UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOS

SCHOOL OF LAW AND GOVERNANCE

COLLEGE OF LAW
Cebu City

Philosophy of Law
1st Semester, A.Y. 2019-2020

GUIDELINES FOR TERM PAPER

1. The Term Paper is one of the major requirements for a student to successfully pass the
Course of Philosophy of Law (LLB 134N) and to, consequently, graduate from the USC
College of Law.

2. Each student of the Philosophy of Law class is expected to submit on the determined
time and date a term paper containing a philosophical discussion of a
particular law (or set of laws), rule (or set of rules), a legal doctrine,
principle, or jurisprudence. Each student has the liberty to choose what topic to
write about and what philosophical discipline or thought to use in writing the paper.

3. The Term Paper shall consist of the following essential parts:

a. Cover Sheet – which shall contain the University heading, the Title of the paper
(in bold letters), the description “In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements in
the Course Philosophy of Law (LLB 134N)”, the Name of the Student, his/her ID
Number, the month and year the paper is submitted, and the total number of
words used in the paper at the lower left portion of the sheet (See ANNEX “A”, but
kindly remove the tag in the final version of the paper). The Cover sheet shall be
excluded from pagination;

b. Introduction – in the Introduction, the student will have to make (i) a

summary of the problem, (ii) an explanation why the topic was chosen, (iii)
delimitation of the scope of the study, and (iv) a brief answer or thesis to the
problem;

c. Discussion – this will be the body of the paper, where the legal aspect is laid
down in detail and the philosophical discussion is presented, supporting the
answer or thesis formulated as a response to the problem;

d. Conclusion – this will contain an encapsulation of the arguments and the

answer or thesis as presented above; and

e. Bibliography – this will contain a list of all the cited sources throughout the
paper. Its contents should be categorized into Primary Sources and Secondary
Sources.
 It is important to note that, because these are “essential,” a paper that lacks any
of these above, shall be considered unsatisfactory and will be given a failing grade.

4. All students shall follow strictly the formatting requirements of the Term Paper. The
formatting mechanics are, viz:

a. Font: Georgia
b. Font Size: 12
c. Spacing: Single
d. Margins: Follow Efficient Use of Paper Rule
e. Paper Size: US Letter (8.5 in x 11 in)
f. Pagination: Roman Numerals, Center, Bottom of Page

Violation of the following formatting rules shall warrant deductions from the over-all
score of the paper.

5. The Term Paper shall be written with a minimum of 3,000 words, excluding footnotes
and block quotations, up to a maximum of 4,000 words, no more no less. Lack or excess
of words shall constitute a deduction of points from the over-all score.

6. PLEASE DO NOT CHEAT OR PLAGIARIZE. Cheating and plagiarism shall

automatically warrant disqualification (hence, zero credit), and a failing grade in the
course, without prejudice to administrative sanctions as may be appropriate and
necessary under the applicable USC rules and policies.

7. For citation style, the student must use the citation style as instructed in their Legal
Research class concerning the footnotes and in the Bibliography. Discussions in the
footnotes are strictly prohibited.

8. The Term Paper shall be submitted in TWO FORMATS: ONE WORD (.doc or .docx
file) and ONE PDF (.pdf) and they shall be submitted to my email
[nicfelongco.usclaw@gmail.com] using as subject <Family Name> Term Paper USC
Philo 2019, e.g. Felongco Term Paper USC Philo 2019. Please do not spam emails to
ensure receipt. In case I don’t receive an email from some persons, I will directly contact
and inform the class representatives.

9. The Term Paper is due on or before 15 December 2019 (Sunday) at 11:59PM. Late
submissions, even for a minute or a fraction thereof, will not be accepted and will be
given a failing grade.

10. The Term Papers will be assessed using a rubric which will be sent to the class
representatives in a separate email on a later time.

11. Please be aware that all the students’ submitted Term Papers will automatically be
candidates for publication in Virtus, the Official Law Journal of the USC College of Law.
A few of your works will be shortlisted by the screening committee and will eventually be
published there. Shortlisted papers will automatically be given a perfect grade. So, please
write your papers with a goal not of just passing the course but of publishing the paper.
(ANNEX “A”)

UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOS

SCHOOL OF LAW AND GOVERNANCE
COLLEGE OF LAW
Cebu City

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[TITLE OF THE TERM PAPER]

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In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
in the Course
Philosophy of Law
(LLB 134N)

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[NAME OF THE STUDENT]

[ID NUMBER]
November 2018

[Total Number of Words]