District Courts                                             Individual State Courts

 1. Searching by Topic

• Go to Lexis-Nexis

• In the box, "Look Up a Legal Case," enter your search in the "Search by Topic" box.

• You will retrieve all the case law concerning that idea.  You will be able to link to other related case law within those citations.

2. Searching by Case Law Citation 

• Go to Lexis-Nexis

• In the  box,  "Look Up a Legal Case," enter citation such as 41 U.S. 367.

• Click the "Go" button to retrieve results

• The citation will take you to the case

• You will see "headnotes" -key legal points of a case drawn from the language of the court by LexisNexis®attorney-editors.

3. Searching by Law Review articles
When you have a case,  there may be law review articles that discuss the issues of the case in more understandable language than the actual case law.  Here's how to find these.

• Go to Lexis-Nexis

• Above the red-outlined search box click on the "Search by Content Type" box

• Under the "Legal" list select Law Reviews

• Search by case name: eg. Martin v. Waddell or by a topic (eg. hostile workplace)

Law is language specific!  And includes lots of Latin!
For precise legal terminology use Nolo's plain-English law dictionary   REF 349.7303 N724  (2009)

Citing Court Decisions (Bluebook Rule 10)

Reference form for cases:

   Name v. Name, VOlume Source Page (Court Date).

1. Sample reference list entry to a case:

   Lessard v. Schmidt, 349 F. Supp. 1078 (E.D. Wis. 1972)

   Text Citation:

   Lessard v. Schmidt (1972) OR (Lessard v. Schmidt, 1972)

2. Sample reference list entry to an appealed case:

   Durflinger v. Artiles, 563 F. Supp. 322 (D. Kah. 1981), aff'd, 727 F.2d 888 (10th Circ.       1984).

   Text Citation:

   Durflinger v. Artiles (1981/1984)

3. Sample reference to an unreported decision:

   Gilliard v. Oswald, No. 76-2109 (2d Cir. Mar. 16, 1977).

4. Sample reference to a state trial court opinion:

   Casey v. Pennsylvania-American Water Co., 12 Pa. D. & C.4th 168 (C.P. Washington       County 1991).

5. Sample reference to a federal district court opinion:

   Davis v. Monsanto Co., 627 F. Supp. 418 (S.D. W. Va. 1986).

6. Sample reference to a case appealed to a state supreme court:

   Compton v. Commonwealth, 239 Va. 312, 389 S.E.2d 460 (1990).

7. Sample reference to a case appealed ato a state court of appeals:

   Texas v. Morales, 826 S.W.2d 201 (Tex. Ct. App. 1992).

8. Sample references to cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court:

   Brown v. Board of Educ., 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

   Maryland v. Craig, 110 S. Ct. 3160 (1990).

From Publication Manual of the American Psychology

Use Google Scholar to search for your case and find the citation. First, type your case in the Google Scholar box below. Then, click on "Case Law" on the left hand side, once you are taken to Google Scholar. Your case should be one of the first links. Click on "Cite," underneath the case. Your Blueblook citation should then show up.