Gordon’s Smith’s Advice to Young Scholars
posted by Daniel Solove
Over at Conglomerate, Professor Gordon Smith offers sage advice to young scholars.
Gordon mentions one of my favorite tips — one new idea per article. Any more will likely make the article too long, and I’ve rarely ever encountered an article that has become known for multiple ideas, perhaps with the exception of Anthony Amsterdam’s Perspectives on the Fourth Amendment, 58 Minn. L. Rev. 349 (1974), which has a grab bag full of important ideas. Like it or not, your article will probably be remembered for one idea, despite great gems that might be included in a small section, or in a paragraph, or in a footnote. Especially the footnotes — the only people who read law review article footnotes are law review editors. Given the tremendous amount of legal scholarship being produced, it’s a luxury to find an article where it is worth the investment to read the footnotes.
January 4, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Posted in: Law School (Scholarship)
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