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Writing a Seminar
PaperApproaching the Topic and
Claim, or
“How to Write an ULWR With a Purpose, Without
Writing a Brief”
Why Write a Seminar Paper? O Opportunity to publish, develop professional
reputation
O Writing sample for job interviews, especially judicial clerkships
O Opportunity to specialize in topics of interest, to learn substantive law at a new level
O Self-fulfillment achieved from producing an independent product – one of your last experiences in truly independent scholarly writing before you will be asked to be an advocate
Publish & FlourishO 1. Ask your professor
to provide your name to Jon Lutz, [email protected], or Faye Jones, [email protected].
O 2. We’ll pass it along to Expresso and they’ll send instructions.
O 3. Please contact Jon or Faye with questions or if you need assistance.
Writing Contests:Make Some $
$$Contest Listings: http://www.law.fsu.edu/current_students/writing_competitions.asphttp://legalwritingcompetitions.blogspot.com/http://law.richmond.edu/students/essay-catalog.htmlhttp://
www.americanbar.org/groups/law_students/events_competitions/wec.html
Helpful Resources:
O Scholarly Writing: http://fsu.catalog.fcla.edu/permalink.jsp?23FS031025418 O Academic Legal Writing: http://fsu.catalog.fcla.edu/permalink.jsp?23FS020078137 O Scholarly Writing for Law Students:http://fsu.catalog.fcla.edu/permalink.jsp?23FS020665069
Helpful Resources:
O http://guides.law.fsu.edu/scholarlywriting
Picking and Grounding a Topic
Topic and the question asked (thesis) in a seminar paper is important to the research and writing process that will follow
What is a Good Topic?ORelates to the substance of the class
OHas some relevance to legal debates
OHas some legal, analytical or methodological substance
OWill be researchable
What Is A Good Topic?O Relates to the substance of the class
O Cyberlaw Seminar – defined broadly to cover legal issues of the Internet, virtual life, Intellectual Property, and technology.
O Energy Law Seminar – Is probably not the class for a paper on equal protection
O Get your professor’s approval!
O Has some relevance to legal debates O Legal challenges to net neutrality; regulation of
virtual currenciesO Sustainability of the planet if fossil fuels are depleted
is probably better written for an ecology class or an economics class.
What Is A Good Topic?O Has some legal, analytical or methodological
substance O Can you envision the paper drawing on legal
doctrine, taking an analytical perspective (presenting/addressing arguments that would be appropriate to a law class), OR will it have an analytical approach (historical, philosophical, psychological, economic, empirical)?
O Will it be researchable?O Are needed materials available in a language you can
research in?O TIP: See a reference librarian for a consultation as
early as possible!
Research Guides
http://guides.law.fsu.edu/
How Does Topic Relate to Research?
Don’t pick your topic in a vacuum!
1) Initially, it will be best to treat your topic as tentative, refining the topic along the way. This is your “drop/add” period.
O At this stage the topic will narrow your research, but not so much so that it hamstrings you to a very specific question.
Researching the Paper Topic
2) Make sure that you have seriously READ at least 5 primary and secondary sources relating to your topic.
O N.B. “Book” is not a four-letter word!O Start doing a pre-emption check.
Resources to search:(1) Legal Periodicals, (2) American Law Reports (ALR), (3) Treatises, hornbooks, and practice manuals, (4) Legal Encyclopedias, (5) Current casebooks, (6) Working papers in SSRN, (7) Blogs & websites, (8) Restatements & model codes
O Can’t find a resource or hitting a paywall? Ask a librarian!
Researching the Paper Topic
3) Refine your topic and settle in on a more precise specification. “Drop/Add” period is over.
4) One last tip: take good notes and be organized!O Avoid plagiarismO Avoid retracing your stepsO Create folders just for your topic research in
WestlawNextO Keep print research in a designated folder or binder
The Next Step:Relating the Topic to a
ClaimA claim = a thesis
Good legal scholarship makes: 1) a claim that is 2) novel, 3) nonobvious, 4) useful, 5) sound and 6) seen by the reader to be nonobvious,
useful and sound.”
The Claim, examples1) Law X is unconstitutional because . . . .
2) The legislature ought to enact the following statute . . . .
3) Properly interpreted, this statute/regulation/treaty means . . . .
4) This case/doctrine explains/contradicts this other case/doctrine because . . .
The Claim, examples5) This law is likely to have the following side
effects . . . . [ and therefore should be rejected or modified to say . . . ]
6) Courts have interpreted the statute/regulation/treaty in the following ways and therefore the statute/regulation/treaty should be amended as follows . . . .because . . .
7) My [empirical, historical, philosophical, economic, psychological, or religious] perspective on this law shows the law is flawed and should be changed [or not].
Approaching the claim with modesty
O Develop your claim while you are still researching
O At this stage, treat the claim as a hypothesis
O Data (i.e., cases, secondary literature, etc.) may lead you to reject or modify the claim, but do not wed yourself to the claim against clear evidence that contradicts it…
O Unless you can reject/distinguish/explain away that evidence in a sound manner
Keeping an open mindOTalk to faculty about your claimOModify by adding nuance – factors,
exceptions, etc.OLeave open the possibility that you may
need to substantially modify your claim during your writing process – the other 50%
ODistinguish the descriptive from the prescriptive parts of your claim
Once you select a topic and identify a claim, the writing process will not take care of itself. However, you will now be writing with a purpose, rather than writing in search of one.
THE ENDDon’t fall into the “I work best under
pressure” trap!
