Viewing Unit History

The information below is relevant from 06/03/2017 to 07/03/2021
Click Here to view current information

LAWS12072 - Legal Research

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In your first year of law studies you will have learned the foundations of legal research and knowledge management. Legal Research will develop these skills to a level appropriate for a legal professional working as a researcher, legal project manager and in all other areas of legal practice. You will learn to access, analyse and evaluate information from legal authorities and from other relevant disciplinary knowledge bases. In Legal Research you will work with your peers in a learning community to apply your research skills in the context of a current legal research project such as contemporary law reform issue, a project for a community legal centre or the work of a research centre. You will prepare a research document which engages with a real public interest law issue and produce an artefact which will then form part of your professional portfolio.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisite: LAWS11057 Introduction to Law

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2017

Term 2 - 2018 Profile
Distance
Term 2 - 2019 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2020 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2021 Profile
Online
Term 3 - 2021 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2022 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2023 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Portfolio 20%
2. Written Assessment 20%
3. Written Assessment 60%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

To view Past Exams,
please login
Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 75.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 20.62% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: SUTE, student feedback to the tutor
Feedback
Students enjoyed exposure to realistic scenarios and practical legal skills in the client interviewing and letter of advice tasks.
Recommendation
Retain the client interviewing exercise and letter of advice to a client as this provides students with an authentic representation of the type of work they will be expected to complete as a trainee or newly qualified lawyer. Continue to work with local lawyers to help design the scenarios that feature in the client files.
Action Taken
This assessment task was retained and local lawyers assisted with designing the client interview task.
Source: Email, SUTE, student feedback to the tutor
Feedback
The timing of the client interview and letter writing task (submitted in week 5) meant that some students had to be re-partnered as their partner withdrew at census date.
Recommendation
In future, the client interviewing and letter writing exercise should be submitted in week 5 or later in the term so that client interviewing partners are confirmed after census date.
Action Taken
In T2 2023, students conducted the client interviewing exercise after census date and were required to nominate their partner after census date.
Source: SUTE comments, feedback from students to tutor.
Feedback
Some students suggested the assessment weight for the components of the research portfolio be revisited (presentation - 20%, collection of weekly workshop tasks - 10%) given the amount of work involved in learning about the research topic and preparing for the presentation.
Recommendation
Review the assessment weightings for all assessment tasks, including the components of each assessment task.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Feedback from students to tutor.
Feedback
Feedback students received on their client interview helped students to understand the importance of this skill and the need to practise and enhance their skills in this area. Students also noted that the presentation incorporated into the portfolio enhanced their oral communication skills.
Recommendation
Retain the focus on oral communication skills, and in particular the oral presentation on a current research topic and the client interview exercise.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Develop and evaluate strategies for solving legal problems, researching options and presenting solutions using a variety of different research and collaboration tools
  2. Analyse legal problems through critical thinking, evaluating and weighing evidence and developing alternative solutions
  3. Engage in collaborative research as a member of the learning community and as an ethically responsible professional
  4. Activate solutions and apply research toward legal change in context of a practical research project of public interest.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Portfolio • •
2 - Written Assessment • • •
3 - Written Assessment • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication • •
2 - Problem Solving • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • •
4 - Information Literacy •
5 - Team Work • •
6 - Information Technology Competence •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence •
8 - Ethical practice • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 - Portfolio • • • • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • •
3 - Written Assessment • • • • • •