How to Become a Confident Writer
One of the common reasons why students don’t get the grade that they ‘feel’ they deserve in relation to assignments and exams, is because they lack conviction of response. On a number of occasions on my YouTube Channel as well as the different platforms that The Law Simplified is disseminated on, I’ve emphasised the need to have conviction of response. So, how exactly can you become a more confident writer?
Confidence in writing can be manifested in a number of different ways. It might essentially mean that you are knowledgeable and the way you articulate your thoughts showcases to an examiner that you know exactly what you’re talking about. But that alone is more often than not insufficient because when you try and narrate the law, after a certain point of time, your examiner will lose patience and would realise that you are simply narrating the core text and the material that’s provided to you by the university.
What’s most important and relevant is to show that you have an opinion, that you have a point of view!
If you are able to argue on contravening aspects and showcase your voice in the response, this indicates to an examiner that not only do you know the law but you have an argumentative view on it. The fact that you are unorthodox in your approach and that you are not simply taking verbatim what the core text, jurists or academics have provided to you.
How exactly can we formulate an opinion?
Because it cannot essentially be an opinion out of thin air, it has to be based on some concrete evidence and substance. One potential way of developing your own arguments or your own point of view is to go over articles and journal entries by other academics in that particular field. For example, if we take a point of contention such as medical opinion in relation to breach of a duty owed by a doctor, you have on the one hand still what could be considered as good law in Bolam and the opposing somewhat qualified view in Bolitho. There is a possibility of implementing either instance as long as there is no absurdity that occurs as an end result, but your point of view is not simply to ‘state’ both cases but to go a step beyond and assess what an academic might have thought of it and then reflect upon what your own thoughts are showcasing. This, in your examination paper or an assignment submission, indicates to an examiner that you have gone above and beyond and as a byproduct qualitatively, it shows that the student is quite confident in what he or she is trying to convey!
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