Unit information: Dissertation in 2020/21

Unit name	Dissertation
Unit code	LAWD30132
Credit points	40
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Professor. Phillipson
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	University of Bristol Law School
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Description including Unit Aims

This unit will enable students to carry out an extended piece of individual, legal research, resulting in a 10,000 word dissertation and a 1,000 word blog. This will be done under the close supervision of a member of staff, who will provide overall guidance and support and give successive rounds of feedback to the student on a detailed plan, chapter and full draft of the dissertation.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit a successful student will be able to:

1. Demonstrate that they can carry out independent legal or socio-legal research.
2. Demonstrate in-depth understanding of primary and secondary sources in their subject area.
3. Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of a given topic and critically engage with it.
4. Demonstrate that they can plan and investigate a theory or argument in a particular area of law.
5. Demonstrate they can construct and sustain a coherent argument through an article-length dissertation
6. Demonstrate that they can summarise a complex argument in blog-form, using a more accessible and informal style of writing, as appropriate to this format.

Teaching Information

Five introductory lectures and structured contact with Project Adviser.

Assessment Information

2 x summative assessments:

• 10,000 word dissertation (90%) (ILOs 1-5)
• 1,000 word blog (10%) (ILO 6)

The assessments will assess all of the intended learning outcomes for this unit.

Reading and References

Supervisors set initial starting points for reading. Each project title has a list of starting points; these are books, articles, documents, decisions or other material, which act as a springboard for further research. These starting points should be used to identify a research question and a set of issues that will be addressed in the essay. The starting points will help identify sources for further research; thereafter students must generate their own reading and references.