Late night marathon project writing sessions - inevitable fate of law students. (from http://orango.deviantart.com/) |
Projects
are an inevitable part of law school life – there is no escape. There might be
some occasional exceptions, but by and large, every once in a while, the old
familiar feeling sets in during project submission time. Here are a few secrets
– about projects, how to do them well and how to do them efficiently. I will
ask you to keep an open mind while reading this. Trust me, it is not as bad as
you think. Lets go step by step –
The background research
Background
research is the key to an efficient and successful project. And this is not
about the project topic itself. This is a necessary due diligence that is often
overlooked. Lets face it – the main objective of writing project papers is
scoring well. Therefore, it is important to know what the professor wants. Some
might want imaginative projects. Some others might prefer a thoroughly
researched project exhausting all the available scholarly works in the
bibliography. Some others might focus on the small details like footnoting and
formatting. While all aspects of project writing are important, some are given
a greater weightage than others by individual professors. Find out what your
evaluator is looking for – ask your seniors, or if you could tactfully phrase
it, ask your evaluator.
The project topic
In
most cases, project topics are assigned by the course teacher. In some rare
cases, you might be asked to choose your own project topics. I would recommend
putting in some thought at this stage, if that is the case. In that case, the
rest of your assignment becomes significantly easier, as you already have an
idea about what you want to do and if you’re lucky, maybe you even have an idea
about how you want to go about it.
In some other cases (and you
might come across this as you progress through your law school tenure), you
might have worked on a topic or a related area in a subject, be it in an
internship, or another project or some paper that you have worked on before. In
such cases, you might want to write a project on that topic. In such cases, it is
mostly safe to approach your course professor for a change in he project topic,
provided you can satisfactorily convince him. For instance, “I have worked on
the social impact of homosexuality in my sociology paper, and therefore, for my
family law paper, I would like to work on the family law rights of sexuality
minorities since I am planning to write a paper on this area for a journal” is
a good argument. “I have a project of a friend who has written on family law
rights of homosexuals, and I plan to submit that as my own” is not.
Another thing is, the scope of
the project. You might find that the topic you are working on is either too
broad (for instance, “Relevance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”),
or too narrow. You may discover this at the very outset, or only after some
preliminary reading. In either case, in such situations, it is a good idea to
consult with your professor, as otherwise, there is a substantial risk that
things could go horribly wrong. You could either convince him to let you
restrict or expand the scope of your project as the case may be, or find out
exactly what he wants.
Structuring a paper
Structuring a paper
So how do you start writing
your project? Read your project topic. Carefully, and several times. If you do
not know anything at all about the topic, do some basic reading. A friendly
textbook or a simple internet search. Write down the primary thoughts that
strike you about the topic. What do you want to say about the topic in the
project paper that you are going to write? Trust your instincts. Continue
reading on your topic, but don’t get lost in the objective. The objective is
simple - frame a question; answer it. It’s as simple as that.
Well, not that simple. The
other important thing is to structure your paper. Once you have your primary
research question and your thesis, continue your research, but as you do so, structure
your thoughts logically and plan them out. Identify the components and the
layers of your argument, and use headings and sub-headings, wherever required. The
focus should be on arranging the components of your argument to make it logical
and effective. A well-structured paper not only looks organized and impressive,
but also is also extremely easy to write.
Argue, no one pays a lawyer for reporting
Again,
keep it simple. It helps to have some clarity of thought. Know what you want to
say, and say it upfront. Use simple arguments to support it. Outline the
structure of your argument, and tie up loose ends. The reader should not waste
time and effort to figure out what you want to say in the first place.
In my opinion, you should
avoid being ambivalent. It is acceptable to present both sides of the argument,
but draw your conclusions, and rebut arguments that go against you, if you
decide to argue both sides. Another
practice that is best avoided is to use authority to make an argument. It is,
in a manner, placing the cart before the horse. It is much better, purely
logically speaking, to make an argument and support it with an authority.
Most importantly, all your
arguments should be connected, and the reader should have a complete picture,
and figure out the strength and purpose of your arguments. Spend time reading
your project after you are done with it to ensure that it reads logically, and
easily.
Some useful tools
At
some point of time, you must have looked for ways to make your project sound
“smart”. Here are a few tricks of the trade that you could try:
Case comment
This
is one of the most essential skills that you will pick up from your stint at
law school – the art of making a case comment. What is important, is to read a
case that goes on for a fair number of pages, and to pick up the essence of it.
To figure out the most relevant facts, the main issues, the main arguments and
the holding. Very few authorities can be used as effectively as case laws and
precedents, if you manage to perfect the skill. And with time and practice, it
comes instinctively. More importantly, it can look really impressive in your
project.
Comparative analysis
This is another pet tool to
make your project more impressive: make a comparative analysis of laws in other
jurisdictions. Unsurprisingly, the USA and UK are the top favourites for this.
But there are a host of other jurisdictions that you could also consider, if
relevant – for example, South Africa (this is a gem for Constitutional Law),
Canada, Australia, to name a few. For instance, say, a comparison of the system
for inter-state water dispute in federal states like the USA, Autralia and
South Africa can be very effective for a project on inter-state water disputes
in India. This also works for international law – for instance, for a project
on the African Court of Human Rights, a comparative study of the European Court
of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights can be very
useful.
You can look at what works in other
jurisdictions/syatems, and what lessons we can draw from them and make
suggestions. Or, you could look at why
things haven’t worked in other jurisdictions, and make suggestions to avoid
similar failures.
Economic analysis
This is perhaps my favourite
tool. There is a whole school and a very well developed jurisprudence on the
economic analysis of law. While at advanced stages it could be very complex, at
its most basic, it is very intuitive, logical and simple. Basically, it is
using small tools of economics, like calculation of efficiency, or a basic
cost-benefit analysis, or predicting behavioural outcomes through a game-theory
analysis to make arguments. More on that in another post. From the perspective
of writing a project, it can be very useful for streamlining your arguments,
making them effective, and earning your brownie points, if you do it right.
The finishing touches
You
must understand that although you may have finished writing the content of you
project, this last aspect is just as important. In fact, if you ignore this, a
large part of your endeavors may be overlooked. Here, I am talking about the
technical aspects. Write a good research methodology (if you are required to
write one), introduction and conclusion – your evaluator is most likely going
to read these parts more carefully than the whole of the
rest of your project. Format it and proofread it well so that your work does
not come off as shoddy. And be meticulous about your footnotes.
“www.google.com” is not a proper footnote. Make the effort to have good
authorities, and to cite them in your project and include them in your
bibliography.
The secret sauce
Writing
projects could be fun. Think about the learning experience, and try to have
fun. The projects in which I have scored well have always been the ones which I
had a lot of fun writing. And you will like the learning experience, if you are
sincere about it.
Also, projects once written
can be extremely useful. You should seriously think about converting a
well-researched and well-written project for submission to law journals for
publications. Approach friendly seniors – they are more often than not, happy
to help you out.
That was insightful :-) I'm done with the projects for this semester.. but I'd hopefully enjoy the projects in the next sem, equipped with your valuable tips and suggestions!
ReplyDeletehey! its a very helpful article...great job and thank you:)
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