LAW7130 Advanced Legal Research Methods Assessment Brief 2026 | BCU

LAW7130 Assessment Brief 

MODULE TITLE: Advanced Legal Research Methods (MAIN)

MODULE CODE: LAW7130

MODULE LEADER: Lamin Daffeh

HAND IN DATE: 1 April 2026, 11:59pm

Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria Specific to This Assignment:

On completion of this assignment, students should be able to demonstrate their ability to:

• To gain advanced knowledge of legal research methods, design and process to support autonomous legal research.
• To critically review the extent and nature of existing legal research on a chosen topic within the scope of the postgraduate programmes in law.
• To apply knowledge of advanced legal research methods to formulate a proposal for critical legal research on a chosen topic within the scope of the postgraduate programmes in law.
• To present a scholarly plan of research in a format compliant with

Transferable Skills

This assessment will assist in development of the following transferable skills:

• Critical analysis
• Academic Writing
• Legal research and research methods
• Independent project management

Penalties for late submission

At time of publication the rules regarding late submission of work are:

• Assessments submitted up to 1 hour after the published deadline will receive no
• Assessments submitted between one and 24 hours after the published deadline will be reduced by 5% of the actual mark given by the tutor.
• Assessments submitted between 24 hours and five working days after the published deadline will be reduced by 10% of the actual mark given by the tutor.
• Work submitted more than five working days after the published deadline will not be marked and the student will be deemed to have failed an attempt at the assessment.

If a student has a support statement specifying additional time to complete coursework, the penalties will only apply from the alternative deadline provided by the statement.

Importance of Taking Assessments

It is important that you complete your assessment, otherwise it is classed as a failed attempt (unless you have made a successful EC claim relating to Extenuating Circumstances).

If you fail any of your modules you will have to re-take it, although there are limits on the number of times that you can re-take and you may even have to re-study a module you have failed.

Having to re-sit or re-study modules means that your workload will be increased and you will be putting yourself under more pressure. You may even be liable to incur more fees if you are required to re-study a module.

The university does appreciate that there are times when you may be unable to take an assessment due to circumstances outside your control such as illness. If this is the case you need to make a formal claim for an extension or deferral, as without this you are expected to submit within the standard guidelines.

No tutor, module leader or course leader can grant any form of extension to the published deadlines – this is done by a separate team within the university to ensure consistency and fairness for all. For full guidance on what constitutes an exceptional circumstance and how to make a claim, please visit the Extenuating Circumstances page on iCity; you can also contact the Student Support Team for help.

1. Assessment Overview

1.1 Method of Assessment

The assessment consists of coursework worth 100% of your final grade.

To pass this module, you must achieve a final overall mark of at least 50%. If your mark is less than 50%, you will be required to retake the assessment.

1.2 Deadlines & Submission

The deadline for submissions is: 4 April 2026, 11:59pm

Work must be submitted online via the link provided in the Assessment area of the module’s Moodle site. Please follow the University policy regarding online submission and submitting assessed material on time (see Page 2).

Please retain a copy of your original assessment material for your own records.

1.3 Word Count

The maximum word count for your assignment is: 2500 words. There is a 10% leeway on either side of the word count.

1.4 Assignment format

The formatting requirements are as follows:

• Word processor: please use Microsoft Word (available for free through BCU) and submit as a word document (not as a PDF)
• Font: Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial
• Text size: 11 or 12
• Line spacing: double
• Margin size: normal
• Page numbering: include in header or footer
• Quotations: long quotations should be in a separate paragraph and indented, with single line spacing
• Footnotes: same font as main text, font size 10, single line spacing
• Referencing: you must use the OSCOLA guide to citations to style both your footnotes and bibliography.
• Word count: you must state both the word limit and the number of words used on the cover sheet

Cover sheet: you must attach the cover sheet, including your student number. Do not include your name anywhere to allow for anonymous marking.

Material should be written in formal English and structured in a clear way to ensure that ideas are expressed effectively.

ALL facts, concepts and quotations should be referenced as appropriate using the OSCOLA referencing system.

1.5 Tutor support

Support is available at any time throughout this module; simply contact your tutor if you need help. There are opportunities for practice (formative) tasks and assessments throughout the module. These will help you prepare for this final (summative) assessment.

Detailed feedback on draft work is not possible other than where a draft submission forms part of the formative assessment process. However, if you have any specific queries, or need additional support, you can contact your tutor at any time up to one week prior to the deadline

Please note that tutors are unable to indicate a provisional grade for your work at any point prior to the official release date. As such, it is requested that you do not ask tutors what grade your work is likely to achieve prior to final submission.

1.6 Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct

Any work you submit must be your own original work. Any work that is plagiarised – this means submitting any item of assessment which contains work produced by someone else in a way that makes it look as though it is your own work – will be subject to an academic misconduct review. This includes ‘self-plagiarism’ – you are not allowed to re-use work or significant sections from work, which you have already submitted for an assessment.

You are also not allowed to collude with others to produce work unless your assessment brief specifically outlines group work. Collusion means working with at least one other person to produce a piece of work that you then pass off as your own. You can discuss ideas for the work with other students, but you must not work with them to produce a piece of work together, you must not copy or share another student’s work, and you must not lend your work (including drafts) to another student to allow them to copy your work.

If your piece of work is very similar to that of another student, you are likely to be accused of collusion. If you are found to have made your work available for another student to copy all or part of it, you may be referred for disciplinary action even after you have completed your award and are no longer a student of the University. You must not also falsify information, resources or data in any way.

These, and any other types of academic misconduct that are likely to give you an unfair advantage in an assessment, will be referred for investigation. Academic misconduct threatens the standards of awards we make, so we take this matter extremely seriously indeed and any student found guilty of this will have penalties applied and in the most serious of cases students with be withdrawn from the course.

2. Assessment Brief

You must design your own research project, which is related to the course content. Your research plan must include the following elements:

1. A project title;
2. An introduction to your research topic;
3. Your research question;
4. The aim and objectives of your research;
5. Your main argument;
6. A literature review targeting the main debates, issues, or themes in relation to your research question and main argument;
7. The methodological approach to your project;
8. A proposed chapter breakdown;
9. A consideration of the ethical implications of the research proposal;
10. A bibliography and appropriate referencing using the OSCOLA referencing

3. Guidance Notes

• The topic you choose for your research plan must be related to your course of
• The title should tell the reader what it is your project is Think of how academic journal articles are titled – your title should be set in the same type of format.
• The introduction to your project proposal should set out what area of law you are researching and what the main issue is that you want to address within your project proposal.
• Your research question must allow you to critically analyze a law, policy or normative issue relevant to
• Set out your aim (goal) of your research and your objectives (how you’re going to reach your goal). Make sure that you are clear about what it is you intend to achieve with your project and how you are going to achieve
• You will need to take a position on your question (i.e. set out what it is you intend to argue) – This will form the basis of your main argument.
• Your research question, aims, objectives, and main argument need to align with one another to that one follows from the other.
• Your literature review should detail the main debates, issues or themes on your chosen topic and you should frame your discussion in relation to your research question and main You must situate your project within the main debates, issues, or themes that you’ve discussed.
• The section on methodology should detail the methodological approach and how it will inform your research. You will need to link this specifically to your proposed project.
• The chapter breakdown should include the chapter titles, as well as the proposed content for each The proposed content can be brief, but it must provide insight into what the aim and discussion will be within the particular chapter. Stronger chapter breakdowns will include an indication of the argument being made in the chapter.
• You will need to include a consideration of the ethical implications of your research. For instance, you should think about whether or not your project poses any ethical issues either by conducting the research and/or through its dissemination.
• You must use the OSCOLA referencing system for both your footnotes and
• Remember to abide by the assignment format detailed above in section 4.

4. Marking Criteria

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