Case Response Instructions

Case Responses are aimed at testing how you can engage with the material and with a case that is related to (or uses) that material. As such, they are pretty open. I’m not looking for one specific answer. There are many sorts of answer to each one that will be acceptable.

This doesn’t mean that any answer is a good one. Here’s what I’m expecting of you:

A proper essay that addresses the questions in the prompt, gives answers to them, and backs those answers up with a decent argument.

To do that, you’ll want to give each of the case responses some thought. Put yourself in the subject’s shoes. Think through the complications of the case. Think of some alternatives and think about how they’d turn out. Consider the people who would be affected by the decisions that you’re handing down. Costs. Benefits. Rights and duties that are upheld or ignored. That sort of thing.

A Case Response doesn’t need to be terribly long. A few hundred words ought to be able to do it. I want them to be complete, but concision is a virtue. So, each response should be as long as it needs to be in order to address the questions in the case and to back up your answers with as convincing an argument as you can muster.

Excellent essays will argue strongly for their points, but they won’t use language such as “I feel…” or “In my opinion…”You’re not just reporting your feelings and opinions in these case responses, and so I don’t want your feelings or your opinions. I want to know what the truth is (the best possible answer to each question), and I want to know why it’s true. Assume that I disagree with you and give me the best argument you can in order to sway me.

A Note Regarding Citation:

I’m not picky with regard to the format of your citations. MLA, Chicago, whatever. As long as you’re clearly signaling that you’re quoting (or paraphrasing) someone else’s work, and I can find that work, you’ll be okay.