Paper submission checklist

by John Bandler

Here is a checklist for students to use before submitting their paper or other written assignment. It can also be used by anyone submitting a written product, whether to a school, potential employer, client, etc.

This is primarily geared for students in my courses, but adapt for your particular purposes, and review this checklist early and often as you continue your writing process.

I have had the privilege to teach students (our next generations of doers and leaders) for many years now, including at the law school, graduate, and undergraduate levels. I do so as an adjunct, and I am not a full-time educator.

I have written a lot in my life by now. Books, motions, articles, policies, and more. Writing is difficult for me too -- often painful -- and requires many edits and proofreads until it is acceptable.

I have also read thousands of student submissions, and had many conversations with students on the topic, and it has given me insight on areas for focus and improvement.

I believe this checklist can be of great assistance for my students, their learning, and to improve their final product. You can adapt it for yourself.

The Paper Submission Checklist

  1. Read (reread if needed) the paper assignment instructions.
  2. Read (and reread) any feedback or individualized guidance for prior submissions.
  3. Read John's article How to Write a Paper
  4. Read John's article Writing
  5. Follow the phased process in the Final paper project with solid honest effort throughout.
  6. Read and followed the instructions for the Final Paper Assignment
  7. Remember the overall goal is your learning about the subject matter and improving your skills for researching, writing, editing, and thinking.
  8. Organize it well. The organization of the paper should make logical sense.
    • For my courses, it should have 5-7 main points (including an introduction and conclusion)
  9. Summarize the law accurately and make good points. First understand what the law is currently.
  10. If the paper is about law or touches on law, lay out what the law is early in the paper. E.g., right after your introduction you would state what the law is, with appropriate reference and citation to legal authorities (Constitution, statutes, regulations, case law). After you have summarized the law (the rules), you can better analyze and discuss underlying issues, apply the law to cases or facts, or analyze what the law should be.
    • Consider organizing the paper according to IRAC (Issue, Rule, Analysis, Conclusion). Or use IRAC's cousin, CRAC (Conclusion, Rule, Analysis, Conclusion). Or combine the two with:
      • Introduction/Issue/hint of conclusion
      • Rule points
      • Application points
      • Conclusion
    • Your outline should be organized into main points (main points could have subpoints but don't overdo it).
    • Create sections, give them helpful titles (don't just call them "rule").
    • More details on what an Outline is in my outline assignment.
  11. The first paragraph (or two), within the introduction, should introduce the paper for the reader.
    • This first paragraph is a continuing evolution of the summary paragraph throughout the paper project
    • Your introduction introduces the paper, not other broad or general concepts  (e.g. don't explain what the internet is, what cybercrime is, etc.).
  12. The last section should conclude the paper. It should not break new ground (no new points, no new cites, etc.).
  13. In between the introduction and conclusion, you make your important points.
    • Points of law, other points.
    • Each point should have a section header (appropriate and improved from your outline).
    • You will have 5-7 main points in your final paper (including introduction and conclusion).
  14. Academic integrity is essential.
    • Do your own work, put in your own honest effort. That's how you learn. That's the school and course rule.
  15. Ensure the paper is entirely your own work, and that you properly cite and quote where required.
    • Ensure you have not taken someone else's work and changed some words to merely make it appear different.
    • Do you understand, and can you explain everything you wrote?
    • Do not review any other student papers, past, present or future.
    • Do not use AI tools to generate your writing or research.
    • Did you properly quote and cite where appropriate?
    • Did you properly cite where appropriate?
    • See my Guide to citations and references
    • Read (yourself, first hand, with your own eyes and brain) the relevant portions of every source quoted or cited.
  16. Get a first draft done early. Do several edits (drafts) of the paper, with time in between each review.
  17. As you edit think of the following building blocks:
  18. The start of the paper needs a paper title, date, author name, and course name and instructor name.
  19. Include section headers that have appropriate names. The sections should correspond to your outline, as you have revised and evolved it, and are headers for your 5-7 main points.
    • Don't leave a section header "orphaned" at the very the bottom of the page (use a page break to format the page).
    • Section headers should be helpful to the reader (and you the writer). So don't use headers like "Point 1", "Rule", "Analysis".
  20. Review paragraph structure. Each paragraph should have one topic, with appropriate length (not too long). A paragraph cannot run on for an entire page. New paragraphs should either have an extra line break, or be indented.
  21. Review sentence structure. Read aloud if needed. Try to make each sentence clear, with a point, be kind to the reader, with appropriate length.
  22. Review word choice. Choose and understand each word used. Try avoid using a ten-dollar word when a one-dollar word works. Avoid legalese. Be kind to reader. Be careful about acronyms and initialisms.
  23. Review capitalization. A Title of a Paper Should be in Title Caps. Don't use ALL CAPS. Proper nouns should be capitalized, including the U.S. Constitution and First Amendment. Don't capitalize words that aren't supposed to be capitalized.
  24. Review spacing. Ensure there are no extra spaces or missing spaces. Have a space after punctuation like periods and commas.
  25. Don't use a table of contents (only very long papers need a table of contents, and your paper for my course is not a long paper)
  26. Don't use an abstract or executive summary (only very long papers need this, your paper is not long for my course).
    • Your introduction will introduce your paper.
  27. Don't use a "running head". But if you do include a running head, it needs to be an abbreviated form of your title (not the words "running head").
  28. The filename should be appropriate and relevant for the submission, and includes your name and date.
  29. The submission electronic format should be appropriate for the platform (e.g. PDF, DOCX, but avoid Apple Pages and avoid dotx).
  30. The paper length (wordcount, approximate pages) needs to be appropriate for the assignment. References and citations do not count towards the word count.
    • Law school, 3,000 words not including citations and references
    • Undergraduate and graduate, 2,000 words not including citations and references
  31. Miscellaneous formatting preferences
    • Double space
    • 1" margins.
    • Citations in footnotes
    • Paper needs page numbers (bottom right preferred)
  32. Take advantage of your school's writing center and expert writing coaches (where available). Your submission should note this. This is mandatory, not optional.
  33. Take advantage of your school's library and librarians (where available). Your submission should note this. This is mandatory, not optional.
  34. Make sure you put in good continual effort and read the above and are ready to submit it.
  35. Do a final read through. Consider reading it aloud to keep your focus, to hear every word, and improve your speaking.
  36. Submit to the right place on the right learning management system (LMS) platform.
  37. Double check to confirm the submission went through properly.

Conclusion

This checklist can help you to improve your writing submission, no matter what the purpose of that writing is. Remember that writing requires effort, editing, and practice.

If the list seems overwhelming, then resolve to improve your writing one step at a time. Then before you know it you have taken many steps that add up to significant progress and you have become a much better writer.

Additional Reading & Learning

This page is hosted at  https://johnbandler.com/paper-submission-checklist. Copyright John Bandler, all rights reserved.

Page posted 12/20/2021. Last Updated 12/20/2025.