Need a Paper Topic?

The semester is coming to an end and it's time to finalize those paper topics! But how do you pick a topic? First, I would suggest glancing through your class and reading notes. If you have a topic that you are interested, then the paper will seem to practically write itself. So glance through your notes to remind yourself of those times when you were sitting in class and your lecturer or classmate mentioned something which made you go, "I'd like to know more abut that topic" or "I wonder..."

If nothing is coming to mind, then it's time to develop a topic. The University of Washington School of Law's library has a wonderful page on techniques for finding interesting topics or see the University of San Francisco School of Law's site.

I found two articles particularly helpful when I was looking for potential topics during law school: Heather Meeker, Stalking the Golden Topic: A Guide to Locating and Selecting Topics for Legal Research Papers, 1996 Utah L.Rev. 917 and Eugene Volokh, Writing a Student Article, 48 J. Legal Ed. 246 (1998).

The major legal databases also have pamphlets or tutorials on how to find a topic such as Westlaw's Guide to Law Review Research or LexisNexis' Starting Your Law Review Note tutorial.

As always, the librarians in the Law Library are here to help. Good luck with the rest of your semester!

Written by Andrew J. Tig Wartluft, Law Librarian Fellow