How to Use a Tube Top and a Dress Code to Demystify the Predictive Writing Process and Build a Framework of Hope During the First Weeks of Class

Abstract

Many first-year students find the first few weeks of legal writing difficult and frustrating because they lack the context for understanding how legal writing differs from undergraduate writing. If left unchecked, this frustration often leads to cynicism, apathy, and an overall loss of confidence. However, groundbreaking research from scholars in the field of positive psychology links improved academic performance in the first semester to positive emotions and demonstrates the need for innovative teaching techniques that foster hope, confidence, and autonomy.

This new research forms the analytical core of the article. The article's premise is that using a comprehensive non-legal example during the crucial first weeks of a legal writing course not only facilitates the transition from undergraduate writing to legal writing but is also a relatively simple way to improve students' academic performance by stimulating hopefulness and confidence.

The article begins with a brief survey of the various ways that legal writing professors use non-legal examples and then situates them within the larger context of learning theory and the emerging field of positive psychology. The article concludes by outlining a comprehensive in-class exercise, entitled Decoding the Dress Code. The exercise bolsters hope, confidence, and autonomy by introducing fundamental principles of legal analysis, the common law system, and the distinction between secondary and primary sources in the easily accessible, familiar context of the workplace.

Keywords: legal writing, first-year students, teaching, positive psychology, academic performance, non-legal examples, learning theory, in-class exercise

JEL Classification: K10