Resources for Law Journal Staff Members

Purpose of Preemption Checking

Before finalizing your proposed topic, you must conduct a preemption check. A thorough and complete preemption check should accomplish two goals:

1. Ensure that your proposed thesis has not already been addressed by someone else.
   • Topics that are not preempted tend to fall into one of two categories: (1) pieces on new and novel topics, or (2) pieces providing a new perspective or argument on a topic that has already been written about.
2. Identify whether there are sufficient resources (especially legal) for you to use in your research and writing process.

Remember: Everything that you collect and review during the preemption checking process can be used as a part of your research. Save what you review!

Guidelines for Preemption Checking

1. Generate your search terms/phrases.

   • Choose a set of search terms/phrases that allow you to run both broad and narrow searches. Test out your search terms and adjust, if needed.

   • Use both Boolean operators and keyword searches. To read more about Boolean searching, check out this overview.

2. Search for published law journal articles.

   • Suggested Databases: HeinOnline, Westlaw, Lexis+, Google Scholar

     • Advanced searches will produce more targeted results, while a basic search will provide a lot of results with less relevant material.

     • For a comprehensive preemption check, each database should be searched for relevant articles. Searching only one database is NOT enough for a thorough preemption check.

   • You can also try using Law Journal Indexes, which index published law journal content with a controlled vocabulary. This type of resource can help you identify articles on the same topic, even if you are using different search terms.

     • Current Index to Legal Periodicals

     • Index to Legal Periodicals & Books Full Text 

     • Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective (1908-1981)

     • Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals

   • These databases can be access through the UNC Law Library website.

3. Search for articles in other disciplines, if necessary.

   • Suggested Databases: JSTOR, Academic Search Premier, Articles+

   • Use the UNC Libraries 'E-Research by Discipline' feature to search in journal databases geared to specific disciplines.

   • You can also try using general Journal Indexes, which index published journal content with a controlled vocabulary. This type of resource can help you to identify articles on the same topic, even if you are using different search terms.

     • ProQuest Periodicals Index Online

4. Search for books/book chapters on your topic.

   • Use the UNC Law Library catalog to search for books on your topic.

     • Advanced searches can be run here.

   • Google Books and Amazon provide limited previews of many titles.

5. Search for unpublished articles and working papers.

   • Suggested Databases: SSRN, bepress Legal Repository, Google Scholar

     • In SSRN, try starting with broad keyword searches, then use the "Search Within" box to narrow from there.

     • In bepress Legal Repository, there is a helpful "Browse by Subject" search filter that can help you target your searches.

     • Google Scholar can help you find conference papers that are not typically published by law journals.

     • This is a very important step, as you are probably writing on a new or emerging issue. This step allows you to view forthcoming publications before they are published and preempt you.

6. Subscribe to current awareness alerts.

   • Suggested Databases: Westlaw, Lexis+, Bloomberg Law, Google Alerts

     • You can access the subscription databases through the UNC Law Library website.

   • You want to monitor for new publications and changes to any relevant law.