- How to Shepardize (citators) Workshops;
- Basic Bluebooking (Memo Style) Workshops;
- Navigating and Secondary Sources in Westlaw Training;
- Cases and Statutes in Westlaw Training;
- Cost Effective Research in WestlawTraining;
- Lexis ALWR Help;
- Possible noise from the atrium on Thursday, 7pm-9pm.
The CRAP test.
I like to follow blogs about libraries and research. One of my favorites is Lisa Gold: Research Maven. Lisa is a professional researcher, who explains research concepts well. Check out her colorful post, “The CRAP test for evaluating sources,” for a good explanation of how to decide if a source you have found can be relied upon. If you click the “Highlights” link at the top of her page, you can see a list of her most notable posts. My favorites are, “Spell-check is evil, but funny: The Cupertino Effect,” “Let’s talk about search,” and “In praise of browsing.”
In the Library this Week (February 19th – 24th)
Wondering what to get your sweetheart this Valentine’s Day?
Many law students are on a budget so they need to be creative for Valentine’s Day. Why not read some poetry to your loved one or, better yet, read to them from one of the new books the Coastal Library just received!
Take a look:
| TITLE | CALL # | LOCATION |
| All the missing souls : a personal history of the war crimes tribunals / David Scheffer. | KF373.S338 A3 2012 | General Collection |
| Covenants not to compete : a state-by-state survey / Brian M. Malsberger board of review associate editors, David J. Carr, Arnold H. Pedowitz, Eric Akira Tate. | KF3463 .C68 2012 | General Collection |
| From the closet to the altar : courts, backlash, and the struggle for same-sex marriage / Michael Klarman. | KF539 .K58 2013 | General Collection |
| It’s the way you say it : becoming articulate, well-spoken, and clear / Carol A. Fleming. | P95 .F435 2010 | General Collection |
| The legal writing survival guide / Rachel H. Smith. | KF250 .S625 2012 | General Collection |
| Lincoln’s ladder to the presidency : the eighth judicial circuit / Guy C. Fraker with a foreword by Michael Burlingame. | KF368.L52 F73 2012 | General Collection |
| Negotiate like the pros : a top sports negotiator’s lessons for making deals, building relationships, and getting what you want / Kenneth L. Shropshire. | HD58.6 .S574 2009 | General Collection |
| Patent, copyright & trademark / Richard Stim. | KF2980 .E44 2012 | Course Reserves |
| Phake : the deadly world of falsified and substandard medicines / Roger Bate. | HD9665.5 .B38 2012 | General Collection |
| Scholarly writing : ideas, examples, and execution / Jessica L. Clark, Kristen E. Murray. | KF250 .C528 2012 | General Collection |
| Typography for lawyers / Matthew Butterick [foreword by Bryan A. Garner]. | Z246 .B98 2010 | Reference Collection |
| US international lawyers in the interwar years : a forgotten crusade / Hatsue Shinohara. | KF297 .S43 2012 | General Collection |
| Writing to win : the legal writer / Steven D. Stark. | KF250 .S8 2012 | Course Reserves |
In the Library this Week (February 11th – 18th)
- Secondary Sources Research Workshops;
- Special Library Hours for Presidents’s Day Weekend:
Library Presendents’ Day Weekend Hours (February 15th -18th)
Friday (15th) 7:30am – 8:00pm
Saturday (16th) 10:00am – 8:00pm
Sunday (17th) 10:00am – 10:00pm
Monday (18th) 9:00am – 10:00pm
Reference Desk Presidents’s Day Weekend Hours (February 15th -18th)
Friday (15th) 9:00am – 4:00pm
Saturday (16th) 10:00am – 3:00pm
Sunday (17th) Noon – 6:00pm
Monday (18th) 10:00am – 3:00pm
Don’t Make the Judge Angry!
Have you seen the recent article about a Miami area drug possession bond hearing? The video clip and article can be found here. We can all agree that it is not a good idea to disrespect a judge. And of course, every lawyer and law student knows to show respect to a judge in her own courtroom. We may have to rethink this assumption after watching this clip from the People’s Court with a University of Miami law student. Wow!
Ethical opinions are often not easily found in the typical law student’s first choice for legal research (i.e. Westlaw or Lexis). However, most ethical opinions can be found on the open Internet. The recent ABA ethical opinions are on the ABA website. The archive of older ethical opinions is available for ABA members. (Law student dues are only $25 or three years for $60).
State ethical opinions are often available from the state bar website or the state supreme court website. Often an Internet search of the state name and “ethical opinions” will quickly find ethical opinions. Once located the search function within the websites vary. In Florida, ethical opinions are available on the Florida Bar website which is searchable by opinion number or keyword. The results produced from the search include a brief summary of the subject matter. In California, the ethical opinions can only be searched along with the rest of the Bar website. In Illinois the voluntary bar association has advisory opinions that can be browsed and searched by subject or full-text, while the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission provide both basic and advanced search functions of the official ethical rules and opinions.
So know your duties and obligations as a lawyer – and don’t make the judge angry!
In the Library this Week (February 4th – 10th)
Legislative History in Real Time!!
Have you seen the recent development in Florida concerning funeral protests? There was an article in the Jacksonville Times Union describing a bill that has been passed in the Florida Senate that would affect those protests. If you notice they give you a citation to that bill: SB 118. If you want to keep track of how that bill makes its way through our legislature you can head over to the Florida Senate’s website at http://www.flsenate.gov/. Once you are there just put the bill number (118) in the search box at the top of the screen and you can see all the exciting things that have happened as the bill makes its way through the senate. One of the options allows you to view the staff analyses of the bill which can often give you some insight into the legislative intent. This is a great way to get comfortable with Florida legislative history research. (This can be very tough) If you want to be notified any time there is activity concerning this or any other bill just sign up for Senate Tracker account. With a Senate Tracker account you can track items throughout the website, view the latest updates on the Tracker tab, and receive email notifications when those items are updated. You can create an account here. All you need is an email address. Did I mention this is all free? It is!
In the Library this Week (January 28th – February 3rd)
- Researching Federal Legislative History Workshop on Tuesday;
- LPII Mandatory Advanced Westlaw Trainings until Friday;
- Possible noise from the atrium on Thursday (31st) from 11am-1pm and 6pm-9pm.
Do you need to keep track of a research subject?
If you are writing an ALWR this semester, there may be new developments on your ALWR topic before the due date. Your professor will expect that you research your topic diligently throughout the semester, and deal with any new developments appropriately in your paper.
If your ALWR paper concerns doping in sports, you probably heard about Lance Armstrong’s confession as it happened. But what if your paper concerns proposed SEC regulations, or the activity of the Senate Banking Committee? You can’t count on this material being big news, and you do not have the time or inclination to repeat the same searches in the same search engines every day. You might be thinking, “If only I could arrange for news on my topic to be delivered to me automatically!”
Congratulations. You can set up alerts to do exactly that. Go to the Google Altert page here: http://www.google.com/alerts, and fill out the simple form. Lexis and Westlaw also provide this service. See instructions on how to set up alerts in Westlaw here, and in Lexis here.