All students must write an Advanced Research & Writing (“ARW”) paper as a requirement for graduation. Students are required to complete this requirement after their first year and are strongly advised to complete it before their final semester. For full requirements, see Section B of Academic Rule 1.03, Curriculum Requirements in the Law School Catalog and these Guidelines (also accessible from the Office of the Registrar's Academic Requirements page). There is also an Independent Research Proposal form on the Registrar's website to complete when writing the long paper as part of an independent research project.
This guide contains resources and suggestions to help you select a topic, conduct and organize your research and write your paper. We encourage you to make an appointment to talk to a reference librarian, either in person or by chat or phone to help you with any aspect of this process. We are also happy to correspond via email.
The American Society of Legal Writers has a Scribes Student Legal Writing Society Toolkit for law students working on papers and law review notes and comments with great resources like topic selection, a preemption checklist, outlining, editing and Bluebook help here.
If you need more information on this topic, please contact the reference desk:
by phone: 651-290-6424
via e-mail: reference@mitchellhamline.edu
Or, during regular work hours, you may chat with a Mitchell Hamline research librarian here.