How to Sequence Thoughts in Law Essays
November 10, 2010 | Law Essay
When a professor wants you to make a law essay as an assignment, you can generally create a lot of topics derived from a single subject matter. Sometimes, with the seemingly numerous ideas that you have, you become overwhelmed with the idea of organising your thoughts and putting them it into a single piece – your law essay.
There are a lot of considerations when writing a law essay; it always depends upon the broadness of the subject matter. Unfortunately, you usually do not have the freedom to write a law essay of your desired length as the number of words used for an essay is limited. Whether you have a lot of ideas or few ideas to write in a law essay, you must always take great considerations on the logical cohesiveness of your law essay.
One way to put logic and sequence in the paragraphs or even sentences in your law essay is to use signposts. Signposts are good indicators on where the key points or topics are found in your law essay; they are also good indicators of the logical sequence of your ideas and explanations in your law essay.
The two kinds of signposts are: numbers (1,2,3) and number words (first, second, third). Using signposts may not be new to you; however, you may confuse readers with the use of your signposts. You must be able to employ signposts well in your law essay by knowing the different uses of your number words and numbers. For example, if you use number words to sequence your paragraphs then, do not use number words in sequencing sentences within your paragraphs. You must know that sometimes, readers will just skim your law essay. If they find similar words in your essay used in another logical sequence, then there is a tendency that they will mix up your ideas in the paragraphs with the ideas contained in the sentences.
Signposts are really helpful when writing law essays since you can explain your key points and ideas well and avoid too much wordiness in your law essay. Hence, you must use signposts strategically in your law essay so that you can organize your thoughts well.
