1.  How to find/contact me
    a.  Office hours
2.  How to find/contact my assistant, Suzan Benet
3.  Course reading materials
4.  Course requirements and grading policy
    a.  Research paper
        (1) Topic
        (2) Outline and bibliography
        (3) First draft
        (4) Second draft
        (5) Final paper
    b.  Class participation
        (1) Co-lead discussion for one class meeting
        (2) Participation in other class meetings and electronic discussion
        (3) Electronic discussion site and guidelines
    c.  Attendance

1. How to find/contact me.   <BACK TO INDEX>

Office:  Room 558
Telephone:  662-9871
Fax:  662-9411
E-mail:  jec@law.georgetown.edu

a. My office hours are Mondays, 2-4 p.m., and other times by appointment.  Visits to office hours are welcome and encouraged.

2. How to find/contact my assistant, Suzan Benet.    <BACK TO INDEX>

Location:  McDonough Hall, 5th floor
Telephone:  662-9402
Fax:  662-9411
E-mail:  JSB3@law.georgetown.edu

3. Course reading materials.   <BACK TO INDEX>

• The readings for each class are divided into "Required" and "Recommended."  A course reader containing copies of the required readings is available for purchase at the Distribution Center.  Most of the readings are available via this Web site, so you do not need to purchase the reader if you do not want to.  However, students who elect not to purchase the reader are responsible for locating and reading all of the required readings, whether available on the Web or not.
• The "Recommended" readings (electronic only; not included in the photocopied course reader) are intended simply as resources for those who are interested in exploring a particular topic in greater depth.  In particular, some of you may find them useful for your research papers.

4. Course requirements and grading policy.   <BACK TO INDEX>

a. Research paper (70%).   <BACK TO INDEX>

The research paper grade will be divided as follows:  first draft, 20%; final paper, 50%.  Papers must be at least 25-30 pages exclusive of footnotes.  Deadlines for each stage of the process follow below.  All deadlines are firm, and I will consider timeliness when assigning grades.  I will grant extensions only in extraordinary cases.

Students who have had little prior experience writing academic research papers may want to take a look at Pamela Samuelson, Good Legal Writing:  Of Orwell and Window Panes, 46 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 149 (1984), and/or David Post, Writing Guidelines for Research Papers (Aug. 2000).

(1) Topic.    <BACK TO INDEX>

Statements of paper topics are due Monday, Jan. 29.  I will schedule conferences with each of you during the previous week to help you select and narrow your topics.
 

• The statement of your paper topic should be 1-2 pages, and should indicate the topic, a preliminary statement of your intended thesis or approach, and the sources you plan to consult.  Please include your home telephone number and email address.
 
(2) Outline and Bibliography.   <BACK TO INDEX>

Paper outlines and research bibliographies are due on Friday, Feb. 23.  I will schedule conferences with each of you during the week of Feb. 26.
 

• Outlines should be approximately 3-5 pages.  Your outline should contain a clear statement of your intended thesis, should indicate the structure and organization of the paper, should show how each of the principal sections of the paper advances the thesis, and should list the sources on which you plan to rely.  For each principal section of the paper, you should identify each major issue or argument you plan to discuss.
• In most cases, you will need to begin your paper with a short description of the problem that the paper addresses.  Please make every effort, however, to keep purely descriptive material to a minimum, so that the bulk of the paper consists of analysis and argument.  A good rule of thumb is that no more than one major section of the paper, and no more than 3-4 pages total, should be purely descriptive.
• The research bibliography should list the sources that you have consulted, with full citations.  Although I expect you to do Internet research, the bibliography should not simply list a collection of documents that you have found on the Web.  Nor should the bibliography simply list articles about the specific Internet-related problem that you have chosen to study.  Rather, it should show that you have done scholarly, library research regarding the underlying legal problems.  (So, for example, if you are writing about the Internet's implications for the law of personal jurisdiction, I would expect you to consult the existing body of law review literature on the history and purposes of personal jurisdiction generally.)
 
(3) First Draft (20%).   <BACK TO INDEX>

First drafts are due on Friday, Mar. 23 for May graduates, and on Friday, Mar. 30 for all others.  I will schedule conferences with each of you during the week of March 26 (May graduates) and April 2 and 9 (others).
 

• A first draft is not a "rough draft."  First drafts should be approximately the required length of the final paper.  Each section and subsection of the paper should be substantially complete -- i.e., complete paragraphs and sentences, logical transitions between sections, and no major portions left unwritten.  Footnotes too should be substantially complete, but need not be in final Bluebook form.
 
(4) Second Draft.   <BACK TO INDEX>

In my discretion, I will require a second draft if I think further supervision is necessary for the paper to satisfy the writing requirement.  In addition, I will be happy to review a second draft for anyone who wants me to do so, provided that I receive the draft no later than April 16 (May graduates) or April 30 (others).

(5) Final Paper (50%).   <BACK TO INDEX>

Completed papers are due in the Registrar's Office on April 30 for May graduates, and on May 16 for all other students.  Papers should have footnotes, not endnotes, and all citations should conform to the Bluebook.

b. Class participation (30%).   <BACK TO INDEX>

The class participation grade will be divided as follows:  co-lead discussion for one class meeting, 15%; participation in other class meetings and electronic discussion, 15%.

(1) Co-Lead Discussion for One Class Meeting (15%).    <BACK TO INDEX>

In teams of two, you will be responsible for planning and leading class discussion one week, with my guidance.  After the add/drop period ends, I will ask each of you to indicate your first three choices among the remaining class topics and will assign you to "your" class.  Discussion leaders will meet with me Monday or Tuesday before class.  I will expect you to have done the reading by the time we meet.  Discussion leaders should post discussion questions on the class discussion site the night before class.

(2) Participation in Other Class Meetings and Electronic Discussion (15%).    <BACK TO INDEX>

In-class discussion is essential in an upper-level seminar course, as is familiarity with the assigned reading.  I do not expect you to memorize/master every detail of the readings.  However, obvious neglect will result in a lower participation grade.

(3) Electronic Discussion Site and Guidelines.   <BACK TO INDEX>

Participation in the class discussion site is expected and will be counted toward your overall participation grade.  Although electronic discussion will not substitute for in-class participation, people who are less comfortable speaking in class may wish to take special advantage of this option.
 

• As a rule of thumb, try to post something substantive twice a week.  If you miss a week, make up for it in another week when we are discussing a topic that particularly interests you.  "Something substantive" might include (for example) a comment on that week's readings or class discussion, a response to a comment posted by another student, or an update in your own words on a recent development related to the week's readings.  (You are free and encouraged to copy short news items into your postings, but it won't count as substantive participation unless you also comment on what you have posted.)
• Please do not post your discussion contributions as attachments since the courseware system has had trouble processing this type of posting in the past.  Also, please be aware that if the site does not detect any activity for 20 minutes (e.g., because you have spent a long time composing a discussion posting), it will terminate your session.  This security "feature" is extremely inconvenient for seminar courses and I am trying to get it changed for next year.  Meanwhile, however, if you are planning on composing a long posting, it is probably best to compose it offline (e.g., as a Word or WordPerfect document) and then select and copy the text and paste it directly into the body of your discussion posting.
• The discussion site may be accessed via the course home page, using the password given out in class.  PLEASE NOTE:  As a result of design decisions outside my control, you must set your browser to accept cookies in order to use the discussion site.  I apologize for this "feature."  In addition, to use this portion of the site or any other password-protected site within the Georgetown Law courseware system, you will need to create a system-wide Web username and password for yourself.  Your Bulldog username and password will not automatically give you access to the courseware system.  Please follow the directions on the front page of the courseware system.  (You are free to create the same username/password for courseware as the ones you already use for the Bulldog system.)

c. Attendance.    <BACK TO INDEX>

Attendance at every class meeting is required.  Any unexcused absence will lower your participation grade, and may result in a lower overall grade.  Excuses will be granted only in cases of serious personal or family emergency.