2.
Style
The
difference between written and spoken
English
These
notes are written in a fairly colloquial
manner. This is mainly because I hope
to hold your attention by making them
easily readable. However, in academic
writing, it is important to adhere
to conventions of written English.
Written English is usually more formal
than spoken English, and avoids abbreviations.
For example, you should write:
A
common mistake in written English,
caused by poor pronunciation of spoken
English, is `must of' or `would of'
instead of must have or would
have:
She
must have taken her mother
to the doctor.
NOT
`She must of taken her mother
to the doctor.'
I would have given
you my notes had you asked
for them.
NOT
`I would of given you my notes
if you'd asked for them.'
Don't
waffle on
A mark of good
legal writing is precision in language.
In writing an essay, you should avoid
chatty, vague or melodramatic expression
and overblown generalisations:
e.g.
`they must be joking; they've
got the wrong end of the stick'
`it will never happen in my lifetime'
or
`the
whole dreadful history of white
dispossession, oppression, marginalisation,
structural violence and racism
towards Aborigines'
When
tempted to include such phrases,
ask yourself: `what do I mean to
say? can it be said more simply
and concisely using more appropriate
(and fewer) words?'
Since
the European cultural tradition
maintains that the mind is separate
from the heart, it is usually not
advisable to refer to people's political
positions, views and thoughts in
the language of emotions:
e.g.
`Mr Howard felt that
it would be better to hand the
"right to negotiate"
over to the states.'
Whether
or not Mr Howard has feelings, what
he probably did in this instance
was stated or took the
view that it would be better
to hand the `right to negotiate'
over to the states.
The
marathon sentence
Your sentences
should be short enough to allow
you to read them aloud without hyperventilating.
If in doubt about whether a sentence
is too long, don't reach for the
oxygen mask - cut the sentence in
half (making sure that the cut results
in two complete sentences).
Random
capitalisation
An academic
paper is not like an e mail message
- capital letters are not optional.
Capitals should be used to commence
sentences and for proper nouns -
e.g. the names of people, countries,
towns, ethnic groups or languages,
or for official titles, e.g. Vice-Chancellor,
Governor-General, Chief Justice,
Ms, Dr, Prince. Capital letters
are also used in acronyms - abbreviations
formed from the letters of a number
of words, usually the first letter
of each. An example is `DFAT' for
the Commonwealth Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade.1
The full name of acronyms should
be spelled out once in the text,
when the name is first used.
Where
capital letters are used outside
of these contexts, they tend to
suggest that the thing being capitalised
is Terribly Important. For example,
many students use capitals for `Native
Title', `Political Speech' and `Common
Law' but not for `life estate',
`inconsistency of laws' or `legislation'.
Yet there is no need to use capitals
for the names of any property rights
or constitutional doctrines or sources
of law.
Citations
In law papers,
journal articles are cited in the
following order:
Author's
name, `Article title' in (Year)
volume no Journal name
page (at page)
Journal
names are often abbreviated. The
proper abbreviation for a journal
name will usually be found inside
the journal's front cover. The use
of brackets in case and journal
citations is covered below under
`Punctuation - Parentheses'.
Books
are cited in a similar manner:
Author,
Book title: subtitle,
Publisher, Place, Year.
Chapter author, `Chapter name'
in Editor's name (ed), Book
title: subtitle, Publisher,
Place, Year.
For
more guidance on citation, including
information about how to use much-abused
terms like ibid in footnootes,
see the Federal Law Review
Style Guide.
A
law paper should include a short
bibliography which lists separately
cases, legislation and journal articles
and books used in the paper's
preparation. A bibliography
should not include references to
material you have not laid eyes
on, let alone read. The fact that
references have not been used but
simply listed from the library catalogue
is always obvious to the
lecturer. Remember that the lecturer
has read many books in the field,
and may have written some of them.
Boys,
girls and other identity issues
Sexist language
(usually use of the male pronoun
where the female is also intended)
is becoming less common in academic
usage. However, non-sexist language
runs the risk of being cumbersome
- e.g. where `he or she' or `s/he'
or `he/she' is used repeatedly.
It can also lead to inaccuracies:
`he' and `she' are singular pronouns,
and should not be substituted with
`they', a plural pronoun, in an
attempt to avoid being gender-specific.
The
best way to stay on the right side
of your non-sexist lecturers, while
avoiding exceeding the word limit,
is to alternate between use of `he/his'
and `she/her' in your sentences.
However, you should remain consistent
within sentences and examples.
e.g.
In the Northern Territory, the
sentencing judge no longer
enjoys discretion in her
approach to property offences.
or
In the Northern Territory, sentencing
judges no longer enjoy
discretion in their approach
to property offences.
NOT
In the Northern Territory, the
sentencing judge no longer
enjoys discretion in their
approach to property offences.
Further,
if you are referring to an actual
person, it's best to use
the pronoun which fits him or her.
If you are not sure of a Federal
Court judge's gender, the list of
judges in the front of each volume
of the Australian Law Reports should
help you work it out. Similar lists
may be found in volumes of state
law reports.
Unless
it is known that the person referred
to prefers a different usage (e.g.
Mrs Janette Howard), the title `Ms'
should be used to refer to women.
When it comes to titles, there is
nothing special about people in
religious vocations. Their titles
are abbreviated like everyone else's
(e.g. `Sr' for `Sister', `Br' for
`Brother', `Fr' for `Father'). There
is no need to use extended forms
of parliamentary and judicial titles
- e.g. `Hon the Member for' or `the
Rt Hon' - `Senator', `Ms', `Justice',
`the Minister for' or, where relevant,
`the Member for' will do. Use `Sir',
`Dame' and `Lady' for people who
bear these titles. Use the abbreviations
`J', `JJ' and `CJ' when referring
to judges in the context of discussing
their decisions.
It
is also desirable to avoid unnecessarily
cumbersome terms like `ombudsperson'!
If you know the gender of the person,
use the appropriate gender term
- `spokeswoman', rather than `spokesperson'.
`The chair' can be used to indicate
the person in charge of a meeting.
Don't reveal your stereotypical
understanding of gender roles by
using terms like `male nurse' and
`woman lawyer'. Similarly, terms
like `Aboriginal doctor' should
be avoided where the reference to
a person's ethnicity is gratuitous.
Slab
quoting
Keep quoted
material to a minimum. Don't pad
your paper with large slabs of material
quoted from cases or other authors.
You can usually assume that the
lecturer has read these quotes in
the original and is more interested
in knowing whether or not you have
understood them sufficiently well
to express them in your own words.
Presentation
Many academics
are blind as bats. Don't exacerbate
our disabilities by submitting essays
in which the words can only be read
with the aid of a magnifying glass.
If you want comments on your paper,
leave margins on the page, and write
or type it in at least 1.5 line
spacing. Handwritten papers must
be legible.
If
you write your paper on a word processor,
there is no need to use bold text,
except for headings. There is no
need to use italics except for emphasis
(please use sparingly) or for words
drawn from other languages (e.g.
obiter dictum, status
quo). Italicisation of
words serves the same function as
underlining them. There
is no need to do both!!
Try
to place footnote numbers at the
end of sentences, to avoid interrupting
unnecessarily the flow of your sentences.
The
word LIMIT
Don't exceed
the word limit. Unless your work
is brilliant, if it is too long
the lecturer will become bored and
begin to count the words as a way
of staying awake. If your final
draft is only slightly over the
limit, try shortening your sentences
by expressing yourself more concisely.
It is usually possible to remove
about 10 words from each long paragraph
by doing this.
1
Note that the term for these abbreviations
is acronyms, not 'anachronisms'!
