Statsky Carthwheel
*taken from Prof. Statsky

One of the most important skills in research: the creative use of indexes and tables of contents in law books. If you have mastered this skill, 70% of the research battle is won.

The CARTWHEEL is a technique designed to assist you in acquiring this skill. The objective is to develop the habit phrasing every word involved in the client' s problem 15 to 20 different ways! A word association game. It is like the using the above "cartwheel" and each of the spokes is one of the 18 steps below - again a "word association" game, where all of the spokes make up a wheel. good luck. here are the steps.

Here are the 18 steps:

1. Identify all major words (such as wedding) from the facts. Place each word or small set of words in the center of the cartwheel.
2. In the index and table of contents ("TOC"), look up all of these words.
3. Identify the broader categories of the major words.
4. In the index and TOC, look up all of these broader categories.
5. Identify the narrower categories of the major words.
6. In the index and TOC, look up all of these narrower categories.
7. Identify all synonyms of the major words.
8. Look up the synonyms in the index and TOC.
9. Identify all antonyms of the major words.
10. Look up all antonyms in the index and TOC.
11. Identify all words that are closely related to the major words.
12. Look up closely related words in the index and TOC.
13. Identify all procedural terms related to the major words.
14. Look up all procedural terms in the index and TOC.
15. Identify all agencies, if any, with some connection to the major words.
16. Look up all the agencies in the index and TOC.
17. Identify all long shots.
18. Look up all of these long shots in the index and TOC.

 

Note: the above categories are not mutually exclusive.