LAWS5183-20125-7520 - Course profiles - The University of Queensland

Course overview

    
                Study period
                Semester 1, 2025 (24/02/2025 - 21/06/2025)
            
                Study level
                Undergraduate
            
                Location
                St Lucia
            
                Attendance mode
                In Person
            
                Units
                2
            
                Administrative campus
                St Lucia
            
                Coordinating unit
                Law School

This course provides an opportunity for students to pursue in some depth an area of special interest under the supervision of a member of the Law School academic staff. Further guidelines are available from the Law School.

The course is a two unit elective, which offers students an opportunity to 1) design and 2) execute an individual research project under the supervision of an academic in the Law School. Participation is subject to Head of School approval and generally suitable for students with a cumulative GPA in Law of 5.5 or more.

As the course involves self-directed learning, students who undertake this course will be expected to be proactive. First, they will need to identify an issue of doctrinal law, legal theory or socio-legal studies that they would like to explore. Second, they will need to arrange a potential supervisor and, having done so, third seek Head of School approval to enrol. Once semester starts, students should watch/read the resources on Blackboard and the Library website to inform their research process, and arrange at least two meetings with their supervisors (one for each assessment item).ﾠ

Course requirements

Prerequisites

You'll need to complete the following courses before enrolling in this one:

Permission from Head of School

Incompatible

You can't enrol in this course if you've already completed the following:

LAWS7183 or 7383

Restrictions

LLB(Hons) and LLB(Hons) dual programs

Course contact

Course coordinator

Associate Professor Radha Ivory

+61 7 3365 9123

r.ivory@law.uq.edu.au

There are no timetabled lectures, tutorials or seminars in this course. Consequently, there are no tutors or lecturers. Rather, students will be required to:

1) work through materials (e.g., video recordings and readings) on legal research and writing at their own pace (see Blackboard); and

2) arrange supervision from an academic member of staff and meet with that supervisor to discuss the preparation of their proposals and final essays.

Timetable

Additional timetable information

There are no timetabled lectures, tutorials or seminars in this course. Consequently, there are no tutors or lecturers. Rather, students will be required to:

1) work through materials (e.g., video recordings and readings) on legal research and writing at their own pace (see Blackboard); and

2) arrange supervision from an academic member of staff and meet with that supervisor to discuss the preparation of their proposals and final essays.

Aims and outcomes

Assessment

Assessment summary

Category	Assessment task	Weight	Due date
Paper/ Report/ Annotation	Research Proposal Online	30%	14/04/2025 2:00 pm
Paper/ Report/ Annotation	Research Paper Online	70%	26/05/2025 2:00 pm

Assessment details

Research Proposal

Online

Mode: Written
Category: Paper/ Report/ Annotation
Weight: 30%
Due date: 14/04/2025 2:00 pm
Learning outcomes: L02, L03, L04

Task description

Students are required to submit a Research Proposal, comprising a detailed description of the research project and a draft outline of the proposed research paper. The research proposal should:

identify relevant resources and summarise and/or categorise existing knowledge;
identify the 'gap' in the knowledge that your project is attempting to address;
position your project in the context of existing knowledge; and
clearly identify the aims (question), scope and methodology/approach of your project.

There is no single correct way to write a research proposal. Guidance on the research proposal and draft outline will be provided by the supervisor.

The proposal should be no more than 2,000 words, including headings but excluding footnotes and bibliography. Any material in excess of the word count will be disregarded by the marker, as will substantive discussion in a footnote.

This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT). Students are advised that the use of AI or MT technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct Policy.

Submission guidelines

The Research Proposal should be submitted by email directly to your supervisor AND electronically on the Blackboard site.

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

The maximum extension allowed is 7 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.

Where an extension for an assessment item due within the teaching period in which the course is offered is available, any extension is limited to one week (7 days). In exceptional circumstances, extensions may be granted for more than one week, but in no case will an extension exceed four weeks (28 days) in total. Where a student is incapacitated for a period exceeding four weeks of the teaching period, they should apply for removal of course.

A student may apply for an extension to assessment due date if they are unable to meet an assessment deadline due to extenuating circumstances. Please refer to the Applying for an extension page on my.UQ for further details on acceptable reasons for an extension and for instructions on how to apply. Additional information on extensions can be found within the Assessment Procedure .

Spoken or written notification of difficulties with assessment deadlines to a course coordinator or the School does not constitute an authorised extension.

Applications to be submitted before the due date: Applications for extension (whether they be medical or exceptional circumstances) shall be made by the due date and time for the assessment. Requests for extensions received after the assessment item submission due date and time, must include evidence of the reason for the late request, and will require the decision maker listed in the Student Grievance Resolution Procedure to accept the request for consideration.

Late submission

A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.

Penalties for Late Submission

The following penalties apply to late submission of an assessment item, assuming that an extension has not been approved, and that late submission is academically possible (e.g., it does not delay feedback to a cohort, or interfere with course delivery).

First 7 periods of 24 hours (or part thereof) - 10% per 24 hours of the maximum possible mark for the assessment item. For example, a report worth a maximum of 40 marks, submitted 28 hours late will attract a penalty of 8 marks, calculated as 2 periods of 24 hours x 10% x 40 marks.

More than 7 periods of 24 hours - 100%.

Research Paper

Online

Mode: Written
Category: Paper/ Report/ Annotation
Weight: 70%
Due date: 26/05/2025 2:00 pm
Learning outcomes: L04

Task description

Students are required to present the findings of the project described in the proposal in an scholarly research paper of no more than 8,000 words. The word count includes headings, but excludes the footnotes and bibliography. Any text above the word count will be disregarded by the marker, as will any substantive discussion in the footnotes .

Submission guidelines

The Research Paper must be submitted by email directly to your supervisor AND electronically on the Blackboard site.

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

The maximum extension allowed is 7 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.

Extension to Assessment Due Date

Spoken or written notification of difficulties with assessment deadlines to a course coordinator or the School does not constitute an authorised extension.

Late submission

A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.

Penalties for Late Submission

More than 7 periods of 24 hours - 100%.

Course grading

Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.

Grade	Cut off Percent	Description
1 (Low Fail)	0 - 19	Absence of evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes.
2 (Fail)	20 - 47	Minimal evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes.
3 (Marginal Fail)	48 - 49	Demonstrated evidence of developing achievement of course learning outcomes
4 (Pass)	50 - 64	Demonstrated evidence of functional achievement of course learning outcomes.
5 (Credit)	65 - 74	Demonstrated evidence of proficient achievement of course learning outcomes.
6 (Distinction)	75 - 84	Demonstrated evidence of advanced achievement of course learning outcomes.
7 (High Distinction)	85 - 100	Demonstrated evidence of exceptional achievement of course learning outcomes.

Supplementary assessment

Supplementary assessment is available for this course.

Aims and outcomes

Learning resources

Learning activities

The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.

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Learning period	Activity type	Topic
Multiple weeks From Week 1 To Week 2 (24 Feb - 09 Mar)	Not Timetabled	Getting started In Weeks 1 and 2, students are to work through the self-directed learning modules about legal research and writing (see Blackboard for details), start reading into their interest areas and contact their supervisors to discuss project ideas. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04
Multiple weeks From Week 3 To Week 8 (10 Mar - 20 Apr)	Not Timetabled	Independent research under supervision (proposal) In this time, students will continue reading into their topics, refining questions, planning and writing proposals under the guidance of their supervisors. Students are also likely to start work on their research papers during this time. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04
Multiple weeks From Week 9 To Week 13 (28 Apr - 01 Jun)	Not Timetabled	Independent research under supervision (research paper) From Weeks 9 to 13, students will be undertaking independent research on their papers with guidance from their supervisors. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04

Learning resources

Policies and procedures

Research Project A (LAWS5183)

Course overview

Course requirements

Prerequisites

Incompatible

Restrictions

Course contact

Course coordinator

Timetable

Additional timetable information

Aims and outcomes

Learning outcomes

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment details

Research Proposal

Task description

Submission guidelines

Deferral or extension

Late submission

Research Paper

Task description

Submission guidelines

Deferral or extension

Late submission

Course grading

Supplementary assessment

Learning resources

Library resources

Additional learning resources information

Learning activities

Policies and procedures

School guidelines