On-Line Legal Research Workshops

Authors

Frederick B. Jonassen, Barry University School of Law

First Page

470

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Like riding a bicycle, playing tennis, or driving a car, legal research is a skill, and like any other skill, it is learned by doing, and not by listening to a lecture. However, lectures are indispensable for introducing the skill. The mental processes applied in electronic legal research may differ from those applied to book legal research. But because both electronic and book research are skills, a guided workshop in electronic legal research may be based on similar principles to those underlying a workshop in book legal research, with appropriate modifications. The aspects of the electronic legal workshop proposed here are as follows: (1) scheduling as soon as possible after the introductory lecture and treasure hunt exercise; (2) guided questions, which lead students through a process and which also give them freedom and independence to make choices; (3) a realistic research problem that requires reflection about what has been found, as opposed to simply finding an answer, but which is not as complex as the research problem for a typical open memo; (4) work in small groups or pairs; (5) immediate discussion and feedback on the strategies employed in the research exercise.

Recommended Citation

Frederick B. Jonassen, On-Line Legal Research Workshops, 22 St. Thomas L. Rev. 470 (2010).
Available at: https://scholarship.stu.edu/stlr/vol22/iss3/6