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Social Media and the Law

Scholarly Paper for Social Media and Law Class

The Social Media Law class requires you to write a 10-12 page scholarly paper. social media icons

Parts of a Scholarly Legal Work:

1.  Introduction - Includes the statement of the claim (In other words: point of view, opinion, thesis statement, problem & solution or issue & resolution)

2. Background Section - Describes the existing law, facts and/or history necessary to understand the problem.

3. Proof of the Claim - Show your claim is correct and the best way to solve the problem.

4. Conclusion

Source: Book: Eugene Volokh, Academic Legal Writing: Law review articles, student notes, seminar papers, and getting on law review 10 (Thomson Reuters 2016).

Footnotes with Citations:
Scholarly legal articles use footnotes in Bluebook or ALWD Form. Scholarly footnote format is slightly different then the format for briefs and memos that you used in LARW I. See Bluebook Citation tab on the left.

First Step: Topic Selection

Research: Use Legal sources to support legal information. Legal sources are primary sources (cases, statutes, regulations, administrative decisions, government reports, agency guidance) and secondary (law review articles, treatises, legislative history). You can use news articles to support factual information, but most of the sources you use should be to legal sources.

This guide links to some useful legal research sources. This page has some general sources on social media law below. There are pages on specific social media law topics (employment law, privacy, etc.) linked on the left.

Databases & General Sources

Books on Social Media and the Law, generally

See tabs on the left to find books exclusively covering individual topics, like First Amendment, privacy, etc.