Advanced Legal Research for Academic Legal Writing



Advanced Legal Research for Academic Legal Writing

SYLLABUS

Spring 2014

Professor

Stacey L. Gordon

Office: Room 167

Phone: 243-6808 (w); 239-9024(cell)

Course Information

Tuesday & Thursday, 9:20am-10:20am

Location: Room 214

Credits: 2

Course Description

In this course, students will do the research for and write a publishable academic paper (i.e., law review article, case note or comment). The course will cover effective use of primary and secondary legal research sources in both print and electronic formats. Students will go beyond the basic research methods taught in the required Legal Research course and learn the research methods necessary to fully analyze and discuss a complicated legal issue. All students in the course will be required to complete all the components required to satisfy the Advanced Writing Requirement, including a final publishable paper, and this course will satisfy the Advanced Writing Requirement for students who opt to do so. This is a 2 credit course.

Required Texts

Eugene Volokh, Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, Seminar Papers, and Getting on Law Review (4th ed., Foundation Press 2010). You can use the third edition; a copy of the third edition is on Reserve in the library.

ALWD & Darby Dickerson, ALWD Citation Manual (4th ed., Aspen Publishers 2010).

Attendance

Attendance at all classes is required. Students who miss more than five hours of class must withdraw from the course as per the UMSL attendance policy in the Student Handbook.

Professionalism

Law school is a professional school. All your courses will prepare you for the practice of law in some manner and all are equally important. I expect that you will adhere to professional standards in your written work and that all your written work will be organized, neat, and carefully proofread. I also expect that you will come to class prepared and your class participation will reflect the professionalism expected of law practitioners. This includes limiting your use of laptops and other technologies (Twitter, texting, email, Facebook, IM, etc.) in the classroom to class activities.

Disability Services

The University of Montana assures equal access to instruction through collaboration between students with disabilities, instructors, and Disability Services for Students (DSS). If you think you may have a disability adversely affecting your academic performance, and you have not already registered with DSS, please contact DSS in Lommasson 154. I will work with you and DSS to provide an appropriate accommodation.

Academic Honesty

All students must practice academic honesty.  Academic misconduct is subject to an academic penalty by the course instructor and/or a disciplinary sanction by the University.  All students need to be familiar with the University of Montana Student Conduct Code, which is available at , and the Law School Honor Code, which is available on the UM Law Student Information Moodle page.

Assignments & Grading

20% Legislative History Exercise

80% Advanced Writing Paper

Students who are taking the course to fulfill their Advanced Writing Requirement MUST complete all required steps before I will certify the requirement. In other words, students who do not meet all the following requirements may receive a grade in the course but still not receive Advanced Writing certification. Detailed requirements to fulfill the Advanced Writing Requirement are available on the course Moodle page. Students who are not taking the course to fulfill the Advanced Writing Requirement must complete only the Outline (10%), Draft (30%) and Final Paper (40%).

10% Annotated Bibliography

10% [Outline]

20% Draft Paper

Peer Editing (non-graded)

30% Final Paper

3 Meetings with professor (non-graded)

10% Presentation

Annotated Bibliography

One of the steps toward completing the Advanced Writing requirement is compiling an annotated bibliography of sources. In this class, you will be completing portions of the research for your paper each week and compiling the annotated bibliography as you go. I will review your bibliographies in our periodic meetings and you will turn in the completed bibliography with your Outline.

Draft Paper

The Advanced Writing requirement states that you must turn in a draft of the complete paper. This means that your paper must be substantially finished, including footnotes when you turn in the draft. This will allow me to make detailed comments on your draft so that your final paper can be virtually error-free.

Final Paper

The grade on your final paper will be based on the paper you turn in on April 30. However, that does not mean that I will automatically sign off on your Advanced Writing at that point. Your paper must meet all the Advanced Writing requirements before I can certify it.

Due Dates

All assignments should be submitted via the course Moodle page by 9:00am on the due date unless otherwise noted. Late assignments may be penalized unless you receive prior permission.

February 4 THESIS STATEMENT

February 18 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY EXERCISE

March 25 OUTLINE & ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

April 15 DRAFT

April 24, 29, May 1, 5 PRESENTATIONS

May 5 FINAL PAPER & SELF-EVALUATION

Course Schedule

Tuesday, January 28

|Topics: |Assignment |

|Course introduction, syllabus; | |

|Advanced Writing Requirement; |Select a paper topic, formulate an initial thesis, and do a |

|Sources for selecting paper topics |pre-emption check. Due February 4. |

| | |

| |Additional sources for selecting a paper topic (optional reading): |

| | |

| |Heather Meeker, Stalking the Golden Topic: A Guide To Locating and |

| |Selecting Topics for Legal Research Papers, 1996 Utah L. Rev. 917. |

| | |

| |LexisNexis, Finding a Unique Topic Tutorial, |

| |

| |ic_Tutorial.htm (visited Jan. 25, 2013). |

|Reading Assignment: Volokh, 10-46 | |

Thursday, January 30

|Topic: Structure of an academic paper |Reading Assignment: Volokh, 47-80 |

Tuesday, February 4

➢ Initial Thesis Statement Due 9:00am

➢ Sign up (in class) for 15-minute meetings to discuss paper topics and thesis statements.

|Topics: Researching statutes |Reading Assignment: None |

|Session Laws | |

|Annotations | |

|Uniform Laws | |

Thursday, February 6

|Topic: Researching statutes |Assignment |

|Compiling legislative histories | |

| |Legislative History Assignment on Moodle page. Due Feb. 18 at 9:00am. |

|Reading Assignment: John V. Sullivan, How Our Laws Are Made, H.R. Con. | |

|Res. 190, 110th Cong. (July 25, 2007) (on the course Moodle page. Read | |

|p. 1-18). | |

Tuesday, February 11

|Topics: Researching administrative regulations |Reading Assignment: |

|Locating relevant regulations |Travis McDade, Regulations Play a Key Supporting Role in the Research |

|Regulatory history |Show, 37 Student Law. 12 (Apr. 2009). |

| |Montana Legislature, Administrative Rules: A Legislator’s Guide, |

| |

| |les.asp (modified July 24, 2008). |

Thursday, February 13

|Topic: Advanced Westlaw training |Reading Assignment: None |

| | |

Tuesday, February 18

➢ LEGISLATIVE HISTORY ASSIGNMENT DUE AT 9:00AM.

|Topics: Researching caselaw |Reading Assignment: None |

|Casefinding tools | |

|Key Numbers | |

|Online database | |

|Google Scholar | |

Thursday, February 20

|Topic: LexisAdvance Training |Reading Assignment: None |

Tuesday, February 25

|Topics: Researching caselaw |Reading Assignment: None |

|Citing References | |

|Shepard’s | |

Thursday, February 27

|Topic: Researching secondary sources |Reading Assignment: None |

|Law reviews & treatises | |

Tuesday, March 4

|Topic: Researching special topics |Reading Assignment: None |

Thursday, March 6

|Topic: Bloomberg Law training |Reading Assignment: None |

Tuesday, March 11

|Topics: Researching non-law issues |Reading Assignment: None |

|News | |

|Statistics | |

|Other disciplines | |

Thursday, March 13

|Topic: Outlining |Assignment |

| | |

| |Organize and outline paper. Outline & Annotated Bibliography due March |

| |25 at 9:00am. |

|Reading Assignment: None | |

Tuesday, March 18

|Topic: Turning your outline into a draft |Reading Assignment: Volokh, 112-139 |

Thursday, March 20

|Topics: Plagiarism & academic ethics |Reading Assignment: Volokh, 143-192, 335-344 |

| | |

Tuesday, March 25

➢ OUTLINE & ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE 9:00AM.

➢ Sign up for 15-minute meetings to discuss your outline.

|Topics: Writing and grammar refresher |Assignment |

| | |

| |Begin writing paper draft. Due April 15 at 9:00am. |

|Reading Assignment: Volokh, 345-352 | |

THURSDAY, MARCH 27: NO CLASS

MARCH 31-APRIL 4: SPRING BREAK

Tuesday, April 8

|Work day. This is a regular class day. You must email Stacey, certifying that you are working on your paper from 9:20am-10:20am. Stacey will be|

|available for individual help. |

Thursday, April 10

|Topic: Citation review |Reading Assignment: Review ALWD Rules 10, 12, 14, 15, 22, 23. |

Tuesday, April 15

➢ DRAFT DUE AT 9:00AM.

➢ Sign up (during class) for 30-minute meetings Wed.-Fri. to discuss your draft.

|Topic: Editing |Reading Assignment: Volokh, 105-111 |

Thursday, April 17

|Topic: Peer editing (bring a copy of your draft to class) |Assignment |

| | |

| |Finish peer-editing and return edited paper to author by Mon., Apr. 21. |

|Reading Assignment: None | |

Tuesday, April 22

|Topics: Course evaluations, Publishing your paper |Reading Assignment: Volokh, 261-290 |

Thursday, April 24: Presentations

Tuesday, April 29: Presentations

Thursday, May 1 : Presentations

Monday, May 5: Presentations

➢ FINAL PAPER & SELF-EVALUATION DUE AT 9:00AM.

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