PRINCIPLES AND STANDARDS FOR LEGAL RESEARCH COMPETENCY
PRINCIPLE I: A SUCCESSFUL LEGAL RESEARCHER POSSESSES FOUNDATIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM AND LEGAL INFORMATION SOURCES, INCLUDING ANALYTICAL TOOLS.
PRINCIPLE II: A SUCCESSFUL LEGAL RESEARCHER GATHERS INFORMATION THROUGH EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT RESEARCH STRATEGIES.
PRINCIPLE III: A SUCCESSFUL LEGAL RESEARCHER CRITICALLY EVALUATES INFORMATION.
PRINCIPLE IV: A SUCCESSFUL LEGAL RESEARCHER APPLIES INFORMATION EFFECTIVELY TO RESOLVE A SPECIFIC ISSUE OR NEED.
PRINCIPLE V: A SUCCESSFUL LEGAL RESEARCHER DISTINGUISHES BETWEEN ETHICAL AND UNETHICAL USES OF INFORMATION, AND UNDERSTANDS THE LEGAL ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH THE DISCOVERY, USE, OR APPLICATION OF INFORMATION.
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The Principles are broad statements of foundational, enduring values related to skilled legal research, as endorsed by the American Association of Law Libraries.
The Standards provide a set of more specific applications of those norms or habits that demonstrate one’s commitment to and attainment of the principles.
The Competencies are activities that demonstrate knowledge and skill. Competencies provide concrete measures or indicators of successful achievement of the abilities required to meet the standards.
Secondary Sources – Institute for Historical Review
Principle III: A Successful Legal Researcher Critically Evaluates Information.
Standard A. An information-literate professional knows that information quality varies.
.ORG
According to Wikipedia, ORG “is commonly used by non-profit organizations, open-source projects, and communities, but is an open domain that can be used by anyone.”
.ORG is an open domain and can be used by anyone – a non-profit, a not-for-profit, a for-profit business, etc. And, the terms non-profit, not-for-profit, for-profit, etc. have more to do with their tax status than with their trustworthiness.
And, as was mentioned in the CALI Lesson – Evaluating Websites – A Bit More one of the State of Florida’s agencies uses a .com domain rather than .gov which you would expect.
One technique for evaluating websites is by looking at the materials on the website and sources outside the website including materials about the website, the executive director, etc.
The Website:
There seems to be a mix of materials on the website. There were links to reputable news websites including BBC News Bloomberg, and AP when I looked at the website. on July 2, 2021. There were also links to opinion pieces/articles on Newsmax, Occidental Observer – White Identity, Interests, and Culture, and links to opinion pieces/articles on the IHR website, including one by the Executive Director, Mark Weber.
Outside the Website:
I looked at the Wikipedia entry for the Institute for Historical Review. “best known for publishing articles and books promoting Holocaust denial”
I also found an article from the Yale Daily News explaining/ apologizing for running an ad from the Institute for Historical Review.
Reuters and Newsweek published articles on the banning of Mr. Weber from England.
One could certainly dig deeper, but at this point, I would deem the website untrustworthy.
