Skip to Main Content

Northern Illinois University
College of Law
David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library

Secondary Sources: Treatises

This Guide will provide a more in-depth explanation about finding, identifying, and using Treatises in legal research

About

This Guide is meant to provide more information on the legal secondary source Treatises, which will help students identify, find, and use the resource in their legal research.  Since Treatises are often times unidentified as such, this LibGuide will clarify many of the common student misconceptions and confusion, so that students are able to easily identify the characteristics of a legal Treatise.

Treatises and Other Secondary Sources

Treatises are a Secondary Source which provides context to the primary law in a particular topic.  As such, they come in many varieties and can often be confused for other types of secondary sources.  Distinguishing what makes up a Treatise as opposed to other types of resources is integral to your success in finding and utilizing the secondary source to find primary law essential to your argument(s).  This Library Guide (LibGuide or Research Guide) will help you recognize these distinctions and nuances.

© 2024 Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University. All rights reserved.