Right On for the Write-On

The annual Write-On competition held an information meeting last week and over 175 1Ls attended, suggesting that many of our 1Ls plan to participate in the competition. There is always a crunch when the Write-On competition begins right after all the final exams are over.
The Write-On competition provides 1Ls with the opportunity to serve on one of the Pitt Law journals even if their grades don't place them within the top tier of their class. Since final grades and class rank aren't available until after the Write-On competition even the best students usually enter the competition.
The competition this year begins at noon on Friday May 14 and ends on May 28. The competition will require the students to write about a topic assigned by the Write-On committee, using 26 possible assigned research sources, 5 "free" sources like Black's Law Dictionary, and up to 5 additional sources.
Competitors should bear in mind several factors that tend to cause frustration every year:
1. When you print up all 26 of the research sources you will be printing several hundred pages. If you use the law school Lexis and Westlaw printers you will be one of many print jobs as every 1L tries to print at the same time.
2. Try to plan so as to allow yourself plenty of time to get the sources printed up. The print queues will be long. Please try to refrain from hitting the "Print" button more than once, unless you definitely know that your job wasn't sent to a printer.
3. We strongly suggest you use the Westlaw "find and print" service or the Lexis "Get & Print" service to print up the sources you want. These services allow you to enter a list of citations and print all of them at once. If you don't print this way, your print jobs will likely get all mixed up with the print jobs of other students.
4. The library goes on summer schedule on Friday May 14. This means the hours we are open are limited; hours are posted at http://www.law.pitt.edu/library/hours .
5. The library and both Westlaw and Lexis will also be on their summer staffing schedules. This means that there will be fewer people available to help with printing problems like paper jams, low toner, and running out of paper. Please keep in mind that responsibility for fixing printer problems lies with our Lexis rep for the Lexis printers, our Westlaw rep for the Westlaw printers, and our IT department for the law school printers.
6. Campus libraries and computer labs will also be on summer hours, beginning May 2. Check their websites or call to make sure they are open when you need them.