The Media Law Reporter is a yearly volume that indexes that indexes legal cases in the in the areas of media, communication, and entertainment.  It is located in the print reference area on the first floor of the library under the call number REF KF 2750 A513

• Look up the broad topic area in index in the front of the volume
• Locate the section or sub-section listings to get an overview of the topic and the relevant cases
• Use the page references to find information on the cases themselves
• Note the names of cases (Matovcik v. Times Beacon Record Newspapers) or the page references (40 Med. L. Rep. 1678) to find the cases in LexisNexis
• Examples

NexisUni is an online database that includes the full text of legal decisions from all levels of state and federal courts.  Access it from the Articles and Databases link on the Pickler homepage or go directly to the database at www.nexisuni.com.

• On the right-hand side, click on the arrow labeled All Nexis Uni to see options for limiting the search
• Click on the box to select Cases
• In the search box at the top of the screen, type or paste the citation (40 Med. L. Rep. 1678) or the party names (Matovcik v. Times Beacon Record Newspapers) 
• This search retrieves state or federal cases at any court level; use other limiting options to limit by juristiction of area of law

Nexis Uni may also be used to search for legal decisions by area of law (Antitrust and Trade Law, Communications, Copyright) or by court jurisdiction (all state courts, U.S. District Courts, Appeals Courts, Supreme Court) 

• While keeping Cases checked under Category, select Area of Law from the list of limiters and check one or more of the boxes displayed
• After making these selections, type a term in the search box and click on the magnifying box to perform the search
• Other options then appear to limit by date, law firm, publication, etc. 

Sherpardizing is the process of tracing a Supreme Court Decision to determine its history through the lower court and its citations in subsequent cases.

• After accessing a case through NexisUni, select the option on the right to Shepardize® this document
• The mechanics of Shepardizing can be confusing but look for references to possible negative treatment or analysis; this could indicate that the ruling was reversed in whole or in part
• In some cases the only references are to later court cases that cite the ruling you have Shepardized

 

Use the option for searching the full text of law reviews and journals to obtain legal opinions on specific cases or areas of law

• In categories, check the box for Law Reviews and Journals
• In Practice Areas & Topics, select an area of law such as Communications Law (optional)
• Type in a search phrase such DVDs and piracy and perform the search
• The full text of law journal articles containing the term are displayed
• Use further limits as necessary

Communication & Mass Media Complete (EBSCO).
Full text articles from over 200 journals covering all areas of communication and media and indexing and abstracting for many more. 

Business Source Premier
Provides full text for over 8,000 scholarly business journals and other sources in nearly every area of business, including management, economics, finance, accounting, international business, and more. The database also includes other sources of full text information such as country economic reports from the EIU,  and detailed company profiles for the world's 10,000 largest companies.

ProQuest Congressional
Index of U.S. legislative information including Congressional publications, bills, laws, regulations, member and committee information, hot topics, etc. Indexing from 1789 onward; some full text available online after 1980.