LibGuides: Legal research and writing: Artificial Intelligence

Navigating Legal Research with GenAI: An Open Tutorial Series

Module 2: Using GenAI in legal and academic work

Module 3: Crafting effective prompts for legal research using GenAI

Module 4: Critical evaluation of GenAI outputs

About the tutorial series

Navigating Legal Research with GenAI: An Open Tutorial Series is a collection of four concise, interactive modules designed to introduce legal researchers to the evolving role of Generative AI in legal research, and to guide them in using GenAI ethically, responsibly, and critically.

Module 1: Introduction to AI
This module explains where GenAI sits in the larger AI landscape, provides a basic understanding of how GenAI works, and introduces legal specific GenAI tools.
Module 2: Using GenAI in legal and academic work
This module covers opportunities and challenges that come with using GenAI tools in both academic and professional legal environments, including ethical considerations, academic integrity and professional legal guidelines.
Module 3: Crafting effective prompts for legal research using GenAI
This module provides an introduction to prompt engineering and will help you learn to craft prompts for better results using a framework called the 5Ps.
Module 4: Critical evaluation of GenAI outputs
This module will discuss critically evaluating AI-generated legal outputs and strategies for verifying AI-generated legal information against primary and secondary legal sources.

Reuse:

The modules are intended as an open educational resource that can be used and adapted by others. All four modules are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Please contact us at lawref@uvic.ca for access to the web or SCORM files which can be integrated into website or LMS environments, including Brightspace at UVic.

Acknowledgements:

These modules were created by Sarah Miller and Emily Nickerson, law librarians at the University of Victoria Libraries, with support from Keilah Abello, GenAI and Digital Literacy Intern.

We are grateful to the many reviewers who have given their time to assist us in the creation of these modules: Gillian Calder, Erica Friesen, Artie Goshulak, Jessie Lampreau, Rich McCue, Karen Munro, Andrew Newcombe, Hannah Steeves, and Natalie Vandenberg.