Academic Legal Writing - Eugene Volokh [201]
3. Start with an engaging story
4. Start with a concrete but vivid hypothetical that illustrates your point
5. Start with an explanation of a controversy
6. Start with an argument or conventional wisdom you want to rebut
G. Organize the Introduction as a Roadmap
IV. WRITING THE “BACKGROUND” SECTION
A. Focus on the Necessary Facts and Legal Rules
B. Synthesize the Precedents; Don't Summarize Each One
V. WRITING THE PROOF OF THE CLAIM
A. Show Your Prescription Is Both Doctrinally Sound and Good Policy
B. Be Concrete
C. Use the Test Suite
D. Confront the Other Side's Arguments, but Focus on Your Own
E. Turn Problems to Your Advantage
1. Improve your argument
2. Refine your claim
3. Acknowledge uncertainty
4. Acknowledge costs
F. Connect to Broader, Parallel, and Subsidiary Issues
1. Make your article richer: Go beyond the basic claim
2. Connections: Importing from broader debates
3. Connections: Exporting to broader debates
4. Connections: Importing from parallel areas
5. Connections: Exporting to parallel areas
6. Connections to subsidiary questions
7. A cautionary note
VI. THE CONCLUSION, AND AFTER THE CONCLUSION
A. Write the Conclusion
B. Rewrite the Introduction After the Draft Is Done
1. Rewrite the introduction in light of how your thinking has changed
2. Note all your important and nonobvious discoveries
C. Decide What to Set Aside
VII. FINISHING THE FIRST DRAFT, AND THE ZEROTH DRAFT
A. Defeat Writer's Block by Skipping Around
B. The Zeroth Draft
C. As You Write, Use Subsection Headings
D. Use a Table of Contents
E. Note Down All Your Ideas
VIII. TIPS ON RESEARCHING
A. Identifying Sample Cases and Incidents
B. Understanding the Law
1. Get the big picture
2. Get the details
3. Find other works on the topic (the literature search)
4. Identify how the articles you find are relevant
C. Knowing When to Start Writing
D. Digging Deeper into the Key Sources
E. Digging Deeper into the Subject of the Legal Rules
F. Talking to Your School's Reference Librarians
1. If you've selected a topic
2. If you're looking for a topic
3. If you have questions about a specific task
4. If you want bluebooking help
5. Talk to the librarians with the right attitude
G. Use Books and Treatises
H. Use the Most Readable Printout Formats
I. Search for Older Articles on HeinOnline
J. Use ATLEAST, NOT W/, and SY,DI() Searches
K. Researching Older Anglo-American Law
1. Old treatises
2. Old English cases
3. Modern history books and articles
4. Online databases
5. Reporters that aren't on Westlaw and Lexis
6. Watching out for past legal conventions
7. Watching out for old citation formats
8. Finding the right terms to search for
IX. EDITING: GENERAL PRINCIPLES
A. Go Through Many Drafts
B. If You See No Red Marks on a Paragraph, Edit It Again
C. If You Need to Reread Something to Understand It, Rewrite It
D. Ask “Why?”
E. Ask “Why Not?”
F. Use Your Imaginary Friend (and Adversary)
G. Use a Trusted Classmate (or Two)
H. Read the Draft with “New Eyes”
I. Conquer Your Fear
J. There Are No Lazy Readers—Only Busy Readers
X. EDITING: GETTING HELP FROM YOUR FACULTY ADVISOR
A. Ask Your Advisor for Especially Detailed Advice
B. Give Your Advisor an Already Closely Proofread Draft
C. Give Your Advisor a Rough Draft as Quickly as Possible
D. Treat Each Editing Comment as a Global Suggestion
XI. WRITING: LOGICAL PROBLEMS TO WATCH FOR
A. Categorical Assertions
B. Insistence on Perfection
C. False Alternatives
D. Missing Pieces
E. Criticisms That Could Apply to Everything
F. Metaphors
G. Undefined Terms
H. Undefended Assertions, and “Arguably”/“Raises Concerns”
I. Proofread, Proofread, Proofread
XII. WRITING: PARAGRAPH-LEVEL PROBLEMS TO WATCH FOR
A. Paragraphs Without a Common Theme
B. Long Paragraphs
C. Inadequate Connections Between Paragraphs
XIII. WRITING: SENTENCE/CLAUSE PROBLEMS TO WATCH FOR
A. Redundancy
B. Unnecessary Introductory Clauses
C. Other Unnecessary Phrases
D. Needless Tangential Detail
XIV. WRITING: WORD/PHRASE PROBLEMS TO WATCH