Choosing a Topic for Your Journal Article

Prepared by Mary Whisner, Gallagher Law LIbrary, University of Washington School of Law. An excellent series of guides covering various aspects of writing and publishing in law reviews. Many of the resources discussed in this guide are also available to U of M Law Students.

Allison Christians, Really Basic Rules for Writing Good Papers in Law School, 23 Green Bag 2d 181 (2020). This extremely brief guide is intended to help students avoid some frequently observed habits of poor writing. It covers paper structure, substance and style.

Eugene Volokh, Writing a Student Article, 48 J. LEGAL EDUC. 247 (1998).
In this article I try to give some advice, based on my own writing experience, for you to mix and match with whatever other advice you get. These ideas have worked for me, and I hope they work for you. If you find this article useful, I suggest you reread it at various stages of your project; as you get further into your piece, you might find yourself profiting from some tip that you missed
when you first read it.

Provides advice on identifying and researching a journal topic using resources available on Bloomberg Law. Includes a Circuit Splits Chart and Circuit Splits Court Opinion Search.

A 4 page guide (PDF) that provides advice on choosing a topic for your note and preemption checking.

A concise guide on writing a case comment including case selection and preemption checking.

By Lawrence J. Trautman, 51 Ind. L. Rev. 693 (2018).
Presented first is a brief examination of why lawyers do not write well. Second, is a description of the law review: its value; a brief history of the American law journal experience; the editor selection process; who does what on law reviews; and the number and type of law journals. Thoughts about the writing process and important considerations regarding law review writing in particular are then presented. Reflections by recent law journal editors about their law review experiences are offered, along with suggestions about how authors may improve their manuscripts. Following that, the who, what, where and when of the publication process is covered. Comments about the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN) are presented, then followed by a brief discussion about the currency value of citations. I believe this Article starts a *694 fresh conversation about the importance and value of legal writing, law review, and law journal publication.

By Patrick Eoghan Murray (unpublished paper, posted on SSRN)

By Heather Meeker, 1996 Utah L. Rev. 917 (1996)

By Andrew Yaphe, 62 J. Legal Educ. 259 (2012)

By Robert Luther III, 50 U. Rich. L. Rev. Online 63 (2016).

By Christian C. Day, 6 Legal Writing: J. Legal Writing Inst. 229 (2000)

By Richard Delgado, 20 U.S.F.L. Rev. 445 (1986)

Gerald Lebovits, 78 N.Y. St. B.A. J. 64 (2006).

Sean Burke, 99 J. PAT. & TRADEMARK OFF. Soc'y 113 (2017).