May I recommend a short, amusing and educational publication? It is a great poolside read with actual court opinions. The title is Judges Say the Darndest Things. Check its availability in your Law Library by clicking the title.

The sections Fred Shackelford compiled for the book might just clarify concepts for you.

See one of the selected opinions published in rhyme on Westlaw: Fisher v. Lowe, 333 N.W.2d 67 (Mich. Ct. App. 1983) (You will have to log into your Westlaw account). See also Irvin v. Smith, 654 N.E.2d 189 (Ohio 1993) (You will have to log into your Lexis account).

Visit: www.phoenixlaw.edu/BAP

Conducting a search in the catalog can produce an overwhelming amount of results.  The good news is that these results can be narrowed by selecting facets.  Facets are located on the left side of the screen and allow the user to narrow by areas such as format, location and publication date.  These are just three of the many facets you can select.  A user can narrow by one or more facets at the same time.  I ran a search on adoption which returned 228 results.  I decided to narrow my results by electronic format and records that had my search term in the subject.  I now have 14 results, which is much more manageable.  Next time you conduct a search in the catalog use facets to find more pertinent results.

Most patrons think of the Catalog as a resource to find a call number for a book located on a shelf.  While this is still the case the Catalog has so much more to offer.  A simple search on Adoption produced records with links to resources in databases like Lexis, HeinOnline, and Westlaw.  Records for additional electronic formats include websites that are both useful and credible.  Over 50,000 articles were located; an advanced search should be done to narrow results.  Finally, five eBooks and over 60 print books were found. 

The next time you begin a research project you may want to start with the Catalog.  You never know what you’ll find! 

(Image from Catalog)

Law school is all about studying. Reading and studying.

This article from Time magazine caught my eye, as it discusses the best learning techniques for retaining information. Surprisingly, reading and highlighting are mentioned as not being as effective as using flashcards! The article goes on to explain how taking practice tests and using flashcards are great because, "[r]esearch shows that the mere act of calling information to mind strengthens that knowledge and aids in future retrieval."

Image from Morguefile.com