Cleveland-Marshall College of Law

Scholarly Writing Resource Guide

Scholarly Writing as Performance Art (podcast)

Topic Selection
Initial Research / Preemption Check
Research Methods
Basic Writing Guidelines
Footnote Formats
Additional Resources


This guide will help you prepare, organize, and write a scholarly paper in law school. Scholarly writing is a requirement of many seminar classes and law reviews. This guide does not cover other types of legal writing, such as memo and brief writing, or drafting complaints, motions, and client letters. For this type of writing, consult the many legal writing books available in Law Library Room AO66 under the call number range KF240-KF251.

Please contact a research services law librarian for help with locating or using any of the resources discussed in this guide.

 

Topic Selection


Selecting an appropriate topic for scholarly writing may seem more stressful than the writing itself.  How can you find an interesting topic in which there is not too much, yet not too little, written?

Browse for current issues and hot topics.

Legal issues in which Federal Courts have split decisions are often good topics for scholarly writing. In LexisNexis and Westlaw, try using the search statement circuit /2 (split or disagree!) in federal case files to identify such decisions. To narrow search results, add topical search terms and/or date restrictions.
U.S. Law Week also has circuit split information. There are two ways to get such cases from the U.S. Law Week home page:
1.  In the left navigation menu, under "Key Features," click on Circuit Splits.
2.  In the top blue navigation bar, click on Advanced Search - search for "circuit splits" and narrow results by adding topical search terms.

ACS ResearchLink has a Topics Search Page, which contains a database of real-world legal questions submitted by attorneys. A student - with a supervising professor - can apply to work on a topic and get help from the attorney who submitted that topic. The resulting paper may be published on ACS ResearchLink.

You may also want to check out Lawtopic.com, which lists over 90 paper topics and includes tips on writing a student article.

 

Initial Research / Preemption Check


Once you've identified an interesting topic, do a quick literature review to determine whether there are sufficient resources to discuss the topic as well as present your hypothesis and evidence-based conclusion.  Discuss your topic and hypothesis with your adviser and/or a research librarian for literature referrals and research suggestions.

This initial literature review can also serve as a preemption check, in which you search to see if someone has already written an article on the same topic that you would like to cover. Remember, even if your general topic area has been addressed, you may be able to focus on a different subtopic or present an alternative hypothesis for dealing with an issue.

To perform a thorough preemption check:

  1. Search for books.  Use Scholar and OhioLINK, and remember that these electronic catalogs have keyword searching - your search terms will drill down to the contents and notes fields of book records. You may even want to consider searching WorldCat, available as one of OhioLINK's Research Databases.
  2. Search for journal articles.  Consult the Law Library's Finding Articles in Law Reviews, Journals, and Other Legal Periodicals guide for journal article search tips. To focus results, search periodical indexes, such as Index to Legal Periodicals and Legal Resource Index. [Both of these are in LexisNexis and Westlaw.] You may also need to search interdisciplinary indexes, such as Social Sciences Citation Index (ISI Web of Knowledge) (available as one of OhioLINK's Research Databases).
  3. Search for "forthcoming" articles.  Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP), published weekly and available on Westlaw, will inform you of the latest law review articles. Also, accessible via the Law Library's Electronic Resources page, is the SSRN (Social Science Research Network), which provides abstracts of forthcoming articles.
  4. Whatever articles you find in your general topic area, remember to Shepardize and KeyCite them. Do the same for any relevant code sections and cases you may have pursued in your topic selection process. This will help you to further refine your subtopic and hypothesis.

Research Methods

It is critical that you maintain some type of research log to help organize your sources and avoid plagiarism mistakes. Consider using citation checkers, RSS feeds, social bookmarking, reference management software, and mind mapping to gather and organize information and materials. These tools can save an enormous amount of time and preserve your research for current and future needs. Consult the Scholarship Technology page for more information.

If you want to keep updated on the release of new case opinions, legislation, regulations, and other materials, remember that you can do LexisNexis/Westlaw "Saved Searches." For information on how to set up these searches, click here.

Expand your research. You need to obtain sufficient secondary source material to develop a thorough knowledge of your broad topic and place your particular research interest within that topic's context. You also need to obtain sufficient primary source material to further bolster your knowledge, as well as provide evidence for your hypothesis and/or proposal for action.

Stating the obvious, search for primary source materials in LexisNexis and/or Westlaw. Every now and then you may run across a reference to a case or other such primary material that you cannot find in LexisNexis/Westlaw. OK, try using a Web search service (Clusty, Google, etc.) to find it or additional clues about it. Then go back to LexisNexis/Westlaw to verify its existence. If need be, contact the court, legislative body, or executive agency to verify.

Secondary Source Materials

 

Basic Writing Guidelines

Most scholarly articles focus on research, or survey the literature, in a particular topic. In a research article, one emphasizes primary sources and often argues for action or change. A literature survey emphasizes secondary sources, reporting on the state of existing knowledge or practice.

Scholarly articles are often outlined in the following manner:
• Introduction; Proposal; Hypothesis; Rationale for Study
• Background; Underlying Concepts and Issues
• Research Methodology (may need to justify selection of data, study group)
• Arguments; Explanations; Discussion (as needed, refute opposing arguments)
• Relationship to Wider Concepts, Issues, Literature
• Proposal for Action, Change, Further Research
• Conclusion - Introduction Restatement and Summary

When drafting your article, it's OK to have incomplete sentences, passive voice, superlatives, antecedents, and other unpolished writing. Don't worry about making every sentence perfect. However, be sure to accurately cite sources to help avoid plagiarism mistakes. As needed, include explanatory footnotes, in which you more fully discuss items you do not want to expand upon in the body or your article, as well as survey footnotes, in which you discuss additional sources the reader may consult on a topic.

After receiving reviewer comments on your article draft, edit and rewrite your article. Conduct further research as needed to fill in any reviewer-identified gaps. You may also want to reorganize arguments, explanations, and discussion. Correct any unpolished writing - incomplete sentences, superlatives, antecedents, and passive voice. [Remember that it is acceptable to use passive voice if you want to minimize an actor or emphasize the receiver of an action.] Finally, verify your citations one more time.

Footnote Formats

Examples taken from:
Robbins, Ira P. Managed Health Care in Prisons as Cruel and Unusual Punishment, 90 Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 195 (1999)

Basic
Text
Billy Roberts, a prisoner in an Alabama state prison, had a history of severe psychiatric disorders.1
Footnote
1 McDuffie v. Hopper, 982 F.Supp. 817, 821 (M.D.Ala. 1997).

Informational / Explanatory
Text
Concerns regarding inadequate health care are magnified in a prison setting, in which inmates have no choice about health care and cannot seek outside advice. They are left to the discretion of the health care provider chosen by the county or state.16
Footnote
16 West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 54-55 (1988) (“It is only those physicians authorized by the State to whom the inmate may turn.”); Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 103 (1976) (“An inmate must rely on prison authorities to treat his medical needs; if the authorities fail to do so, those needs will not be met.”). Furthermore, prison officials may have a conflict of interest because they must consider both financial and medical issues. Thus, prison health care may be compromised. See, e.g., One-Third of Texas Inmates May Have Hepatitis C, Officials Say, Dallas Morning News, May 29, 1999, at 39A (reporting that prison officials were undecided about whether to administer a costly but effective drug to inmates).

Literature Survey / Historiographical
Text
Fourth, if the health care provider in the prison refuses to provide treatment, it is difficult, if not impossible, for the prisoner to get treatment elsewhere.45
Footnote
45 See id. Also, a prisoner’s inability to seek treatment elsewhere could become problematic if an MCO provides hospice care in addition to curative care. Because hospice or non-curative care is significantly less expensive than curative care, an MCO may have a conflict of interest in determining whether to abandon curative care for the prisoner. See Nat’l Inst. Of Corrections Information Center, U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Hospice and Palliative Care in Prisons 2 (1998) (stating that hospice care is less expensive than traditional treatment). This issue is beyond the scope of this Article, however. For information regarding hospice care and other alternatives, see, e.g., 2 Prisoners and the Law ch. 14B (Ira P. Robbins ed., 1999) (“Compassionate Release”); Ronald H. Aday, Golden Years Behind Bars: Special Programs and Facilities for Elderly Inmates, 58 Fed. Probation 47 (June 1994); William B. Aldenberg, Note, Bursting at the Seams: An Analysis of Compassionate Release Statutes and the Current Problem of HIV and AIDS in U.S. Prisons and Jails, 24 New Eng. J. On Crim. & Civ. Confinement 541 (1998); Nancy Neveloff Dubler, The Collision of Confinement and Care: End-of-Life Care in Prisons and Jails, 26 J. L. Med. & Ethics 149, 149-56 (1998); Marjorie P. Russell, Too Little, Too Late, Too Slow: Compassionate Release of Terminally Ill Prisoners – Is the Cure Worse Than the Disease?, 3 Widener J. Pub. L. 799 (1994); Susan Lundstrom, Comment, Dying to Get Out: A Study on the Necessity, Importance, and Effectiveness of Prison Early Release Programs for Elderly Inmates Suffering From HIV Disease and Other Terminal-Centered Illnesses, 9 BYU J. Pub. L. 155 (1994). See also Laurie Smith Anderson, Inmates Helping Inmates; Louisiana State Penitentiary’s Hospice Program Receives National Recognition, Baton Rouge Advoc., Apr. 17, 1998, at 1; Jeff Barnard, Killers Provide Comfort to Dying Inmates in Oregon; Hospice Program Brings Solace to the Ailing, Humanity to the Caregivers, Tacoma News Trib., July 18, 1999, at 1.

Web Sites
In addition to providing the Web site URL, be sure to note the day you obtained information from the Web site!
Text
Accreditation is by no means mandatory; it merely provides companies with a seal of approval to help them attract business.63
Footnote
63See National Commission on Correctional Health Care Health Services Accreditation (visited Nov. 9, 1999) <http://www.corrections.com/ncchc/accreditation.html>

The NCCHC Accreditation page is now at: http://www.ncchc.org/accred/index.html

 

Additional Resources


Cleveland State University Writing Center
Provides helpful advice on planning, researching, and drafting a paper as well as style and plagiarism information. Includes information on tutoring and workshops. Serves all CSU students (and faculty).


Books

Browse for books on legal research and writing in Law Library Room AO66 under the call number range KF240-KF251. As always, search for books in Scholar, via keyword or subject searches. One thing to note is that the majority of legal writing books cover topics such as memo writing, brief writing, complaints, and other types of litigation or transactional writing. Most of these books do not discuss scholarly academic writing (ie, seminar papers or law review notes), but here are a few good titles:

Academic Legal Writing:  Law Review Articles, Student Notes, and Seminar Papers / Eugene Volokh.  Foundation Press, c2007.  KF250 .V65 2007

Doing Honest Work in College: How To Prepare Citations, Avoid Plagiarism, and Achieve Real Academic Success / Charles Lipson.  University of Chicago Press, c2004.  PN171 .F56 L56 2004

The Little Book of Plagiarism / Richard A. Posner.  Pantheon Books, c2007.  K1485 .P67 2007

Making Law Review: The Expert's Guide to Mastering the Write-On Competition / Wes Henricksen. Caroline Academic Press, c2008.  KF250 .H46 2008

Scholarly Writing for Law Students:  Seminar Papers, Law Review Notes, and Law Review Competition Papers / Elizabeth Fajans and Mary R. Falk.  Thomson/West, c2005.  KF250 .F35 2005


Web-Based Resources

CALI (Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction) Lessons

ALWD Citation Form
Punctuation and Grammar Basics for Law Students
Punctuation and Grammar: Advanced
Plagiarism - Keeping Out of Trouble

Fairfield University DiMenna-Nyselius Library - The Plagiarism Court: You Be the Judge
Tutorial that explains "what plagiarism is," discusses "its legal and ethical consequences," and suggests "notetaking, documentation, and writing strategies to help ... avoid accidental plagiarism."

George Washington University Law School Committee on Academic Integrity - Citing Responsibly: A Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism, 2008-2009
Discusses basic citation rules, plagiarism examples, and tips for avoiding plagiarism.

Legal Writing Institute
Nonprofit corporation providing "a forum for research and scholarship about legal writing and legal analysis." Includes links to LWI publications, such as its Journal, and several teaching resources, such as a Syllabus Bank and Plagiarism Resources. See, in particular, Rules for Working with Authority, Plagiarism Exercise, and Plagiarism: A Workshop for Law Students (Matthew C. Mirow, Lexis-Nexis Electronic Authors Press)

 

 

revised AEB, LER 9/09

 


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