Page 1 of 4
Expos 20
Freedom of Expression
Spring 2006
Essay 3: Entering a Scholarly Debate
In Essay 3 you will take a position on an aspect of a current free speech controversy and argue for it
using a variety of sources. You can choose from three different broad topics: campaign finance
reform, speech codes on campus or elsewhere, and free expression on the internet.
In the first two essays you have examined the ideas on free speech of certain key authors. Now you
will get the chance to tell me what you think should be done on a free speech issue. Here you will be
developing your own idea of what the law should be. You will not develop your ideas in a vacuum,
however, you will use other sources, legal opinions and critical and theory articles as they support
your thesis, or to present or respond to counterarguments.
In the second essay you for the first time tackled the use of legal opinions, developing your powers
of comparative analysis. In the third essay you will continue to use comparative analysis as you look
at the arguments of different opinions and other sources, but the focus will not now be solely on
close reading of opinions. Now you will be looking not just at what close readings and comparisons
reveal, but will use the comparisons and close readings to bolster an argument attempting to resolve
a free speech issue.
The sources you use will also be different from those you looked at in essays 1 and 2. We will all
read together a couple of articles taking a theoretical bent – and we will discuss in class what that
means. These essays are not on any of the three topics, but I believe they contain ideas that could
apply to all of them. These essays offer different approaches you might apply to the specific topic
you explore. I urge you to consider using these articles as sources for your essay, but that is not a
requirement.
Then each topic has a separate series of readings. The readings start with a couple of legal opinions
that are considered key in the field. Your essay will likely engage with these opinions either because
you take a position disagreeing with some aspect of an opinion, or because you address an issue left
open by the opinions. (You could also argue that one aspect of an opinion was correct, but then you
would have to convince me that that thesis was sufficiently controversial to be of interest.) If you
are proposing a solution to an open problem, remember that in law the logic of previous opinions is
usually considered the best argument.
Each packet also contains a couple of law review articles. These articles are mostly examples of the
kind of essay you are being asked to write: arguments about what the law should be on a certain
subject. There are also some differences between law review articles and the essays you will write in
this and other courses. For example, do not be intimidated by the fact that usually in law reviews
nearly every sentence is footnoted. The convention for such articles is that no assertion may be
made without specific support for it. There is more room for argument and speculation in college
essays without nailing down all proof. That does not mean that you don’t need evidence or citations
– you should certainly offer what the support for your argument you need. Just don’t use the law
review articles as models for your footnoting.
Page 2 of 4
This essay also calls for independent research. We will be developing a research strategy based on
your individual thesis. Sources could include further opinions or law review articles, articles or
books in philosophy, sociology, political science or other fields, newspaper articles or articles from
political magazines. A key move you will have to make is to limit the research you do in some way
to make it manageable.
In this essay you will most likely go back and forth between your analytical questions and
developing thesis and the sources you read. I suggest that you start by reading the opinions in the
subject that you have at least tentatively chosen and try to develop from there some analytical
questions, maybe exploring one aspect of the opinions, maybe attempting to see what open
questions remain. Read the other sources, but be careful to keep your mind open about changing or
refining your developing topic and thesis. Then we will see what further research is appropriate.
Your final essay should be 10 to 13 pages long, but for this essay the draft does not need to be that
long, because you will not have finished your own research by then. Rather, in 6 to 8 pages you will
present your thesis and the subordinate points you want to argue, and in your cover letter you will
describe in some detail what research you plan to do, and provide an outline of the structure of your
draft. The draft will still look like a draft of the final paper, though it will probably be more fully
developed at some points than at others.
I have also found it helpful to set some guidance for how many sources you have to use, by
providing some minimums. The idea is that for the draft, you use four sources of some sort, at least
two of which must be other than the sources up on the website. For the final essay, you should use
at least six sources, at least three other than on the website. (But a note: when I am numbering
sources, I am thinking generally of opinions, law review articles, and peer-reviewed journal articles,
which for most of you should be the core of what you look at. Some people will also be using
newspaper articles, for instance, which would be considerably shorter, and so proportionately more
sources would be used. Many of you may end up using documents on websites, which could be
longer or shorter than journal articles. As with practically everything significant in life, there are
judgment calls to be made, and just as for actual judges, your guide should be what is reasonable. If
you have questions, as with all of this assignment, just ask.) These are minimums, not necessarily a
guide for what is best for your particular essay.
Goals of the Essay










Use analytical questions to explore a topic.
Develop and continually refine a strong, debatable thesis.
Consider using theoretical texts in developing a thesis.
Use both primary (opinions) and secondary (articles) sources to support and
challenge your thesis.
Do independent research involving both books and electronic sources.
Orient your reader to the opinions and facts, and the social/political/legal context.
Develop a vivid, clear introduction demonstrating a compelling motive.
Present convincing evidence and analysis, integrating them smoothly.
Determine a structure that develops your analysis in a series of logical steps.
Craft paragraphs with strong form and focus.
Page 3 of 4




Use transitions and signposting to stitch your paragraphs (and argument) together.
Recognize and respond to counterarguments.
Conclude by leaving the reader with a lingering interest in your ideas.
Cite different types of sources using the author/year/page format.
Prelim 3.1
There is only one prelim for this unit. In order to do this prelim you need to have read most of the
sources on the website for one of the three topics, and begun doing some preliminary research. It
has two parts
A.)
The first half of this assignment is simple: based on your preliminary reading, give me at
least three analytical questions you want to explore in developing your essay. Let me know what you
expect the focus of your essay will be. If you have come up with a tentative thesis (an assertion you
think might be true), tell me that, but that is not a requirement.
B.)
Then tell me what you plan to do to find the most relevant research materials. The key here
is to tailor your research as tightly as you can. Don’t look for material on the general topic,
“campaign finance reform” for instance, but focus the research as you are focusing towards your
thesis. How can you use the material in the packet to find more sources? What searches have you
done on Hollis? What electronic resources seem promising? What terms have you Googled? What
do you want to ask a reference librarian?
Page 4 of 4
Draft Cover Letter
1.
2.
What do you see as your main idea or point?
What research have you done so far, and what more do you plan to do? How has your
actual research differed from what you projected in prelim 3.2?
3.
What are the biggest problems you are having at this point in the writing process?
5.
What are you most happy and least happy with in the draft?
6.
Where do you think you would like to go from here to revise the essay?
7.
This is a longer essay than you have written so far, making some thought about organization
essential. Therefore in the draft cover letter, you will tell me how you are structuring the essay.
Also, and this is key, give me an outline of the draft so far. In this outline, don’t just indicate the
general areas or topics you cover. Instead, indicate the specific sequence of logical steps necessary
to support your thesis. Note on the outline where counterarguments come in, and indicate where
you plan to develop the essay further.
Revision Cover Letter
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What is your thesis? How has it evolved?
How did your research turn out? If you had more time, what further research might you
do?
Where and how do you use counterargument?
What questions or concerns do you have about your essay? Any further comments about
the revision process?
What changes have you made to the structure? Include a revised outline.
Are there any questions that you would like me to address in looking at your essay? No
need to think any up, but you have questions about your essay, let me know.