LAWS14003 - Dissertation A

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Legal professionals are required to solve complex legal problems by conducting research, critically analysing authorities through interdisciplinary knowledge and transmitting concepts to different audiences including clients, other professionals and public organisations. In this unit you will conduct research into a legal issue agreed with your supervisor, critically examine the problem and prepare a written analysis suitable for publication. Over the duration of the two terms of your honours course you will develop a specialised knowledge in this field of law and apply advanced legal research skills in critical analysis, design of research projects and transmission of results. You will work closely with an academic supervisor and with your peers to cultivate a research community and develop your capacity to provide and respond to feedback on progress. On completion of this unit you will have produced a body of research work that demonstrates professional expertise in a variety of career destinations and forms appropriate evidence of academic research skills attainment for admission into higher degrees.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 4
Credit Points 12
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.25
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Enrolment in CH75 Bachelor of Laws (Honours)

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 1 - 2024

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 1 - 2024

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 12-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 25 hours of study per week, making a total of 300 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Portfolio 20%
2. Written Assessment 80%

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 1 - 2019 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 5 (on a 5 point Likert scale), based on a 66.67% 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: Zoom meeting
Feedback
Need to establish student confidence early in the term
Recommendation
Additional efforts will be made to require students to attend workshops and to discuss their progress with the unit coordinator and their supervisor.
Action Taken
Student workshop attendance has been much approved this year.
Source: In class feedback
Feedback
Students requested a little more clarity about the student/supervisor relationship.
Recommendation
The student/supervisor relationship is a difficult one to fully define. The study guide already explains the parameters of the relationship in some detail, however we will also provide a short-form version for clarity.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Conduct legal research and attain advanced theoretical and technical knowledge of a specialised area of law
  2. Analyse critically, evaluate and transform knowledge of legal authorities and critical academic commentaries
  3. Scope, design and conduct a research project independently with the ability to adapt to changing circumstances
  4. Transmit knowledge and ideas in an academic research context
  5. Collaborate with academic supervisors and peers in a research community, providing and responding to feedback.

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
7 - Cross Cultural Competence
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