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Are there any good threads or resources for how to do well on the journal competition (which starts in a couple days at my school)? I'd be particularly interested if anyone knows of a way to practice for the editing portion - other than just reviewing the Bluebook. Is there anywhere I can find a sample(s) of the kind of thing we'll be asked to edit along with an answer key or grading rubric or something?

I might try asking your Legal Writing professors for any old bluebooking quizzes and answer keys they'd be willing to share.

At my school, at least, some of the editing packet involved catching mistakes that you learn about in grammar/middle school (capitalization errors, spelling, punctuation, etc.), so you might google around for quizzes about proper punctuation, capitalization, etc. Most schools use the CMS as a styleguide, so if there are any CMS-specific punctuation/capitalization quizzes, those would be most helpful.

Honestly, though, you probably just got done with finals. You'd be better served with giving your brain a rest, reading some good fiction from an author you like to remind yourself what good writing (rather than awful judge writing) sounds like, and writing a beautiful case note. Your brain needs a little time to relax and recharge if you're going to do well on the write-on, and you either know how to properly punctuate an English sentence or won't learn in two days.

The best way to write on is to put yourself in the shoes of the person who will be grading your submission and think about what you'd be looking for.

Will you (the grader) know the material extremely well? (No, so don't worry about nuances so much.) Will you give an original, difficult-to-prove thesis the credit it deserves, if you're even able to identify one as such? (No, so go for an easily-written and easily defended thesis.) Will you make sure all the nitpicky and oft-arbitrary rules are met, all grammar is correct, and all sentence structure is clear? (YES. Be meticulous, and proofread two dozen times.)

In short, write for your audience - an upper-level student who wants to get on with his summer.

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