Common Mistakes Singaporean Students Should Avoid While Writing Law Assignment

Students seeking to pursue their career in law requires them to enrol in law courses offered by various universities in Singapore. However, successfully completing a law course from reputed Singaporean universities like NUS, SMU, SUSS has become highly challenging, as these universities expect law students to:

• apply critical thinking,
• accurate referencing and
• strong legal writing while doing their law assignments, essays, case studies and research.

Many students often lose their marks not because of adequate effort but due to avoidable mistakes that cost them so many marks. This guide is therefore aimed at helping those law students to avoid the common mistakes they make while writing their law assignments and case studies.

Common Mistakes Among Law Students

Here is the list of common mistakes that many law students make while they approach the law task. The ways in which the identified mistakes can be avoided are also specified as follows:

Mistake 1: Misunderstanding the question

What students usually do wrong:

The most common practice identified among the students is directly jumping into the writing process without giving adequate time in understanding the question. Law assignments often require critical analysis but students end up providing summaries.

How to avoid this mistake?

The best way to avoid this kind of mistake is to allocate adequate time in reading the assignment brief before approaching to write on it. It is also better to look at important keywords like analyse, discuss, evaluate etc to understand whether the assignment requires summary or critical analysis of the case.

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Mistake 2: Taking Law Task Lightly

The problem

Taking law tasks very lightly is a major blunder made by many students in Singapore. They start working when the deadline approaches, and end up writing a low quality task with incorrect/ insufficient case laws backing up their arguments, and dont left with enough time to edit and proofread their documents.

The Solution:

It is always best to start the law assignment as soon as it is assigned. This is mainly because law tasks need strong research to find relevant case laws and it is a time consuming process. Starting early would give enough time in applying the most relevant case laws while solving the law case study.

Mistake 3: Weak Structure and Organisation

The problem

Structure is often ignored by students with no clear introduction, body or conclusion. Universities in Singapore like NUS, SUSS, SMU require students to follow a proper structure and logical flow of arguments in law paper.

Solution

The best solution for the given problem is to apply ILAC issue, law, application, conclusion while structuring the law case study. The brief itself clearly states the specific structure to follow, and if there is no clear specification, it is always good to write introduction, body and conclusion by applying ILAC structure throughout.

Mistake 4: Missing Singaporean Case Laws

The problem: Applying relevant case laws becomes crucial when writing a law task. However, universities in Singapore not only prefer the application of correct case laws, but they also require students to cite Singapore specific case laws, and students often ignore them.

Solution

It is always good to use local legislation from Singapore and judgements while solving a law case study and an essay. The use of Singapore statutes and cases is crucial from the point of view of making it highly relevant and acceptable among professors in Singaporean universities.

Mistake 5: Incorrect Referencing and Citations

The problem

Using a wrong referencing style or mixing APA with OSCOLA is a major problem among law students while completing their law case study. There is often deduction of marks only because of using wrong referencing and citations.

The solution

Most universities in Singapore prefer OSCOLA style in law tasks, and it is always best to consult different sources to ensure the correct style is being applied. The referencing pattern for journals, academic books, case laws need to be checked thoroughly before applying them in your law task.

Mistake 6: Lacks Critical Analysis

The problem

One of the most significant requirements in almost all types of law tasks is to perform critical analysis instead of simply summarizing the case. Many students make mistakes by simply stating laws without applying them.

The Solution

Critical analysis can be performed by comparing judgements across different case laws, and by applying the law to the facts while writing the assignment.

Mistake 7: Excessive use of online sources

The problem:

The law task requires the application of genuine case laws relevant to the case, and that too from credible legal researches and journals. But students make the mistake in the form of using blogs, forums or Wikipedia which are not considered credible in citing academic papers

The solution:

The right approach is to make use of credible law databases like LawNet, Westlaw Asia, government sites, and academic journal articles and books.

Mistake 8: Plagiarism in the task

The problem:

Plagiarism is considered as an academic misconduct by universities in Singapore, but many law students fail to write their law tasks free from plagiarism. The use of law terminologies and language often increases the chances of similarity in the text.

Solution:

The best solution is to properly paraphrase the text, and do not repeat the terminologies too often. The use of plagiarism second software is also a better solution to ensure there is no similarity in the task.

Law Samples and Answers To Help You Avoid Common Mistakes

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Despite having a clear understanding of the mistakes probable in law tasks, and the ways to overcome them, it is still very challenging for many students to complete their law assignments as expected by their university. In such a situation, it is always better to consult with professional law assignment help providers like assignmenthelpSingapore.sg that has a complete team of law experts, always ready to assist with any type of law tasks including assignments, case studies, essays, dissertations and more. Consult with a professional law writer today to get quality support in your law assignment.

Final Thoughts

Writing a law task has become highly challenging and students often make mistakes when writing their law case studies, essays and assignments. It is always best to consider the requirements twice, and perform adequate research to collect relevant case laws that can be critically applied to support the arguments. It is good to apply local citations and case studies, and consider using professionals’ assistance when getting stuck with the law task.

Adrian Lee