Introduction

Topic selection is quite possibly the most important and difficult part of the seminar paper writing process.  This guide will list several resources to help you pick and narrow a topic for your Property Law Seminar paper.  It will also list resources that you can use during the research portion of the paper writing process.

No matter what area of law your paper covers, there are three basic categories of legal topics covered in seminar papers:

1. the law is unclear because of a conflict between jurisdictions
2. new situations that have yet to be tested in court, or
3. changes in society/technology that rendera  current rule no longer equitable.

The topic you select should be something that has not been extensively covered by other authors.  You should also take care that you have picked a topic that is broad enough that you'll be able to find enough to write about but narrow enough to be tacked in a single semester.  Remember that you'll be living with the topic for the next few months.  The best papers are going to come out of topics that interest you.  Finally, you may find a topic when you least expect it - even while watching TV or reading a magazine.

General Print Resources

Elizabeth Fajans & Mary K. Falk. Scholarly Writng for Law Students: Seminar Papers, Law Review Notes, and Law Review Competition Papers - KF 250.F35 2000 On Reserve

Heather Meeker, Stalking the Golden Topic: A Guide to Locating and Selecting Topics for Legal Research Papers. 1996 Utah L. Rev. 917 (1996)

Eugene Vokokh. Academic Legal Writing - KF 250.V6 2003 

The above are general resources on how to pick a topic, structure a seminar paper, etc.  There are more legal writing books located on the second floor of the law library at call number KF 250.  Materially dealing with the wide area of property law will be found on the second floor in the call number range KF 560 - 720. 

Another option is to look in either the American Law Reports (ALR), American Jurisprudence (AmJur) or the Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS) under a topic that interests you and see if the annotations lead you to an unanswered question or jurisdictional conflicts.   These books are all shelved on the first floor of the law librayr on the shelves immediately to your left as you enter the reading room.

Print Current Awareness

Powell on Real Property - KF 570.P6

• Looseleaf service that covers all aspects of Real Property
• Check the "Supreme Court Analysis" and "Powell in Courts" tabs in volume one for recent decisions and hot topics.

National Property Law Digests - KF 567.8.N38

• This is a monthly newsletter-type publication that provides basic information (no analysis) of court "decisions of national significance."

Real Estate Law Digest - KF 567. A5 R40

• Looseleaf service.  Check the "supplement" tab in the back of each binder for recent court decisions.

Subscription Databases

BNA Databases

• United States Law Week - options
  • Click "all issues" on left hand bar adn browse "highlights"
  • Search issues
  • NOTE: The 1/1/2008 issues has chart of all circuit splits from 2006 under "Case Alert Highlights -> Highlights and Contents -> Highlights for this Issue ->TABLE OF CASES"

• Supreme Court Today
  • Browse issues, which divide cases up by general topic headings
  • Search issues

There are also several topical databases that you may want to browse, depending on your subject. 

Westlaw

• In the directory, go to Topical Practice Materials -> Real Property -> News & Information.  NOTE: there are other Topical Practice Areas that may be appropriate for your seminar paper topic (e.g. Environmental Law) which have News and Information Tabs.
• In the directory, go to: Law Reviews, Bar Journals and Legal Periodicals -> Westlaw Highlights and Bulletins -> Westlaw Topical Highlights.  NOTE: there will be several relevant toics.  These aren't databases within Westlaw to be searched, but rather once you click on a topic heading, you will be given a result list of documents that West Editors have created highlighting recent developments.
• In the directory, go to: Law Reviews, Bar Journals and Legal Periodicals -> Legal Newsletter Multibase

Lexis

• From the main Total Research System page, click on: Search -> Sources -> Area of Law by Topic.  There are several topics that wouldl be appropriate for this course.  Some of them have an "emerging issues" file that may provide topic ideas.  If not, they all will have a "legal news" file.
• From the main Total Research System page, click on: Search -> Guided Search Forms - the select area of law.

If you would like to write about a jurisdictional conflict, you can search the federal courts, ALR or AmJur databases with a search such as "circuit w/5 split."  For the case databases, you should probably limit your search by date to within the past year and can further refine by subject.

Blogs

Property Prof Blog

Land Use Prof Blog

Environment Law Prof Blog

Jurist - Paper Chase

Split Circuits

Legal News/Periodicals (Not Law Journals)

• National Law Journal (Also available in print in Reference Lobby and electronically via Westlaw)
• Legal Times (Also available in print in Reference Lobby and electronically via Westlaw)
• Lawyers USA (Also available in print in Reference Lobby)
• Louisville Bar Briefs (Available in print in Reference Lobby - The "Kentucky Supreme Court Report" section is particularly valuable)
• ABA Journal (Also available in print in Reference Lobby.)
• Hieros Gamos Legal News Center - Links to several other electronic sources of legal news.

General News/Periodicals

• Lexington Herald Leader (Also available in print in Reference Lobby)
• Louisville Courier-Journal (Also available in print in Reference Lobby)
• New York Times (Also available in print in Reference Lobby)
• USA Today (Also available in print in Reference Lobby)
• Wall Street Journal (Also available in print in Reference Lobby)
• Washington Post

NOTE: For full electronic coverage and past issues of newspapers, use Lexis, Westlaw or UK Libraries subscriptions.

• The American Prospect (Also available in print in Reference Lobby)
• National Review (Also available in print in Reference Lobby)
• Time (Also available in print in Reference Lobby)
• U.S. News & World Report (Also available in print in Reference Lobby)

Internet Resources (not blogs)

• American Bar Association Section on Real Property, Probate and Trust (The RPPT eReport is especially useful)
• Findlaw: Legal Subjects: Property Law (Also contains links to other relevant guides on Findlaw)
• Hieros Gamos - Guide to Real Estate Law (Also contains links to other relevant guides on HG.org)
• Megalaw - Real Property (Contains links to several publications and newsletters. Megalaw also has other potentially relevant topics listed in its Topic Index.)
• Washburn University Property Law Guide

Before You Start Writing...

Before you start writing your paper, you should check that the topic hasn't been covered extensively already. The following databases will allow you to search law journals. Remember that Lexis and Westlaw's coverage only goes back about twenty years. All of the following are linked from the UK Law Library's Law Databases Page.

• Lexis (password protected)
• Westlaw (password protected)
• HeinOnline (UK Law Only)
• Index to Legal Periodicals (UK Law Only)
• LegalTrac (UK Law Only)

Finally... If you have any questions about how to use any of the above resources or would like assistance with the research portion of your seminar paper, please contact any memeber of the Law Library Reference Staff.