• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.
  • We hope the site problems here are now solved, however, if you still have any issues, please start a ticket in Contact Us

Editing Papers etc.

Smileyill

Veteran
Sep 6, 2006
1,520
143
✟24,836.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Politics
US-Republican
Ok I thought I'd start a thread so we may help each other edit our papers. Not write them, of course. I also know some professors prohibit peer editing, but that's between you and God.

I have a one page opening argument for law school I would like feedback on. It's a rape case, so it's a bit graphic.

It follows in the next post.

Thanks in advance for all input!!
 

arunma

Flaming Calvinist
Apr 29, 2004
14,818
820
41
✟19,415.00
Faith
Calvinist
Marital Status
Single
Politics
US-Democrat
Let me preface this by saying that the writing I do is almost always scientific writing, and isn't remotely of the nature of what someone would have to write for law school. I did, however, do mock trial in college, and so I had to write opening statements fairly often. Not sure how much my suggestions are worth (remember, you know a lot more about this stuff than I do), but I'll offer them anyway.

I take it this is an opening statement for a criminal trial (i.e. not a witness statement or something of that nature). To my knowledge, opening statements tend not to be descriptions of the crime, but rather "tables of contents" about the case that you are about to present. You've included a lot of graphic detail, and I'm not saying that this isn't helpful. But it might be a good idea to cut back a bit on the description of the crime, and replace it with details about the case. Perhaps you could give a shorter description of the crime that's taken place, and give more information about the other witnesses that will testify, what corroborating testimony they will offer, and the forensic evidence that will be revealed by any expert witnesses. From this opening statement, all we know is that the rape victim will testify, and that she will assert the truth of the description of the events that you've provided. But if the jury doesn't afford the victim any credibility, they'll be left wondering why they should believe that her testimony is true. If you can explain why her testimony should be believed, by mentioning that it will be verified through other witnesses, then your shorter description of the crime will be more powerful. It's also important to write with a narrative style. Opening statements are supposed to be narrative, as opposed to closing statements, which are argumentative. In your opening statement, you don't need to refute possible arguments by the opposing counsel, since the statement is intended to introduce the judge and jury to the case. Just explain the case that you'll be presenting, so that the jury will know where you're going when you call witnesses.

Well, I hope that helps. Sorry if I sound overly negative. When I correct papers, I tend to only point out the flaws, since those are what need correcting. Anyway, I hope this helps. And if I'm way off the mark (again, I know jack squat about law apart from my mock trial experiences), feel free to dismiss this post as nonsense.
 
Upvote 0

Smileyill

Veteran
Sep 6, 2006
1,520
143
✟24,836.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Politics
US-Republican
Hey thanks for tips. I should've cut back on the details just a tad, my prof. said I went into just a tad too much with the clothes, but I had to mention p.... apparently.

And this case is tough because we have almost no other witnesses - basically a he said she said. I did edit it quite a bit from the above version.

If anybody has something they want me to look at let me know.
 
Upvote 0