Top 10 Tips to Study Smarter with a Connected eBook

Why do so many students opt to buy a new Connected eBook instead of a traditional print casebook? They've discovered that not all casebooks are created equal. A Connected eBook gives law students access to an online e-book with highlighting and note-taking capabilities, and for Connected eBooks with a Study Center, practice questions and exercises from the most popular and recommended study guides (think  Examples & Explanations, Glannon Guides and Law in a Flash, to name a few), and built in tools for case briefing, sharing your briefs, outlining and assessing your understanding of the material more efficiently.

1. Register your Connected eBook and take the video tour.
   Registering is fast and easy; simply go to www.casebookconnect.com and redeem the access code found inside your print casebook. (Some online legal textbook vendors, like www.barristerbooks.com also send access codes via email when you buy.) Be sure to view the short video also found there to see all the bells and whistles and check out what a Connected eBook can do for you.
2. Become familiar with the online tools.
   Surveyed students often say they wish they had known at the beginning of the semester about all of the resources available to them so that they could have taken advantage of them sooner. Check out the eBook and interactive Study Center at CasebookConnect.com. Do this before school starts when you’re not crunched for time.
3. Use Casebook Connect during class to follow your professor's lecture.
   You want to be an active participant in class, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t sometimes need to access your casebook online. You’ll find the search feature included with your e-book really comes in handy to find and refer to specific parts of a case. You also can use the note taking feature during class for even greater efficiency.
4. Highlight text in the e-book as you read.
   Consider assigning one of the 12 highlighting colors available to each pertinent aspect of the case (procedural history, facts, issues, etc.). Make this a habit and you’ll be glad you did when briefing cases and building your outline.
5. Get in the habit of using the case briefing tool with sharing capabilities.
   A case brief provides a synopsis of the most important elements of every case and how previous precedents were applied to determine its outcome or “finding.” With the case briefing tool, your text highlights will be imported into a briefing document in the order you specify, which you can then edit. Even better, you can opt to share your case briefs with other students in the Casebook Connect program – ideal when soliciting peer feedback or participating in study groups.
6. Watch the videos in the Study Center.
   Gain deeper understanding about important topics as legal experts walk you through the finer points related to your courses, like Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law and Property, among others.
7. Test your knowledge with practice questions from popular study guides.
   In the Study Center you’ll find carefully curated content aligned to the course material—included at no additional cost with your purchase of a Connected eBook. Take advantage of the multiple choice, short answer and essay questions from best-selling series like Examples & Explanations, Glannon Guides, and more.
8. Pinpoint areas for further study based on your performance.
   Class grades are often determined by scores on midterms and finals, a source of frustration for many students as they typically don’t receive any feedback on how they are doing until post exams. Fortunately for you, the Study Center provides meaningful feedback so you can identify and focus on what you need to know.
9. Don’t be afraid to get additional help when needed.
   Law school can be tough going. If you need additional support and find questions from a particular study guide helpful, buy your favorite guide in a digital format. You’ll get access to an interactive study center with more practice questions so you can drill down deeper.
10. Get a jump start on your outline.
    Use Casebook Connect's highlighting tool to automatically populate a template with your notes (Tip #3) and highlights (Tip #4). Save the template as a Microsoft Word document that you can easily edit and print out. While other students are still pulling their outlines together, you’ll be enjoying more time for studying when it counts the most.