Students should be aware of and apply the University policy on academic honesty.

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply – 10 marks out of 100 credit will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted seven days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline.

No late submissions will be accepted for timed assessments - e.g. quizzes, online tests.

All assessments are submitted electronically. Turnitin plagiarism detection software is used to check all written assessments.

Students should carefully check that they submit the correct file for an assessment as no re-submissions will be accepted after the due date and time, including instances where students upload an incorrect file in error.

Word limits are strictly applied. Work above the word limit will not be marked.  Footnotes are to be used only for referencing. Referencing must conform to the requirements set out in the Australian Guide to Legal Citation.

Marking of all assessments is moderated through a process of blind marking and the use of detailed marking rubrics.

This unit is divided into six modules. It will be delivered through (a) pre-recorded lectures beginning week 1 and (b) six two-hour tutorials in weeks 2 to 7 inclusive for weekly students or a two-day session for intensive students. Attendance at the tutorials or intensive session is compulsory. Students who are unable to attend must apply for special consideration. If that application is accepted, alternative work will be set in lieu of attendance.

In each module, you will be expected to read background materials, watch relevant online video clips, and undertake practical exercises that are intended to build your skills in legal research and writing.

Students should have their own copy of the following prescribed text: Terry Hutchinson, Researching and Writing in Law (Thomson Reuters, 4th ed, 2018). It is available online. Additional readings will be available via iLearn and the unit reading list maintained by the library.

Students require access to a computer and a secure and reliable server.  All unit requirements and the teaching and reading schedule are outlined in iLearn.

Module 1: Legal Research - Legislation

• Introduction
• Finding and using primary legal materials - legislation.
• Searching with legal databases: Austlii, Comlaw, parliamentary websites etc.
• Research strategies
• Using Boolean operators to improve search strategies

Module 2: Legal Research - Cases

• Finding and using primary legal materials - cases.
• Finding and using secondary legal materials 
• Searching with legal databases: Hein, Westlaw, LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters, APAIS, etc.
• Research strategies: time, locality, language, subject matter, source.
• Using Boolean operators to improve search strategies.

Module 3: Legal Referencing

• The purposes of bibliographic referencing
• Legal referencing systems, and their critics
• Australian Guide to Legal Citation 4 (AGCL4)
• Bibliographic management software (eg Endnote)
• Use (and abuse) of footnotes in legal writing

Module 4: Developing a Legal Research Proposal

• Literature review
• Identifying a research gap
• Specifying research method(s) in law
• Developing a realistic research plan (time, money, ethics approvals …)

Module 5: Research Methodologies

• The relationship between research methodology, research method, and research design.
• Different types of research design in the physical (natural) and social sciences.
• Styles of research in the legal sciences.
• Understanding the differences between the main methods of legal research—doctrinal research; reform-oriented research; empirical socio-legal research; and theoretical research in law.

Module 6: Legal Writing

• Elements of good legal writing
• Plain legal language