At 11:00 today, Monday 5th September 2011, my academic year officially started with my first class, ‘Legal Skills A –IT For Lawyers’. With this being my first class, it is obvious to say that I felt quite nervous and unsure of what to expect.
I arrived twenty-or-so minutes early, allowing myself enough time to find my classroom, and let’s just say that it was a good job I did, as yes, I did end up getting a little lost! Now, I admit to being a bit lost, but it wasn’t completely my fault as the university did print the building number wrong, and then change the room to what was listed to a room in the law library.
The class started at 11:00 and took place in a computer room. The lecturer started off the class by discussing the aims and purpose of the class itself. The aims of the class are to teach us how to research treaties, legislation and directives effectively, ensuring that we use reliable sources and to help us determine whether a source is really reliable or not.
We were given a hand-out which contained instructions on how to find, and use, ‘libguides’. ‘Libguides’ are put together by the university library and contain relevant links, pages, information and videos on set topics, such as European or International Law. It basically acts as a hub, containing all of the sources that we will need for our assignments.
Our task for that lesson was also given to us and we worked through it at our own paces, until the lecturer stopped us to recap and check that we all had the correct answers. We worked individually, researching different treaties and directives using different sources to see which were the most useful and reliable.
Overall I think that the class went well and was a nice introduction into legal research, providing us with useful resources to help us with our research. I definitely had nothing to worry about, but it was just the nerves of not knowing what to expect which made me worry a little. Everyone that I spoke to in my group seemed really nice and in the same position as myself, so we could all relate to each other. I have a workshop to attend tomorrow, and also an English Writing Examination, so I will post when I can to let you know how it went!
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