Event Title
Document Type
Presentation
Start Date
12-6-2019 11:05 AM
End Date
12-6-2019 11:35 AM
Presenter Biography
Nicole Chong is the Associate Dean for Legal Writing at Penn State Law (University Park). She teaches the first-year legal writing course, an upper-level judicial clerkships class, and an orientation course for LL.M. students. She is an active member of the Legal Writing Institute and the Association of Legal Writing Directors, including serving as the former chair of the LWI Plagiarism Committee and as the current chair of the ALWD Bylaws Committee. Before joining the faculty, she was an associate with a law firm in Philadelphia. Most of her work was focused in the area of commercial litigation, and she also was a member of the firm’s Appellate Practice Section.
Description
We often see first-year law students failing to make connections between research, writing, and theory. First-year students tend to view their classes in separate silos. As students advance into the upper-level curriculum, the failed connections are exacerbated. Students are unable to connect what they learned in the first year of law school to the classes they are now taking in their last two years of law school. Additionally, upper-level faculty who assume that the students are making connections when they are not further compound this connection problem. The connection failure can result in a number of problems. How do we connect the following 4 critical areas: students, research, writing, and theory? Everyone can win in this game of Connect 4. This presentation will address some ideas on how to make the connections.
Connect 4: Student + Research + Writing + Theory
We often see first-year law students failing to make connections between research, writing, and theory. First-year students tend to view their classes in separate silos. As students advance into the upper-level curriculum, the failed connections are exacerbated. Students are unable to connect what they learned in the first year of law school to the classes they are now taking in their last two years of law school. Additionally, upper-level faculty who assume that the students are making connections when they are not further compound this connection problem. The connection failure can result in a number of problems. How do we connect the following 4 critical areas: students, research, writing, and theory? Everyone can win in this game of Connect 4. This presentation will address some ideas on how to make the connections.