Legal Information and Documentation
Objectives
By the end of the course, students will:
- Acquire a solid skillset, based on scientific reliability and pertinence, to research, identify, select, and engage with legal information and documentation;
- Comprehensive learn the categories and pillar principles of research and engagement with legal information and documentation;
- Specifically learn citation rules to avoid plagiarism.
General characterization
Code
27130
Credits
2
Responsible teacher
Available soon
Hours
Weekly - Available soon
Total - 56
Teaching language
EN
Prerequisites
Not Applicable
Bibliography
Not Applicable
Teaching method
Lectures, in-class exercises of legal research and introductory legal writing.
Evaluation method
CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT (100%)
RISE challenge: each student shall submit on Moodle 1-page-long original comment on a selected topic of choice of the student, mandatorily including:
- 2 pieces of legislation
- 2 Court decisions
- 2 doctrinal sources
- 1 other pertinent and reliable online source
OR
FINAL EXAM (100%)
- 2-hour-long in-class exam, open-book (only print-out materials allowed, no electronic devices), consisting of closed questions and one RISE exercise.
Subject matter
Introduction to InfoDoc
- Categories and pillars of legal information and documentation
- Introduction to legal research and writing
Legislation
- How to find and select EU and Portuguese legislation
- How to read and comment on a statute
Case Law
- How to find and select international, EU, and Portuguese case law
- How to read and comment on a decision
Doctrine
- How to find and select international, EU, and Portuguese scholarly publications
- How to read and comment on a scientific opinion
Other Sources
- Navigating the Internet: reliability and pertinence
- Qualitative and quantitative InfoDoc: words and numbers
Citation
- How to make citations in footnotes and endnotes
- Polishing your RISE