Annotate Case law and write a case brief

Unit 3 Assignment: Annotate Case Law and Write a Case Brief

Objectives

Identify the parts of a case brief
Complete a close reading of a case
Complete the process of annotating a case brief
Write a simple case brief

Grading

This assignment is worth 50 points allocated as follows: 40 points for the Brief, 10 points for the annotated case. Instructions for the annotated case are located in the instructions, numbers 3, 4, and 5.

Assignment Overview

This assignment presents a landmark case from the United States Supreme Court. You will find the case in the Nexis Uni database, which is free to you through your EGCC Library account. You are to read and annotate the case and prepare a case brief. The purpose of a case brief is to assist you in better understanding the case, part by part, and to provide a summary for future reference.

Deliverables

Annotated case
Case Brief

Instructions

All case law contains essentially the same parts. Case briefs can be written in slightly different formats, but this is the format you will use for purposes of this assignment:
Case Citation
Holding
Facts
Procedural History
Issues
Rules of Law
Analysis
Conclusion
Use the sample case brief in this Unit as your guide to setting up your case brief.
Locate the following case in NexisUni: Bethel Sch. Dist. v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675 (1986). [Friendly Warning: if you try to pull a version on another site you most likely won’t see the official page numbers appear throughout the case. Make sure you pull up the actual case from the official reporter in NexisUni or you won’t see the proper page numbers that you need for proper legal citation.]
Print out the case. This is your working copy for you to “annotate.”
Read the case and annotate it. Annotating is a tool used for close reading. Here are some commonly used annotations:
Holding= H (I usually star or highlight the holding in a case.)
Facts=F
Procedural History=PH
Issues=I
Rules of Law=RL
Analysis=A
Conclusion=C
The more you practice; these terms will become second nature to you. Don’t give up! This takes time and practice.
Correct grammar, sentence structure, and spelling should be used.
The brief should use the Bluebook style for legal citations.
Other formatting requirements met: Word document, double-spaced, 12-pt. font, 1-inch margins.
Your case brief is written in paragraph form. No bullets or lists. Do not copy and paste text without quotation marks and proper citations for quoted or paraphrased matter.

Submission Requirements

There are two assignment prompts for this assignment, one for the case brief, one for a copy of your printed and annotated case. You will upload your brief as outlined above in the designated prompt. You will upload your annotated case in the designated prompt.
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