The Long and Winding Road: Developing an Online Research Curriculum

In the realm of online research instruction, electronic research vendors (such as LexisNexis and Westlaw) play various roles in teaching and training law students. Some students take advantage of all free training opportunities, while others ignore even mandatory trainings assigned as supplemental course instruction through a first-year legal writing program. This article details the results of a cooperative initiative among a law professor, a librarian, and the Westlaw and LexisNexis academic account managers, designed to integrate online research instruction into the first-year curriculum. The multiple goals of the initiative included taking advantage of the vendors’ expertise and resources, reinforcing lessons taught in legal research courses, formalizing the online research instruction to all first-year students, and improving law students’ research skills