Peter Tillers' General Home Page

Seminar: Theories of Evidence
Fall Semester, 2008
Professor Peter Tillers, Cardozo Law School


Written Work & Oral Presentations

At the heart of every true seminar, there is collaboration -- collaboration by scholars in sympathetic but honest review and discussion of the work of their fellow scholars. This ideal is rarely fully attained. But we will do our best to approach the ideal.

At the end of the semester each member of the seminar must submit a substantial paper on the topic of his or her choice.

During the semester each seminar participant makes one or two oral presentations to the seminar about his or her work on his or her paper. (The number of presentations -- one or two -- will depend on enrollment.)

One full week before each oral presentation, the presenter must provide a draft of his or her paper (and, if appropriate, a modest additional reading assignment) to the other members of the seminar. (This is done via the Angel web site.) In the week before such a presentation each member of the seminar should make one or more brief online comments -- via the Angel web site -- about the presenter's draft paper.

  • The mechanics of this distribution-and-comment scheme are fairly simple. We will discuss those mechanics in class. Information about these mechanics will also be posted here later. In the meantime each students should familiarize himself or herself with the law school's Angel web site at https://angel.ac.yu.edu/cardozo/frameIndex.htm.

    • Within a month of the beginning of the semester I will meet with each participant in the seminar to discuss the participant's choice of topic. The participant should give me his or her tentative topic about a week before the conference.

    According to the new rules of the law school, each paper must be rewritten at least once. The rewrite must respond to my comments and, in this course, to the oral and written comments and suggestions made by other members of the seminar.

    There is no fixed rule about the minimum length of the seminar paper. But the paper must be a substantial research paper.

    The seminar papers must use a consistent system of citation that provides the sort of basic information that the Blue Book system of citation requires.

    I hope to see you soon.