how to write a first class law essay

how to write a first class law essay

Writing a First Class Law Essay

1. Understanding the Essay Question

After you’ve paid heed to development words, you should look at the topic itself. One key factor in being able to address this question adequately is making sure that your topic is ‘closed,’ or a development of a closed topic. Many times people do not answer questions properly because they misinterpret what the development of the topic involves. Consider the title “examine the case for purchasing the rail track back into public ownership stemming from the situation of Railtrack being in Railway Administrations, and to compare and evaluate the potential benefits and pitfalls with reference to past experience from any nationalisation of industries.” This is a very specific topic, and the reader would stray off the line if they discussed the situation with any company or industry. A minor problem is the double-spaced development; analysing the potential benefits and pitfalls is, in essence, comparing them to what the reader perceives as a healthy situation of the running of a company, with the past experience as a way of seeing how it could happen. As comparing is a logical method to separate the positive and negative elements, this, in fact, means compare the benefits and pitfalls with themselves. Nevertheless, it’s still a clear direction on what should be addressed.

A command word is used as a prompt, such as “analyse,” “discuss,” “compare,” and “contrast.” You need to be clear what this means for the way you answer the question. If you are not clear what these development words mean, then you can’t be sure about whether you’ve finished the right things in your answer. If it says “compare,” you still look for the topics of development. If there’s a time change, don’t force a comparison of both developments, or if it says to compare the advantages of something, then discuss the detail of one of the advantages before moving to the comparison in relation to others. So when the command word says “compare,” it doesn’t automatically set up the structure of the answer; the structure is still largely determined by the development topic.

The most important starting point is to listen carefully to what the essay title is telling you. You need to read each word of it and squeeze out as much guidance as you can from the title. Then you need to plan how you will respond to every single element of the title. The guidance given to you by the title is freely available and is your best clue to what is needed in your essay.

2. Conducting Thorough Research

It goes without saying that the brilliant essay must demonstrate a strong knowledge base. This means that you need to understand precisely what it is you are writing about. Researching a topic that you know very little about will almost certainly guarantee a lackluster response. So, if you’re given a choice of essay questions, you should carefully evaluate which you are most competent in answering. Another way of looking at this is to think about what the essay should do. Usually, the essay question asks about what is good or bad about a certain topic, so it is necessary to figure out what the criteria are that you are judging the topic on. People often muddle these up and end up writing about a different topic than the one that has been set. This usually results in the essay obtaining lower marks than expected. A dictionary definition is useful here. If the essay question is “What is the difference between devolution and federalization, and which, if either, is best for the UK?” then it is necessary for the writer to clearly define what both devolution and federalization are, then judge them against each other before coming to a definite judgment. Too often, people have focused on just one of the systems or on the UK’s involvement in Europe due to not establishing this assessment of the situation in the initial planning stage.

Now that we have discussed the initial preparation that must go into writing a first-class essay, let’s talk about what you should be doing when conducting research.

3. Structuring Your Essay Effectively

A good introduction is essential in a good essay. It is here that you need to set out what the question is asking and to outline briefly how you will answer it. What you do not want to do here is launch straight into answering the question. Talk about the issues or give definitions of the ideas in the question; this is best done in the main body of the essay. Keep the introduction short, to the point, and focused. Step backward after finishing the introduction and ask yourself, “Have I answered the question?” Next, the main body of the essay is where this is to be achieved. You will need to express yourself in plain English using the relevant legal terms. Always keep the connection between the point you are making and how it is answering the question. Do not let yourself be led off on tangents. It is useful to continually refer back to the question throughout the essay to prevent yourself from getting lost and rambling. The conclusion is a summarised response to the question. You should use it to sum up the main body of your essay and to ensure the question has been answered. Do not bring in new points or ideas here. Always ask yourself, “What is the point of this sentence/paragraph?” If you can’t come up with an answer, it is likely to be irrelevant!

Law essays are very critical and have a different set of legal words to express certain ideas or terms. It is very important for you to use words exactly according to their legal definitions and you must be very clear of their meaning. You need to show the marker that you understand what you are talking about. This is best achieved by having a good plan prior to writing. This will enable you to express yourself clearly, using the correct level of legal analysis and detail. The most common error in law essays is not completing the question and waffling/rambling, and to be honest, when I wrote my first law essay, I was guilty of both! A plan will help you to remain focused on the question at all times and also prevent you from waffling. Always be questioning yourself as you write: Is this point relevant to the question? How will the marker view this point? Can I award myself any marks from it? How does this point help answer the question? A clear structure and a deliberate plan will make your essay well constructed, easier to read, and marking will be less subjective and therefore potentially higher.

Developing a well-structured outline will help you to organise your arguments and to support them coherently. A basic structure for this sort of essay will provide a starting point. You will need to adapt and extend this basic structure to fit with your own discipline and the precise task set. Here is a variation on that basic structure.

4. Developing a Strong Argument

At the most basic level, an argument is a conclusion based on evidence. In order to present an argument, certain things have to be known. There has to be an issue on which there is conflicting opinion, and there has to be a degree of uncertainty about what the right answer is. Finally, there has to be some evidence available to shed light on the uncertainty. The job of the essay is to argue in favor of a particular conclusion or set of conclusions. The line of reasoning must be clearly identifiable throughout, and the conclusion should follow logically from the evidence.

The development of a strong argument is a key element to success in essays. It may not be too far of a stretch to suggest that obtaining marks in an assignment is directly proportional to the strength of the argument that the student has presented. Both in tutorial essays and examination answers, the student should aim to present a well-supported critical appraisal of the question. It should be obvious that the content of the essay is at the heart of the matter in establishing a good argument. There are a number of academic tools that can be used to develop an argument that is clear, methodical, and comprehensive.

5. Perfecting Your Writing and Presentation

There are numerous ways to attack an essay, and different tactics will work with different individuals. Generally, the best way to start teaching the formulation of a clear essay structure is to make an outline of the arguments/points you wish to make, then sort these into an order, then label each section with roughly how many words you will endeavor to write on each point. It is then a matter of creating a nice succinct introduction linking the entire question, then persuasively arguing your way through each point, while remembering to make related points together and sustained referring back to the question. This will serve as some level of insurance as while writing it is incredibly easy to get carried away on a particular point and lose track of the global aspect of the essay.

Perfecting your writing and presentation can be a massive deal: a superior worded essay can sink without a trace in the same sunken morass of an unclear, poorly structured, heavily referenced dissertation will ensure a fantastic grade. Your written work is the medium through which you present your understanding; it must be clearly structured, referenced, argue, and contain original analysis. To achieve this, you need to take time to think through accurately what your title is requiring you to do; give due weight to each element of the essay question; spend some time building up strong knowledge of what is required both in terms of style and substance from the use of the feedback you have been given in the past.