Graduate Legal Research and Information Literacy

Catalog description

This required one credit course introduces graduate students to the basic research tools and strategies a beginning intellectual property or commerce and technology professional needs to work in their practice area and engage in lifelong learning to keep their education current. The course focuses on: primary and secondary legal authority with lesser coverage on fact research, current awareness and practice tools and strategies; mandatory and persuasive authority; accessing, evaluating and updating secondary legal sources, court decisions, statutes and administrative rulemaking; developing a coherent research strategy including cost effective research; and appropriate choice of electronic formats. Students will be exposed to LEXIS, Westlaw and free web sites. At the end of the first semester students should be able to take a legal issue and determine the extent of legal information needed; access the needed legal information effectively and efficiently; evaluate legal information and its sources critically; incorporate the selected legal information into their understanding of the issue; understand the economic, legal and social issues surrounding the use of legal information; access and use information ethically and legally. Classes involve a mix of lecture, discussion and the opportunity to work directly with relevant print and electronic resources through assigned problems. In additional to a graded research midterm and final, students must successfully complete weekly research assignments. This course cannot be taken for an S/U grade.