All written assessments submitted electronically must be submitted through the link provided in iLearn. This unit will utilise Turnitin plagiarism detection software. Students should carefully check that they submit the correct file for an assessment, as re-submissions will not be accepted after the due date and time, including instances where students upload an incorrect file in error.

The design, moderation and feedback of all assessments is in accordance with the Macquarie University Assessment Procedure (link provided under ‘Policies and Procedures’ below).

Late Submission Policy

A maximum penalty of five (5) percentage points of the total possible marks will be applied per day to late submissions, for up to a maximum of seven calendar days. Tasks that have not been submitted within the maximum number of additional late days will receive a mark of zero. This provision does not apply to online exams or other assessment with a time limit of less than 24 hours.

Penalties for late submission will be applied consistently and equitably to all students enrolled in the unit. Where short-term, serious and unavoidable circumstances have affected their ability to submit an assessment task, a student must submit a formal application for Special Consideration as per the Special Consideration Policy. Students should not request an informal arrangement from their tutor, lecturer or Unit Convenor.

Where an application for Special Consideration is approved, and the outcome is an extension to the due date of a task, submissions that are received after the new due date will be subject to late penalties that are calculated from the new due date. This only applies where the outcome is an extension to the due date – see the Special Consideration Policy for a schedule of all possible outcomes.

Special Consideration

Students should submit applications for Special Consideration electronically via ask.mq.edu.au, along with the supporting documentation. Before submitting their applications, students should refer to the Special Consideration Policy (link provided under ‘Policies and Procedures’ below).

Delivery

Lectures: six pre-recorded lectures beginning in week 1.

Tutorials: six two-hour tutorials in weeks 2 to 7 inclusive, delivered both face to face and online.

This unit is worth 10 credit points, which equates to 150 hours of work. Therefore, students should expect to commit an average of 10 hours per week to this unit, including all scheduled and unscheduled activities and preparing and executing the assessment tasks.

Resources

The required textbook is:

Terry Hutchinson, Researching and Writing in Law (Thomson Reuters, 4th ed, 2018)

Students can purchase this textbooks online from online resellers such as Booktopia, Amazon and Zookal.

Additional readings will be accessible through iLearn.

Students require access to a computer, internet with decent speed and a secure/reliable server. The iLearn page contains all Unit requirements and a weekly schedule for teaching, readings and tutorials. Information about all assessment tasks is also available on 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