A narrow essay prompt might read, “Discuss the evolution and impact of the exclusionary rule of evidence in the United States. " A broad prompt might read, “Discuss how a civil rights movement led to changes in federal and/or state law. " If you are invited to choose your own topic, your professor may require you to submit a written proposal or outline to ensure that your chosen topic complies with the prompt. If you are not sure if your topic is within the parameters of the prompt, propose your topic to your professor after class or during his or her office hours.
Hopefully, your course readings, lectures, and class discussions will have given you enough background knowledge to select a topic. If not, review your class notes and browse online for additional background information. It is not uncommon to change your topic after doing some research. You may end up narrowing the questions your essay will answer, or changing your topic completely.
If you can, try to focus on an are of the law that affects you. For example, if your family is involved in agriculture, you may be interested in writing about water use regulations.
If you are prohibited from citing internet resources, you can still use online research to guide you to physical primary and secondary sources in your local library or bookstore.
Look at footnotes, citations, and indexes in tertiary sources. These are great for finding books, articles, and legal cases that are relevant to your topic. Also take note of the names of authors, who may have written multiple works on your topic.
Also find search engines for related fields, such as history or political science. Ask your librarian to recommend specialized search engines tailored to other disciplines that may have contributed to your topic.
Never cut and paste from the web into your notes or essay. This often leads to inadvertent plagiarism because students forget what is a quotation and what is paraphrasing. When gathering sources, paraphrase or add quotation marks in your outline. Plagiarism is a serious offense. If you ultimately hope to be a lawyer, an accusation of plagiarism could prevent you from passing the character and fitness review.
An effective introduction takes the reader out of his world and into the world of your essay. [2] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC’s on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source Explain why the subject is important and briefly summarizes the rest of your argument. After reading your introduction, your reader should know what you are going to discuss and in what order you will be discussing it. Be prepared to revise your introduction later. Summarizing your essay will be easier after you have written it, especially if you deviate from your outline.
State each argument of your essay as a statement that, if true, would support your thesis statement. Provide supporting information drawn from primary and secondary sources that support your argument. Remember to cite your sources. Provide your own original analysis, explaining to the reader that based on the primary and secondary sources you have presented, the reader should be persuaded by your argument.
Open up a Word document. On the Quick Access Toolbar at the top, click on the down arrow. The words “Customize Quick Access Toolbar” will appear when you hover over the arrow for two seconds. Click on the arrow. Then click on “More Commands. ” In the “Choose commands from” drop-down box, choose “All commands. ” Scroll down to find “Speak. ” Highlight this and then click “add. ” Then click “okay. ” Now the Speak function should appear on your Quick Access Toolbar. Highlight the text you want read back to you, and then click on the Speak icon. The text will be read back to you.
Do not rely on a spell checker exclusively, as it will not catch typos like “statute” versus “statue. "
You can share the essay with someone outside of class, but a classmate more likely has the requisite knowledge to understand the subject matter of the essay.
