As another year begins, thoughts of New Year's resolutions are on everyone's mind. Part of that process may include evaluating our personal goals.

As paralegals, this is a good time to take inventory of our reference materials and Internet research tools.

The World Wide Web continues to expand, and with the onslaught of several social-networking sites, it may be time to evaluate use of those sites. Many people do not realize that the information they post on many of these sites could be discoverable in litigation.

Because there is so much information available on the Web, I thought it would be helpful to list some of the traditional reference materials and Internet research tools that paralegals I work with find useful in completing their everyday tasks.

Reference books

• "Physician's Desk Reference" (PDR)

• "Black's Law Dictionary"

• "O'Connor's Federal Rules" - Civil Trials

• New York Civil Practice Law and Rules

Web sites:

• napps.org - The National Association of Professional Process Servers. This site provides a list of professional process servers throughout the United States and can be useful, particularly for locating process servers outside Western New York.

• uscourts.gov - Web site of the Federal court system, including an interactive map of the United States that links to listings of the courts in each state, as well as the electronic-filing home page for that court or the court's Web site. The site allows you to search for a federal court using a ZIP code. It also includes statistics for types of cases, average times for an appeal and other useful statistics. This is a useful tool when working on a case pending in federal court.

• law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp - An online version of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

• gpoaccess.gov/gmanual/about.html - This Web site includes a federal agency directory, the Code of Federal Regulations and a list of online government resources.

• legalbluebook.com - At this site you can purchase The Blue Book, take a "tour" of the publication or retrieve Blue Book updates.

• idex.lexisnexis.com - This site is a useful tool used by many paralegals to locate expert witnesses.

• sec.gov - The Web site of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This site includes access to SEC filings business entities, the SEC Rules of Practice and decisions regarding enforcement actions by the SEC.

• ncsconline.org - The National Center for State Courts. This site links to the court Web sites available for each state.

• paralegals.org - The National Federation of Paralegal Associations. The site includes many links to legal resources throughout the country.

• wnyparalegals.org - The Western New York Paralegal Association. Our site includes links to many court Web sites, legal research Web sites and vendors. There is a paralegal directory and a job bank for members, and the Web site includes a discussion forum where paralegals can post questions regarding any legal topic.

One of the best tools for any paralegal is networking with other paralegals. You never know when you will connect with someone who has the answer that you have been searching for.

- By Beth Bialis, a paralegal at Hodgson Russ LLP who is WNYPA director of public relations and marketing/NFPA primary representative.