Course Description
This course builds on the first-year legal research and writing courses and is a prerequisite for later participation in second-year or third-year moot court. This course begins examining the similarities and differences between objective (predictive) and persuasive writing. Students are required to write and support thesis statements. Students are instructed in methods of constructing a coherent argument, as well as the conventions of providing authority to support an argument. Students receive instruction and gain practice in crafting the four basic building blocks of a persuasive document: the issue, the statement of facts, the argument, and the conclusion. Students also receive instruction and experience in oral argument. In addition to out-of-class readings and in-class demonstrations and exercises, each student participates in at least two oral arguments over the course of the semester.
Updated: 04/05/2011