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Legal Studies

Citators

What is a citator?

A citator is an online tool that helps to track the history of a case and the treatment of the case in subsequent courts. Citators allow you to see if the law is in good standing and acts as a research tool to help you identify cases which have cited the case you are viewing and secondary sources. 

There are two types of citators that we have access to at UD: 

Shepard's - Nexis Uni

KeyCite - Westlaw

Scroll down this page to see how this is done in each database.

Sheparding In Nexis Uni

These are the symbols that Nexis Uni uses to Shepardize a document. 

List of Symbols to Shepardize a Document

When you are looking for a case, you can "Shepardize" the document. You can see how it appears in Nexis Uni on the screenshot below. 

Screenshot of Case

KeyCite in Westlaw

KeyCite uses Flags

Here is what KeyCite looks like after clicking on the red or yellow flag: 

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