HI all,
Let’s start with the Discussion Forum Questions.
In general, please remember to answer all the questions that I asked in Forum Discussion posts. Also, your responses should more than something like “I did the same” or “I liked it.” Pick out something in the answer and extend it.
Forum Discussion Questions:
Google Scholar: Using Google Scholar, find a useful legal periodical article on the subject of adoption in Florida, specifically dealing with the father’s consent. Cite the article using Bluebook citation form and explain what the Cited By reference means and why it would be useful in research.
HeinOnline: Find the same article in HeinOnline. What does ScholarCheck mean when it states that the article was Cited By X articles and Accessed X times? Look at the Cited By Articles. Do you see any article cited by both Google Scholar and ScholarCheck (other than the article you found in Goggle Scholar)? If so, please cite one using Bluebook form.
__________________________________________________
A couple of thoughts:
A number of y’all mentioned that GoogleScholar links to subscription databases that you can’t access and that makes it not as useful a resource. Yes, Google Scholar links to both subscription and free databases/websites. HeinOnline was a subscription database specifically mentioned. It would be nice to always be able to click through, but you have found a useful citation. You also may have access to the subscription database (let’s say HeinOnline) but not through GoogleScholar so find out if you have access to it in your place of employment. You certainly have access to HeinOnline while you are in law school. Just go to Subscription databases on the law library’s web page. The article may also be on Westlaw Edge and Lexis Advance, if you have access. And since you have a citation, depending upon your contract, it may cost you less than to retrieve than doing a search.
One of the benefits of HeinOnline is that it provides a PDF of the article which means you can see the images in the article. Lexis Advance and Westlaw Edge are text based systems and do not display images in most if not all of their materials.
You can limit to articles on GoogleScholar by clicking on the radio button on the landing page.
Remember that you cal also use Google Scholar to find cases. This may be a useful resource to mention in your Research Guide.
Always look at the citator type functions that many databases and websites are offering. They can be quite useful in finding other materials. You always need to figure out what the function can and cannot do. It may take some time in the beginning to understand the citator-type functions but it will be well worth the time since many of the resources you are learning about now you will be using in the future.
In the Research Guide, you may want to both HeinOnline and Google Scholar. If you decide to include them, just like other sources, you will need to explain step by step how you used the sources and if you have found the citator-type features useful mention those also.
And as a note, you can Shepardize and KeyCite many periodical articles, especially law review/law journal articles.
Assessment Questions:
One of the questions dealt with authoritative sources. Remember that a scholarly treatise is more authoritative than encyclopedias and study aids.
You can Shepardize and KeyCite many periodical articles, especially law review/law journal articles. You may want to consider this for your Research Guide.
The answer for question 2 was incorrect. For most research projects, it is recommended that you begin your research with SECONDARY SOURCES.
American Law Reports is NOT a comprehensive source. The editors choose an interesting case and then write an annotation of the subject area of the case. There are many issues where no annotations have been written. If you find an annotation on your subject, you are very lucky. The editor has done much of the case research for you. You, of course, need to be sure to update the research as necessary.
Bye.
