Interactive Ways to Teach Cost-Effective Research Using Google Scholar and LexisNexis

Abstract:     
With a push in the legal market to minimize research costs, law schools should teach students about free and low-cost alternatives to LexisNexis and Westlaw. My article focuses on Google Scholar and Lexis. It starts on page 40 of the attached newsletter.

This article discusses an interactive way to teach law students about the content and features of Google Scholar and about its benefits and limitations. This article also describes an innovative way to teach students about the cost of researching on Lexis.com outside of the law school bubble and addresses how to integrate Google Scholar and Lexis.com while researching. I have included my in-class exercise at the end of the article.

Of course, the teaching methods discussed in this article could be used to teach cost-effective research on Westlaw Classic, WestlawNext, and Lexis Advance.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 43

Keywords: legal research, internet research, online research, law school, Google Scholar, Google, LexisNexis, Lexis.com, Lexis Advance, Westlaw, WestlawNext

Accepted Paper Series