SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

– Citation

– Facts

– Legal Issue(s)

– Court’s Decision

– Court’s Reasoning

– Student’s Analysis of the Decision

The last section – Analysis of the Decision – is where you are to exercise your critical thinking skills by applying legal and ethical concepts you have learned in this course to analyze whether you believe the Court ruled correctly. This section should also include engagement with the Court’s dissenting opinion(s) or other third party analyses. Employ the grading rubric to make sure you hit on the big categories, particularly in this section. 

The topic of the Research Paper shall be assigned by the instructor with input from the students sometime prior to the beginning of Week 4.  The Research Paper shall not exceed five (5) pages in length not including the title page, abstract and references. BE AWARE, it is far more difficult to write a quality paper that is shorter in length. To help achieve the highest grade possible, before writing your paper, please assure that you have (1) carefully researched the issue to be studied (at least seven (7) scholarly or academic resources should be consulted, considering both sides of the issue identified); (2) carefully analyzed the pertinent issue; (3) removed any excess or unneeded verbiage; (4) proofread the paper for proper grammatical structure, (5) clearly, articulately, and concisely addressed the issue raised (this will require considerable time and thought on each student’s part); and (6) is formatted per APA guidelines. The Research Paper will emphasize CRITICAL THINKING and will require incorporating into the analysis of the issue identified the various concepts discussed in class, in outside readings, and in the textbook.