Iowa Legal Research: Primary Resources

This lesson is intended to familiarize the user with the types of primary legal research materials you will encounter when researching Iowa law. The lesson focuses on primary source material including: the Iowa Constitution, Iowa statutes, codes, and administrative law, the Iowa court system, and Iowa cases. The lesson is aimed primarily at students and professionals who will be learning about these materials for the first time. Thus, no prior knowledge of Iowa legal research is necessary to follow this lesson.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the lesson, the student will be able to:

1. List the sources of Iowa primary law.
2. Describe how search formulations might differ if you are using a full-text source or index or subject headings.
3. Explain how to track proposed legislation.
4. List all the sources where the Iowa Constitution can be found.
5. Discuss the difference between annotated and unannotated sources.
6. List the three levels of the Iowa Court System.
7. Explain how to locate Iowa administrative law.
8. Construct a research strategy using primary resources.