How to write a law essay
When writing a law essay, bear in mind that most tutors will begin by grading you. Remember that if you are graded with a lower mark and that trend continues to go down as the professor reads; the other paragraphs have a lesser chance to convince them to improve your grading.
It all begins by you, as the student, to understand that writing a law essay is unique to other essays. It needs your expertise, a background in legal matters and knowledge of legal terminologies. In the end, you will be able to build up on your law career by completing this crucial requirement in a law program.
Legal matters will require you as a legal practitioner to be smart and be able to present yourself in a professional manner with top notch eloquence. This means that both your spoken and written communication skills must be of a high calibre. You must be armed with original and current legal terms to maintain the trend of key subject matters in law. Well crafted essays assist you in developing not only your written but also spoken communication skills. The extensive research you will undertake when preparing your essay will arm you with technical terms and current information in law. You do not want to risk your planned long term career at this stage.
Discussed below are the five major steps to follow when writing a law essay.
Prepare yourself to write
Some questions will be presented to you in a complicated manner to test your versatility. Be sure you scrutinize and identify with the essay question to be answered. Know the subject matter of law under which the question has been extracted from. This will assist you in familiarizing yourself with the key terminologies in that context. Following a thorough scrutiny of the essay question, a light will shine on what precise area of the subject matter is to be researched on.
You are advised to ensure that your work is kept relevant all through your writing course. For that matter, you will be required to draft a plot for your paper before starting your writing. Your plan should consist of the various components of your answer to the essay question. This plan often constitutes of the introduction of the subject matter, the body of the essay and a drafted conclusion.
Develop your content
Having prepared a sketch in your mind on how your essay is going to look like, you are now ready to build up on your content. You should be able to access authentic, authorized and relevant legal material produced by renowned researchers, professors and writers; both historical and current. These materials can be accessed from the library, archives, electronic books, journals and internet. Do thorough investigations on the essay question and the key terminologies under the subject matter. Refer to prior case studies to reinforce your arguments while you prepare to give evidence to all the claims you list. However research does not stop when you start writing. Time to time you will be required to go back to your references to extract unclear ideas and information.
As mentioned earlier at the beginning of this guide on “How to write a law essay“, the first impression will be used to grade you. Your introduction should spark the marker to make them want to know more about what you have written. It must be in relation to answering the question rather than simply using jargon that are complex and vague. Avoid being overly specific in your introduction and stick to giving a general view on the subject matter. You should present yourself as having understood the question, and that you have been able to clearly identify the legal aspects that are to be discussed and demonstrate how you intend to answer it. It should not be too lengthy lest the reader gets bored before getting into the body of your essay.
The core of your essay is the body which carries the largest percentage of your essay content. How you tackle it will determine whether your grade is either going to appreciate or depreciate. You should ensure that all aspects of the content of the essay question are reflected in the body. Be orderly in your writing to enable the marker to flow with your opinion. A better strategy is to ensure that in every paragraph you note down includes some legal terms and expresses new points of view. It makes your work look decent and the marker will be able to award you the points you need.
Language presentation
Ideally you need to maintain professional language and tone throughout your project and writing process. Ensure you maintain your eloquence by using grammatically correct plain formal English. It means that you will use the correct legal vocabulary and avoid using short English words like “aren’t” or “won’t”. Nevertheless, ensure you implement the legal analysis all through to enable the marker to understand that every point he/she goes through is based on law. Do not give your personal opinion to avoid being irrelevant and vague.
Be original
You might be relevant, but not original with your essay presentation. In this guideline, we earlier noted that writing a bona fide law essay will require thorough legal research from authentic legal material. They assist you to get tangible facts about the law and identify with the current trends in the legal system. This does not prevent you from being original, but as a matter of fact, gives you vast ideas on how to put down your arguments. Keep in mind that legal professors and tutors are knowledgeable in legal material. In fact, there are programs that have been developed to detect plagiarism. You can opt to paraphrase and put citations at the end of each paraphrased statement.
How to end your writing
Your ending should include a conclusion made from your entire work. With a proper introduction and body, you will be able to make an accurate conclusion out of the main points discussed. It can be in form of a wholesome response to your essay question. Ensure you do not introduce any new ideas in your conclusion but present a summary of what you have already discussed. Go through the entire essay to make sure that you have no grammatical mistakes or left a point incomplete. Be sure you include a list of material you researched from in a new page.
Learning how to write a law essay is tough and takes research, time and effort, but if you stick to the five points above you will be well on your way to writing the best law essay within your capability.