Paper Presentations, Abstracts, and Questions Index

• In-Class Presentations:
  • Presentations of your paper will take place in the last two classes (April 8 and April 15). It is very important that you attend those two days, and it is of course essential that you attend on the day you are assigned to do your presentation. If you anticipate a problem attending either day, let me know as soon as possible.
  • Format: Plan on a 12 minute presentation, with a few minutes for questions in the latter part (though you may also take questions as you give your presentation).
  • A/V:
    • There is no requirement that you use PowerPoint (or any other similar web-based formats such as Google Slides, Canva, Prezi, etc.), though you may find it useful. If you do:
      1. You may be able to put your presentation file on a thumb/flash drive and plug the thumb/flash drive into the computer in the classroom. Please let me know in advance if you plan to do this; I will check with A/V to make sure this will work.
      2. You can make your presentation file available in your student email account. You can do this by sending it to yourself as an attachment in an email, so it is in your inbox. You will need to quickly sign in to your Cane account in the browser on the computer right before your presentation. Remember to sign off at the end.
      3. You can email your PowerPoint or similar file to me no later than Wednesday at noon of the day on which you will be presenting, and I will put it on a server easily accessible on the classroom computer. If you do this, please make sure you put “Criminalization Seminar: A/V for Presentation” in the subject line.
    • Note: I will be going over these options with A/V with specific reference to the equipment in E265, so these options may be subject to change.
  • Advice on Presentations:
    • The presentations have two purposes, which it may be useful to keep in mind. One is get some feedback from your classmates (and me) about your topic and how you are analyzing it. The second is to give the class as a whole a look at a variety of topics, in more depth than we have had time to devote to them.
    • It’s entirely up to you how you structure your presentation, but keep in mind a few things:
      • At the beginning you’ll likely want to set out a brief overview on what it is you’re writing about, and what makes it interesting and significant in relation to homelessness.
• Schedule of Presentations:
  • Abstracts and Written Questions on Abstracts:
    • Written Abstracts
      • Each class member will be required to submit a written presentation summary (i.e., an abstract) to me by the Friday before the day they are presenting.
        • If you are presenting your paper on:
          • Wed. April 8 | Your Abstract Is Due: Monday, April 6, 12:00 pm
          • Wed. April 15 | Your Abstract Is Due: Friday, April 10, 5:00 pm
        • The abstract should be emailed as follows:
          • to: schnably@law.miami.edu & cc: sdemmings@law.miami.edu
          • Subject line: Criminalization/Abstract 2026
          • The body of the abstract in the email, not in an attachment.
        • I will post the abstracts on the Presentations and Abstracts page.
    • Written Questions on Abstracts
      • Everyone should read all the abstracts before class, and participate in the question periods after each presentation. In addition, each class member will be required to submit one or two questions or comments on three of the abstracts. (You may submit more than two if you’d like.) I will post a chart that will let you know on which paper abstracts you will be writing questions on.
        • For each of the abstracts to which you are assigned, you will submit one or two brief, constructive, written questions or comments.
        • The questions should be emailed as follows:
          • to: schnably@law.miami.edu & cc: sdemmings@law.miami.edu & cc: the class member on whose abstract you are submitting the Questions
          • Subject line: Criminalization/Questions on Abstract
          • The Questions in the email, not in an attachment
          • One set of Questions per email (i.e., keep the questions for different abstracts in different emails)
        • I will post the questions/comments for each presentation on the course web page, without names.
      • If a paper abstract on which you are submitting Questions is to be given on:
        • Wednesday, April 8 | Your Questions Are Due: Tuesday, April 7, 12:30 pm; I will post them by 7:00 pm that day.
        • Wednesday, April 15 | Your Questions Are Due: Monday, April 13, 9:00 am; I will post them by 2:00 pm that day.

First Draft and Final Paper Requirements Index

For both the first draft and the final paper:

• First Page: A separate title page, with the following text:
  
  Title
  Your Name
  The Criminalization of Homelessness, Spring 2026
  First Draft OR Final Paper (as the case may be)
  A one paragraph abstract
• Second Page: A Table of Contents page, with page numbers:
  You can create it manually or automatically; there are many sources on the Internet as to how to do the latter, such as this or this.
• Third Page: The first page of the body of the paper.
  • The final paper should be 25-35 pages (not including the separate cover/abstract page and table of contents page). It can be longer if you prefer, but that’s not required.
    • The first draft may be shorter than the 25-35 page range. But keep in mind that the more substantial is the first draft, the better the feedback I can give you.
• In addition:
  • The pages must be numbered. Page 1 should be the page on which the body of the paper begins. It can be in the upper right hand corner or at the bottom of the page, in the middle or at the right hand corner.
  • Footnotes, not endnotes, must be used. The first citation to anything should be in full citation form (see below). For subsequent citations of the same material, use some kind of consistent form of abbreviated citation that allows for easy identification of what you are citing. For one example, see this guide.
  • The text must be double-spaced.
    • Any indented block quotes must be single-spaced.
    • Footnotes must be single-spaced.
  • Font: 12 point Times New Roman or something similar
  • The first citation to any publication must have at least the following basic information. It is not enough to list a URL, though where something is found on the web, it can be helpful to include the URL as well:
    • Books: Author, Title, [specific page(s) cited], publication year -- e.g., Alexandra Natapoff, Punishment Without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal 181 (2018).
    • Journal articles: Author, article title, Journal title with volume + page number, publication year (for example, for a law review article, Author Name, 75 U. Miami L. Rev. 1 (2020). Use something substantially similar for articles in scholarly journals that are not law reviews.
    • Newspaper articles and op-ed pieces: Author, Article/Op-ed Headline, Newspaper (e.g., Wall St. J.), Date of Publication (URL optional)
    • Reports etc - Author [which can be an organization], Title (Date), and URL (which may either be separate or as a linke in the title: That is, either:
      • National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, Housing Not Handcuffs 2019: Ending the Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities (December 2019), https://homelesslaw.org/housing-not-handcuffs-2019/; or
      • National Homelessness Law Center, Housing Not Handcuffs 2019: Ending the Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities (December 2019)
    • Note: I will not be a stickler for bluebook form, but I do want something reasonably standard, as indicated. In particular:
      • A URL is not a cite. In no case should your cite include only a URL.
      • Keep in mind that a proper cite isn’t just a matter of saying where something can be found. It should also let the reader know, at the very least -- without having to look up the source -- who or what organization is the author of the document, its title, and date, along with, for everything other than books, where to find it.

Submission of first draft and final paper:

• The first draft must be submitted in Word form, not pdf.
• The final paper may be submitted in Word or pdf form.
• The document file name should be in this form:
  • Last Name-First Name-First Draft.docx (or .doc)
  • Last Name-First Name-Final Paper.docx (or .doc or .pdf)
• It should be emailed to me, copy to my assistant, Ms. Demmings (sdemmings@law.miami.edu), with the following in the subject line:
  • Criminalization: First Draft; OR
  • Criminalization: Final Paper