Is Harvard Law Review a scholarly source?
Asked by: Norma McLaughlin | Last update: January 15, 2026Score: 5/5 (16 votes)
Founded in 1887, the Harvard Law Review is a student-run journal of legal scholarship. The Review is independent from the Harvard Law School and a board of student editors selected through an anonymous annual writing competition make all editorial decisions.
Is a law review a scholarly source?
In some cases, law reviews that use peer-review may have articles edited by practitioners or legal professionals, but this information is not always clearly provided by the publication. However, law reviews are considered secondary scholarship because the articles are providing analyses and commentary on legal issues.
Are laws considered scholarly sources?
Answer. Federal and state government documents are credible, reliable sources of information. Some of these documents are primary sources of law, such as cases, statutes, and regulations. The text of these primary law sources may be used and cited in papers and assignments requiring peer-reviewed or scholarly articles.
What type of source is a law review?
First, what is law review? Law review is an academic journal that publishes articles by professors and other scholars in a variety of legal practices. It is published by students at most law schools, who are responsible for writing notes (shorter academic articles), editing, and checking citations.
Is Cornell law a scholarly source?
Founded in 1915, the Cornell Law Review is a student-run and student-edited journal that strives to publish novel scholarship that will have an immediate and lasting impact on the legal community.
Harvard Law Review and Diversity
Is the Harvard Law Review credible?
The Harvard Law Review is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the Harvard Law Review's 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of 143 journals in the category "Law".
Who writes Harvard Law Review articles?
The Harvard Law Review publishes articles by professors, judges, and practitioners and solicits reviews of important recent books from recognized experts. Each issue also contains pieces by student editors. Published monthly from November through June, the Review has roughly 2,000 pages per volume.
Are law reviews secondary sources?
Law review or journal articles are another great secondary source for legal research, valuable for the depth in which they analyze and critique legal topics, as well as their extensive references to other sources, including primary sources.
What type of source is Westlaw?
Westlaw and Lexis provide access to different secondary sources based on the publisher and other licensing arrangements. Although there is overlap of resources, always try to check both Westlaw and Lexis during this step of the research process.
What is the difference between a law journal and a law review?
Law journals typically publish legal scholarship around a particular subject, while a law review is a general-subject journal and publishes legal articles of all kinds.
What counts as a scholarly source?
What is a scholarly source? A "scholarly resource" describes a type of resource (usually a journal article or a book) that is written by an expert in a field of study or subject. Many of these resources, particularly journal articles, go through a rigorous process to be published.
Is law review prestigious?
At schools with more than one law review, membership on the main or flagship journal is normally considered more prestigious than membership on a specialty law journal. This is not the case at all schools, however.
What isn't a scholarly source?
Newspapers are not scholarly sources, but some would not properly be termed popular, either. Every source must be questioned for its stake in the material. The New York Post is notoriously inflammatory, for instance, and also seems to love television shows broadcast on the Fox network (owned by the same company).
Are review articles considered scholarly?
All peer-reviewed articles are scholarly articles, but not all scholarly articles are peer-reviewed. NOTE: An article can be from a peer reviewed journal and not actually be peer reviewed. Editorials, news items, and book reviews do not necessarily go through the same review process.
Are law reviews not considered legal periodicals?
Legal periodicals include law journals, law reviews, bar journals, commercial journals, and newspapers. For researchers, the most valuable aspect of these secondary sources is the citations to primary source materials found in the footnotes.
Is Stanford law review peer-reviewed?
(III) Peer Review: Peer review not only enhances an article's quality, but guarantees originality. It is our practice to subject submissions to peer review, albeit in a form amenable to the typical law review selection timeframes.
Do lawyers use Westlaw?
Westlaw is an online legal research service and proprietary database for lawyers and legal professionals available in over 60 countries.
What is Westlaw considered?
Definition: Westlaw is a database used for computer-assisted legal research. It provides online access to various legal resources, including federal and state caselaw, statutes, regulations, and legal periodicals.
Does Westlaw cite for you?
The Westlaw database offers a citation tool you can use to easily generate a formatted citation for a legal case. Simply locate your case, highlight the text you plan to cite, and click on the "Copy with Reference" link.
Are law reviews scholarly articles?
Law reviews are publications that are generally written by law students. They are usually scholarly. Some may be peer-reviewed but the "peers" reviewing law review articles are often other students.
Can a review be a secondary source?
Books (which may or may not be peer reviewed themselves!) and review articles (typically peer-reviewed) are secondary sources because they build on primary source knowledge without presenting completely new findings.
Are law review articles secondary authority?
Secondary authorities can provide valuable insights and guidance on legal issues , helping to clarify the application and implications of primary law. Common examples include law review articles and treatises . Although secondary authority may be persuasive , it is never mandatory . See primary authority (contrast).
How impressive is law review?
Being a part of law review can look great on a legal resume. Employers look at this experience favorably as an indication that the student has good legal editing, writing, and researching skills.
How often is Harvard Law Review published?
Print issues of the Harvard Law Review are published monthly from November through June, including a special Supreme Court issue each November and a Developments in the Law issue each April. Print issues include articles and essays by outside authors, as well as unsigned pieces written by students.
How many people make Harvard Law Review?
Based on the competition, fifty-four second-year students are invited to join the Review each year, including: Twenty selected based solely on competition scores. Seven (one from each 1L section) selected based on an equally weighted combination of competition scores and first-year grades.