Topic What is the objective or “purpose” of international law? How successful or unsuccessful is international law at accomplishing that purpose? Academic Level : Bachelor Paper details In your answer, you must discuss, compare, and cite readings from at least THREE different weeks of the syllabus. You must answer ALL of the above questions. Please refrain from using direct quotes as much as possible as this is a relatively short paper and quotations aren’t a substitute for effective argument. Also, you must cite any materials that you use, even if you are not quoting directly from them. Organizing/Structuring an Argument: Writing an Intro, Body, and Conclusion, and what they should accomplish 1. Avoid writing your stream of consciousness a. It nearly always results in repetitiveness, inaccuracies, lack of proof, and an unintelligible argument or central thesis.
2. Introduction: a. What question are you trying to answer and/or what idea are you trying to defend or call into question, and what is the general outline of your answer to that question and/or what is your response to the idea that you are presenting? 3. Body: a. Present the evidence supporting your position, relying on evidence while limiting the usage of unverified or unrelated personal opinions; present and prove your point in a compelling way, and do not introduce any information that does not serve to further the argument that you presented in the introduction. 4. Conclusion: a. Make it clear that you have, in fact, answered the question; b. Make clear what your argument was throughout the paper. c. End the paper in a logical way that doesn’t introduce new information that hasn’t already been presented in the introduction or body. Standards of “Proof” and How you Convey Them 1. What type of proof does your topic lend itself to using in support of your position? For example: a. A Dissertation: Peer-reviewed papers, academic books, primary research, government/NGO reports, etc. b. A Paper for this class: course readings; outside research if the particular assignment calls for it; whatever sources the assignment specifies; avoid blog posts, wikipedia, documents without an author or organization specified, clearly biased reports, and most newspaper articles. 2. Consider the Source a. Be cognizant of the expertise of your source; b. Be cognizant of the proof/evidence utilized by the source you are citing and the level of review their work has undergone. Ask yourself if those sources are sufficiently authoritative to constitute the evidence that you require. Concision/Parsimony
