Postgraduate Module Descriptor

LAWM137H: Law Research Paper

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

Module Aims

The aim of this module is to help you pursue, under the guidance of an academic supervisor, an individual programme of research on a topic within the scope of a named degree programme, approved by the programme director, applying appropriate research methodologies and drawing on appropriate materials. The module seeks to encourage and inspire you to engage in deep and critical engagement with legal research and scholarship and the production of an original, substantial and significant contribution to legal knowledge.

By taking this module, you will have the opportunity to develop a detailed knowledge of the law in your chosen research area, together with the skills and methodological tools to analyse, categorise and criticise the law in an extended formal piece of legal writing. You will also have the opportunity to gain a clear understanding of the role of research in legal education, as well as in developing the law in the UK and other countries.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. Demonstrate deep and systematic knowledge and understanding of the law applicable to the project that you will have selected and constructed, using research skills and building on prior legal knowledge acquired in the taught part of the programme; 2. Undertake complex critical evaluation of the main legal rules, institutions and procedure relevant to the specific area of law chosen for study in the dissertation, using specialist literature and current research going beyond the knowledge acquired in the taught part of the programme;
Discipline-Specific Skills	3. Demonstrate detailed and comprehensive knowledge and understanding of a range of legal concepts, values, principles, institutions and procedures, and the ability to evaluate systematically the relationships among them, as well as their limits; 4. Show clear evidence of virtually autonomous research underpinning self-directed learning by selecting, integrating, evaluating and presenting relevant law and complex legal/theoretical arguments, clearly, autonomously and competently, in writing; 5. Demonstrate flexible and innovative ability to analyse complex legal problems, identify the relative significance of applicable rules and principles, and select appropriate methods for investigating and critically evaluating them;
Personal and Key Skills	6. Manage relevant learning resources/ information/ learning strategies confidently and independently, and develop your own arguments and opinions at a very high/ professional level; 7. Communicate and engage in written debate effectively, confidently and autonomously, in a manner appropriate to the discipline; 8. Clarify, plan and undertake tasks confidently and independently, reflect critically on the learning process and make use of feedback effectively.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Although the precise content and delivery of the module may vary, it is anticipated that the syllabus will include the following elements in the order indicated:

1x 2 hour lecture covering the following topics:

Design and structure of a dissertation

Methodology and skills

Good academic practice

In addition, all students will have three individual research meetings with their appointed supervisor, and overall 8 hours of their time. Although the precise content of such meetings will vary according to the particular needs of each individual student, it is expected that the meetings will cover three important steps towards a successful dissertation (see below for details). In addition, the students can of course liaise with their supervisors for ad hoc advice as and when required.

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
5	295

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	2	One lecture of two hours on methodology, design and structure of a dissertation, and good academic practice
Research meetings	3	It is expected that the meetings should each last about one hour. Each meeting is designed to guide the students on 3 important steps to a successful dissertation: 1. Devising adequate research question(s), 2. Refining a structure and 3. Feedback on a sample chapter for advice on academic writing skills
Guided independent study	295	Independent study, with supervisors help as and when needed, up to a further 5 hours of the supervisors time (beyond the three meetings). Such hours will be spent in order to carry out the necessary research as well as the writing up of the dissertation, a symbiotic process, with the guidance of the supervisor. Although the precise organisation of the work will differ for each student, it is expected that a student should spend 50 hours on devising the research question, 50 hours on refining the structure, and the rest divided equally among reading/analysing the material and writing up the dissertation.

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).