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Choosing a Topic for Your Journal Article

University of Minnesota Law Library Research Guide Series

Preemption Checking Guide

Preemption Checking Tutorial

Legal Periodicals

It is essential to do a thorough search of existing legal literature to discover recent articles written on your topic and to determine if your approach is original. If your ideas have been covered previously, it will be necessary to alter your approach. Preemption checking must be done throughout the research and writing process. Consult the following sources to determine if your article topic has been addressed by another author. 

Works in Progress

Drafts of articles are often shared by legal scholars through the following websites. Searching these drafts will help you determine if your topic has recently been preempted by another author whose work will soon go to press.


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