Writng

Pointers about Writing

What follows is a set of items that students should pay particular attention to when they write in this course. Some of these are very general or broad rules that "everyone knows," and other items are narrow and "picky." There are also some links to other web sites as well as some references cited below. Students are strongly encouraged to consult these additional connections because they are useful for particular or unique kinds of writing problems. One of the most important skills that anyone can gain in college is the ability to express themselves clearly, directly, concisely, and well. That requires PRACTICE and students should take every opportunity to develop writing skills during the semester. The most important point to make at the outset of this course is that attention to detail is very important. Many people get used to skipping over the details of writing and precise word usage, but that is something that must be overcome for students to do well in this course.

There are different kinds of writing and students should realize that the writing assignments in this course will ask them to undertake various kinds of writing. As students work through each assignment, the first question they should ask is what kind of writing assignment is this? That is what is asked for in this assignment. If students are asked to "summarize" some event, article or essay, then the development of a chronology or a history is NOT called for. Be sure to develop a summary. If one is asked to "describe," then describe. Do not summarize or develop an outline of the events or case. Describe it. If one is asked to "compare and contrast" two or more cases or two or more doctrines, then that comparison and contrast should be the core of the paper that is completed by the student. If the assignment calls for an "analysis" then students should not describe or summarize. Rather they should analyze the case in terms of the directions given in the assignment. If the assignment calls for an "outline" then that is exactly what is called for in the assignment. That is certainly what the student should submit as their final product.

The second set of questions about a writing assignment focuses on what subject matter(s) is(are) dealt with in the assignment. These questions relate to substantive course materials that students need to know (understand) in order to answer these questions:

"What material must be mastered in order for me to develop this assignment?"

"What facts and data, what relationships among variables do I need to master in order to complete this assignment?"

These questions focus on the initial phase of preparing a writing assignment. To do an assignment correctly students need to think carefully about what the questions or assignment are. One essential first step is that students must complete (i.e., understand) assigned reading before they can start a writing assignment. Students must know what they are talking about as they begin an assignment. That certainly means students must understand the necessary material. The instructor may contribute important parts to this segment of the process. However, understanding is something the student must master and they more than anyone else can tell if they understand the material. If there are any doubts about the material, then the student needs to ask the instructor about the materials, the concepts, or the questions they have about the material. Bring as much as understanding as they can to this discussion, but also students should bring in the questions that they do not feel confident about when they talk about the material. This is an essential part of "learning" and it should become a regular process throughout the semester in this course. Be sure to read the material carefully, and be sure of the questions that remain about the assignment. Do not ask the instructor "What do you want?" That merely indicates the student has no idea what they are doing and they have not thought about the assignment. If one is asked to summarize and they do not understand how to summarize, then think about summarizing and try to summarize and bring that attempt in. Then a discussion about the attempted "summary" with the instructor will give useful information on which can to build and learn. If a student merely say "I don't know how to summarize." then they will not learn anything from the conversation. Try doing it first.

Another item about writing should be emphasized here. Much of the writing in this course will be short, brief. It may be a paragraph or a page in length. These SHORT assignments are not necessarily easy just because they are short. They require careful and organized thought and presentation. These assignments need serious and focused work, even if all the student is asked to do is summarize what someone else has written or describe what they have uncovered in the research. Some assignments, particularly the outlines of arguments, will probably be less than one page in length. Those kind of assignments require much organization and thinking, before writing just a few lines on the page. These assignments require densely packed paragraphs.

The point of the "picky rules" outlined below is that students who do not pay attention to detail reflect a sloppy approach to their work. Whether they are really sloppy students is not clear, but details are important! That is to say, while students may have good ideas and thoughts, the presentation of their work requires that it meet high mechanical standards and detailed requirements. Pay attention to these items. Heed them. Most of these are easily accomplished when one writes. What follows is a list of "bullets," small items that students should note and follow. These may be idiosyncratic and NOT apply to any other courses or other professor's writing assignments.

Unless otherwise directed, papers should contain page numbers on each page. (The number of times final submissions have had pages out of order is remarkable. If the pages are numbered, that is much less likely to happen.)
Do not put the paper in any kind of binder or hard cover. The first page of a paper should be a title page with title, course name and number, student name, and date. There may be exceptions to this rule for some assignments in this course, but those will be clearly identified.
Always keep a copy (electronic AND hard copy) of the final version of the assignment that one submits for a course. There are millions of cases of students losing their papers and NOT keeping a copy. Do NOT make that mistake.
Papers of more than one page must be stapled in the upper left-hand corner! If a student lacks a stapler, then any departmental office on this campus will be happy to supply a stapler and a staple to hold the paper together. (Some lengthy papers may require a heavy-duty staple. Again, most departmental offices have those, and students can use it if they just ask politely. Anticipate this need, if one will have it, and make necessary arrangements.)
Comply with page limits. A paragraph means a paragraph. If the maximum page limit is five (5) then only the first five pages of the submission will be read and graded!

It is also important to realize that a page limit indicates the amount and nature of detail that the paper should contain. So a page limit of five pages will be a different paper than a page limit of twenty pages, on the same assignment. This should be used as an important clue about the nature of the assignment.

As a matter of convention, case names are italicized. That is not at all difficult using today's word-processing software. In many style manuals, such items are underlined. This is the traditional (i.e., using a type-writer) way of indicating that the item should be italicized. That means that if one follows a style manual with underlined items, then italicize those. If one has no italicizing capability, underline it.
Do not use contractions. While we use those in everyday speech, they have no place in the writing for this course.

One frequent mistake students make is the use of "its" and "it's." Students should be very careful about this particular "problem," and not make this mistake.

Word usage and grammar are very important, and the reading of materials for this course should provide adequate examples of the kind of writing style to use. That means students should acquire the technical aspects of word usage from the reading assignments in this course. If they do not, then that indicates inadequate preparation of the reading assignments. Here are a few specific points to keep in mind:

Do not use clichés. Phrases like "The million dollar question in this case was . . .." are hardly useful. This suggests a casual rather than a rigorous approach to the materials.
Be careful to use a consistent and appropriate verb tense throughout a paper.
Be sure that the subject and verb agree in each sentence! Subject/Verb agreement can be a significant problem if the writer is not careful.
Do not use "etc." for any purpose. This is an abbreviation for et cetera, that means "any number of unspecified persons, things, or items. Odds and ends." That phrase has no meaning, and thus adding it at the end of a sentence makes no sense at all. I have no idea what odds and ends you wish to add at this point. So be specific if you are itemizing a list of points.
Be very careful about the use of dependent clauses. These are often used to qualify statements, but make sure they are clearly and correctly presented.
Write concisely and without extra wording wherever possible. Wordiness is probably the most frequent problem with writing, and it adds nothing to the content of a paper.
Be definite in your statements. Students often try to present tentative conclusions or analysis. That has no place in this course, and students should learn to be clear and definite when they write.
DO NOT use pronouns. The referent for most pronouns is easily lost, and there is no reason to be so imprecise that pronouns are used at all.

Personal pronouns are particularly unacceptable in this kind of writing. "I think . . .."or "I believe . . .." is the start of something I do not want to know. This kind of phrasing indicates that a students is expressing their personal opinion, and that has NO place in this course.
That does not mean one's feelings or beliefs are not important to them. It does mean these beliefs are not important for purposes of the writing assignments in this course. Furthermore, no court or agency or public institution in this country "feels" or "believes" anything. So do not use those kinds of verbs in any writing for this course.

Students should know how to use [brackets] and (parentheses) when writing. They are used for different purposes and they should always be used correctly.

A particular item of technical usage that is important is "[sic]." This has a particular meaning for students in this course. It is a Latin designation used in a quotation to indicate that the wording is "intentionally so written." It is used to indicate that something written incorrectly in the original is maintained incorrectly in the quotation.

Ellipses are also important for students to master and use correctly. A good reference work will help with this.

Always proofread papers before they are submitted. In particular, be certain of the following items in proofreading.

Spelling errors are problems that should never occur! DO NOT rely on a computer's "spell checker" to clean those up. Students have to proof and correct those items themselves, "by hand." Peculiar words that should be carefully treated include:

Never misspell "judgment." Most dictionaries indicate there are two correct spellings of this word, but in the context of legal matters, there is only one, conventional ("correct") spelling.

Watch out for the spelling of the word "defendant."

"Argument" is also oftentimes misspelled.

Statute" is the correct spelling of an enacted law.

Proofreading corrects mechanical errors

Proofreading also permits another opportunity to revise and rewrite papers.

This leads to the point that no paper should be submitted if it is a first draft. The tendency of most students is to prepare an assignment when their schedules permit, oftentimes at the last minute or the "night before it is due." How can that kind of work be the best a student is capable of completing? It cannot be the student's best. So, the following is a suggested way to overcome that problem, because writing is an intellectual process -- it is a process of thinking and written material should clearly display your thinking when it is finished. The process has a number of steps and has the following features:

When an assignment is made, immediately spend just 15 (fifteen) minutes reading it over and thinking about what is required to complete the assignment.

Talk to the instructor about any questions or confusion you have about the assignment AND about any first impressions for approaching this assignment.

Make some assessment of what work (reading, research, thinking, writing) will be required to complete this assignment. Remember that even short -- paragraph length -- assignments will take time and effort to complete well.

At this first pass, students should also write down their initial thoughts, ideas, or an outline of what might constitute a good version of this paper or assignment.

Usually a clear idea of what the assignment requires should be evidenced from this initial pass at the assignment. Then the student can make an assessment of how much "work" it is going to be.

Depending on how much time the student has for completing the assignment, work in 30 or 60 minute chunks. That means do not try to complete the assignment in one sitting that involves 4 hours of distracted, wasted, frantic, or interrupted time. Do more brief "noting" and research or reading, and then note what was gained from that, and leave the project again. Students need to keep track of where they are (where they stopped) on the project so that they can pick it up again, later, if necessary.

When the preparation for the assignment -- the research and reading -- is finished, then come back to the assignment again, for another 30 to 60 minutes and actually (1) outline and (2) write the assignment. This may indicate the assignment is well under control, OR that the research and preparation needs to be rethought out or additional research needs to be completed before the writing the rough draft. A common mistake to be overcome is that often when one begins to write the assignment, they lack facts, comprehension of the subject, or sources of material for the assignment. Trying to complete the research for a topic as it is being written is generally fatal. that means complete the research before one starts to write, and only fill in small gaps after the writing shows them to be gaps.

If this first attempt at writing the assignment fails to produce anything that is on track, then the initial stages of the assignment, research and understanding the topic, are not complete. That means these simple, initial tasks have to be completed carefully and well in order to get to the point where a credible first draft can be produced.

When students complete the first draft, let it sit and age. Thinking and understanding WILL change during this aging process, even if the written words do not change much. A second pass through the manuscript (i.e., a re-write), with the changed thinking, will mean refinement, expansion, elimination, or change of what was written.

Justice Brandeis supposedly once said: "There is no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting." That is absolutely correct, whether he said it or not. Students must rewrite first drafts or that is all they will ever submit -- rough, first drafts. An undeveloped, off-the-top-of-your-head first draft is NOT one's best work and that will never produce a good grade in this course unless the student is a truly exceptional analyst and writer.

Word-processing makes re-writing notes and outlines, as well as drafts, easy and quick.

Editing is important. DO NOT THINK YOU HAVE TO KEEP EVERYTHING IN A PAPER ONCE YOU PUT SOMETHING INTO A DRAFT. There is a great tendency to become psychologically attached to your words, and it "hurts" to cut any of them, even if they make no sense or do not fit your revised thinking. As the saying goes: "Get over it!" Cut the irrelevant material and the filler. This material does not belong in the paper and it will not improve the grade you receive for your paper. It will only indicate your confusion and lack of focused, analytic thinking. This reluctance to cut is often linked to the student's desire to reach the minimum or maximum page limits on a paper. If the limit is twenty pages, do not write "fill" or put in "garbage" until you get to page 20 and then breathe a sigh of relief, print it out, and hand it in. That is a mistake. It can be a fatal mistake if your writing does not reflect your best thinking and clearest writing.
Most "filler" or surplusage in writing is the result of a student's inability to state a clear thesis or "bottom line" in their writing. The way to overcome this is to force oneself to write out a single statement that is the thesis or the point you want to make about the assignment. Then, keeping that in front of you, writing the page, the five pages, or the ten pages, should be much easier.

To become a good writer one must be able to edit their own work ruthlessly. Be honest with yourself about whether you have said what you meant to say, whether you have said it clearly, whether you mean what you have written. I often refer to this as taking a very "sharp pencil" to your own paper. Ask yourself "Is this phrase/sentence/paragraph/section necessary to the paper?" Editing is very easy to do with software packages now. It may be very difficult to do with the words one has written, but students need to learn to edit their work critically and honestly in order to develop these important skills. One famous statement about good writing is:

In composing, as a general rule, run your pen through every other word you have written; you have no idea what vigor it will give your style .

If one has trouble reaching a page minimum, that means they are not writing enough detail, or it (often) means they need to include more development of the materials in the paper. This deficiency usually requires going back and doing more research and more thinking and analysis. Then the writer needs to work that material into the text. Being unable to reach the minimum usually means insufficient research and understanding of the subject so one cannot write (complete) the assignment. Such a problem also may mean the writer is just being too superficial in their preparation of the paper. The usual tendency with this problem is to write filler -- meaningless extensive statements that say nothing. That is NOT the solution to this problem.

Remember that no assignment requires as much time as one gives it! What that means is working efficiently and carefully takes much, much, much less time and effort than writing with wasted and distracted effort. So use little pieces of time efficiently and get through a part of each writing project at each sitting. Eventually, realizing this point means that a first draft will be finished in "about three more minutes." Then go on to the aging and rewriting process.

Writing Style is very important to develop.

Sentence structure and clarity. Writing complete sentences is very important. That does not require long, convoluted sentences with many qualifying dependent clauses. Try to make statements clear and direct. Many students are afraid that a direct statement (simple sentence) will be "wrong" or will appear to be too simple. As a result they try to qualify and indicate exceptions with dependent clauses. Students should realize that a clear and direct statement is understandable, and that they should have the "strength of their convictions" about the correctness of their writing. The purpose of writing is clarity, not "obfuscation."
Paragraphing should also be carefully done. In simple terms, a paragraph is supposed to be composed of a topic sentence and additional sentences and support or amplification for that (single) topic. Make sure paragraphs are like that. Look at each paragraph and be sure it says exactly what it is intended to convey.

If the assignment is a single paragraph, plan that out clearly and work on the topic sentence as well as the supporting or constituent pieces. Just because the assignment is only one paragraph does not mean it should not be crafted carefully.
Be sure there are adequate transition paragraphs in papers.
In short papers (3-5 page papers) there may not be much room for transition paragraphs, but a transition sentence might be enough.
Never write single sentence paragraphs! If the idea is important enough to be a paragraph, then it deserves adequate development to be a full paragraph.
Watch out for long paragraphs. A paragraph that is most of a page or longer (e.g. a page and one half!), probably contains the material for two or more paragraphs and should be broken.
Be sure the order of paragraphs in a paper is correct and logical. This requires the development of a topical outline before writing the paper.

N.B. An outline is essential before one writes anything. Never begin writing an assignment without a topical outline.

Voice and Audience are very important considerations to keep in mind. These involve the question who is the writer -- you -- and who is the audience or the reader -- me. The writer's "voice" should be clear, sharp, precise, and definite. In this course, the voice should be professional, not conversational, casual, or colloquial. The audience here is not the average newspaper reader or undergraduate student. In other courses and settings the audience will be different. Always think about the audience before beginning to write anything as well as throughout the writing process.

Citations
It is essential that writers correctly cite the sources of the materials they use in the course of writing. The citation forms listed below are suitable. There are several very important technical dimensions to citations.

Never cite a dictionary or an encyclopedia in the body of a paper. If a definition of term is necessary, use one's own language.
Never cite a secondary source where the original is available. That is particularly the case where court decisions and opinions or agency rules or statutes (the original) are available. The availability of lexis-nexis means these can be looked up and that should always be done. That is particularly the case, if one is quoting a statute, and agency rule, or the opinion of a court. It is always wise to consult the original, full opinion, before discussing or referencing that in a paper. The easy availability of these original materials makes such consultation quick and easy.
Never cite a web site for a court opinion or a statute or an agency regulation. The Uniform System of Citation or "Bluebook" clearly indicates the correct method of citation, and the actual source -- the web -- is not permanent. Using the web to get a legal opinion is certainly acceptable, but the citation to the case must be to the reporter, the volume, the page, the year of decision (and quite possibly the court). As well the citation to a statute must be the United States Code (or the relevant state code). The citation to an agency rule or regulation should be from the Code of Federal Regulation, or the state administrative code. A copy of the Blue Book is on reserve in the Hick's Undergraduate Library.
Citing Restatements or Am. Jur. are both examples of traditional high school paper writing where one or more encyclopedia are consulted and then used to write a descriptive paper based on (and only refers to) these sources. Do not cite these sources. If one needs to use them for background, that is fine, consult them. But they are not appropriate research sources.
The usual way to provide references is NOT parenthetical references and a bibliography at the end of a paper. That is standard practice in many disciplines, but the law and legal writing tends to use antiquated forms. That means footnotes (not even the easier end notes) that appear at the bottom of each page are to be used. Word-processing software makes that form much easier than used to be the case.

The university has clear and understandable regulations about plagiarism. Plagiarism is not acceptable under any circumstances. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE any materials included in any papers or writing assignments for this course. If one does not understand what constitutes plagiarism consult the Dean of Students documents on this subject AND students can and should consult with the instructor . When in doubt, footnote or document completely. There is a clear statement about these matters elsewhere on the web site for this course. Students are expected to consult and understand those materials. Any questions about these items should be clarified with the instructor before proceeding. On the website for this course, there is a separate statement about academic honesty AND a link to the Dean of Student's electronic document of Academic Integrity. This page must be consulted and read at the outset of the semester.

References: There are a number of reference works that may help one learn to write better or learn the mechanics of writing. In addition, some of these provide comprehensive citation forms for the technical legal materials that are likely to arise in preparing papers. Among those, the following should be examined seriously:

William Strunk & E.B. White, The Elements of Style 3rd Ed. (Macmillian, 1979) This is probably worth reading before writing any paper, no matter what the length or type of assignment. The original version of this work (1918!), still readable, entertaining, and useful. It can be found at a site inside the Writing Center at Harvard University. The Harvard Writing Center site provides other, very useful and extensive assistance and direction for writers. Consult it carefully and extensively. The local bookstores have copies of Strunk and White and students are encouraged to purchase their own copies and read it closely each and every time before they write anything

One former student indicated that he always "reads" Strunk and White before he began writing any paper for any course. This might sound extreme, but this is a remarkably useful rule to follow. There are any number of books. Those listed below are just a few suggestions. Consulting any of these publications will make one more aware of considerations of style (as well as mechanics) and improve writing.

Francois-Hoel Thomas & Mark Thomas, Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose (Princeton University Press, 1994).
Kate Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations 6th Ed. (University of Chicago Press, 1997).
Diana Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual 2nd Ed. (Bedford Books 1997).

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citations 17th Ed (Harvard University Press, 2000) is very crucial for determining how to cite all kinds of legal materials properly. Colloquially, it is known as the "Bluebook." A competitor to this reference is The University of Chicago Manual of Legal Citation (Lawyers Cooperative, 1989). This is known as the "Maroon Book" and was developed as a simplified alternative to the Blue Book. Both of these books provide correct legal citation form. The forms in these two publications are not diametrically opposed to one another. However, the standard is the Bluebook. There is a copy on Reserve in the Hicks Undergraduate Library. The maroon book is linked here for your convenience. It takes Adobe Acrobat to read it and that can be download for free, as indicated (and linked) on the "course assignments" page of this website.

Because of the nature of legal materials, the forms for citing those are unique and technical. That means that students are expected to know the proper way to cite cases, statutes, regulations, constitutional provisions, law reviews, and other legal matters. That requires more technical knowledge than the kind provided by Turabian or Hacker or other general style manuals.

Never write without a Dictionary and a Thesaurus "at your fingertips." This will develop one's vocabulary and that is essential both to writing well and to learning in general.

When one writes anything, it is essential that one's idea, point, thought, description, or analysis be presented clearly and understandably. If one has brilliant ideas but cannot convey them to others, the strength of the idea is lost in the failure to transmit it to a reader. That is obviously very unfortunate. Students are expected to work carefully on their writing in this course. (That means "work," not just going through the motions. It also means that if one does not write well at the outset of the course, that is all right as long as they are willing to invest the time and effort at learning to write better than when they begin the course.) At the end of the semester, students should be able to craft sentences clearly , tie sentences into coherent and clear paragraphs, and to then couple the paragraphs into sections of papers, where appropriate. Eventually the result is a unified, whole paper.

All students are expected to visit and consult the Writing Lab in Heavillon Hall (HEAV 226; 4-3723) or on the Web, throughout this semester. This service, provided by the School of Liberal Arts, is invaluable assistance to students on a vast array of writing tasks and challenges. No matter how good a writer one thinks they are, the Writing Lab can provide assistance and insight and understanding that will make you a better writer. The lab has links to various information, including paragraphing, there are multiple sites on outlining , starting to write, and a link on writing research papers that may provide useful materials.

The Writing Lab's services are quite essential and very helpful. Everyone in this class can benefit from using the resources in the lab, either physically in HEAV Hall or on the Web. The tutorials it provides can be quite valuable in general and they will be useful for this course.

If one is not able to write well, their Writing Assignments and the grade for this course will suffer. Writing is not something anyone can ignore. Students may have been told they are good writers, and that may well be the case, but remember that all writing is NOT alike, and that all writing is an iterative process. Good writing depends on the assignment, the audience, and style. That means that even good writers may have to shift, change, and adjust the way they write. Writing is a very sophisticated form of thinking. Students are encouraged to discuss writing assignments well before any due date is assigned if that is possible and certainly before the assignment is completed, rather than after the assignment is submitted.

The mark of an educated person is someone who can express themselves well, and clearly, in written and in spoken form. These skills take a good deal of effort and time, but they pay incredible dividends for the rest of one's life!