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Enhancing Legal Research Skills through Practical Exams at Valparaiso University Law

This article explores the significance and methodology of practical examinations in legal research classes taught by Mike Bushbaum and Steve Probst at Valparaiso University School of Law Library. Practical exams provide a hands-on approach to evaluate students' mastery of legal research skills, moving beyond rote memorization. The benefits of practical assessments are discussed, focusing on collaborative learning and understanding the interrelationships among legal sources. The article also outlines key considerations for creating effective practical exams, including resource availability, testing methods, and performance evaluation.

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Enhancing Legal Research Skills through Practical Exams at Valparaiso University Law

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  1. Practical Exams in Legal Research Classes Mike Bushbaum & Steve Probst Valparaiso University School of Law Library

  2. What is a practical exam? Prac∙ti∙calEx∙am∙i∙na∙tion\ ‘praktəkəlig,zamənāshən \ n 1: an exercise or series of exercises designed to examine and evaluate students’ performance of a learned skill through a hands-on demonstration of that skill to the teacher/examiner.

  3. Why give a practical examination? • “Collaborative” learners • Shortcomings of objective exams

  4. The traditional objective exam is good for insuring that students have committed basic, essential legal research concepts to memory: • In which reporter would you find Court X’s decisions? • How many federal circuits are there?

  5. But what about a question like this: 14. If the only information you have is the Public Law Number of a federal statute, you can find the Statutes at Large citation and locations(s) in various sets of the United States Code by using: a. an index to the federal digest b. a popular names table c. an annotation history table d. Appendix 1 of ALWD e. a cross reference or conversion table

  6. Beyond basic information that students can commit to memory about the course, what you would really like to know when giving an exam is: Can students connect a research need with the correct research tool without being given any context? Do students understand the interrelationship of the sources you’ve taught them?

  7. This is where the practical exam excels! Through use of a practical examination, an instructor can be certain that each student understands a few crucial concepts taught during the course of the semester and can apply the related skills.

  8. Creating a Practical Exam – General Considerations: • What resources and limitations do you have? • What to test? • How to test? • How should you evaluate a student’s performance?

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