12 steps to success: producing a quality legal research paper

contributors | abstract | biographies

Contributors

Dr Terry Hutchinson and Natalie Cuffe (Queenland University of Technology (Australia))

Intended format

Paper presentation

Abstract

The task of producing a substantive academic paper on an independent research project is an important skill for post graduate and final year undergraduate law students. It requires the synthesis of legal research, academic writing, project conceptualisation and management skills. This project examines an online interactive legal research and writing web site developed to model these processes, and provide an online framework to support postgraduate students and those undergraduate students. The target group is those students undertaking a substantive academic research paper.

The modelling approach where one topic, in this case ‘Surrogacy’, is used as an example, is particularly beneficial for postgraduate international students. These students often come from non common law backgrounds and need additional assistance in understanding the common law research domain. A training vehicle such as this, focused on law students, is very innovative. The online product has the potential to be used by other universities for postgraduate, honours, and final year research projects. The project aspires to improve the quality of the legal research papers written and to provide students with the confidence in their enhanced work to seek publication of their substantive papers. This paper will report on evaluations of the site from an online student survey, and other feedback from focus groups conducted with research students and academic staff.

This project had its basis in an earlier 2001 QUT Faculty of Law Teaching and Learning Small Grant, ‘Effective Digital Dialogue for Successful Research Completions’ which enabled substantial enhancements to research training for postgraduate law students. (T.Hutchinson and Natalie Cuffe, ‘Legal Research Project Management: Skills Extension for Upper Level Law Students’ (2004) 38(2) The Law Teacher 159-181). Recent changes in educational research and software have suggested that there are new and better ways of addressing issues such as project timelines, methodology planning, concept mapping and research process diaries. This QUT Faculty of Law funded research is extending the prior work and seeking to provide tools to enhance student engagement and learning in law.

Short biographies of panel members

Dr Terry Hutchinson obtained her Doctor of Philosophy from Griffith University 2008 with a Thesis Title: Developing Legal Research Skills: Context, Framework and Practice, and her Masters in Legal Practice, QUT 1993 for a Thesis Title: Legal Research in Law Firms. She published the 3rd edition of her book Researching and Writing in Law in 2010. Dr Hutchinson’s specialist substantive areas are criminal law and access to justice with special emphasis on youth justice, refugee children’s rights and equalising opportunities in the law. Terry Hutchinson chairs the Queensland Law Society’s Equalising Opportunities in Law Committee, is a member of the Law Council of Australia Equalising Opportunities in Law Committee and serves on the Executive of the Australasian Law Teachers’ Association (ALTA). Terry has served as Editor in Chief of (2004-2008) and on the Editorial Committee (2008-) of the peer reviewed Legal Education Review. She is Founding Chair of the ALTA Law Research Series (ALRS) Editorial Committee.

Natalie Cuffe has taught legal research for 15 years. She was awarded her research Masters in 2003 for a thesis entitled “Legal information literacy – law students’ experiences and the implications for legal education curriculum development”. In 2002 she was awarded a Law Faculty Teaching Excellence Award and in 2004 received a Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award for her work on graduate attributes and legal research curriculum development and teaching. She publishes in the areas of legal research, information literacy, graduate attributes and legal education.

Last Modified: 9 December 2010