Study Aids for Semester Success

Yesterday, attorney Andrew S. Fleischman observed on Twitter: "Law schools teach you how to write briefs by having you read opinions. Which is a bit like learning to cook by reading restaurant reviews." Many law students would likely agree with this sentiment for just about any legal subject, as they work to piece together disparate holdings from their casebooks in order to form a bigger picture of the law.

Enter study aids, which can provide an overview and introduction that presents the law more clearly than a casebook. These titles range from basic introductions or casebook-keyed outlines to more in-depth discussions of a particular subject. The Goodson Law Library provides electronic access to several law-related study aid collections, accessible to current members of the Duke University community.

• West Academic Study Aids Library includes more than 500 study aid titles. Available series include Nutshells, Hornbooks (and Concise Hornbooks), Sum & Substance, and Black Letter Outlines. Users may search or read online, or create an account that allows for offline reading and annotation.
• Wolters Kluwer Study Aids includes full-text access to nearly 200 study aids. Available series include Examples & Explanations, Glannon Guides, Emanuel Law Outlines, and more. Users may search or read online, or create an individual account that allows for offline reading and annotation.
• Elgar Advanced Introductions to Law currently includes 17 titles, although more will be added during the coming year. These accessible, concise overviews tend to focus on comparative and international law topics.

With the Reserve Collection unavailable for the indefinite future due to coronavirus quarantine protocols, electronic study aids should help fill any gaps in your class outlines. For help with locating a study aid for a particular topic, or with using these databases, be sure to Ask a Librarian.

100 Years of the 19th Amendment

Today marks the centennial of the ratification of the Amendment XIX to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing: "The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, which had passed in both chambers of Congress during the summer of 1919. The National Archives include a high-resolution image of the House Joint Resolution at its America's Founding Documents site for the U.S. Constitution.

To commemorate the occasion, the New York Times has published Suffrage at 100, a series of articles exploring the fight for women's right to vote and the stories of those left behind by it. As the articles note, Native American women and Asian immigrants were excluded due to citizenship laws of the era, while Black Americans faced discriminatory measures such as poll taxes in much of the country.

For more information about the history of the 19th Amendment, check out the Duke Libraries Catalog for the subject heading "Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History". You’ll find dozens of electronically available titles like 2020's Picturing Political Power: Images in the Women's Suffrage Movement or the recent anthology 100 Years of Women's Suffrage. Print titles are also available and may be requested through the Library Takeout Service by the Duke University community.

For help with navigating library resources on the Nineteenth Amendment or voting rights history, be sure to Ask a Librarian.