Legal Writing and Litigation- Research Step by Step: Familiarity Ranking 1

Unsure of what a familiarity ranking is? It's a number that rates your familiarity with a legal subject area. Just by being in law school you're already at a #1. As you move closer to #5 on the scale you are closer to being an expert in that field. It helps you make specific choices when starting your research. These exercises will take you through the first 4 familiarity rankings and what resources you would likely turn to based on that familiarity.

We'll start with a #1 familiarity ranking, which means you really don't know much about the subject area. This is a great place to start most of your research, especially in unfamiliar areas of law.

You have a familiarity ranking of 1. That means you are at the beginning of your research in this area and are hoping to gain knowledge in a specific area to help narrow your research question. Often you will use a legal dictionary or a legal encyclopedia at this stage of your research.

A legal dictionary can be a good place to get a basic understanding of a concept, additional search terms, and occasionally a primary source.

Westlaw Steps:

Sign in to Westlaw

Select Content

Select Secondary Sources

In the blue box on the right, select Black's Law Dictionary

Search for the term trespass.

Notice all the different types of trespass. This will be a good source if you have questions about a type of trespass as you continue to research.

Lexis Steps:

Sign in to Lexis

Select Content

Select Secondary Sources

Select Dictionaries

Select the Wolters Kluwer Bouvier Law Dictionary Desk Edition

Search for the term "Criminal Trespass"

Write down in your research trail where you looked, what search terms you used and what you found out that will help you answer the research question.

Next you will use the terms you learned in your dictionary search to search the national legal encyclopedias American Jurisprudence 2d (AmJur):

In Westlaw:

Go to Content

Select Secondary Sources

Select Jurisprudence & Encyclopedias

Select American Jurisprudence 2d

Go to the far right to the blue box and select American Jurisprudence 2d General Index

Select Index Contents

Go to 'T' and select Trespass (this and all Westlaw/Lexis pages can be quickly searched using and Command F/Control F function)

Search the Trespass index entry for information on criminal law

Select "Generally, Trespass §133" and read about criminal trespass.

Expand the Table of Contents (View all TOC on the left hand side of the page) so you can see all of sections of Criminal Trespass (133-175).

Read the sections on Defenses (156-160). Find a case that you could use to start looking at the defense of necessity and choice of evils.

In Lexis:

Go to Content

Go to Secondary Materials

Go to American Jurisprudence 2d (AMJUR)

Search for "trespass". Notice how many results you have and how it is mixed between criminal trespass and civil trespass. Now try a more selective search of "criminal trespass" AND "choice of evils" and see if your results are more on point.

You should find the same articles you just read from Westlaw. Specificity in search terms and knowledge of the subject allowed you to quickly jump to these sections.

Write down what you found in your research trail.

(to see the chart better, just click on it and a larger version will appear)