The Roe v. Wade Brief and Thesis Assignment

Before the Roe v. Wade paper: Write a brief and send me your thesis paragraph

Write a brief of Roe v. Wade by October 11, and place your document, by attachment in Word, into the Student Drop folder for your class. We will be examining several of these in class, as a group. Writing this brief will be the first step you take in writing an argumentative paper about this decision. Then, I'd like you to think about what you want to make the main thrust of your paper, so send me your preliminary thesis by October 13, in Student Drop.

(1) How to Brief a Legal Opinion

You can do this in sentence form, or you can use phrases, except for the Issue, which you should phrase as a question, or a subjunctive clause beginning with the conjunction "whether," e.g., "Whether laws requiring segregation of children by race in their public school assignments violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth amendment." You can also articulate the issue as a question, e.g., "Do state laws laws requiring segregation of children by race in their public school assignments violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?"

The brief consists of:

(1) Identifying the Appellant and the Appellee
(2) A brief summary of the pertinent facts that gave rise to the legal controversy
(3) The issues in the case (in this class, the constitutional issues are what I am after)
(4) The Court's holding (decision as to each of the issues) in the case
(5) The Court's rationale for its decision(s) on each issue
(6) Dissent: The dissenter's (or dissenters') position(s) on the issue(s), and
(7) Any dicta (Look up dictum in your law dictionary)

As you can see a brief is not always "brief."

Read Roe v. Wade (the entire case, including the dissent) by October 5.

Write a brief of Roe v. Wade by October 11, and place your document, by attachment in Word, into the Student Drop folder for your class. We will be examining several of these in class, as a group. Writing this brief will be the first step you take in writing an argumentative paper about this decision.

(2) The thesis. Reread the paper assignment. Be sure you have a debatable position in your paragraph. It's okay to disagree with the Court's opinion in this case, but try not to regurgitate Rehnquist's dissent if you do decide to take the court to task here.

Student Responses to the Roe v. Wade Brief and Thesis Assignment

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The Roe v. Wade Essay #1 Assignment

Due date (for peer editing): April 7, by class time (2 copies*)

Final version is due on Monday, April 17, by noon (Founders will be open), in my mailbox, with peer edited versions and cover letter.

Recommended length: 1200 words

Topic:
Write an essay in which you advance an argument about the cases that led up to Roe v. Wade (specifically, Griswold and Eisenstadt), or the cases or the political and/or social events that grew out of Roe v. Wade.

1. Choose one of the ancillary sources listed on the syllabus, part 3.

2. Find three additional sources relating to your topic--reviews, scholarly articles, a web source (which I must approve first) or a chapter from a book. Summarize and evaluate each of these sources in your essay.

3. Write an essay in which you present an argument about the pre or post-Roe issue or subject. Use the sources to support your position, or, if you disagree with one or more of your sources, explain why you reject the authors' analyses of the legal issues.

4. Create a Works Cited page listing Roe v. Wade, the ancillary source, and your three new sources.

A Student's Response to the Roe v. Wade Essay Assignment

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The Roe v. Wade/Documented Essay #2 Assignment

Due dates (3 copies, for peer editing): Thursday, October 26, by class time

Final version is due on Monday October 30, by 3 p.m. in my box, 124 FND

Recommended length: 1300 words, typed, double or 1 1/2 spaced, 11 or 12-point type

This paper has a very broad topic, and this assignment requires you to narrow the topic as you wish. Your essay must present a thesis that responds in some substantive way to the following questions:

Examine the rhetorical structure of Justice Blackmun's argument in this case. What is his approach? How does he support the Court's holding that the Texas law invades Roe's constitutional right of privacy?

Is Blackmun's decision (that is, the majority opinion) in Roe v. Wade a uniformly good one? Does it contain any flaws or defects that you find troubling? Point out the specific weaknesses you see in this decision.

Your thesis may demonstrate some ambivalence on your part about the opinion; that is, you may find much about the opinion positive and well reasoned, yet you may also want to argue that the decision is weak, or poorly reasoned, or a violation of the separation of powers.

In your essay, you must include a brief summary of the constitutional issues at stake in this case, and the Court's holding. It's best to do this early on in the essay, and to keep your summary concise.

Audience: Wellesley students who have heard of Roe v. Wade and know generally that it overturned strict state abortion laws, but have not read it, and know nothing more about this case. In general your readers tend to take the position (albeit somewhat uninformed) that this is simply a good decision. Your job is to make your readers see the complexities, and possibly the flaws, in this decision.

Sources: For this paper, you must use the following sources, even if you merely cite from a source in passing or in an endnote:

-Roe v. Wade 410 U.S. 113 (1973) (including dissent)
-The U.S. Constitution
-Black's or Barron's Law Dictionary

And you may use any of the following sources, though you may decide that you do not need to use any of these:

-Woodward, Bob, and Scott Armstrong, The Brethren, pages 164-177 and 229-240
-Weddington, Sarah, A Question of Choice (handout, Chapter 1)
-Moyers, Bill, prod. "Conversation with Mary Ann Glendon," PBS 1987

Use MLA style, as set forth in Hacker
Include Use a Works Cited or Works Consulted page.
Use signal phrases to introduce all quotations.
Document paraphrased material from sources as well as direct quotations.

A Student's Response to the Roe v. Wade/Documented Essay #2 Assignment

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