Seminar: Law, Politics, and the Family
Professor Ann Laquer Estin
Fall 2004

Requirements for Seminar Papers

1. Topic Selection

Topic selection is an important aspect of your seminar writing project. You should choose a topic that is broad enough for you to find research materials on point, but not so broad that it is unmanageable within the time available. Before you settle on a topic, familiarize yourself with the subject matter and the issues involved. Locate the significant cases, statutes, books, and articles on the question and read them carefully. This review serves the first stage of your research, although you may explore and reject several topics before you find one that works. Your paper should consider a legal question we have not covered in class, although you may choose to draw on some of the material we have discussed together.

Keep in mind that there are many different approaches you could take to a particular problem. You could look at activity in state courts or legislatures on a given point, do an historical analysis, or use an interdisciplinary framework. You could investigate international law implications, or take a comparative look at a given problem. You might explain the meaning of a specific (and significant) case in the context of a developing area of the law, or analyze an area of the law more generally. Your paper should not, however, be limited to a description of the law on a certain point or a review of a single case. Your analysis should present an original argument or fresh perspective on the issue you have selected, something that goes beyond a review of the existing literature or case law.

After you have decided on a topic, you must submit a short topic selection report. This should include a brief discussion of your topic, with an explanation of why it is significant; a list of the major resources on which you will rely; and a short plan for any additional research you plan to undertake. The topic report should be submitted at our class meeting on Tuesday, September 21.

2. Thesis, Outline, and First Draft

Once your topic is identified, you will need to complete your research and refine your argument. By Tuesday, October 5, you should submit a thesis statement for your paper and an outline, setting forth the major points you plan to develop. This step is intended to help you to detect any weaknesses in your organization, analysis and research. The first draft of your paper, based on this outline, is due in class on Tuesday, November 2.

3. Class Presentations and Final Draft

You will have 30 to 40 minutes to present your paper to the seminar in mid-November. This discussion is intended as a writing workshop, and all class members will read and critique the papers scheduled for discussion. After your presentation, you will have several weeks to finish rewriting your paper. You may need to clarify or expand certain portions of your paper, or bolster tenuous or unsupported arguments. You may need to do additional research as part of the rewrite process. The final draft of your paper is due at our last class, on Tuesday, November 30.

Grades on final seminar papers will be based on the breadth and quality of your research and the creativity of your analysis. I will take into account both mechanics, including organization, clarity, style, and appropriate citation forms; and argument, including identification of issues, analysis and resolution of those issues, and your discussion of the implications of your insight. Please keep in mind that you may lose points from your grade if you miss any deadlines in the writing process, or if you are required to redo your topic report, outline, or first or final draft. I encourage you to make use of the law school's Writing Center. Any plagiarism or dishonesty within the terms of the College of Law policy on academic misconduct will result in a grade reduction and may be referred to the Panel on Student Conduct.

Finally, these books, which are usually available in the bookstore and the Writing Center, may be helpful, especially if you have not previously written a seminar paper or law review note:

Elizabeth Fajans and Mary R. Falk, Scholarly Writing for Law Students (1995).

Eugene Volokh, Academic Legal Writing (2003).