Skip to Main Content

Law: Finding Articles

Why use journals?

Journal articles are usually:

  • first hand reports of original research, making them primary source material
  • the first place where new research is published, so they are at the cutting edge of your subject
  • peer-reviewed, meaning that the articles have been critically evaluated by experts in the field before publication.

Searching for journal articles on a legal topic?

To find articles published in law journals it is recommended that you use the individual law databases.

Please use:

As part of your law degree you will also be studying aspects of law in the commercial world.  Use the followng databases to search within business journals.  Follow the  button within each journal article record to find out whether the full text is available to you as a member of Aston University.

How to find a journal article from a reference

The citation for a journal article in a footnote usually looks something like this:

Author firstname and surname, | ‘title’ | (year) | volume | journal name / abbreviation | first page of the article

For example:
Andrezj Grabowski, 'The Missing Link in the Hart-Dworkin Debate' (2016) 36 3 OJLS 476

Use the preferred abbreviation for the journal title from the Cardiff Index of Legal Abbreviations

There are two main ways to find the full text of a journal article from a reference:

  • Type the article title into the Library Search (or your database of choice), and use  to access full text
  • Search for the journal title in the A-Z list of journals (link below)

Article not available at Aston University?

If the journal article you require is not available through Aston's subscriptions, you may be able to obtain it through open access means:

You may also be elibible to apply for an Inter Library Loan (ILL):

Convert documents into a format that you need with SensusAccess

SensusAccess is provided by Aston University to enable students and staff to convert documents into a wide range of alternative media.

It is an automated document conversion service that will help enable you to convert your readings, slides and lecture notes into formats that work best for you. For example you could convert an image only PDF or JPEG file to a word document, MP3 file or e-book.

SensusAccess is great for supporting different learning styles, and for providing help when reading text in a foreign language.

SensusAccess is entirely automated and the documents you submit to the service are automatically deleted once they have been converted. You do not need to worry about keeping your privacy as SensusAccess does not store personal information.

More information on the service can be found on our services for users with additional needs webpage https://www.aston.ac.uk/library/services/additional-needs

Recent journal articles published in your subject area

The following journal articles have been published recently in this subject area.  If you would like to be alerted to new journal articles in your specific area of interest, see the Keeping Up To Date tab.