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Researching Federal American Indian and Tribal Law: Databases

Land Acknowledgment Statement--University of Illinois System

The University of Illinois System – with its universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, and Springfield – rests on the land of multiple native nations. These lands were the traditional birthright of indigenous peoples who were forcibly removed and who have faced two centuries of struggle for survival and identity in the wake of dispossession. We hereby acknowledge the ground on which we stand so that all who come here know that we recognize our responsibilities to the peoples of that land and that we strive to address that history so that it guides our work in the present and the future.

For more information on the University of Illinois System's land acknowledgment statement, see https://www.uillinois.edu/about/land_acknowledgement

About

The UIC law library and the UIC Libraries system subscribe to a number of commercial databases that cover topics related to Native American law. These databases are listed below and at right. 

Subscription Databases (Non-Law)

For lists of databases by topic, see the UIC Libraries page. Subscription databases are also listed alphabetically. Listed below are UIC subscription databases that are relevant to Native American law research. 

Subscription Databases (Law)

Most of the law-related databases listed below are available through the law library's website.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar provides a search mechanism to locate scholarly literature across multiple disciplines, including law.  Search results on campus will indicate whether the source is available in full text through a Loyola database.  Off campus, users may go to the "Settings" link and then "Library Links" to set up results that show links to UIC full-text databases. 

Google Scholar Search

Newspapers

Newspapers may be extremely helpful when researching legal topics related to Native Americans. Westlaw and Lexis both have good coverage of U.S. newspapers.  For a list of newspaper databases available through the UIC libraries

Dissertations & Theses

Dissertations & Theses at CIC Institutions
Often overlooked by academic legal researchers, dissertations and theses contain exhaustive research and extensive bibliographies. The Dissertations & Theses (D&T) database available through the UIC Libraries contains the full texts of doctoral dissertations from universities in the Big Ten conference (Committee on Interinstitutional Cooperation or CIC) from 1997 to present. Further, D&T provides free 24-page previews for doctoral dissertations from accredited American and Canadian, selected British and European universities, covering all academic subjects. The non-CIC materials are available for individual purchase. Searches may be conducted in various fields, such as title, author, citation and abstract, and degree awarded.
 
For open-access dissertations and theses, see the following sites: