Writing Requirement

Requirement

Each student is required to independently and satisfactorily complete one rigorous writing requirement after the first year and prior to graduation. To complete this requirement, each student must prepare an original practice-oriented or scholarly paper that develops a thesis on a legal topic and that is not purely descriptive. The paper must be fully researched and supported by authority. For a paper to satisfy the graduation writing requirement, it must be written under the supervision of and approval by a faculty member or current adjunct professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.

Grade

The paper must be of at least B minus (B-) quality in order to satisfy the graduation writing requirement. Since seminar or course requirements may differ from the graduation writing requirement, any paper written in a seminar or course setting and for which a student seeks to satisfy the graduation writing requirement will be evaluated by the supervising faculty member separately from the student's overall performance in such seminar or course. A paper’s satisfaction of the graduation writing requirement does not mean that it also satisfies a particular professor's course or seminar requirements.

Minimum Standards

The student’s paper must be of a length appropriate to the subject matter under investigation by the student. The paper must meet one of the following three requirements in a single course: (1) one paper that is a minimum of 5,000 words, (2) two papers that are a minimum of 2,500 words each, (3) three papers that are a minimum of 2,000 words each. For each of the three listed options, the word count minimums are exclusive of the title page, table of contents, footnotes, bibliography, and appendixes.

Progress Report and Deadline

Each faculty member supervising a student will require at least one written preliminary draft during the semester the paper is being written and provide individualized feedback to the student. More progress reports or drafts may be required at the discretion of the faculty member supervising the student. Unless an earlier date is established by the supervising faculty member, the deadline for submitting a paper written for the graduation writing requirement is the last day of finals in the semester in which the student is writing the paper. The supervising faculty member may grant the student a continuance if good cause is shown. Penalties for late submission of a paper are at the discretion of the supervising faculty member.

Form and Style

It is expected that any paper submitted to satisfy the graduation writing requirement will be in standard written English including proper spelling and punctuation. The student should conform the style of paper to the most recent edition of either The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation or ALWD Citation Manual unless the faculty member supervising the paper directs otherwise.

All papers written for the purpose of satisfying the graduation writing requirement are subject to the Student Code of Academic Responsibility, contained in Section 2 of the Student Handbook, including, but not limited to, the provisions therein addressing academic honesty and plagiarism, and the Student Code of Conduct, contained in Section 1.6 of the Student Handbook, including the provisions therein addressing use of generative AI tools in assignment submissions. 

Accordingly, the supervising faculty member shall process all papers submitted for purposes of the graduation writing requirement through programs that allow for the electronic comparison of their papers with the writings of others, and the supervising faculty member shall have the final discretion to determine whether plagiarism has occurred in the student’s paper. To facilitate such comparisons, students must submit an electronic copy of their papers in an acceptable format.

There are a number of curricular options through which a student can satisfy the graduation writing requirement. A student who uses one of these options to satisfy the graduation writing requirement cannot use the same option for experiential learning credit. The following are the curricular options for the graduation writing requirement:

a. seminars;
b. designated courses;
c. Directed Legal Research (whether graded or pass/fail);
d. College of Law academic journals; or
e. faculty supervised papers.

Some courses and curricular activities at the College of Law will not offer students the opportunity to satisfy the writing requirement. These include:

a. Courses with no paper option or requirement;
b. Competitions; and
c. Serving as a law review editor or officer.

The graduation writing requirement may not be satisfied with an externship or with work a student does for pay.

Students who enroll in any course with the intention of writing a paper to satisfy the graduation writing requirement must inform the professor of that intention at the earliest possible time in the semester. The faculty member will be required to certify the student's successful completion of the graduation writing requirement on a form provided by the Registrar’s Office.