Law 3920.03: Intensive Legal Research & Writing

Assignment Information and Schedule

Last updated: July 5, 2012          Duplicate this page          Schedule of Classes and Topics

General Information

• Class Attendance and Participation
  • Students are expected to attend every class.
  • Class attendance and participation are not graded, nor do they form a component of your grade.
  • Neverthless, it is true that students who regularly attend class will tend to do better on the graded assignment. This is because the purpose of class time is to provide an opportunity for you to gain new knowledge and skills which you can apply to your work on the graded assignment.
  • In particular, significant amounts of class time will be devoted to student presentations of their work in progress, to constructive feedback on that work, and to the discussion of related questions.
  • Students who do not take advantage of scheduled class time to receive feedback on their work in progress should not expect to receive that feedback outside of class.
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• Grading Profile
  • Osgoode academic rule E.2.3 ("Grading Profile") applies to seminars, including this one.
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• Role of Student Services in Paper Submission, Deferrals, etc.
  • An email from the Associate Dean to faculty, dated April 5, 2007, states:

    Further to a number of inquires by both faculty and students, please be reminded that all papers and assignments for courses and seminars must be submitted by students using their confidential student exam or assignment numbers to the Programs + Records Office (Room 133) in hardcopy, by 3:30 pm on the assigned due date (unless otherwise approved for an extension through the Office of Student Services).

    While we understand some faculty agree to receive papers and assignments electronically by email, such a practice has previously resulted in grade appeals when copies have been apparently lost or received at times later than the due dates. This practice also compromises student anonymity.

    We recognize that it may be difficult to preserve complete anonymity given the nature of certain courses (e.g. small seminars where topics, outlines and/or drafts may have been reviewed with students by instructors). However, to the extent possible, we do follow the principle of anonymous evaluation.

    The above procedure ensures the maximum possible anonymity and also verification of the receipt of an actual hard copy of the paper, by the due date as stamped by the office.

    I interpret this as applicable only to "The Graded Assignment" (discussed below) for purposes of this seminar.
  • An email from the Assistant Dean for Student Services to faculty, dated April 7, 2009, states:

    Last term, as a result of the labour disruption, we piloted an online drop box for final seminar and research papers that seemed to work quite well. Though we will be making some changes, we have decided to proceed with this process again in W09 and thereafter.

    Accordingly, we will be asking all JD students to submit their final papers online, only, at MyOsgoode; hard copies of papers will not be accepted at Student Services as has been the past practice. As well, we recognize that students sometimes ask (or are asked) to submit copies to our office as well as an email copy to the course instructor. To avoid duplication and multiple copies/versions, we ask that all faculty require their students to submit only through the online drop box. We have now notified students of this requirement.

    Faculty assistants will be able to access the e-copies of the papers for the courses of the faculty members for whom they work. They will print the papers and distribute the hard copies to the relevant faculty members. The Office of Programs & records will arrange to print and forward all papers to our adjunct faculty following the deadline date.

    Finally, with respect to final papers and assignments, a friendly reminder to faculty that students requesting extensions to paper deadlines must file a Deferral Request with the Programs & Records Office for consideration, on medical, compassionate or equitable grounds.

    I interpret this as applicable only to "The Graded Assignment" (discussed below) for purposes of this seminar.

• Note Indicating the Topic Chosen
  • This assignment is not separately graded, but students who do not submit one may be publicly reminded in class that their assignment is due.
  • Use your word-processing software to save this assignment in Rich Text Format (rtf), then submit it by e-mail to the instructor.
  • One page maximum.
  • The assignment is to submit a brief written statement of the topic chosen for the Graded Assignment.
  • In the weeks following, students will be asked to present their topics to the class. Other students in the class will be encouraged to ask questions for clarification, and to offer suggestions as to the sources and methodology to be used in carrying out the research.
  • Subject to the other requirements set out below, any legal topic is fine. (The topics listed in this linked document are only suggestions.)
  • It is expected that students may need to revise their topics as they become more familiar with the relevant authorities and the issues they raise. When that happens, students should submit and be prepared to present a new topic statement for class discussion.
  • The Graded Assignment will, in part, be evaluated in relation to the relevant topic statement or statements submitted.

• THE GRADED ASSIGNMENT: General
  • Submit this assignment to Student Services as indicated above.
  • One hundred percent (100%) of the grade for the course is based on a research paper, consisting of a research-based argument (Part I), and an accompanying commentary on your argument and the research sources and methodology you used to write it (Part II).
  • Students may cite authorities either within the main text (case report style), or in footnotes (law journal style). Please do not cite your authorities in end notes.
  • Line spacing should be one and one-half lines, except for block quotations and footnotes, which should be single-spaced.
  • The font is to be Times New Roman, 12 point in the main text, and 10 point in footnotes.
  • Margins should be 2.5 centimetres (one inch) on all sides.
  • Pages should be numbered. The first page number of Part II should be one greater than the last page number of Part I.
  • There is no need for a separate bibliography.
  • You should provide all parallel citations for the cases to which you refer, i.e., citations for each full-text report of the case, printed and online. (Do not include citations to digests or summaries of the case. You may also omit the citations of the French versions of authorities available in English, unless, of course, you are discussing a French version as such.) N.B. This usually involves more citations than are required by the McGill Law Journal, Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation, 7th ed. (Toronto: Thomson Carswell, 2010). The instructor believes this requirement will help you learn to be familiar with the various reporters and the differences in what they offer.
  • There is a penalty for lateness in handing in this assignment. The grade which would otherwise have been assigned, had the paper been handed in on time, will be lowered by one grade ranking (e.g. from B+ to B) for each successive 24 hour period (3:30 p.m to 3:30 p.m.) into which the lateness has extended, until the grade for the paper is within the C/D+/D/F range. Within the latter range, it will be in the discretion of the instructor, considering all the circumstances, whether to assign a failing grade or otherwise.
  • Two or more students may choose the same topic, but joint assignments are not allowed. Students are encouraged to collaborate and advise one another with the writing of the assignment, but ultimately each assignment submitted must be the unique, original work of an individual student.
  • The assignment must be original work for this course, not a previous assignment updated or revised.
  • You may not submit the same assignment for this course and for another course.
  • Students must, in general, be familiar with the principles of academic integrity, and apply those principles in their own work. Please take note of the resources at York's "Academic Integrity" web page: http://www.yorku.ca/academicintegrity/students/.
  • As noted more specifically below, the minimum length of the assignment (Part I plus Part II) is 8,000 words, excluding citations, notes, bibliography and appendices. This incorporates the definition of a "research paper" for purposes of the Upper Year Research and Writing Requirement.
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• Part I: The Research-based Argument
  • Part I should be 6000 to 8000 words in length, excluding citations, notes, bibliography and appendices
  • There is no penalty per se for submitting a Part I which has more or fewer words than the recommended length.
  • The likeliest criticisms of a Part I which has too few words are
    1) that the topic is relatively slight or trivial; or
    2) that aspects of the topic have not been adequately dealt with.
  • The likeliest criticisms of a Part I which has too many words are
    1) that the topic is too big;
    2) that the argument repeats itself unnecessarily;
    3) that the argument contains unnecessary material; or
    4) that the writing could have been more concise.
  • A Part I which has a number of words within the recommended range may also be criticized on the above grounds.
  • There will certainly be no bonus points for a Part I which is longer or more ambitious than required. As this only creates unnecessary work for the person doing the grading, a Part I which exceeds the recommended length will have to be extremely well written to escape criticism on this ground.
  • Subject to the other requirements set out below, any legal topic is fine. (The topics listed in this linked document are only suggestions.)
  • Part I must include a substantive discussion of at least one case decided by the Supreme Court of Canada, an Ontario court or tribunal, or another tribunal acceptable to the instructor.
  • Part I must have a thesis, that is, a debatable point of view for which you argue. (The best arguments against your view should also be indentified in their strongest form, and countered.)
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• Part II: The Meta-Argument
  • The Part II should be 2000 to 4000 words in length, excluding citations, notes, bibliography and appendices.
  • The assignment is to explain the procedure you followed, and the choices you made, in doing the research and writing for the Research-based Argument (Part I). For example, you probably should
    - systematically identify the research sources that one would need to consult in order to indentify the authorities relevant to your chosen topic, with efficiency and thoroughness, including the leading texts, articles, journals, newsletters, databases, websites, etc.;
    - indicate the particular strengths and weaknesses of these sources;
    - indicate which sources and authorities you used in your research, but did not cite in Part I, together with your reasons for using them;
    - indicate which other sources and authorities you almost used, but decided not to use, together with your reasons for not using them;
    - indicate generally the order in which you used or decided not to use these sources and authorities, and whether, with hindsight, you would now approach the problem differently;
    - indicate how you decided what to cite and what not to cite in Part I, together with the reasons; and
    - indicate the process by which you decided how your argument would be organized;
    - indicate how you refined the topic of your Assignment as the work proceeded;
    - indicate how you went about proofreading so as to correct spelling and grammar errors and typos, and to improve the style and readability of your Assignment.

evaluation Copyright © 2012 John N. Davis