Should I create my own outline or is it okay to use someone elses? What about commercial outlines useful?
Outlines prepared by more senior students or commercial outlines are not acceptable substitutes for making your own outlines. The analysis necessary to prepare a course outline helps you determine the rules of law applicable to the subject matter of the course, as well as determine how the rules relate to one another. If you do not go through this process, you are less likely to master the subject matter. Also, not all professors teach a subject the same way. In fact, many professors do not even teach a course the same way from one year to the next. The only way to get an outline tailored to your course is to make it yourself.
