Tag Archives: outlining

Academic Tools Law Students Should Know: Class Outlines

The others in this series are (in order): (If the links don’t work yet give it a couple days,I’m posting one a day for a week.)

Law School is starting, has started, or will start for all those newbie 1Ls who are arriving on the scene. On behalf of all of your seniors, I offer you welcome. To HELL. Okay, so I promise it won’t be like that forever, but the first few weeks are probably going to seem like you have entered the ninth level of Dante’s Horrors. Or perhaps they’ll start you off really light and leave you unsuspecting only to be thoroughly traumatized by greater difficulties later in the semester. So as a gift to you, I offer you a few tools that will help you on your way. They won’t take all the agony out of the process, but hopefully it will lighten your load at least a bit.

Class Outlines

Once again, some people prefer to write up their own outlines and professors will encourage this. However (once again), this process isn’t actually helpful for most law students. It takes up a lot of time in the typing process that could have been spent in the studying process. Plus there is always the risk that you missed something important or misunderstood a vital topic. Consequently, we have been given the precious gift of class outlines. There are many versions online that you can find, including some that are specific to your school or professor. These can be invaluable, but Continue reading →

Tags: 1L, 2L, 3L, advice, brief, help, jd, keyed, Law, Law School, legal, outline., outlining, school, tips, to know, tricks

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Categories Law School

Paper, Essay, and Speech Writing 101 (aka the Outline)

17 Dec

Sigh. . . , English Major’s are strange. We talk about the weirdest things just for fun. For example, whether Galadriel from J.R.R. Tolkien was actually a representation of Queen Elizabeth or Queen Victoria (and yes, that argument took FOREVER!).

Still, English professors are even stranger. They actually enjoy!?! writing five billion papers on whether or not Shakespeare was a prophet of his time. Have you heard your English professor say the dreaded “I don’t ever give out a 100 on a paper, because no paper can possibly be perfect. All writers need to be aware that they have room for improvement!” Somehow, they seem to forget that we are not all English majors! Some are engineers, mathematicians, scientists, and computer-code writers who are only taking the class because it is required for all majors in the university. Furthermore, this requirement comes despite the fact that they will never again care that Edgar Poe’s middle name is spelled “Allan” not “Allen” (so, um, apparently half the class misspelled his middle name in our final exam. Prof. was furious, but we found it hilarious 🙂 )

They tried to pull the whole “You’ll never get a perfect score” on me, but I was an official English major and I was prepared. Imagine my glee the day one such professor had to watch me walk away with an actual 100. Yes! Victory! Success! Take that evil English professors everywhere! Actually, though, this little trick got me through all of my writing classes with almost straight As. Surprisingly, the same trick applies to writing an answer to an essay exam, writing a speech, or writing a presentation.

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