Communications First Amendment Issues

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You need to do research on the First Amendment and the issues and cases involving rights protected by the amendment.

Locate information about the amendment and what it means.
  1. United States Code and United States Code Annotated (Reference Room, Ref KF62 1927 .W45) The first is just the code (law), the second includes notes on the code. The U.S. Code Annotated (USCA) has one volume covering the Constitution and Amendments 1 to 3.
  2. West's Encyclopedia of American Law (Reference Room, Ref KF154 .W47 1997) This is the set of encyclopedias to start with when you don't have a "complete" understanding of the law and major issues. It is an easy to understand "everyman's" guide American law, citing cases, issues and legal terms.
  3. Congressional Quarterly's Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court (Reference Room, Ref KF8742 .W567 1997) This third edition explains some of the changing interpretations of the code by the Supreme Court throughout its history.
  4. Encyclopedia of the U.S. Supreme Court (Reference Room, Ref KF8742 .A35 E53 2001) Arranged alphabetically, check the back for additional sources, categorized list of entries, cases index.
  5. CQ Researcher (Reference Room, Ref H35 .E3525) Although, really a periodical (published regularly), this reference work providing research information of current issues is kept in the Reference Room. Previous years are bound volumes, the current year is in a notebook for weekly updates. An index (red notebook) is kept in the same area, check this before tackling the volumes. CQ Researcher discusses an issue, its background, pro and con, provides a chronology of the issues and additional sources of information. It is indexed by Ebscohost.
  6. Code of Federal Regulations is available online from Cornell University School of Law at http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr. (case citation abbreviation: C.F.R)
    Court Decisions:
  1. U.S. Reports (volumes 311-538 Reference Room, Ref KF101) Published by U.S. government, these are the official reports for cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. (case citation abbreviation: US)
    (volumes 1-340 are available in microfiche, in the cabinet at the front of the Reference Room.)
    The latest Slip opinions and 2002-2005 term opinions are available online at the Supreme Court (http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/opinions.html
  2. Southeastern Reporter, 2d Series (volumes 1-61 Reference Room, Ref KF135 .S6 S727) National reporter with full text of cases decided by state and federal appellate courts for: West Virginia, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. (case citation abbreviation: S.E.2d)
  3. Many of the cases cited in your research will be unavailable in physical format at the library. Important cases are usually available online, but require some searching to retrieve. Several links for legal resources are on the library's Homework page, under Criminal Justice, on the Reference page (Law & Legislation) and the Government Information page.
Additional books can be located in Reference Room. KF is the beginning call number for United States law.
Check the online indexes (Ebscohost, InfoTrac SearchBank, ProQuest Criminal Justice Periodicals) for Journal articles.

Web links: FindLaw has sections on Federal and State laws, codes, statutes, court opinions. Another section divides the law by topics, one of these is Communications Law. Explore the site.
Libel
Slander
Invasion of privacy
Obscenity
Copyright U.S. Copyright Office - copyright basics

Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the U.S. from Peter Hirtle at Cornell University

Refereed, Peer Review, Juried If a scholarly journal selects articles for inclusion by a panel of experts in the field reviewing the research, the journal is known as a peer-reviewed or refereed publication. If you need refereed/peer review articles check the journal's policy for submission and publication of articles. The policy may be included in each issue; if not it will be published at least once during the year (or check Ulrich's). It has to be a "scholarly journal" not a magazine for this special status.
Lost check the Library Tutorials & handouts on the Library Homepage.

this pathfinder (under construction) located at http://library.wvstateu.edu/pathfind/comm-first-amend.html

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