Research and Writing Strategy
for a Seminar Paper
Theories of Justice Seminar
April 2010
Mary Whisner
It’s very simple:
Research
Write
Not so simple, really:
• Brainstorm
• Early
research
Topic
Refined
Topic
• Systematic
research
• Notetaking
• Writing
• Discovering
holes
Drafting
• Research
• Writing
Filling in
holes
Editing
• Answer
Q?
• Flow?
• Clean up
citations
• Tweak
Polishing
Strategy: Typical Legal Problem
• Preliminary analysis (issue, parties,
jurisdiction, keywords, secondary sources)
• Statutes (plus regs, ordinances)
• Mandatory precedent
• Persuasive precedent
• Refine, update, doublecheck
How Might a Theory Paper Differ?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Questions
Purpose
Sources
Thoroughness
Currentness
Style
State a Thesis
(Even Tentatively)
E.g.,
Recent Supreme Court opinions on affirmative
action in education and busing in public
schools illustrate competing visions of
fairness. Applying theories of Rawls and
Nozick can help us understand the tension.
Form a Plan
Write questions you hope to answer with
research:
• What are recent S.Ct. cases re affirmative
action in education?
• What rationales do justices apply?
• How do l. rev. articles analyze fairness issues?
• How about philosophy or public policy
articles?
Plan How You’ll Look
• Already have citations for S. Ct. cases; just
need to retrieve and read.
• Law review articles:
– KeyCite or Shepardize cases; restrict to law review
articles with key terms
– LegalTrac
– Full-text searches, LN & WL; SSRN?
• Philosopher’s Index
Lots to Read
Find 1
article.
Find many articles.
Read it.
Scan lists.
Find next
article.
Decide which
to read.
Manage Notes
• Zotero (Firefox add-on) – keep track of
documents from Web
• RefWorks and EndNote
– export data from indexes or library catalogs
– enter your own citations
– write notes
– format citations
• UW Libraries
Organize Your Thoughts
Thesis
Legal issue
Test with
examples
Apply theory
to issue
Conclude
Organize Your Thoughts
Majority
Case
Dissent
Question /
Theory
Case
Comments
Organize Your Thoughts
Bkgd
Theory 2
applied to
problem
Unsatisfactory
because ...
Facts: Why a
problem?
Unsatisfactory
because ...
Possible 3rd
approach?
Standard legal
analysis
Theory 1
applied to
problem
Conclusion
Do You Have What You Need?
• In your notes and files, do you have the
material you need?
• If not, form questions and go research.
• If not sure, try writing a section and reevaluate.
Have You Addressed Your Thesis?
• If so, great.
• If not, can you add a section to fill in
analysis?
• If not, can you restate problem to be
what you did address?
Help with Mechanics
• Bluebook 101
• Word Tips to Make Your Life Easier
• Legal & General Writing Resources
Gallagher Law Library
University of Washington School of Law
Box 353025
Seattle WA 98195-3025
http://lib.law.washington.edu
• We are happy to have our guides used by other libraries,
librarians, and legal researchers.
• Before copying or adapting one of our guides, please contact
Cheryl Nyberg (cnyberg at uw.edu) to obtain permission. Then
give appropriate attribution, such as: "Adapted from a guide
by Mary Whisner at the Gallagher Law Library website."