How to Find a Periodical Article Using Index to Legal Periodicals
Use Index to Legal Periodicals & Books (ILP) to locate periodical articles including law reviews, bar journals, newsletters, and legal newspapers. There are two databases that make up ILP: (1) Legal Periodicals Full Text which contains bibliographic indexing from 1981-, abstracting from 1990-, and selected full-text from 1995- and (2) Legal Periodicals Retro which contains indexing from 1908-1981.
- Go to the Law Library home page < http://www.law.gmu.edu/libtech>.
- Click on Catalog & Databases <http://www.law.gmu.edu/libtech/catalog.php>.
- Under Quick Links, choose Index to Legal Periodicals & Books.
- If you are off-campus, you will be prompted to enter your GMU e-mail username and password.
From the Wilson Web home page, use Advanced Search, which is the default.
- Choose your database(s): Legal Periodicals Full Text and/or Legal Periodicals Retro.
- In the FIND text boxes, enter your search terms and phrases.
- From the drop-down menu at right; select where in the record you want to search for your terms. The default is All SmartSearch which searches all parts of the record and does not require the use of a truncation symbol or quotation marks around phrases. You can also choose to search by Subject, Title, Author, etc.
- You can change Sort By (which orders your search results) or leave as Relevance.
- You can choose to Limit by Date and other features like Full Text Articles only.
- Click Start.
Results: Brief Display List
This screen lists the results of your search. By default, the list is sorted by relevance and provides the short form of each citation. To see the full record, click on the title. Note: the Results List displays only 10 records at a time. You can increase this number and choose other options by clicking on 
located at the bottom of the screen.
Saving the Results List Using E-Mail
You can send a results list to your e-mail account containing up to 100 records. Click on the 
button (left menu) and follow the instructions.
Find the Article in the GMU Law Library or Elsewhere
If an article is available on ILP in full text, you can access the article by clicking on one of these icons: 
To see if the periodical is owned by the GMU Law Library, click on the green icon 
next to the record. This will take you to the GMU Library Catalog where you can do a Journal Title search.
There is also a blue WilsonLink icon
that will give you links to other databases that may have the full-text of your article. Note: many of these databases are not available to GMU.
Find the Periodical in the Law Library
The GMU Library Catalog record will give you the location and holdings for the periodical. Most bound periodicals are located on the third floor in the compact shelving, but some older titles are located in the Arlington Campus Library. Recent issues are located on the first floor of the law library, Ranges 110-111. See the Law Library maps for more information.
