Item 4: Assignment 1: Overview (Overview of the semester-long socio-legal change scaffolded research and writing assignment)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-2025

Abstract

This scaffolded assignment requires students to identify, research, and develop a US-based socio-legal change project of their choice, ostensibly on behalf of an appropriate nonprofit organization. There are three parts of the assignment and very detailed requirements to meet a number of different pedagogical goals. The core goal of the assignment overall is that students learn to research appropriate venues and jurisdictions for pursing legal or rule change (litigation is excluded) and then research who needs to be persuaded and how relevant actors may be persuaded, in the quest for this goal. As part of this effort, actual or likely opponents need to be considered. The overview provides an explanation of the project as a whole. Part A—instructions and a form—guides students through initial research regarding what goal to pursue, where to pursue it, and how to persuade others to support their goal. The assignment situates civil society organizations as an important sector pursuing socio-legal change.

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