LAW50030

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the module the students should be able to: - read academic articles and books with a new appreciation of their methods and approaches; conduct literature reviews; develop their own research questions, with an appreciation of the contribution the answer will make to their field / discipline; appreciate the different methods required to answer different types of research methods; contrast some of the main approaches to research in law, in particular doctrinal, comparative and socio-legal / empirical legal studies, historical and normative. Within the broad fields of socio-legal / empirical legal studies, a range of social science methods will be introduced, pointing students to further trainings that are available should they decide to go further and develop these skills. More concretely, students will understand the available research materials available for desk based research; understand the purposes and application of bibliographic software; consider the ethical dimensions of their research; and understand the elements of research design for research proposals and their own workplans.

Indicative Module Content:

The module is constituted by a series of seminars, including guest seminars, showcasing the diversity of approaches and methods in legal research:
Academic literacy
Literature reviews and assessing academic contribution
Diverse approaches to and in legal research - doctrinal, comparative, sociolegal / empirical, historical and normative
Honing research questions in legal research and understanding the methods needed to answer them
Research design, justification, transparency and limitations - the difference between methodology and methods
Doctrinal legal research
Normative legal research
Comparative legal research
Introduction to some methods in sociolegal/empirical legal research
Research Ethics
Research design for funding applications
Academic literature
Legal Writing and Citation practices

Student Effort Hours:

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.

Module Requisites and Incompatibles

Assessment Strategy Invalid Option

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

This module is assessed by a combination of three pieces of assessment. Firstly, students should complete the on-line UCD Research Integrity Training for Research Degree Students. The remaining pieces of assessment are the completion of a mock-IRC application for funding for the student's research and the completion of written assignment. Feedback will be provided in the form of individual feedback within 20 working days of the submission date with respect to the mock-IRC application and the written assignment. Students may request a meeting with the module coordinator to obtain individual feedback on their assessments.