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LAWS12072 - Legal Research

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Legal Research builds upon your existing legal research skills acquired in Introduction to Law to enhance your ability to locate, analyse and apply a range of legal and interdisciplinary sources in a range of contexts. In this unit, you will work on a research project that involves critical analysis of a contemporary legal issue and its potential solutions. You will also build a research portfolio in which you will apply your research skills to a range of authentic research exercises you are likely to face as a trainee or newly qualified lawyer and engage in self-reflection and peer review.

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

Co-requisite: LAWS11057

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 - 2021

Term 3 - 2021 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2022 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2023 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Online
Term 3 - 2025 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 60%
2. Written Assessment 40%

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

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 96.30% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 36% 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 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
For 2024 Term 2, the 20% quiz was removed. The weighting for the Research Portfolio was adjusted to more accurately reflect the work involved in that assessment.
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
The oral presentation and client interview assessments were retained.
Source: SUTE student feedback
Feedback
I really enjoyed the unit and how there was a task each week to complete for the assessment. Overall the delivery of the unit was outstanding! It was engaging, interesting and informative.
Recommendation
Continue to deliver the unit content in an engaging, interesting and informative way.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE student feedback
Feedback
I also found the final assignment to be very large for not many marks.
Recommendation
Review the weighting of the research portfolio and oral presentation components of Assessment 2.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Identify issues in ill-defined legal problems and conduct legal research to provide advice and recommendations using relevant and suitable sources.
  2. Design and complete a legal research project utilising suitable research methods to locate credible legal and interdisciplinary sources.
  3. Respond to complex and dynamic issues through critical analysis of the law and evaluating evidence and potential solutions.
  4. Communicate effectively both orally and in writing in a range of professional and academic contexts.
  5. Critically reflect on work and provide comprehensive feedback to others through a peer review process.

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