Writing Assignments

Introduction

Categories, Topics and Narrowing: In General

Categories, Topics and Narrowing: The Deadlines

Presentations

Conferences

Basic Research Sources/ Techniques

Appendix: Economics of Law Practice Seminar Research Paper Schedule

This material is intended to be read over at the beginning of the semester and then referred to throughout the seminar.

Some of you have already selected topics and begun research. Others have yet to do so.

Because we have many steps to go through, a limited time in which to execute them, and more writers than usual, some timelines and agreements are necessary on the front end.

(Among my purposes in doing so are at least two that benefit you. (1) To leave you free of obligations, at least so far as this seminar is concerned, the last week of the semester, thereby giving you more time to study for finals, or finish up other assignments. (2) To give you every opportunity to do your very best work on a paper that will be posted on the Web for all to see.)

Deadlines, once established, will be rigorously enforced (that is, failure to meet them will carry points-off penalties and risk being dropped from the seminar). Moreover, rather than have just one, it is useful for both you and I to have a number of "mileposts" (as we say in "GANTT" and "PERT" chart project management language). What follows are my proposals for now. I am willing to modify them – if everyone is unanimous as to how the mileposts should be changed (and the agreement is reached sufficiently prior to the milepost in question).

After getting the administrative details out of the way, the next step is to pick a topic. Here are some suggestions regarding how to go about that.

• Definitions

• A "category" might be, for example, something like "privacy on the Internet." Within the category of "privacy" might be
• Topics associated with privacy might include, say, information exchanged during the course of sales over the Internet (“e-commerce”).
• Focusing on sales involving credit cards – or, even, specifically VISA – might further narrow those topics.
• And those topics might be further narrowed by specifying a particular piece of information that is collected during these transactions, or a particular system for recording (and possibly      selling) that information, or a sub-section of some statute/regulation involving such transactions.
• Suggestions

• Pick a topic within a category that involves an area of law, or law school course, with which you are already familiar. For example, if you have not had antitrust, or any experience with antitrust law and doctrines, you are putting an enormous burden on yourself in this seminar if you are -- necessarily and simultaneously -- trying to master some area of law about which you know nothing in addition to trying to learn your area of “cyberspace law.”  Obviously, you are not forbidden to do this; just know what you’re getting in for before you do it.
• The reasons to narrow your topic are not only to simplify and focus your task ("work smarter, not harder"), but also to increase the likelihood that you will end up producing a Web-published paper that will make a genuine contribution to the body of legal literature. (Not incidentally, of course, this also reflects more favorably on you when others read it.) The topic should be sufficiently narrow that you end up being, if not the only, at least one of a very small handful of lawyers who know more about your subject than anyone else on Earth.

• Topics. Picking your topic is a major -- perhaps the single most important -- part of the assignment. It is your responsibility. I deliberately do not have a list from which you pick. Of course, I have been, and will continue to be, available to help you think through the selection of categories, possible topics, and how to narrow them appropriately. Almost always in my experience this process takes more than a single one-on-one office conference or e-mail exchange. Because most of you have not yet begun this discussion with me, I am now setting Tuesday, January 23, at 4:00 p.m. as the final deadline to conclude this process, settle on a sufficiently narrowed topic, and turn it in to Ms. Jessie Kriebs, Room 433, before she leaves that day. Once I have signed off on your topic . . .

• The next two weeks – January 29-Febrary 10 -- will require a little more investment of time on your part than the first weeks of the seminar. During this two-week period you should have done enough of your initial research that you are able to hold a conference with me during the week of February 12th to discuss how your research is coming along.

• The outline.  This will then give you three weeks to put together either [1] a detailed (at least three-level; e.g., Roman numeral headings, capital letters sub-headings, and numerical sub-sub headings) outline of how you propose to organize your paper, or (if your hatred of outlines is so severe that it interferes with your doing your best work), [2] a rough draft of your paper [with the possibility of a  – very limited – option of indicating, within brackets, what will be inserted where there are brief omissions]. The outlining option is very highly recommended. Outlines are due March 6th by 4:00 p.m. This will give us some additional time for our  . . .

• Conferences March 6-9 designed to enable you to get me committed to the general approach you are taking at this stage. (Spring break is March 10-18.)

• First final draft preparation, additional research. You will then have from March 19th (or from March 11th if you choose to use spring break week that way) until March 30th to do the additional research and writing necessary to prepare your formal "first final draft." A "first final draft" is a final, not a "rough" draft. It should be the best work of which you are capable. This draft is solely your work product, and it is, therefore, the major part of the research paper process for purposes of assigning a grade. (Subsequent drafts may include some direct imput from me, if you find it useful, and are, therefore, less representative of work uniquely yours.)

• Final, final draft preparation, additional research and writing. On the assumption I can get the editing done over the weekend, we can hold one-on-one conferences the week of April 2nd to discuss the necessary additional research, writing, organization, proof reading, and rewriting on your papers. This will leave you a little over a week to do that work. (It will also leave you the final week of the semester, beginning April 16th, free of obligations for this seminar.)

• The deadline for the “final, final draft” will be April 13th at 4:00 p.m.

A part of the seminar experience involves an oral presentation of your paper to your colleagues. This usually involves about a 15-minute presentation, followed by 15 minutes of discussion: questions by you of the others, and their questions of you.

Given the number of participants, and the schedule we've created for ourselves, this means that we will be scheduling four presentations each of the following three evenings: March 28th, April 4th and 11th (plus one somehow).

This means that four of you will present before you've turned in your first final drafts, and that all of you will be presenting before your final final draft is prepared. But all of you should have your material well mastered by the end of March, and you will have had input from me throughout the semester. So that should not be a problem.

Please note, as mentioned in the Participants' Responsibilities and Expectations Web page, that a failure to make your presentation will result in a 55 for the seminar. That is a good reason to try to get your presentation scheduled early. That way, if an emergency comes up, and you can find someone to switch with you (sufficiently early that participants have time to read all papers before class), you're still able to meet this seminar requirement. The reason for this penalty, as mentioned elsewhere, is that when you are making a presentation you are the seminar for that session. The presentation is an important element of the seminar requirements, so if you're scheduled for the last meeting, and don't show, there's no way for you to "make up" that requirement.

What follows is designed to give you a heads up on what we’ll be doing during our research paper one-on-one conferences.

1. I won’t assign conference times.  It’s up to you to reserve the available time that best suits your convenience.  My assistant, Ms. Jessie Kriebs, Room 433, will have a schedule of available times (as will I).  As always, earlier is better than later; I can’t see everyone on Fridays.

Here’s some idea of my default schedule and available times.  Half-hour time slots Monday, Tuesday and Thursday: 9:00, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:00, 1:00 and 1:30. Those are enough to cover everyone.  We will save slots on Fridays for genuine emergencies.

I work with an assistant out of another office 3:00 to 5:00 each day, have late-night school board meetings most Tuesday evenings, our class Wednesday evenings, and a range of additional university, law school, school board, and other obligations that sometimes cut into the times above. There is occasional out-of-town travel which I try to avoid, and none is scheduled as of now (January 11).

However, if you really can’t make any of the times indicated, and want to arrange another time I will, of course, make every effort to try to accommodate you.  My first preference, if an additional group of times is necessary, would be Wednesday mornings at 9:00, 9:30, 10:00 and 10:30.

2. What I will do with your “first final drafts” is, in part, a function of what you have done with them.  For example, some of you will be closer to a final draft than others.  I tend to give relatively less detailed editing attention to drafts that are either (a) so nearly letter perfect as to not require it (I’ve yet to see one in 40 years of teaching), or (b) so tentative that any work I put in on it is unlikely to be used by you.

3. One of the purposes of running the outlines by me early is to get me locked in on your paper’s basic focus, topic, and organization.  You will be grateful to know that seems to have worked.  So, with rare exception, we won’t, subsequently, be talking about those important features of your papers.

4. Levels and purposes of revision.

(a) There is a minimal amount of rewriting required of you for a “writing credit” and academic credit for a seminar (see the current Student Handbook for details).  That means a “second draft.”  That’s all you are required to do for this course.

(b) Beyond that, however, there is (1) your personal pride in the quality of your work, especially (2) work that will be posted on the Web for all to see, and (3) the impact on your grade of an improved “final, final draft.”

(c) Finally, you are entering a profession of wordsmiths.  There is little lawyers do that is not reading, listening, writing or talking.  How well you do professionally (e.g., win-loss record, recognition, advancement, income) and, more important, how much pleasure you get out of it, will be overwhelmingly determined by how much comfort and skill you have as a wordsmith.

That means practice and coaching.  I am happy to work with you in that way – up to the reasonable limits imposed on both of us by our other obligations in life.  Choosing to do this will affect your grade only minimally, if at all.  It’s not worth your time for that reason.  I’m not required to offer; you’re not required to accept.  I just offer this pro bono service as a friend to any of you who want to put in additional time.

During the course of your career you may be called upon to write op-ed columns for the newspaper, advertising copy, business plans, news releases, and a variety of other non-legal documents.  You may choose on your own to write short stories or poetry.  All are useful skills to have.

But what we’re emphasizing in this seminar paper assignment is a display of your ability to do legal research and writing. And the more of it you show me the more substantive your paper and the better your grade.

So, what am I looking for?  Such of the following as are appropriate to your paper.

• Your first-year skills at pulling the holding from a case, and synthesizing a group of holdings into propositions of law.
• Your ability to interpret the legal language in contracts, statutes and administrative regulations.
• Your skill at working with legislative history.
• The quality of your legal analysis, organization, and persuasive presentation of your arguments; your ability to “think like a lawyer.”
• The thoroughness and the quantity of legal research you have done.
• The extent to which your citation form conforms to the Blue Book.

And then there’s the matter of innovation, creativity and substantive contribution.  This is the whipped cream topping.  Not every topic lends itself.  But I’m obviously going to be impressed with genuinely creative approaches to law and policy that have the potential of making a unique contribution to the literature (and practice) of the law.

A certain amount of “journalism” is required.  You need a topic sentence (“lead”) and an introduction to set the stage and explain the purpose of your paper.  You need to describe the nature and general significance of the problem or issue you’re addressing.  You may want to say a little something about the operation of the Internet (beyond a simple dropped endnote to the ACLU v. Reno findings of fact).  That’s not only OK, it’s necessary.

But the primary thing I’ll be looking for, in a law school writing seminar, will be your demonstration of legal skills.

6. Content and clarity.  When less is more; when more is more.  Lean writing.  It’s a rare piece of writing (whether journalism, court opinion – or this memo) that can’t be improved by removing excess words.  Your writing is no exception.

On the other hand, it’s also a rare piece of writing that doesn’t reflect the author’s assumptions about what “everybody knows.”  Sometimes it’s a matter of a referent not being clear (e.g., “that,” “their,” “its”).  Sometimes it’s the use of a word or concept that needs a definition, or example.  (This can be provided in an additional paragraph, sentence, parenthetical clause, footnote, or appendix.)

7. Proof reading, attention to detail.  Reread, in my Web-posted piece called “So You Want to be a Lawyer,” about the senior partners who have, literally, thrown writing back at associates because of a simple typo.  I want to help you help yourself prevent this ever happening to you.  Law firms don’t hire law school graduates for the thrill of editing the new hires’ work product.  The partners think you are there because you can write better than they can.  They assume it is you who will be editing, and improving, their writing rather than the other way around.  Your success turns on your proving their assumption correct.

It is not at all uncommon for a good writer to put any piece of writing through ten or more rewrites.  It’s highly unlikely that even one percent of the students coming through this law school will ever be able to dash off first drafts of beautiful, polished prose.

You need to read, and reread, and reread again.  Read for sentences that are too long.  Read again for agreement of tense and number.  (For example, a corporation is an “it” not a “they.”)  Read again, aloud, for cadence.  Constantly ask yourself about every word and phrase: “Are there other ways of saying this?  What are they?  Would any make the idea easier to grasp, the writing more interesting to read?”  Read for clarity (“Do I need an example, illustration, citation of authority, or a restatement of this proposition?”)  Read for grammar, spelling (“spell checkers” aren’t enough), and citation form.  Then read it again, considering it as a whole.

Think of yourself as a sculptor, or potter – an artist whose medium is words rather than marble or clay.  Put a little more here; scrape some off there.  Start over.  Hard work?  Yeah, I guess so.  But it’s also fun, creative, and satisfying if you pay attention to what you’re doing.  Take some delight from each creative tweak of phrase instead of just struggling through it as fast as you can.  It will pay you dividends many times over during the next fifty years.

8. During our conferences we will talk about the aspects of your paper discussed above.  Have you done an adequate amount of legal research and demonstration of legal skills?  Does the progression of your analysis need an additional paragraph or section?

But much of what we’ll talk about is your writing.  During this discussion please bear these things in mind.

(a) I like you.  My comments about, and editing on, your paper does not represent a judgment about you.  They indicate that I care about you and want to be helpful.  Take them in that spirit.

(b) Nor are they merely my prior justification for the really awful grade that you are going to get in this seminar.  Nobody is going to get an awful grade – and especially not you.  K-12 testers make a distinction between “assessment” (useful for coaches) and “evaluation” (used for “grading”).  We are engaged in assessment, not evaluation.  It’s helpful for you to make clear to me what you were trying to say.  It’s neither necessary nor helpful to fall into the mode of trying to “defend,” like the good lawyer you are becoming, your every choice of word and punctuation.

(c) Especially is it not the case that my editorial suggestions represent the “correct” way to write, and that your choice of words is “wrong” (with some obvious exceptions).  My suggestions are just that, suggestions.  They are an effort to get you to confront the realization that there really are a lot of alternative ways to say something, and to get you into the habit of thinking up and trying those alternatives, rather than just leaving on paper the first expression that comes to mind.

Why have I not tightly edited the entire paper?  Because that is a part of what you are to do as your rewrite.  Why have I done as much as I have?  Because I want to give you enough examples of what I’m looking for that you can extrapolate from them to the rest of your paper.

So, after our conference what you are to do is reread your paper carefully with my suggestions in mind.  Giving it that degree of care, and looking for those kinds of things, what do you see that can be improved?  Then, as stand-up comic Lewis Black says, “Fix it.”

How much you will need to fix to meet the minimal rewrite standard will depend on how much needs fixing.  How much you want to fix beyond that, for the reasons listed above, is up to you.

If your paper is in relatively good shape, you may be required to fix all of it. Why? Because there isn’t that much to fix and it won’t take you very long.

If you need relatively more help with your writing, you need to learn and practice some editing skills, and there is a lot of fixing to do, we may select a few pages of your paper for you to practice on.  You will rewrite, and rewrite, those pages until they are close to perfect – in addition to whatever overall changes the paper may require.

10.  What do I mean by a “first final draft”? It is a draft that represents your very best work. There is nothing more that you see you could do to improve it. You would be willing to show it to a future potential employer.

Anyone who gives me a paper that may require additional research, endnotes, conclusions or other entire sections, as well as substantial editing, risks the penalties of not having met the deadline. At a minimum I will probably withhold thorough editing until you provide me what really represents, in fact, your final, best effort at a “first final draft.” (This is not because I am mean spirited by nature. It is because there is little point for either of us to my putting in hours of editing on text you’re not going to use anyway.)

In fairness to the more timely participants, grades on delayed first final drafts (once submitted) will necessarily, to some degree, be discounted for the added time the authors had to complete this stage.  However, such delays will neither short circuit the process nor extend the deadline for the final, final draft.  (a) Once you have submitted to me a completed first final draft I will still need to edit it. (b) We will, thereafter, still need to have an additional conference about it, and (c) you will still need to prepare and submit a final, final draft by the stated deadline.

11.  Final, final drafts.  Following our conference on your first final draft, the last stage is for you to give me, both in HTML on a floppy disk, and in hard copy, your final, final draft.  Bear in mind that this will be uploaded to our Web site where you can refer potential employers to it as a writing sample and impress your friends with your published work.

[Notes: (a) If you do not now have your own personal Web page, and choose to use this course as an opportunity to create one, your paper will be a link from that page. Creating a Web page is not a requirement (nor source of extra credit) for this seminar. If you do not have a Web page, I will post your paper as a link from our class page. That is a requirement for this seminar.

(b) You do not need to be able to upload a document to the Web. I will do that for you (or help you do it if you want to learn how). The primary obligation you have in this regard is to get me a floppy disk version of your paper that can be transformed (by me) into a Web-usable (HTML) format.

(c) Many word processing programs’ document files, whether “inserts” or copy-and-paste into HTML, end up stripping out the endnote calls and endnotes. So if you are not going to give me an HTML file, ready to upload, please follow this procedure:

(1) Use whatever word processing software you prefer. It makes it lots easier to have the program automatically renumber endnotes when you move text around.
(2) Once you have your final, final draft in the form you want, print it out.
(3) Save the file you were working on both on the hard drive and on a backup floppy.
(4) Call up the file again and save it with a different name – but this time use the “save as” command to save it as a “text” (sometimes called ASCCI, ANSI, or DOS) format.
(5) Call up the “.txt” file and see if the endnote calls, and endnotes, are there. If not, insert them manually. (You can usually capture all the endnotes at once from your main document in a block-copy-and-paste move and put them into the “.txt” file.)
(6) Save the “.txt” file on your hard drive and back up floppy.
(7) Make another floppy for me with the word processing file and the “.txt” file on it.
(8) If you are using a Mac, make sure the floppy you give me, and its file, can be read by an IBM-compatible computer.]

Note: There's nothing here unique or profound regarding research, but the following obvious suggestions may be worth a quick review. How do you come up with a topic, or "do research"?

• use the Internet, search engines, the resources and bookmarks on my Web page
• ask a reference librarian
• look in an encyclopedia
• look for conventional books on the subject
• look for books in the "computer section" of bookstores, and specialty magazines
• check out current, and past, issues of Edupage
• use online legal search services (e.g., Lexis, Westlaw)
• see if there are law review articles
• the discussion (as distinguished from holdings) in court opinions may be useful

Note: For such use as it may be for you, this is the "outline" view of a PowerPoint presentation of the Economics of Law Practice Seminar papers' schedule as presented to that class August 24, 2000.

Overview
concept of “mileposts”
penalties for failure to meet
maximums
earlier completion encouraged
open to discussion/modification now -- but not later

Mileposts
research
topic selection
outline
first “final” draft
conference
“final, final” draft
presentations to seminar
Web (HTML) formatting, uploading

Research
begins immediately
continues throughout final, final draft
initial survey
initial completed
continuing general
completion “final”
additional as needed

Research Formatting
Blue Book citation form required
why that’s important for your sake
use Internet-available sources
to the maximum extent possible
but not to the exclusion of essential sources
obtain/preserve URL sites for sources

Topic Selection
make list of your topic options
make your selection/submission Sept. 6
“first in time” claims
avoid prior students’ topics
obtain instructor’s approval of topic Sept. 8

Outline (or First Draft)
outline preferred
“three level”
detailed
limitations on “first draft” as alternative
development Sept. 8-27
completion/submission Sept. 27
instructor’s approval Sept. 29

First “Final” Draft
“final” as best product
development Sept. 29-Oct. 18
completion/submission Oct. 18

Conferences
informal consultations possible any time
in person
by e-mail
week October 23-27
detailed editing by instructor of substantial portion
general comments regarding overall paper

“Final, Final” Draft
development Oct. 28-Nov. 8
detailed editing by author
best work possible
completion/submission Nov. 8

Seminar Presentations
early drafts posted to Web for seminar participants’ access
random selection of order for presenters
presentations scheduled Nov. 2, 9 and 16

Web Formatting Uploading
author prepare either in
HTML, or
format that copies to HTML
by Nov. 8
instructor may tweak/format, but primary responsibility on author
instructor will upload, make links to papers Nov. 9-22