GOVT 409 Advanced Logic and Legal Reasoning
Course Description
For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.
Course Guide
View this course’s outcomes, policies, schedule, and more.*
*The information contained in our Course Guides is provided as a sample. Specific course curriculum and requirements for each course are provided by individual instructors each semester. Students should not use Course Guides to find and complete assignments, class prerequisites, or order books.
Rationale
The two primary goals of the Pre-Law and Policy program are to provide an opportunity for the student to obtain skills that will assist him/her in both obtaining admittance and succeeding in law school. Likewise, the purpose of this course is to further expose the undergraduate student to principles of logic and reasoning that are used in the legal community, including logic and legal reasoning skills relevant to the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and to the rigors of the legal profession.
Course Assignment
Textbook readings and lecture presentations
No details available.
Course Requirements Checklist
Discussions (7)
Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student is required to provide a thread in response to the provided prompt for each Discussion. Each thread must be 400–500 words and demonstrate course-related knowledge. In addition to the thread, the student is required to reply to 2 classmates’ threads. Each reply must be 200–250 words. Threads and replies must each cite at least 1 scholarly citation in Bluebook format.
LSAT Exam Research Paper Assignment
The student will locate articles that address the research performed by Berkley on how studying for the LSAT exam can alter brain structure. Then, based upon all the reading and reviewing for this course, the student will write a 5–8-page paper analyzing how the LSAT exam tests logic and legal reasoning skills, including deductive and inductive reasoning and understanding of fallacies. At least 3 quality sources must be used to support the student’s position. Also, at the end of the paper the student must include a paragraph that states the date the student will take the LSAT and a list of actions to be taken prior to that date in order to prepare for the LSAT exam. The research paper must follow current Bluebook formatting.
Quizzes: LSAT Exams (7)
During this course, the student will take 7 LSAT practice exams. The first four exams will be taken online. The Law School Admissions Council which administers the LSAT is now making sample LSAT tests available online and in a limited availability in print copies. In order to access the online LSAT tests, you will need to set up an account with the Law School Admission Council. https://www.lsac.org/. Once you have set up an account then you can access LawHub which is a resource provided by the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC). LawHub will give you access to four free LSAT tests. The link to the LawHub site is provided here. https://www.lsac.org/lawhub.
For the remaining three tests you will receive a book The New Official LSAT TriplePrep: Volume 4, (2024) from Liberty University. These three exams must be taken using the Scantron sheet provided with the textbook. For each Quiz, the student will designate the LSAT exam taken, provide the scores for each section of the LSAT and the overall score. The student will submit the answers to the exam by taking a picture of the completed Scantron (with a camera, cell phone, etc.) or by scanning the completed Scantron. The image of the Scantron can then be uploaded to the Quiz. If you are taking the exam electronically through LawHub, then you will upload the page showing your final score.

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