Hi Frank,
Well, teaching the poor first years is tough since they don't have the subject
knowledge and are scared to boot. It's hard to see the point of using tools
when you don't necessarily understand why you need the information in them. I
guess my thoughts are to teach them the big patterns of legal materials --
distinguish primary and secondary materials, explain that there is some kind of
update (be it pocketpart or advance sheet) for every set so they know to look
for it, give them an analytical framework to use when they have a research
problem, explain the big "divisions" in legal materials (secondary are these,
use them for background, digests contain this and their use is this, annotated
codes are arranged this way and their function is this). I also think handouts
which set down the big picture are helpful -- even if it goes over their heads
right then, they have something they can look at when they go to use the
materials later.
There, my quarters worth. I hope you got mosre lucid and useful responses than
this one. Ellen
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