Research for Writing Papers

• Select a topic related to something you already know, such as something related to a research project that you did for work.
• Ask others, such as professors or employers, for suggestions.
• Review current awareness resources, such as general news resources, legal news publications, blogs, podcasts, and specialized law reviews. You can also review calls for papers or writing competitions for topic ideas.
• Look for circuit splits or issues of first impression.
• Once you begin your research, you may need to narrow or expand your topic. To narrow an issue, try focusing on a specific jurisdiction, a limited time frame, or a sub-issue. To expand a topic, you may want to look at perspectives from a public policy or non-legal field.
• In constructing searches, you may want to use phrases such as the following:

                     "circuit [in same sentence] split!";

"first impression"; or

"not addressed" or "beyond the scope." 

Email newsletters can help you learn about recent developments relating to a particular subject area, which can be helpful for selecting or narrowing a paper topic.

Podcasts can help you learn about recent developments or "hot topics" relating to a particular subject area, which can be helpful for selecting or narrowing a paper topic.