Module details for Law Honours Dissertation

Description

Each honours student is required to undertake a major piece of research on a topic proposed by the student, subject to agreement and appropriate supervisors. The project comprises 10,000 words and is an opportunity for students to demonstrate good research skills in law as well as skills of presentation, analysis and synthesis of ideas.

Aims

The aim of this Module is to require students to produce a substantial written piece of in-depth legal research

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module the student should be able to:

1.  Develop further their ability to use and analyse legal sources, to evaluate legal literature and to use legal reasoning in an independent, in depth manner and reflect on learning

2.  Synthesise, evaluate and critically analyse knowledge and information relating to a specific legal issue

3.  Demonstrate enhanced skills of written analysis and communication.

Indicative Content

1 Research led study

The project is a major piece of research in which students use their prior learning in law, supplemented with project-related studies, to analyse an appropriate legal problem and to produce a written dissertation. The final dissertation is approximately 10,000 words in length.

2 Knowledge and Skills

The preparation of the dissertation involves in the first instance, the demonstration of existing knowledge and skills.

3 Critical thinking and evaluation

It also requires the higher order skills of analysis, evaluation and critical judgement. An important part of the project is the requirement for students to demonstrate their ability to locate and interpret sources of law.

Teaching and Learning Work Loads