Semester 1 Introduction to Legal Research Assessment Brief

Introduction to Legal Research Assessment Brief

This is a 5000-word assessment by way of:

• Research Proposal (suggested word count 3,500 words)
• Annotated Bibliography (suggested word count 1,500 words)
  

You may choose any legal topic for your research proposal, but it must be a different title from the one used for your formative assessment. We suggest that you choose one linked to your interests, for example, something that you have been studying in semester 1 or a topic you wish to develop in your LLM dissertation.

Your research proposal must be properly referenced throughout using footnotes in the OSCOLA style. Footnotes count towards the word count.

Your research proposal should contain the following elements:

1. A proposed research topic written as a question (rather than a statement);

2. A section on the background and context of your question (approximately 500 words);

3. A brief review of the academic literature (approximately 1,500 words);

4. An explanation of how you would approach answering your proposed question, the methods you would use and why, as well as any limitations you foresee in this approach (approximately 1,500 words).

5. An annotated bibliography – this must include references to all the academic sources you have referred to in your literature review, properly cited using OSCOLA. Plus brief annotations for each source outlining its key arguments, its strengths and weaknesses, and how it assisted you in developing your evaluation in the literature review and identifying the research gap.