Conducting Legal Research

What is a citator?

At its core, a citator is an index of legal materials. With a citator service, a legal researcher can generate a list of materials that cite to a specific source or document. The two primary legal citators are KeyCite (Westlaw) and Shepard’s (Lexis).

Bloomberg Law also has a citator, BCite.

Why should I use a citator?

Citators help you to:

• Determine whether a primary law source, such as a case or a statute, is still valid law.
• See the effect a citing document has on a case or a statute (positive, negative, affirm, overturn, question, etc.), and see the depth of treatment the citing resource gives to that case or statute.
• Expand a primary source by using that source to find additional relevant primary and secondary sources.
  • Limit citing resources by headnote (point of law), jurisdiction, date, and other categories.
• See the appellate history of a case.

What types of sources does a citator serve?

KeyCite and Shepard’s provide citator services for the following materials:

• Shepard’s: cases, statutes, the CFR, select administrative decisions, and law journals.
• KeyCite: cases, statutes, administrative decisions, federal regulations, and law journals.