The Faculty of Law’s Writing Consultants assist undergraduate (LLB) and postgraduate (LLM and PG Dip) students. The writing consultation services will be available from 1 March 2024 until 30 November 2024.

Kindly note that we will continue to use the online booking platform, Appointy, until further notice. Please visit Appointy to schedule writing consultations.

Any queries can be directed to the Faculty’s Writing and Media Coordinator, Ms Desiré Maré, at dmare@sun.ac.za.

The Faculty’s Consultants

Desiré Maré | Writing and Media Coordinator | dmare@sun.ac.za

The Consultants will be available from Mondays to Fridays. This means that, on any given day, there will be two Writing Consultants present at the Faculty to provide the assistance set out below.

Students have the option of attending either in-person or online consultations. Please indicate the preferred option when making the booking.

The role of the Consultants is to assist students in improving the following aspects of their writing:

• strengthening of argument(s), with a focus on structure, logical flow, progression, and referencing;
• structuring the assignment to ensure coherence and logical flow with emphasis on introduction, body, conclusion, layout (text conventions), title and headings, as well as length;
• establishing links between legal rules, principles, or facts;
• evaluating academic register (formal language, conciseness, and clarity);
• assessing language use that requires proofreading essays and providing advice on sentence construction, spelling, grammar, and punctuation;
• assisting with general academic conventions such as the use of sources, citations, in-text references, reference list or bibliography, and guidance regarding plagiarism; and
• conducting research, which includes finding sources, understanding readings, and linking research to the research question.

NB: You MUST email your assignment along with questions, concerns or points of discussion regarding the assignment to the consultant 24 hours prior to the consultation. However, for consultations taking place on a Monday, please make sure that your assignment and any relevant questions are submitted to the Consultant no later than 15:00 on the Friday before the consultation. Similarly, for consultations taking place the day after a public holiday, please ensure that your assignment is submitted no later than 15:00 the day before the public holiday. Failure to meet this requirement will result in the cancellation of the appointment.

Consultants do not:

• provide an editing service. We rather aim to enhance students’ understanding of writing as a process;
• rewrite the paper for the student; or
• tell the student what to write or provide legal advice on the paper’s subject-matter.

If an appointment cannot be kept, please cancel it 12 hours beforehand. Students who do not cancel, stay away, or miss two consultations will be blacklisted and not be allowed another appointment.

When to make an appointment:

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Therefore, make the appointment well in advance. Do not delay scheduling an appointment until the week in which the assignment is due. Not only is there a chance that no more appointments will be available, but it is also unlikely that the Consultants will be able to provide students with sufficient assistance. Appointments can still be made up to, but no later than, 48 hours before the booked time and date, so ensure that you make your appointment timeously before the due date of your assignment/paper.

LLB students can make a maximum of two appointments per assignment. LLM students can make two appointments per module, and each LLM (research) student can make up to four appointments regarding their thesis work.

NB: If possible, schedule two appointments the very day that the assignment topic is made available – one for the date when you will have a preliminary outline ready and another closer to the due date when the finished product can be presented to the Consultant. This will give you enough time to make final changes (if any) prior to submission. Do not interrupt the Consultants while they are busy with a consultation. Arrive on time. Consult the Writing Guide before going to the Consultant. If the advice, which you seek from a Consultant, pertains to matters dealt with in the Writing Guide and it is apparent to the Consultant that you have failed to consult the Writing Guide, the Consultant may refuse to continue consulting you until you have considered the relevant section(s) in the Writing Guide. Students are encouraged to make a list of all the problems and questions before consulting the consultant.

Download the Booking Rules for 2023 here.