L504, Section 25. Welcome to your first-year legal research and writing course.

For Orientation Week, please do the following:

(1) obtain your required texts (listed below); 

(2) read Legal Analysis: The Fundamental Skill, chapter 1;

(3) read The Bluebook, pages 1-11;

(4) read about the federal court system at http://www.uscourts.gov/FederalCourts.aspx, in particular, read "About the Supreme Court," "About the U.S. Court of Appeals," and "About the U.S. District Courts";

(5) read about Ohio's court system at http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/JudSystem/default.asp; and

(6) prepare a self-assessment of your past writing experiences (described below).

Self-assessment details: Write a one-page self-assessment describing your previous writing experience, including what you have written and for what purpose. Please also describe your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. Finally, please comment on whether you think any previous writing experience will be similar to or different from legal writing. Please bring one printed copy of the self-assessment to the first class.

Your required texts for the course are as follows:

David S. Romantz & Kathleen Elliott Vinson, Legal Analysis: The Fundamental Skill (2d ed. 2009).

Cassandra L. Hill & Katherine T. Vukadin, Legal Analysis: 100 Exercises for Mastery (2012).

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (19th ed. 2010).

Michael D. Murray & Christy H. DeSanctis, Legal Research Methods (2d ed. 2009).

Some advice on purchasing texts: You can save substantially on most texts by renting, buying used, or buying an ebook. Any of those options will work well for the required texts except The Bluebook. The Bluebook is a reference tool that you will use throughout your career (so no rental) and the print version will be easier to navigate for a novice (so no ebook).

If you have questions about anything related to the course, please email Professor Broering-Jacobs at c.broeringjacobsnull@csuohio.nulledu. I'm looking forward to meeting you on the 19th!