Current Students

Essay Writing Checklist

1. Allocate your Time

  • Have your watch somewhere in plain view
  • Set up a timetable on your scrap paper
  • Use the point allocations provided by your professor to set the time
  • If no allocations are provided, use your judgment based on the number of questions, length of questions, and time given for the exam.

2. Read the Question

  • Begin by reading the interrogatory at the end of the question.
  • If you’re asked to evaluate court rulings, locate these rulings in the fact pattern.
  • Read the fact pattern “actively”
    • Identify the area of law and the legal relationship between the parties.
    • Circle amounts of money, dates, locations, quantities, and ages.
    • Note the words “oral” and “written.”
    • Be perfectly clear about who is doing what to whom.

3. Outline your Answer

  • Identify the issues.
  • Identify the rule for each issue.
  • Compile the building blocks for the rule of law by considering, elements, definitions, exceptions to the general rule, distinctions
  • Follow a hierarchy of concepts by, moving from the general to the specific defining each legal term of art

4. Write the Essay

  • Begin your statement of the issue with, “The issue is whether”? and include the word “when” to ensure that you include the relevant facts.
  • Commence your statement of the rule with, “Under the [state the controlling law: common law, federal rule, state-specific statute, etc.]
  • Use “Here” or “In this case” to introduce your application.
  • Use “because” to make the connection between rule and fact.
  • Match up a “fact” with each “element” or “definition” in your rule and explain its significance.
  • Answer the question you were asked.