| CODE | LAW5001 | ||||||||||||||||
| TITLE | Legal Research, Analysis and Writing | ||||||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 10 | ||||||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Faculty of Laws | ||||||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will be divided into two parts: a theoretical and a practical approach to research methods relevant for legal purposes. It will provide students with the tools necessary to equip them to carry out legal research and therefore assist them as to the sources which they can use in carrying out their research, in identifying these sources and in learning how to write a dissertation. Other topics to be covered during this study-unit include identifying the research question and sub-questions for writing a dissertation, use of library, archives and internet sources, researching the law from a comparative and multi-disciplinary angle, designing a research project, making use of questionnaires, qualitative and quantitative research tools, conducting research and the writing process, structuring a research paper, using primary and secondary resources, quoting internet and other media sources, writing an abstract, publishing extracts from the dissertation in peer reviewed journals and/or newspaper article. Study-unit Aims: The aim of this study-unit is to equip the student with the necessary skills to write the MA dissertation. Hence this study-unit will not only focus on lectures but will be more practice orientated where students will discuss amongst themselves their research question, how they are tackling it, what problems have they encountered in attempting to answer the research question, how have they solved them, what style they are using, how they have divided the thesis question into sub-questions, how they are going about to do their literature review, what type of tools they are using to gather information such as quantitative and/or qualitative methods, which sources they are using (libraries, archives, electronic, etc.) Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - understand the methodology which is required for writing an MA thesis, - learn about the relevance of formulating research questions, - carry out a literature review, - formulate theories and hypotheses, - construct a research design, - implement research, - comprehend how to go about doing so from an ethical viewpoint, and - understand why certain processes have to be followed in order to be able to write an MA thesis. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: write the MA thesis for which s/he has enrolled in the course as well as any other document which, though not part of the MA course, such student might want to embark upon after graduation. The student will have the necessary skills of going about writing books, papers, articles, etc. after finishing the course. The student will also have the necessary skills to embark upon, following graduation, to read for an M.Phil/Ph.D. which is assessed by the writing of a thesis. The student can thus transfer skills learnt during this credit to the writing of an M.Phil/Ph.D thesis. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: A number of books on methods of research is available at the University of Malta Library. It is advisable to consult the books that are of specific relevance to the focus of the dissertation, that is, reading material on whether it is quantitative or qualitative, whether written by reference to archival materials, to primary and/or secondary sources, to statistical analysis, organization of focus groups or one-to- one interviews. The books listed below are of general application. Main Text: - Camilleri-Cassar F. (2022) Academic Research Methods for the Law Student: a practical guide, Faculty of Laws, University of Malta (2nd edition) (available at GhSL). - Camilleri-Cassar, F. (2018) Academic Research Methods for the Law Student: A Practical Guide, Faculty of Laws, University of Malta (1stedition) (available at GhSL). - Field, A. (2018) Discovering Statistics using IBM SPSS, Sage. - McConville, M. and Chui, W.H. (2017) Research Methods for Law, Edinburgh University Press (2nd edition). Supplementary Text - Finch, E. and Fafinski, S. (2019) Legal Skills, Oxford University Press (7th edition). - Lammasniemi, L. (2018) Law dissertations: a step-by-step guide, Routledge (1st edition). - Strong, S I (2018) How to Write Law Essays and Exams, Oxford University Press (5th edition). - Sullivan, M. (2018) Statistics: Informed Decision using Data, Pearson/Prentice & Hall. - Watkins, Dawn and Burton, M. (2018) Research Methods in Law, Routledge (2nd edition). |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Independent Study | ||||||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Frances Camilleri Cassar Liberato Camilleri |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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