ALRM

Assessment
3
Summary
A. Introduction
The ALRM module is assessed by three pieces of coursework. The first two
pieces, equally weighted, amounted to 30% of the final module mark and were
submitted in semester one. The remaining 70% of the marks are allocated to the
third piece of coursework, which is due in the second semester and outlined in
this appendix. This coursework has two parts:
firstly, a design proposal for your LL.M. dissertation, and
secondly, a reflective diary providing details of the process of research which you
have undertaken for your Dissertation over a period of four weeks.
B. Submission of coursework
The date for submission of the design proposal and reflective diary is Friday 11th
April 2014. Submission is through this Turnitin link. Please upload both elements
(the design proposal and reflective diary) as one file.
A request for an extension to the submission date must go through the mitigating
circumstances procedure. Please see the LL.M. handbook or your PIP page for
further details. Unless you have an agreed extension, work submitted late will
receive zero.
C. General requirements
Please ensure your student number is on every page.
Unlike most other coursework assignments, there is no word limit. However
word guides have been included to help you in planning your submission. Note
that while there are no word limits it should be kept in mind that the expectation
is that you will be able to fulfil the requirements of the coursework within the
stated number of words.
There is therefore little advantage to be gained by exceeding the word guide;
indeed, it may be a disadvantage if your submission is not clear and to the point.
Details of the University guidance on plagiarism and other forms of cheating
were provided in the ALRM sessions. You are expected to comply strictly with
these requirements.
The coursework will be marked according to the assessment criteria for
coursework to be found in the ALRM handbook. Note that a failure to comply
with OSCOLA will result in a significant loss of marks.
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D. Using Dissertation research in this coursework
The basic purpose of this coursework is to test to what extent you have mastered
the research skills taught in the ALRM module. Research skills obviously cannot
be tested in the abstract therefore we use the early stages of your dissertation
research as the material by which you can demonstrate your mastery of these
skills. It is obviously essential that you have made a start with your Dissertation
research as without it, you cannot complete this piece of coursework. However
please note that this assessment does not constitute the final assessment for
your Dissertation: that comes later.
E. Guidance on how to complete Part 1 the Design Proposal
The first part of the coursework has a number of different aims. The main aim is
to enable an assessment to be made of the extent to which you have gained an
understanding of and are able to make use of the research skills covered in the
ALRM module. However it also offers the fringe benefit of providing you with an
important opportunity to clarify what it is that you will be attempting to do in
your dissertation and to receive feedback on your plans before you start the
process of writing up. You should, therefore, give close attention to the feedback
you receive for the ALRM coursework.
Part 1 is a design proposal for your Dissertation. It must be presented using the
following sub-headings:
Dissertation Title
If you have not yet settled upon a title, then one sentence outlining the topic of
the dissertation will suffice.
An Overview
This will briefly detail the proposed content of your Dissertation, including a draft
table of contents: in short, what is your research about? (about 400 words)
A Summary of the Argument
This section will identify the central argument you wish to make or the
hypothesis you wish to test in the Dissertation. Note that this should not simply
be a description of the subject-matter of your work. Rather it should answer the
question: what will your research prove? (about 400 words)
A Literature Review
Here, include a summary of the main primary and secondary sources you have
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already consulted. This summary also should include a brief discussion of the
views presented in those sources, the relevance of these views to your research
and a brief conclusion on further research required. (about 900 words)
Your coursework must be properly referenced using OSCOLA. References should
be footnoted and a bibliography (also consistent with OSCOLA) should be
attached to your Design Proposal.
F. Guidance on how to complete Part 2 the Reflective Research Diary
What is a research diary?
Individuals use diaries in everyday life to record their thoughts, experiences,
feelings and ideas. A research diary records the research process, focusing on
the methods used to find information on your research topic. For example, it
provides information on how you generated information on your chosen
research topic, what research terms you used for literature searches and how
these were generated, what literature searches you undertook, how you checked
the currency and accuracy of your information.
What is a reflective diary?
Diaries in everyday life are often used not merely to keep a record of thoughts
and experiences. The aim is often to understand better, to make sense of what is
felt or experienced. This is the aim of a reflective diary, to understand better and
to make progress as a result of reflecting on the research process. Reflective
practice is increasingly encouraged within teaching and learning as a way of
overcoming surface learning, over-dependence on lecturer contact and
promoting deeper understanding and independent and critical thinking.
Reflective practice requires just what it says: reflection. This means that students
are encouraged to think about what and how they learn. In the context of this
assessment exercise, the emphasis is on how you research.
A guide to Developing Reflective Practice in Legal Education by Karen Hinett
identifies four main purposes of reflection:
Reflection helps learners to
Understand what they already know (individual)
Identify what they need to know in order to advance understanding of
the subject (contextual)
Make sense of new information and feedback in the context of their own
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experience (relational)
Guide choices for further research (developmental).*
While you may often reflect on your research, what this exercise requires is that
you formalise this by describing and providing evidence of your reflection. Thus
your diary should not simply log the steps you take in carrying out research, it
should also provide evidence that you are engaged in reflective practice. For
example, you could provide information on why you have chosen to do a
particular search, how each step of the research process links to the next or to
previous steps, how your knowledge is developing at each stage of the process,
how this fits in with your overall strategy.
Requirements
You can choose to write up this part of the coursework as a daily or weekly
account of your research progress. If you choose to do the diary in this form, you
should write a brief introduction (no more than 200 words) of the research
undertaken before the commencement of the diary showing how your work in
the time covered in the diary fits within your overall research strategy.
Alternatively, you could write up this part in the form of a report covering the
period, using themes to structure the report.
Your diary or report must cover a period of 4 weeks which must begin at any time
after you submitted your Dissertation topic to Prof Cheyne.
You should aim to write 1500-2000 words for this part of the assessment.
*Karen Hinett, Developing Reflective Practice in Legal Education in T Varnava
(ed) UK Centre for Legal Education 2002
<http://www.ukcle.ac.uk/resources/personal-development-planning/reflection/>
accessed 16 September 2011, 1-2.