LAWS348-25S1 (C) Semester One 2025

Research Project

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 17 February 2025
End Date: Sunday, 22 June 2025
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 2 March 2025
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 11 May 2025

Description

Note: Students must have a B average in LAWS courses in order to enrol in this course.

LAWS348 involves you writing a 7000 word research essay on an agreed topic supervised by a member of the academic staff.

Students considering enrolling in Laws 348 should first consult the Course Coordinator, Natalie Baird.

Note: Students must have completed or be completing Laws 200 level courses and LAWS301. Students must also have undertaken at least one Group E Laws 300 level course.

This course is more suitable for students to enrol in towards the end of their legal studies.

Learning Outcomes

  • The objectives for the LAWS 348 course are for students to be able to demonstrate that they can:
  • Identify a research question suitable for exploration in a 7000 word research paper.
  • Plan a programme of research using a suitable research methodology.
  • Work both independently and with the supervisor of their research paper.
  • Produce a 7000 word research paper on a legal topic which, in turn, demonstrates that they can:
    * locate, use and refer to primary and secondary sources relevant to the topic of the paper;
    * synthesise information from a number of different sources to construct their own understanding and/or shape their own viewpoint;
    *critically evaluate information and/or formulate and test arguments;
    * provide an appropriate answer to their identified research question;
    * present information using a clear and logical structure;
    * write clearly and in a manner that follows the writing conventions, numbering system and formatting requirements in the New Zealand Law Style Guide;
  • Manage their time in order to meet any requirements set by their supervisors and assessment deadlines.
    • University Graduate Attributes

      This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attributes specified below:

      Critically competent in a core academic discipline of their award

      Students know and can critically evaluate and, where applicable, apply this knowledge to topics/issues within their majoring subject.

Prerequisites

Head of Department permission mandatory

Restrictions

LAWS379 (prior to 2006)

Co-requisites

Course Coordinator

Natalie Baird

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
Research Proposal (Pass/Fail) 21 Mar 2024
Draft Research Paper 02 May 2024
Final Research Paper 30 May 2024 100%


Assessment tasks and dates will be confirmed in the first week of lectures.

Textbooks / Resources

Recommended Reading

Coppard, Alice et al; New Zealand law style guide ; 3rd edition; Thomson Reuters, 2018.

R. Scragg (ed); Legal Writing: A Complete Guide for a Career in Law ; LexisNexis, 2015.

Russell, Mary-Rose et al; Legal research in New Zealand ; LexisNexis NZ Limited, 2016.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $946.00

International fee $4,850.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Faculty of Law .

All LAWS348 Occurrences