Featured Writing Competition Website: Sturm College of Law, University of Denver

Take a look at this writing competition site: Sturm College of Law, University of Denver

One of the features I like about it is the box in the upper right hand corner of the page that highlights competition deadlines. Its clean web design makes it very straightforward and useful.

Image: 1898 Denver, Colorado

Acknowledging Sources [Avoiding Plagiarism]

It's a slow news period for writing competitions. I will continue with a discussion of approaches to polishing the article your plan to submit to a writing competition, or to another venue.

A google search for tips on how to quote and paraphrase is:

quoting paraphrasing plagiarism

Today, the top result from that search is an excellent power point presentation, from a public high school in New Jersey.

I've included a reference to that search, together with other materials, on a short slide show that I've uploaded to SSRN: Acknowledging Sources: Attribution and Perspectives on Originality

Image: Samuel Taylor Coleridge (from Wikipedia Commons)

Polishing that Article

For those of you who are planning on spending a good bit of the holiday polishing up an article for submission to one of these competitions, I have a few words of advice, related to acknowledging your sources.

For this morning, I will share a link to an article in the SSRN database which demonstrates how to talk about someone else's scholarship and then say something additional that is unique to you. In this example, several articles on baseline topics in litigation practice that touch on insurance law are summarized, with attention to who the author was and what the author said. After the summaries, new research and analysis is provided, with a focus on the law of our state (Arkansas).

The article is useful to show how to incorporate the background research into your own scholarly discussion. It is uploaded and freely available, here

Image: Computer Mouse, Wikipedia Commons

International Economic Law $500 and publication; March 9, 2009

James Baker Hughes Prize on the subject of international economic law. $500 cash award from Judge and Mrs. Lynn N. Hughes. The winning submission will be published as the "James Baker Hughes Prize" article in an upcoming issue of the Houston Journal of International Law.

Deadline for submissions is March 9, 2009. Details appear on photographs that accompany this blog.


Image: Moon over Fayetteville, Arkansas 12/12/08.
About that moon: here's a story about the fact that seeing it last night was seeing a 15 year wonder: A full moon spectacular (because it is at its perigee)
Anticipating the moon, the media sent out some plan-ahead signals, and I missed all of them. Lucky me to be driving east as the moon was rising last night!

A Finals Post.

A Finals Post.

1. You are where you are, and the people near you are part of that location. The people who are in your location, who are family, will be there when you come up for air. Be good to them.

2. Within your available time, make the most of it. If you share space with other people, they will affect the amount of your available time. Accept that, and move forward with that insight.

3. Be good to you: a) Sleep; b) Eat; c) Exercise.

4. Move forward: a) Name the impediment that stops you from moving forward; b) live in the moment – your purpose in life through December 18 is clarified; c) give yourself at least one full minute to begin a task; that minute should inspire you to be fully engaged, and you're off.

5. To keep you moving forward, a) consider clocking yourself with a kitchen timer, to help you use at least 6 hours of concentrated effort each day, in increments of 20, 30, 45 minutes -- whatever works for you; b) keep a bag of sunflower seeds handy for bits of good nourishment and a source for letting off steam while keeping the focus on the study; c) drink plenty of water -- to keep oxygen flowing to your brain and other things afloat.

***

Search terms that lead to helpful web sites:

eat sleep exercise finals
happy food

Some helpful web sites:

Healthy ways to stay alert during finals

Happy Food (a good title for your Christmas wish list)

Top Ten Happy Foods

Finals Coming Up: Your Body Needs Good Nutrition

LawCare's Worksheet (for the office job, but can be adapted to a finals study schedule).