SYLLABUS
Advanced Legal Research 6-851
Fall Semester 2009
Revision Date: 11/24/2009
General Information
Calendar of classes & assignments
Course requirements
Research Guides
TIME: Tuesday, 3:35 to 5:35
ROOM: 65.
TEXT:
INSTRUCTOR: George R. Jackson, Rm. 455L, Law Library 625-5596 / g-jack@umn.edu
OFFICE HOURS: Mondays 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Wednesdays 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 P.M., Thursdays 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (at the reference desk), as well as any and all other times by appointment or chance.
IMPORTANT DATES:
·
September 15, 2009 – topics must be chosen by this date.
· November 26, 2009 –
first draft of pathfinder is due by this date.
·
December 23, 2009 – final draft of pathfinder is due by this date.
TOPICS
Introduction
What is a pathfinder?
Statutes
Legislative history & pending legislation
Administrative law
Cases & digests research
Practice materials
Court rules
Catalogs & databases
Secondary sources & presentations
Government information/documents
Looseleafs
CALENDAR OF CLASSES & ASSIGNMENTS
Week #1 (9/8/2009)
Class: Introduction
Exercise:
Week #2 (9/15/2009)
Class: What is a Pathfinder
Reading: Assigned pathfinders
Topics must be chosen no later than today and submitted via email. All topics and all changes to topics must be approved. Send me an email with the subject line “ALR topic”.
Week #3 (9/22/2009)
Class: Statutes
Exercise: Statutory Exercise. (Exercise #1)
Week #4 (9/29/2009)
Statutes continued from last week.
Week #5 (10/06/2009)
Class:
Exercise: Legislative History Exercise (Exercise #3)
Week #6 (10/13/2009)
Class:
Exercise: Administrative
Materials Exercise (Exercise #4)
Week #7 (10/20/2009)
Class: Cancelled
Week #8 (10/27/2009)
·
Admin Exercise due.
Class:
Reading: FTL Chapter 9
Exercise: Practice
materials exercise
Week #9 (11/03/2009)
Class: Secondary Sources (Indexes, law reviews, dictionaries, treatises, ALR’s, encyclopedias, Restatements, etc.). Identification, description, and annotation of bibliographic information.
Reading: FTL Chapter 10
Exercise: Secondary
Sources Exercise (Exercise #5)/ Annotated
Bibliography
Week #10 (11/10/2009)
Class:
Reading: FTL Chapters 1 & 10
Exercise: Secondary
Sources Exercise (continued)
Week #11 (11/17/2009)
Class:
·
Catalogs
& Other Databases
Exercise: In class exercise
Week #12 (11/24/2009)
Class: CALR & Wexis
Lexis Search Connectors Research Help
Initial drafts of pathfinders are due today. Send me your draft as an email attachment. Use the subject line “Pathfinder draft”.
Week #13 (12/01/2009)
Class: Review
RESEARCH GUIDES ARE DUE BY THE LAST DAY OF FINALS
December 23, 2009
Overview:
This class is like an independent study or a workshop with multiple students. Each student selects a topic and works throughout the semester on exercises and toward the completion of the final project based on that topic. This final project is the research guide (a.k.a. pathfinder) discussed below. Hands on use of materials through assigned exercises reinforces the readings and information presented in class.
This class does not involve the substance of law per se. The goal is not analyzing the law or commenting on it, but rather finding the law and evaluating the sources in which it is contained and/or referenced. Research is approached as both a skill and as an intellectual activity. Weekly meetings may (or may not) fill the full two hour class period.
There are reading assignments for most class periods. Please do the reading before class. Short quizzes may be given to assess understanding of the readings.
Assignments:
Assignments will account for approximately 25% of the final grade. Each class session will be devoted to specific types of sources. Written library exercises will be required for most classes. Exercises will require time outside of class equivalent to twice the number of hours allotted for each weekly class, or 4 hours of out-of-class homework per week, averaged over the semester. Hand written assignments are not acceptable; all assignments should be typed up using a word processor. Assignments must be turned in when due to receive credit!
Pathfinder, a.k.a. Research Guide:
The first draft of the research guide will count for 25% of the final grade. The final draft of the research guide will also account for at least 25% of the final grade. However, you will be graded mainly on the research guide you prepare. Choose a topic for your research guide and submit the topic to me as soon as possible. An initial draft of your pathfinder is due on 11/24/2009. The final draft of your research guide is due by 12/23/2009, the last day of finals for the semester.
A research guide or "pathfinder" is designed to guide legal professionals who need to do research in a specific subject area. It is more than a list of books with descriptions and also more than just an annotated bibliography. However, the first step in either a pathfinder or an annotated bibliography is usually to identify and describe the universe of sources relevant to the topic, i.e. a listing or unannotated bibliography. Your pathfinder should go much further and be written so that a legal professional with basic legal research skills, but no background in a particular, substantive area of law, can use it to research an unfamiliar legal issue. You should map the subject area of law you have chosen and present enough in-depth information (and/or insights) that it is also useful to persons who already have some knowledge of the legal area. You should describe useful approaches to research and other good starting points. You should critique the sources and evaluate them comparatively or as they complement each other. The sources included in a research guide may vary, depending on the subject area. You should consider: primary sources (statutory and case law, as well as administrative materials), treatises, law reviews and articles, looseleaf services, helpful subject headings, digest topics and key numbers, agencies, associations, experts, online sources, and inter- or cross-disciplinary sources, and more. Evaluate sources by comparing and contrasting them. Your guide should direct readers to the most effective research methodology and information sources available on your topic. It must be at least 25 pages in length.
To receive full credit, the guide must include:
Research guides must be submitted as an electronic file in either Word or WordPerfect, sent as an e-mail attachment. First drafts of research guides are to be returned to me when final drafts are submitted. Where permission has been granted, research guides may eventually be included in this web site for future use in class discussions.
A pathfinder is not simply a bibliography, annotated or otherwise. In fact, mere lists are to be avoided wherever possible. Instead of typing out a list (of anything), it is more important to guide the reader by marking the path and providing a strategy for finding the materials that might otherwise have ended up on such a list. A year after you complete your pathfinder, a list could well be outdated, whereas the path or method you used to find your sources should still provide a reader with a way to find more current sources. In some instances, it may be appropriate to list illustratively a few of your best findings, but the reason for each item's inclusion should be plainly indicated. These included items should illustrate the finding method you provide. As useful as lists are for padding page counts, include them cautiously or put them in appendixes.
Following each class session, you should explore the types of sources discussed that day and evaluate them for your topic as you perform the exercises. The exercises themselves cannot be simply cut and pasted together into a pathfinder. Analyze the usefulness and critically note the features of each assignment's sources, including the bibliographic elements described above. Prepare a written annotation giving a complete description of each source and your commentary on its use. By doing this every week, in addition to completing the assignments, you will collect much of the data you need to put together your research guide. There should be many sources you will want to include which are not covered in class. Some of the sources used in weekly assignments may appropriately appear in your pathfinder, but many more should be those you find independently using the skills and sources developed from doing the exercises.
Do not overlook non-bibliographic sources. Include names, addresses, and contact information of individuals, organizations and government agencies. Provide URLs where appropriate and describe publications of these individuals or organizations.
Don't try to be comprehensive. Instead of noting every statute, case, or article; use your judgment to include those that are most important, illustrative, or useful. If you list the subject headings and/or best key word searches for an online periodical index, you do not need to include all of the articles you found with them. The subject headings and/or best key word searches you've provided will allow your readers to find newer information on the same subject by marking the research path. You can include just the articles which you think are best.
Topic Selection
Topics should be chosen no later than September 15, 2009. Submit your topic proposal to me in writing via e-mail. Your proposal should describe why you think this would be a good topic and one for which you will explore legal materials in all of the legal areas covered in this course. All topics and all changes to topics must be approved by me. If in the course of the semester, you find your topic is too narrow and will not require you to explore legal materials in all of the legal areas covered in this course, schedule a meeting with me as soon as possible. It may be easier to narrow a topic which is too broad than it is to broaden a narrow one.
A note on topic selection. Too broad or too narrow? A good topic is one that allows and requires you to explore and find many more sources than those about which you learn in this class and its assignments. In every category of material we cover, you should explore and find more. Consider these examples.
Too narrow -- procreation rights of prisoners. For this topic, I would recommend expanding it. Perhaps to prisoners' rights generally. And perhaps broaden it further to corrections generally. And perhaps yet further -- something analogous to prisoners' rights within corrections, criminal justice, criminal law & procedure, or constitutional law. The acid test will be when you write the final paper. If your topic is broad enough, you will be able to include at least as many sources that you discovered on your own as those that were brought to your attention through the exercises. The only material relevant to the prisoners' procreation rights topic which isn't covered in the assignments is a handful of cases. No articles, no legal encyclopedia entries, no treatises, no statutes, no annotations, no administrative regulations, no practice materials, etc.
Too broad -- not as problematic as too narrow. Torts or contracts are very broad, but they can be easily broken down into various sub-topics. Depending on your writing style and how your guide is written, broad topics can be pursued very effectively. It is much easier to narrow a broad topic than it is conversely to broaden a narrow topic. If your topic seems unwieldy, please, discuss it with me.
Choose a topic about which you want to know more and on which you are willing to spend significant time. Better topics are those which require you to explore legal materials in all of the legal areas covered in this course. Even better are topics which
Do not choose an international topic nor one that concerns the law(s) of
a state other than
Your research guide is due on the last day of finals. 12/23/2009. Any request for an extension must be submitted to me in writing or via e-mail by the last day of classes, 12/09/2009. Your request should state the reason for the extension.
Conference:
You should meet with me whenever necessary to discuss progress on your guide. Be prepared to discuss sources you have examined thus far. It is your responsibility to contact me and to schedule meetings.
Participation:
Although the majority of your grade is based upon the Research Guide and exercises, active class participation is encouraged and considered. As this is not a typical class, however, participation will be considered in an appropriate context. For example, it is your responsibility to maintain an ongoing dialogue with me regarding your progress, to make use of library "lab" sessions, and to become very familiar with me and the entire reference staff as we work together for you to gain the understanding you need to produce your pathfinder. Class participation includes your interactions in the reference office. Last but not least are the in-class presentations and discussions of pathfinders submitted in the past.
Attendance:
Attendance will absolutely be required. You may, however, miss up to three class periods without sanction. Attendance sheets must be signed during class.
Research guides, also known as pathfinders, are the final papers submitted by
students in ALR. They are the most important component of performance
evaluation for the course. Pathfinder requirements and guidelines can be
found in the syllabus.
Beginning with the 2001/2002 academic year, selected pathfinders are provided
here in full-text in their original word processing format.
CAUTION: These pathfinders below may
contain dated and/or inaccurate content. They are included here anonymously and
primarily as examples of the "genre" for ALR students. Their research
value is undeniable and significant, but it is incumbent upon the reader to
verify the accuracy of any information relied upon. For more information
regarding pathfinder requirements, please, see the syllabus.
Fall 2004
Spring 2005
Fall 2005
Spring 2006
CAUTION: The pathfinders above may contain dated and/or inaccurate content. They are included here anonymously and primarily as examples of the "genre" for ALR students. Their research value is undeniable and significant, but it is incumbent upon the reader to verify the accuracy of any information relied upon. For more information regarding pathfinder requirements, please, see the syllabus.