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How to Research and Understand Federal and State Regulations

by Annie Mueller

Overview

Understanding the technical jargon and legal phrasing of regulations can be daunting. But it's a matter of defining key terms and then simplifying the language down to a few phrases that tell you what the regulation really means. Follow these steps to find and understand both federal and state regulations.

Step 1

Go to the official Federal Regulations website to find the federal regulations you are interested in researching. For state regulations, use the Cornell University Law School state regulation search engine (see "Resources").
Step 2

Use keywords to search for the federal regulations from the main page of the Federal Regulations website. You can narrow your search by federal department or agency, or by document type, or you can choose a category from the drop-down list and search within a single category. Search for the state regulations by narrowing your search first to a particular state or by searching via topic through all state regulations.
Step 3

Download and open the documents containing the regulations that interest you.
Step 4

Make notes while you read through the regulatory documents. Note key terms, whether you understand the definitions or not. Summarize each paragraph or passage as succinctly as you can. Jot down questions for the passages you do not understand.
Step 5

Look up the key terms and make a list of the key terms and their definitions.
Step 6

Go back to the passages you didn't understand and use your key terms definition list to help you decipher the language into something that makes more sense.
Step 7

Make a basic outline of the regulatory document using your summaries and key terms. Seeing the more confusing portions within the context of the whole document can help you understand how they relate.
Step 8

Find help for regulations and passages that still don't make sense. Call or make an appointment with a member of your local government or faculty at your local university. Find someone whose official position, job and/or research specialty relates to the regulations which you are studying. Take along your notes and your outlines. Ask specific questions about the portions you do not understand, and keep your visit as brief as possible.