How to Pick a Compelling Law Research Paper Topic
The choice of a topic for your law research paper is perhaps the most important decision that you will make. Why? The first and foremost reason is that the topic that you choose could greatly affect your grade as your choice of a topic also determines the amount of effort that you put into researching it. Since the topic that you choose will ultimately determine the quality of your paper, choosing a poor topic could very well earn you a poor grade as well even if the topic was a difficult one to research. How then do you go about choosing the perfect topic?
While it is not uncommon for law students to choose less than respectable topics, a wise student would go on the lookout for issues that are currently trending in the legal world . In fact, if you stay aware of the current law research papers that are being published, you may just be able to predict law research paper topics that will currently be trending in legal circles. There are no official sources that publish such topics, however, with a little thinking, you will be able to see trends emerging.
Alternatively, some students choose to write about topics that interest them personally. However, you shouldn’t simply choose any topic because it sparks an interest in you. Indeed, this piece of advice is true for everyone looking to turn out a good law research paper and not just law students. If you aren’t running a business, you wouldn’t choose to write about how to run a business just because it interests you. You will still need to conduct research and for all intents and purposes, the reason for conducting research is to know more about the topic than what you did before.
Performing Adequate Law Research
When it comes to writing a stellar law research paper, the steps you take in researching legal studies lays the foundation for the entire project. Determining which message or argument you want your research paper to convey, and then presenting your topic and viewpoint in a logical progression of thoughts, can only be successful if your supporting research is conducted properly. Legal research goes beyond what you may have encountered in high school or even in college. If possible, consider spending some time with a law professor or paralegal, who can demonstrate the intricacies of how in-depth legal research should be carried out for a law research paper. Fortunately, we’re able to provide you with some useful tips on how to carry out effective legal research for a law research paper. In order to successfully locate and analyze existing legal research, you must first distinguish between primary and secondary sources. Primary sources of law for your research paper include statutes, regulations and case law. Secondary sources include encyclopedias, treatises, law reviews, journals and legal periodicals. The best way to conduct primary legal research is through a legal database. Westlaw and LexisNexis are the two most commonly used and trusted. With a personal or institutional subscription, you can search cases, statutes, administrative codes, and other legal resources. The most important factor when it comes to choosing the sources of information you’ll carry out legal research on in a law research paper, is to make sure they are credible. Information posted on companies’ websites, for example, may not always be factual, however, information published in a newspaper or magazine is generally accepted as credible. In legal research, however, it’s better to over cite than under cite. Part of research typically includes summarizing your findings in the form of an outline or summary, which you’ll want to include in your law research paper. By carrying out thorough legal research prior to writing your law research paper, you will be able to construct a more polished final product, and be better prepared to answer any questions your professor or peers may have regarding your work.
Organizing Your Law Research Paper
A typical law research paper will follow a fairly standard structure that includes an introduction, a clearly stated thesis statement, a body that provides a thorough review of the issue at hand, and a concluding section that briefly sums up the argument presented.
To begin, introduce the topic with basic terms and history of the issue. The introduction should engage the reader, so don’t be afraid to use an interesting fact or question that helps set up the thesis. To tie the intro and conclusion together, it’s a good idea to briefly restate the argument made in the body of the paper. A brief discussion of research results that verifies the thesis is a good way to end the introduction, especially since the paper’s productivity may vary significantly from the outline.
The next step is the thesis statement. This hypothetical argument is the basis of the analysis and should follow the intro. A clear thesis statement will help organize the paper while also serving as a strong foundation for the argument. The body should provide a great deal of supporting information about the argument, most of it directly cited from other published works. For each point being made, there should be no more than one or two sentences that state the argument with only a few more sentences for support. As the body of the paper progresses, it should move from a general overview to a specific discussion of the issue at hand.
Ideally, the entire argument should make sense as one succinct whole by the time it reaches the conclusion, which rehashes the overall thesis statement in a way that makes it clear to the reader how the initial argument has been verified throughout the paper.
Giving Correct Citations to Legal Sources
Citation plays a crucial role in legal writing as it serves multiple purposes, such as crediting the original author, providing a roadmap for readers to follow your research, and offering validity to your argument through authoritative references. Legal writing is deliciously murky, often shrouded in vague rules that evolve across styles. For law research papers, the standard method in use is the Bluebook citation style, although other guides exist such as the ALWD Style Manual. While citations are not the most riveting aspect of legal education, knowing the basics of citation style is vital to successful law research writing.
In any legal research piece, you must cite the text you use. You may be citing a primary source, the original law, a secondary source, such as a legal review article about the law, or a tertiary source , such as an encyclopedia entry on the law. It can get more complicated when you are using a case or other sources to support an argument in your paper. When using a case, ensure you are reading the holding and any dissenting opinions too. Even if they are less interesting, they oftentimes discuss cases which either approve or disapprove of the main case, and so using quotes from them will bolster the overall argument in your law research paper.
Even after you have made it through all those quotes that you need to include in your law research paper, you are still not home free. You have to then write your analysis of the quotes and how they relate to your argument. And remember that you may come across a case or other source that clashes with your viewpoint or fails to support your point. That is okay, and should find itself in your law research paper. The high standard of law research writing is to present everything related to the argument clearly and fairly.
Writing Convincing and Comprehensive Legal Argument Studies
With the foundation of a clear thesis statement in place, it is time to construct a compelling line of reasoning that not only supports your claim but simultaneously anticipates and answers any potential counterarguments with clarity and precision. A successful law research paper is not merely an exercise in presenting the law; it is an intellectual dialogue that requires you to think critically about the interplay between applicable legal principles and the facts at hand. The adjudicative process is inherently antagonistic, so your written submission must preemptively address the legal reasoning of the opposing party in order to ultimately prevail before the slate of adjudicators.
To this end, every paragraph of your paper must be directed towards the goal of persuasively supporting your argument. Each paragraph will contain a topic sentence followed by a theoretical framework or principle of law that is then supported by a quote, case reference, statute or other primary authority. After providing supporting evidence, discuss how the law applies to the facts at issue, then conclude the paragraph by linking the idea back to your thesis statement.
It’s important to remember that the philosophy underpinning an article or essay produced for a law class is not the same as writing for a non-law audience. As a budding legal scholar, you must argue from precedent rather than from personal belief. When writing a law research paper on a contentious legal issue, there’s a temptation to lend authority to your argument by inserting emotive language that is designed to persuade rather than argue. This is a distraction, and the adjudicators that will be considering your paper to determine whether you pass or fail will see right through this technique. A well-crafted law research paper is one that stands on its own logic rather than relying on hyperbole or persuasive language.
A successful paper is one that is able to argue both sides of an issue. Regardless of your viewpoint on a legal issue, you must carefully understand the facts and law of both sides in order to effectively convince the adjudicators that you have adequately considered the relevant legal landscape before reaching a conclusion. Include passages where you can present the documentary evidence and corresponding analysis in order to refute the argument of your adversary, and use the passage to come full circle back to your thesis statement.
Throughout your work, be careful to avoid using black letter law, legalese and oversimplifications that can distract from the otherwise high level of analysis you are able to provide. An effective law researcher and writer is one who has mastered the art of using complex legal concepts without the trappings of jargon that are otherwise used to convey legal issues to the public.
Reviewing and Revising Your Law Research Paper
The fifth and final step to writing a successful law research paper is revising and editing. Revising and editing are critical to success. Revising focuses on the content of your paper. It asks questions such as: Is my thesis logical and clear? Are my topic sentences strong and clear? Is my analysis persuasive? Editing focuses on the mechanics of writing. It asks questions such as: Have I cited every case I referenced in the text? Does my footnote correspond to the citation in the text?
Since you’ve followed the steps in this article, you know exactly what you’ve said in your paper. That preparation makes revision a much easier task than it is for the beginning or intermediate writer. When you revise, you go through your paper just once, looking at each paragraph and the topic sentences to ensure that each part supports your thesis. As you revise, read each paragraph separately and ask yourself, "How does this paragraph advance my argument and support my thesis?" If the paragraph doesn’t support your thesis, it’s only distracting from your purpose — even if it’s well written. Cut what doesn’t support your purpose. You can save it for another day, when you’re writing a paper on a different topic .
Editing is last, for the simple reason that editing affects paragraphs individually, while other steps — particularly revision — affect your entire paper. First, check your citations and footnotes to ensure your citations — both in the text and in the footnotes — match. Then go sentence by sentence, checking each sentence individually — put away those multi-paragraph "arguments" you’re trying to make until later. As you edit each sentence, you want to look for three things: 1. Clearly state one point of your argument per sentence. 2. Keep paragraphs fewer than 10 sentences. That rule comes from the fact that although readers can read paragraphs of 10 sentences, paragraphs longer than that are difficult to read without losing the reader’s concentration. 3. Write in active voice. Active voice is much easier to read and more persuasive than the passive voice. When you have finished editing, put your paper away for at least three days. Then print out, out the edited copy and read it out loud. Your brain will convert the words to sound and the sound will catch mistakes and awkward sentences. Keep making edits until you reach a point when you say to yourself, "This is done."
