PATHFINDER/RESEARCH GUIDE

A Research Guide or Pathfinder is a guide to resources in a specific subject area. In a Research

Guide/ Pathfinder, the author explains the research process itself and illustrates how and where to
find the most relevant materials. The author guides the user, step by step, through all the tools and
resources relevant to researching and analyzing any issue in a particular legal topic. It differs from
a bibliography in that it includes more than lists of exhaustive resources. The author details the
best and most easily used primary and secondary resources and may also identify nontraditional
ways of obtaining information.
Audience
You should write your Research/Pathfinder for someone with basic legal research skills who has
no knowledge of your subject area. Your goal is to teach this person how to go about researching
any issue or question of law in that area. Lead the researcher to the best resources.
Length of Paper
The length of the paper is 20 pages, unless you obtain permission from the instructor. The paper
should be double spaced.
Introduction
Your Research Guide/Pathfinder should begin with an introductory section in which you give the
reason for choosing your topic and an explanation of why you arranged the Research
Guide/Pathfinder as you did (i.e., by subject, by source, or some other combination). This section
should be philosophical in nature. Further, your introduction should demonstrate your
understanding of the major legal issues in your topic.
Research Strategy
After completing the philosophical background in the previous section, you should become
extremely practical. In this section tell your researcher how to approach your topic, and how not
to approach your topic. Talk about the dead ends you found in doing your research. If going to
C.J.S. and Am. Jur. is a waste of time, say so. Provide tips to keep the researcher from having to
flounder around the way you did. Do not be afraid to give value judgments about sources here
and throughout the Research Guide/Pathfinder. This section should include a comprehensive
strategy for getting started in doing research for any major legal issue in your subject.
Definitions
If your subject contains many terms of art (e.g., Securities Regulation), you may wish to include a
separate section near the beginning with definitions of terms of art and explanations of initials and
acronyms. Even if a separate section is not called for, do define unusual terms in your Research
Guide/ Pathfinder.
Annotations

The annotations or information you provide for each resource or research tool should be brief. In
other words, you want to quickly give your reader a reason to bother with this particular source.
If it is a major work, case, statute, etc., an annotation of several paragraphs may be warranted. It
is also worth mentioning that your Research Guide/Pathfinder should be usable several years from
now. Therefore, you may wish to limit the cases, books, articles, etc., which you list to
"landmark" items, with an emphasis on how you found them (i.e., which topic and key numbers
did you use in the digest, which subject headings in the catalog, which index terms, etc.). Indicate
in your annotations how these resources would be used to perform critical legal analyses of the
issues in your topic.
Miscellaneous Items
You may also consider including:
1. People: local and national experts, authors, practitioners, and be sure to tell how you found
them (i.e., which directories you used, etc.).
2. Associations: which ones are pertinent to your subject area (e.g., the ABA, ACLU, AALS, etc.)
and how did you find them.
3. Databases, blogs and websites: .org sites, .edu sites, .gov sites, .com sites (ONLY if
appropriate) among others.
4. Other Libraries with major or specialized collections.
5. Legal Newsletters or other publications.
6. Charts: Use charts or other visual aids including PowerPoint if that makes the presentation of
certain information clearer.