How to interpret research into daily writing

Legal profession cannot move forward without research and findings. The main reason
behind this is the dynamic nature of law. Legal research forms an integral part in the life of
law professionals, whether they are law students, lawyers, academicians, practitioners who
are interested in legal knowledge. With the changing of society and laws every day, it
becomes essential to scrutinize the pool of laws and social rules. The primary purpose of
legal research remains to either find the lacunas in the laws, so they are made following the
society’s needs or add some vastness to the subject matter of rules to make it
comprehensive.

Through this article, we shall ascertain the true meaning of research and, after that,
understand the legal research. There exist different types of legal research. We shall also
look at them by having a comparative analysis between them. Furthermore, in the last part
of this article, I will share a few legal websites that can do legal research. Not only this, but
the article will also provide you with some of the best tips to conduct effective legal
research. So, let us get started.  

What is legal research

Law is a subject that has broad dimensions of knowledge in society. There are several laws
in India, making it difficult for a prudent man to remember them all. With the growing needs
and challenges of society, laws also have to change. This means the area of law is as
dynamic as our society. A complementary relationship of law and society here comes to play
a vital role.

Therefore, it becomes essential to review the laws and see whether they are suited to the
best interests of society or not. Here, legal research comes into play. A systematic finding
and ascertainment of the law on any identified topic to advance the science of law is known
as legal research.

Types of legal research

The research can be broadly divided into various types by having a comparative analysis
with respect to another kind of research. These are:
 Descriptive and analytical legal research
On the
Descriptive legal research Analytical legal research
basis of

Descriptive legal research indicates the phenomenon or

Analytical legal research indicates
situation under study and its various characteristics. ‘What has
the use of already available facts
happened’ and ‘what is happening’ is the main focus of this
and information to critically study
Meaning research. It does not attempt to answer the question ‘why it
the situation. It analyzes the whole
has happened’. In other words, it does not try to find out the
range of facts and information
causes of the phenomenon, rather it seeks to describe the
critically.
study as it is at present.

Already available facts and

Methods Surveys, comparative and correlational methods, other fact-
information are used for this kind
used finding requirements.
of research.

Applied and fundamental legal research

On the
Applied legal research Fundamental legal research
basis of

It is concerned with the generalization and

It aims to find the solution for the problem
formulation of the theory. This research is done
Meaning practically. Here, a legal researcher tries to
merely to increase the knowledge in a field of
do his research in a practical context.
inquiry.

Also
Action research. Pure research or Basic research.
known by

Central It aims to discover a solution for a pressing It aims to find additional information and thereby to
aim practical problem. add to the existing knowledge.

Quantitative and Qualitative legal research

On the
Quantitative legal research Qualitative legal research
basis of
 It is conducting research based on numerical data. It
seeks to measure the quantity or amount. A
Meaning
systematic and scientific investigation of quantifiable
reports for understanding their inter-relation.
It is basically concerned with the qualitative
phenomenon i.e. relating to quality or
characteristic. It relies on the reasoning
behind various aspects of behavior.

Methods Questionnaires, surveys, structured interviews, and Participant surveys, unstructured

used experiments. interviews, and life histories.

 Conceptual and Empirical legal research

On the
Conceptual legal research Empirical legal research
basis of

It is related to an abstract theory or idea. It is done by relying upon experience or

Generally used by philosophers and thinkers observation alone, often without due regard for
Meaning
either to develop or re-interpret the existing any system or theory. It is also known as
concept. experimental research.

It relies upon the existing concept to either re- It makes use of experiments and observations of a
Relies
interpret it into a new concept or formulate researcher. It uses facts and data to prove its
upon
from it. hypothesis.

Effective legal research

Legal research comes with a cost. Legal websites like Manupatra, SCC Online aren’t available
for free. You would have to spend more than a penny on these sites in order to access their
features. However, several authentic websites provide ways to access legal research easily
without any hassle. This will be dealt with in the latter part of this article. In this section, the
primary purpose is to tell you some tips for conducting effective legal research.  

 Always start with secondary sources. Though some people prefer to start from
the primary sources, creating from secondary sources is the best way, to begin
with, legal research. It helps in saving time and makes the research process
effective and efficient. 
 You can always start with the news articles. There you will mostly get reliable
information and also the opinions of different jurists. 
 To find the correct and reliable legal information, you can always refer to the
legal websites (discussed later on) to boost your research. 
  Try to read judgements as they are a great source of information and can help
make articles exhaustive. 
 Remember that whatever information you search for and find relevant for
yourself, bookmark it somewhere. Otherwise, you will have to go back again and
find that pertinent piece of information. 
 Avoiding plagiarism at all costs. If you have used somebody’s idea in the
information you’re disseminating, duly credit them. It becomes really easy if you
have saved the sources. Also, you can cite the sources without facing any
difficulty. There are different types of citation methods
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like Bluebook, Chicago, Oscola etc. 

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Blog.ipleaders.in
 Different methods of citations

A citation style is a set of rules on how to cite sources in academic writing. Whenever you
refer to someone else’s work, a citation is required to avoid plagiarism.

Citation style guidelines are often published in an official handbook containing explanations,
examples, and instructions. The most common citation styles are the following:

 MLA style in the humanities (e.g., literature or languages).

 APA style in the social sciences (e.g., psychology or education).
 Chicago notes and bibliography in history.
 Chicago author-date in the sciences.2

Different methods of references

There are four widely used referencing styles or conventions. They are called
the MLA (Modern Languages Association) system, the APA (American Psychological
Association) system, the Harvard system, and the MHRA (Modern Humanities Research
Association) system.
The MLA system is a parenthetical system: i.e., bracketed references in the body of your
essay are linked to full length citations in the bibliography at the end of your essay. The
bracket in the body of the essay contains only the author’s surname and the page number
or numbers you are referring to. For example: There are a number of different referencing
styles or conventions but there are four that are used most widely
The APA system is also a parenthetical system but the bracketed references in the body of
your essay are the author’s surname, the date of publication and the page or page numbers
you are referring to. For example: There are a number of different referencing styles or
conventions but there are four that are used most widely. The reference always goes at the
end of the sentence before the full stop.
The Harvard system is another parenthetical system and the bracketed references in the
body of your essay are the author’s surname and the date of publication. The list of works at
the end of the essay is headed ‘References’. The works listed in it appear in alphabetical
order by the author’s surname and follow the same format as the APA system.
The MHRA system does not use bracketed references in the body of an essay. Instead,
superscript numbers like this are linked to a sequence of notes which appear either at the

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Scribber.com
foot of the page or in a section at the end of your essay. The note contains the full reference
for the book or article you are referring to. 3

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Rlf.org.uk