SPM 6726
Short Paper
Paper Topic Option 1: More and more schools (high schools and colleges) are creating social media rules and policies, particularly for student-athlete that define how students can use social media and what they can and cannot say on social media. Do social media policies violate a student’s 1st Amendment rights? Use case law and law review articles, amongst other sources to support your argument. It is suggested that you provide a brief explanation of the freedom of speech under the 1st Amendment.
Paper Topic Option 2: Major League Baseball has an antitrust exemption that shields it from any antitrust scrutiny under the Sherman Act. Is there is justification for its exemption? Should professional sport leagues have an antitrust exemption? Use case law and law review articles, amongst other sources, to support your argument. It is suggested that you provide a brief explanation of antitrust law.
This short paper assignment is a way for you to become familiar with conducting legal research and formulating an argument in preparation for your final legal research paper. Select from one of the topics presented above.
Your paper must be 4-5 pages long (excluding the cover page and references), written in APA style format. Your paper should have an introduction with a thesis statement, a body explaining your legal argument and research to support that argument, and a conclusion summarizing the points made and a final statement regarding the legal question and argument. The paper must be written in 3rd person (DO NOT use I, me, or you). This IS NOT an opinion paper. This paper is a presentation of a legal argument supported by legal research.
As with any assignment, if you directly quote or paraphrase any sources, you MUST cite your sources. Failure to do so will constitute plagiarism and result in either a deduction of points or a failing grade for this assignment, to be decided at the discretion of the instructor. I encourage you to visit the writing center to ensure that you do quote correctly according to APA style and to receive help in writing your paper to ensure that it is grammatically correct, cohesive and coherent.
You are required to use at least 3 cases and 3 law review articles using NexisUni; however, you are not limited to only those sources. Those are only the minimum requirements. Your thesis statement should be response to the topic chosen and will set the tone of your paper. It should be the foundation for the body of your paper.
Your grade for this assignment will be based on the demonstration of your knowledge about the relevant areas of law as well as your ability to conduct legal research and to construct a legal argument.
As with any other assignment, students are expected to work independently on this assignment. Collaboration with another student, regardless of his enrollment status, would constitute cheating in violation of the UF Honor Code.
