Topical Legal Research Courses at The Boston College Law School
Joan ShearLegal Information Librarian and Lecturer in LawPresented at AALL 2005 Annual MeetingSan Antonio, Texas
Advantages
You can’t teach everythingNot enough time in the first yearNot everyone needs to know
everythingNot everyone wants to know
everything Target information to interests
Getting Approved
Get Champions
– Faculty allies Start with known allies
– Guest research lectures Interview faculty
– Find more allies and more ideas
Goals
Use exclusively examples from this subject Reinforce basic concepts
Use more sophisticated searching techniques Introduce tools and sources not covered in
first year Legislative history Administrative law
Introduce specialty materials
What to Include/Exclude
Make what you do count Get ideas from others Activities teach better than lectures
Don’t feel bad about repetition Adult learners need to hear something six
times Let them know that that is more out there
They can discover it for themselves if they ever need it