L St 370 : Research Methods for Law and Government Information

Penn State University Bulletin course description

Library Studies 370 : Research Methods for Law and Government Information Resources is about:

• how to become an effective researcher
• how to ask questions that will lead to useful answers
• how to locate the information you need to write a paper, make a decision, or create a program
• how to use print and electronic resources effectively

You will be evaluated on:

• your ability to analyze an information need based on the facts you have at hand
• your knowledge of federal and legal information resources
• your ability to focus your research problem effectively

You will develop these skills and demonstrate your progress through:

• class attendance
• class participation
• assignments and exercises
• 4 tests
• a class presentation
• a comprehensive final exam

Before you take this course, you should understand basic legislative, judicial, and administrative processes. If you are not familiar with these, you may need to do some supplemental reading in order to do well in this course.

The workload for this course is continuous and the deadlines are firm. Attendance is graded and is important in order to succeed in this course. Please be prepared when you come to class - you may expect no less of us. Class participation is important for understanding the material. Make-up exams or assignments will not be given except in the case of religious holidays, excused absences, or illness. If you must miss class, prior notification is required if coursework is to be made up.

In fairness to the others in this course, please do not ask us to make exceptions to these expectations.

Days/Time: Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:45 - 11:00 am

Location: 302 Paterno Library [unless otherwise noted in the class calendar in ANGEL]

At the completion of the course you should be able to:

• understand the relationship between the various types of legal and government information
• understand the functions of the federal government and the information it makes available to the public, as well as the structure of the information sources and the relationships among them
• realize the value of judicial, executive, and legislative branch publications as primary information sources for various academic disciplines
• utilize, in appropriate ways, the bibliographic and electronic tools used to access federal and legal information
• develop research methods for using judicial, executive, and legislative branch information sources to find information that is useful for addressing problems in your chosen area of research
• recognize and critically evaluate types of sources and their value and limitations

Semester-Long Class Project

Goal: We want you to understand how you would use the information you will be finding in this course in your professional and personal life.

Assignment: Select a problem that you feel passionate about that should be addressed by law. This issue may or may not already been addressed by congress, but selecting a topic that has been passed by congress will make your task much easier. All topics must be approved by the instructor.

Throughout the semester, you will be researching your topic using the publications generated by the legal process (i.e. cases, statutes, regulations, and hearings) as well as the publications of government organizations. The course will focus on publications that fall under four broad categories: legislative, executive, judicial, and statistical. For each category, you will submit a set of PowerPoint slides and/or brief write-up about how those publications informed you about your topic. At the end of the semester, each student will use these slides to develop and present a 5-minute PowerPoint presentation for the class on their topic.

Readings and Quizzes

Readings will be distributed periodically to supplement the lectures. If you are not keeping up with the readings you will find both the lectures and the exercises difficult. We are not able to cover in class all the sources discussed in the readings — the readings provide additional insights to sources. The readings will help you better understand how to complete the exercises and to better understand lecture content.

Examinations

There will be four examinations, one for each of the broad categories of publications: legislative, executive, judicial, and statistical. The final will be a comprehensive exam.

Citation Style

All sources located and cited in your answers must use the bibliographic citation formats described in Citing Government Information Resources and The Bluebook (both listed below).

One final request: When preparing your papers and exercises, write clearly and carefully to organize your answer and ideas. In addition, present your information on the page and/or PowerPoint slide in a clear manner.

• Class Project: 40%
• Quizzes/Assignments/Class Participation: 30%
• 4 Tests: 20%
• Final exam: 10%

Grades will be calculated on a standard grade scale.

In fairness to those who complete their assignments on time, all assignments, including the final exam, will not be accepted after the date due without prior permission.

All Penn State University policies regarding ethics and honorable behavior apply to this course. Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception and is an educational objective of this institution. All University policies regarding academic integrity apply to this course. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, fabricating of information or citations, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting work of another person and/or work previously used, or tampering with the academic work of other students. For any material or ideas obtained from other sources, such as the text or information you find on the Web, in the library, etc., a source reference must be given. Direct quotes from any source must be identified as such. All exam answers must be your own, and you may not provide any assistance to other students during exams. Any instances of academic dishonesty will be pursued under the University policies and regulations concerning academic integrity.

• Garvin, Peggy. Real World Research Skills : an Introduction to Factual, International, Judicial, Legislative, and Regulatory Research

• Elias, Stephen and Susan Levinkind. Legal Research : How to Find and Understand the Law

• Robinson, Judith Schiek. Tapping the Government Grapevine : The User-Friendly Guide to U.S. Government Information Sources

• Cheney, Debora, Diane Garner, and Diane Smith. The Complete Guide to Citing Government Information Resources : A Manual for Social Science and Business Research

• Harvard Law Review Association. The Bluebook : A Uniform System of Citation

Stephen Woods
208 C Paterno Library
814-865-0665
E-mail: swoods@psu.edu

Russ Souchak
208 H Paterno Library
814-865-8672
E-mail/AIM: rsouchak@psu.edu

Office Hours by appointment

Reference Desk: Social Sciences Library, 2^nd Floor Paterno Library