Objectives
The objectives of this course are to learn how to express oneself on a topic, discuss it with others in English, conduct academic research on it, and write an academic paper in English. In this class, the overall theme will be “language in legal contexts.” The result of the research should be presented as a 1000-word paper at the end of the semester. Students are expected to come up with their own specific research topics which fall within the overall theme.

Grading
The grade will be based on class participation (attendance/discussion), contribution to the group activity, and evaluation of the final paper. Attendance and participation in group activities are crucial for this class. If you do not attend 2/3rds of the classes, you will not receive a passing grade.

Academic Policy
Students are expected to converse with their classmates only in English. (You will receive a violation ticket for speaking Japanese excessively without the teacher's permission. If you receive more than two tickets a semester, there will be a penalty on your grade.) Presenting sentences that have been written by someone else as one's own without proper acknowledgement (=plagiarism) is not accepted. Please remember that the goal is not to present flawless sentences, but to practice to produce one's own sentences in English. One may plagiarize without realizing that she/he is doing so. I hope students will learn how to properly acknowledge the sources of information in this class.