<JD Supervised Research>


	Home » [Office of the Registrar] »

	J.D. Supervised Research


	Application Deadlines Supervised Research CTLS Upperclass Legal Writing Requirement One Paper for Two Seminars Supervised Research Application		Application Deadlines 2012 Summer Session: Thursday, May 24, 2012, by 5pm 2012 Fall Semester: Tuesday, September 4, 2012, by 5pm 2013 Spring Semester: Monday, January 14, 2013 by 5pm Submit this completed form to: Louis Fine, Office of the Registrar Phone 202-662-9224, Fax 202-662-9235 SUPERVISED RESEARCH The Faculty augments the Law Center's seminar offerings by providing a Supervised Research option, which students may undertake under the supervision of a faculty member for 2 academic credits. Supervised Research provides faculty guidance to students in areas where there is no curricular offering or where a student wishes to explore a subject in greater depth than would be possible in an existing course or seminar. Supervised Research projects must meet the requirements of the upperclass legal writing requirement (see Upperclass Legal Writing Requirement section), and the professor and student must establish a calendar of meetings that allows for the kind of interaction contemplated for writing seminars. To be eligible for Supervised Research, a student must have at least a "C" average (2.00/4.00), and must be sponsored by a faculty member. If a student makes a good-faith effort to obtain sponsorship by a full-time faculty member and is unable to do so, sponsorship by an adjunct faculty member may be approved. To be eligible to undertake a Supervised Research project while enrolled at CTLS, the project must be approved by Assistant Dean and Administrative Director (Center for Transnational Legal Studies) Scott Foster. To apply for a Supervised Research project, a student must complete an application form and submit it to the Office of the Registrar by the deadline for the relevant semester (see Application Deadlines above). All requests to undertake a Supervised Research project must be approved by the Associate Dean for the J.D. program and approval is not automatic. Students must demonstrate that they have a well-developed topic suitable for a substantive scholarly paper satisfying the upperclass legal writing requirement; show the sponsoring professor's agreement; indicate the scheduled meeting dates with the professor and the due dates for submission of the outline, first draft, and final draft; list the semester(s) in which the project is to be completed; and, if approval is sought for sponsorship by an adjunct faculty member, describe the student's efforts to obtain sponsorship by a full-time faculty member. To ensure that the proposals will be completed successfully, approval will be guided by the principles set out below in reviewing a student's proposal: 1. The student must have at least the required "C" (2.00/4.00) grade point average. 2. The Associate Dean for the J.D. Program will be receptive to proposals meeting the goals of Supervised Research projects and expects to approve most proposals for supervision by full-time faculty. 3. Because the time demanded of the professor is substantial, it is expected that students ordinarily will seek sponsorship from full-time faculty. The academic deans will help students identify possible faculty sponsors. When no full-time faculty member can serve as a sponsor, the Associate Dean for the J.D. program may approve a proposal with an adjunct faculty sponsor. 4. A student ordinarily may not undertake a Supervised Research project more than once. (Students proposing to take Supervised Research for a second time must disclose this on their application). Similarly, Supervised Research will not be approved when the proposal repeats work for which credit previously has been granted in another course or for which the student has been compensated during employment. 5. Proposals may call for research to be in completed in one semester or two; only two academic credits, however, can be awarded. The final Supervised Research paper should be submitted either through the Georgetown Law Online Paper/Exam Management System (http://www.law.georgetown.edu/exams/) or in hard copy to the Office of the Registrar. Once a final paper has been submitted for grading, a revised version of that paper may not be submitted. Credit for the upperclass legal writing requirement will be given for papers receiving a passing grade. UPPERCLASS LEGAL WRITING REQUIREMENT Students must complete the upperclass legal writing requirement as follows: (1) by successfully completing a seminar or clinic designated as meeting the upperclass legal writing requirement, or (2) by successfully completing a Supervised Research project that has been approved by the Associate Dean for the J.D. Program. The upperclass legal writing requirement is intended to provide students with the opportunity to refine research and writing skills learned in the first year, and to develop the skills necessary to undertake writing projects on their own following graduation from law school. Students choose topics, submit outlines, prepare and submit a first draft, and complete the final paper in consultation with faculty members in approved seminars, clinics and supervised research projects. In the upperclass legal writing requirement, the student shows his or her mastery of the in-depth research undertaken and demonstrate how the student has organized, clarified, or advanced this body of knowledge in resolving the issues raised by the paper. Final papers must be submitted to the Office of the Registrar, not to the professor, by the deadline announced by the professor (click here for information on submitting Papers). The technical requirements for the upperclass legal writing requirement include: (1) use of legal forms of citation (when appropriate); (2) submission of an outline and a first draft, in accordance with the professor’s instructions and schedule; (3) submission of a revised final paper based on the professor’s comments; and (4) submission of both the first draft and the final paper of at least 6,000 words (excluding footnotes), which is approximately 25 typewritten pages using customary margins and spacing. All work must be that of the student in consultation with the professor or must be cited for attribution to others. Students will receive a grade for both the course and the paper portions of the course. Both grades will be reflected on the student's transcript; however, only the course grade is calculated in the student's overall grade point average. Faculty members retain full discretion to withdraw a student from a seminar qualifying for the upperclass legal writing requirement if the professor determines that the student has not met the specified requirements. ONE PAPER FOR TWO SEMINARS Students may submit one paper to satisfy the requirements in two seminars or writing projects by securing the written approval of both professors and the Registrar in advance of writing the paper. When permission is granted, the student will be required to write a paper of at least 12,000 words excluding footnotes (approximately 50 pages), and meet all other requirements of both seminars. Students will be expected to indicate the joint nature of the paper on the cover page of all submissions. Each professor approving such a project independently will submit a final grade indicating his or her judgment of the paper as it pertains to his or her course, and the final grades given for the two seminars need not be identical. Students may not submit a single paper for a seminar and a Supervised Research project. Students also may not submit a single paper to satisfy the requirements of two Supervised Research projects. SUPERVISED RESEARCH APPLICATION Submit this completed form to: Louis Fine, Office of the Registrar Phone 202-662-9224, Fax 202-662-9235 TO: Associate Dean, J.D. Program RE: Request for Authorization of Proposed Supervised Research FROM: Student: ______________________________ (Please print) Professor :______________________________ (Please print) We have read the preceding Statement and Academic Policies on Supervised Research and the Legal Writing Requirement and agree that the attached proposal satisfies the standards for authorizing Supervised Research. This Supervised Research will be done in the ______________________________ Semester(s) (insert 2012 Summer, 2012 Fall, 2013 Spring, or a combination of two sequential semesters). It is understood by both the sponsoring professor and the student seeking to complete Supervised Research that only two (2) academic credits will be awarded for the completion of a successful project. __________________________________________________ Date: ______________________________ Professor’s signature Daytime telephone number: ______________________________ Email address: ______________________________ _____________________________________________________ Date: ______________________________ Student’s signature Address: ____________________________________________________________ Daytime telephone number: ______________________________ Email address: ______________________________ Go Card number: ______________________________ Have you previously registered for Supervised Research? [ ] Yes [ ] No Proposal Title: ____________________________________________________________ (Please print) Description of the research topic and demonstration of why it will lead to an original paper satisfying the Legal Writing Requirement; if this is a second Supervised Research project or if the student has completed a seminar paper in a similar topic area, also provide the topic and professor for the previous project: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ (You may add a separate sheet of paper describing the project, if necessary.) Outline due date: ______________________________ First draft due date: ______________________________ Final draft due date: ______________________________ Please provide a schedule of dates for meetings between the student and the professor. Please note that these are distinct from the due dates listed above. A minimum of four dates is required and, if you list fewer than four dates below, your application may be denied for that reason. __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ About the Sponsoring Professor (check one): [ ] Full-time [ ] Adjunct (if adjunct, complete the rest of this form.) Because the school’s academic policy requires that "students will ordinarily seek sponsorship from full-time faculty", the Committee will not approve an adjunct faculty member for sponsorship unless the student has made a good-faith effort to obtain sponsorship by a full-time faculty member and has been unable to do so. (See Law Center Bulletin for the list of full-time faculty.) The Committee therefore requests that you describe your efforts to obtain sponsorship by a full-time faculty member and the reasons why this was not successful. After doing so, please provide the requested additional information for the adjunct professor. __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Adjunct professor’s office address: ____________________________________________________________ Adjunct professor’s telephone number: ______________________________ Adjunct professor’s email address: ______________________________ Is the adjunct professor sponsoring any other student’s Supervised Research project during the semesters indicated above? [ ] Yes [ ] No TO BE COMPLETED BY THE OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR Verify that the student has the required "C" cumulative grade-point average: [ ] Yes [ ] No Indicate any seminar in a similar area: Professor: ____________________________________________________________ Course: ____________________________________________________________ Semester : ______________________________ Grade : ______________________________ Credit-hours : ______________________________ Professor: ____________________________________________________________ Course: ____________________________________________________________ Semester : ______________________________ Grade : ______________________________ Credit-hours : ______________________________ [ ] Requirements satisfied [ ] Requirements not satisfied ____________________________________________________ Date: ______________________________ Office of the Registrar's signature TO BE COMPLETED BY THE ASSOCIATE DEAN, J.D. PROGRAM [ ] Approved [ ] Declined Other Actions or Comments: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________Date: ______________________________ Associate Dean, J.D. Program's signature Revised February 29, 2012 (AG)