Administrative Matters
Required Reading
- A course reader containing copies of the required readings is available for purchase in hard copy or electronic form, in two installments. Alternatively, you can refer to the online syllabus and locate the readings for yourself.
Schedule changes.
- No cancellations or makeup classes are currently scheduled. Please note that the Law Center will observe the Presidents' Day holiday on Mon., Feb. 21, and will then follow a Monday class schedule on Thurs., Feb. 24.
Office Hours and Contact Information:
- Office hours are Mondays, 9:00-11:00 am, and other times by appointment. My office is McDonough 410.
- You can reach me at 202-662-9871 or jec % law dot georgetown dot edu.
Faculty Assistant
Course Requirements
Your grade will be based on the following components:
Research paper.
- The research paper will account for 75% of your course grade, divided as follows: first draft, 25%; final paper, 50%.
- Final papers must be at least 25-30 double-spaced pages. Please see below for detail about the research paper process and deadlines.
- 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).
- (a) Topic.
- Statements of paper topics are due electronically by 5 p.m. on Friday, February 11. I will schedule conferences with each of you before that deadline to help you select and narrow your topics.
- The statement of your paper topic should be 2-3 pages, and should include a preliminary discussion of the issues you would like to cover and the theoretical framework that you intend to use. (Neither the issues nor the framework are set in stone at this point, but it’s a useful way to structure your research.) You do not need to state, and at this point probably should not know, your eventual thesis.
- Please include your telephone number and your email address.
- (b) Progress Report and Research Bibliography.
- Progress reports and research bibliographies are due by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16. You may submit these materials to me via e-mail if that is more convenient. I will schedule conferences with each of you after spring break to review your progress reports.
- Your progress report should be 3-5 pages, and should cover the following matters: the likely structure and organization of the paper, the major issues and arguments you plan to discuss, difficulties that you are encountering in structuring the paper and framing your analysis, and a preliminary statement of your intended thesis. Please prepare your progress report in narrative form - i.e., in complete sentences and paragraphs. Please do not submit an outline.
- Your research bibliography should list the sources that you have consulted, with full citations. Although you are encouraged to do Internet research, the bibliography should not simply list a collection of documents that you have found on the Web. Rather, it should show that you have done scholarly, library research regarding the underlying legal problem that you have chosen to study, and have identified and consulted the leading works in areas relevant to your topic.
- (c) First Draft (25%).
- First drafts are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 8 for May graduates and by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 15 for all other students. Please submit a hard copy of your first draft (i.e., no e-mail submissions). I will schedule conferences with each of you to go over your drafts.
- 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 sentences and paragraphs, logical transitions between sections, and no major portions left unwritten. Footnotes too should be substantially complete, but need not be in final Bluebook form. Note that "complete" does not mean final; I expect that in moving from first draft to final paper, you will make significant revisions to both the structure and the substance of your arguments. But you can't begin revising, which is what produces a good paper, until you have something to revise.
- 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 3-5 pages total, should be purely descriptive.
- (d) Second Draft.
- 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 25 for May graduates and May 6 for all other students.
- (e) Final Paper (50%).
- Completed papers are due in the Registrar's Office on Monday, May 2 for May graduates and on Tuesday, May 17 for all other students. Papers should have footnotes, not endnotes, and all citations should conform to the Bluebook.
- (f) Extensions.
- Deadlines for all stages are firm. I will consider timeliness when assigning grades, and will grant extensions only in cases involving serious personal or family emergency.
Class participation.
- In-class discussion is essential in an upper-level seminar course, and will count for 25% of your course grade. Please make every effort to stay on top of the weekly readings, as this will make an enormous difference in both your own enjoyment of the seminar and the quality of discussion generally.
Attendance.
- 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.
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