Marium Farooqie

4/2/16
English 1102
Riley vs. California
Whenever we get assigned a research paper or are told to research for whatever
reason, our first instinct is to go to Google and type in some terms and pray for the best.
Honestly that is what I wouldve done and its what I have been doing. Unfortunately
while doing this will bring up a lot of hits for you the chances of them being irrelevant,
outdated, or not from a reputable source is quite high. While it is quite possible to find
good sources on Google the best place to find good, reliable information is by using a
database. A database consists of academic articles written and reviewed by experts. A
database may not have as many hits as a simple Google search might have but it will give
you better more reliable information. In this paper I will be comparing two different
sources one by a scholarly source I got from a database, and one non-scholarly source I
got off of a Google search.
The scholarly source that I picked for my research paper was about the Riley vs.
California case. William Clark who is an attorney who received his Juris doctorate from
Boston University in 1986 wrote this article. I was able to find his credentials on his web
page under "Law of Offices of Thomas S. Francis". According to his webpage Will
gradated cum laude from the University of Michigan in 1983. He received his juris
doctorate from Boston University in 1986. He is licensed to practice in all courts of
Massachusetts, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the 1st
Circuit Court of Appeals. He has very high credentials when it comes to matters

concerning the law.

The article that I decided to use for my non-scholarly source was from Cornell
University Law School. Two women Gabriella Bensur and Jennifer Brokamp wrote the
article. According to the website Gabriella Bensur is the J.D candidate for the class of
2015 for Cornell University. She graduated Cornwell in 2012 with a dual degree
Philosophy and Government. Gabriella is also a notes reviewer for Cornell. According
to the website Jennifer is a J.D. candidate for the Class of 2015 at Cornell Law School.
She spent the summer of 2013 working for the Hon. Jeffery P. Hopkins in the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Prior to coming to law school,
Jennifer graduated cum laude from The Ohio State University in 2012 with a degree in
English. She is also an associate of the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy and the
IT Director of the Cornell Law Students Association.
The first thing I noticed between the two sources was the amount of information
that was given to you. The scholarly source had 37 pages worth of details pertaining to
the case. The author not only tells you about the Riley vs. California case but also
discusses the issue with cell phone privacy at the beginning of the article stating As of
January 2014, ninety percent of American adults own a cell phone.1 In 2013, Americans
used their cell phones to send 1.9 trillion text messages, talk for 2.6 trillion minutes, and
view 3.2 trillion megabytes worth of data from the Internet.2 Today, the most popular
types of cell phones are smartphones, handheld computers capable of storing massive
amounts of information.3 Most smartphone users rely on their devices for a wide range of
daily activities This article gives you statistics that help show us that the case discussed

in the article pertains to all of us. Its not just some case that doesnt affect us.
My non-scholarly source was obviously a lot shorter than the scholarly source. In
comparison the non-scholarly source written by the two Cornell students were
approximately five short paragraphs. While the article contained good information about
the Riley vs. California lawsuit it didnt contain nearly as much as the database article.
The source may not have been the most reliable source though for my research paper.
While one had a degree in Government neither had a degree in law. Neither has studied
or was currently practicing it. They wouldnt have been the most reliable person to come
to for a case that is all about law.
Another major point about the scholarly source is the fact that it is peer reviewed
by more than just one person. William Clark has a group of Boston Law students look
over his work rather than having just one-person fact check and give the okay to publish.
According to the Boston College Law Review Students are selected to take part in one
of the Law School's four journals based on their first-year grades or successful
performance on a demanding writing competition. They receive credit for their
participation, and a faculty advisor supervises each of the reviews." Source: Boston
University Website. A scholarly source requires you to be an expert at what your talking
about, and on top of that you still have to have other experts look over your work to see if
its reliable and accurate. While in order to write an article on Cornells site you have to be
a good student or alumni of the school. Both articles contained some great information
but if I were going to use only one I would definitely stick to my scholarly source. It has
information that was looked over by supervisors who were knowledgeable when it came
to law and it also contained a lot more useful information than the non-scholarly source

did.