CALI's Pre-Law Blog

13 Jul, 2007

Response to Outlining/Notetaking Software Post

Posted by AustinGroothuis 15:39 | Permalink | comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Pre-Law Discussions, Reader Questions

Some of you with much more knowledge of outlining software disagreed with my previous post on the value of outlining software for law students. I got a great response from a fellow law student blogger (Preaching to the Perverted) and a Chicago-Kent student, himself.

I defer to him on the value of this outlining software because, again, I am too cheap to think about buying this type of software for myself and I didn't know any students who used software for notetaking other than a couple of people who used OneNote. So I really do claim ignorance as an excuse.

His response is excellent and includes a link to a great blog post that reviews the outlining software options available for law students:

MORE BELOW....

His Response....

• I don't think any outlining software will make the critical difference in your grade, but I think you're wrong about the value of outliners in general.
  
  While it's true that you don't need much more then the ability to do bullet points for most note taking, outliners actually do a *much* better job of that than Word. The real power of an outliner comes from organization. Because everything is hierarchal natively, you can organize note sections *amazingly* fast.
  
  Since law school courses and topics tend to lend themselves to an outline view, software that allows you to easily expand, collapse and move around sections can be a real productivity boost. Topics in law school aren't always presented in the best order, and it can be really handy, when pairing down lecture notes into a condensed study outline, to be able to collapse a section to concentrate on a more narrow section, or to move entire blocks around by clicking on a bullet (or little triangle) and just dragging it to a more appropriate place.
  
  I certainly don't think outliners are essential, but I am convinced (after being a skeptic myself) that if you learn to use a good outliner properly, you'll be much more efficient than someone using Word (even if they are using Word to the max).
  
  I wrote a review of outliners when I was a 1L on my blog (http://www.gulbransen.net/preaching/2004/09/reviews_for_1l.html). I still use Notemap when I'm on a PC, although I've since switched to a Mac, and on the Mac I use Omni Outline. I think the best way to find out if an outliner is for you is to try one. There are trial versions so you can decide if you like them or not without committing to spend the cash. But in my mind, $50-100 is a small amount to pay for something that saves you time. For me, and most law students I think, time is much more valuable!