12 steps to success: producing a quality legal research paper

12 Steps to Success: Producing

a Quality Legal Research Paper

Dr Terry Hutchinson Natalie Cuffe

Queensland University of Technology

Dr Terry Hutchinson and Natalie Cuffe, QUT, Learning in Law January 2011

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This Presentation covers

1. A statement of the project2. Background and context3. The literature and theoretical framework4. Describing the Project and the Rationale

behind the 12 Steps 5. Critiquing the Project


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The Project*

To develop an interactive legal research and writing web site to provide an online framework to support postgraduate law students (and those undergraduate law students studying in final year research units and elective research projects) in undertaking a substantive academic paper.

*Funded by the QUT Faculty of Law Teaching and Learning Grant Scheme


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Background and Context• Researcher credentials - prior grant on

project management, Researching and Writing in Law 3ed/ journal articles/ Learning Legal Research (Thomson), history of QUT legal research skills training

• The importance of this project given HDR agendas (ERA), plagiarism and ethics (Aust Code for Responsible Conduct of Research)

• General HDR resources QUT - ATN E-Grad School / InfoScholar /Portia /APLN

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Context of Research ManagementCritical and Creative ThinkingCritical WritingEntrepreneurial FoundationsEthicsKnowledge Transfer and Research CommercialisationLeadership and Workplace CommunicationManaging Research CareersProject Management for ResearchPublic Policy and ResearchPrinciples and Practice of Research ManagementR&D Management ProjectPractice-Led Research in Creative Arts, Media and DesignRisk ManagementStrategic Issues in Research Management

ATN

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AP

http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/execute/viewCatalog?sortCol=identifier&numResults=15&type=Course&id=_2741_1&sortDir=DESCENDING


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University Generic Resources e-Grad School (Australia) http://

www.egradschool.edu.au/All online postgraduate resources for students, supervisors and research managers eg Modules on Research Education (MORE)

InfoScholar to help develop advanced skills in finding and analysing information crucial to successfully completing a research degree.

QUT On-line training resources http://www.rsc.qut.edu.au/studentsstaff/training/qutresources.jsp#qips

http://www.egradschool.edu.au/




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Portia at QUT

The Postgraduate Office Research Training Information Assistant (PORTIA) is a web-based system to support postgraduate research students and supervisors with management of postgraduate research. It allows students and supervisors to create a research plan, assign tasks/goals, record meetings/consultations, notes and other important events related to research.


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The literature and theoretical framework

• Importance of research skills in the postgraduate curriculum including project planning and management, lifelong learning, research process rather than sources

• Teaching as conversation• Education theory - students seeing

examples and modelling process /constructive alignment (Biggs)

• Blended delivery and instructional design (Laurillard)

• Understanding differences in legal systems and research paradigms


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Literature on research skills and lifelong learning

legal education should focus on what lawyers need to be able to do rather than anchored around restrictive and outdated notions of what lawyers need to know (ALRC, 1999 at para 2.21).

Importance of research skills (information literacy), project planning and management in post graduate curriculum


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Literature on contemporary higher education learning

Education theory - students seeing examples and modelling process /constructive alignment (Biggs)

Shift away from transmission and behavioural styles of teaching and learning (information acquisition) (Ramsden) and more towards a constructivist approach viewing learning as knowledge construction (Mayer)

Teaching as conversation

Laurillard provides an alternative teaching and learning system characterising the process as a iterative “conversation” (Conversational Framework)(Laurillard,2002)


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Laurillard’s Conversational Framework


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Literature on blended delivery and instructional design

Blended delivery recognises some combination of virtual and physical environments. For example Garrison and Vaughn define blended learning as “the thoughtful fusion of face-to-face learning and online learning experiences” and emphasise the need for reflection on traditional approaches and for redesigning learning and teaching in an online environment.

Learning is promoted when new knowledge is demonstrated to the learner and when new knowledge is applied by and integrated into the learner’s world (Merril - principles of instructional design)


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“there is a serendipity of education, legal education and information technology in education theories in emphasizing student centred, independent, situated, contextual, active and reflective learning......... Communications and Information Technology (C&IT) can … provide conversational space beyond the classroom” [emphasis added] (Paliwala, 2001).

Using a ‘point of need’ approach

1: Choosing a Topic2: Generating Hypothesis and Objectives

3: Identifying Conceptual Framework

4: Choosing Methodologies5: Implementing Methodologies 6: Research Planning

8: Working with your Supervisor

7: Documenting your Research

9: Writing the Proposal10: Oral Presentation

11: Writing the Literature Review

12: Writing the Paper

writingresearch

paper


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Why these steps?

• Reflects research and writing process• Articulating a framework and steps that those

more experienced undertake intuitively• Linear framework, presents all the elements,

exposes students to all aspects, some will be more important than others depending on the individual student and project of choice


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What are we trying to achieve?

• An enhanced postgraduate law student experience

• Enhanced skills development• An improvement in the quality of the legal

research papers being written by the postgraduate students

• An ultimate increase in the number of postgraduate students who submit their research papers for publication


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How have we gone about this?

• Selecting a topic to model• Investigating software tools• Content development• Graphics and creative design• Feedback• Ethics approval and evaluation


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In what way is this program different from what is already available?

• the framework for organising the project, • information on each step in the process, • suggestions for software that might guide and record the research process

and aid information sharing and feedback, • information on how to use the software,• examples of the use of the software, • all examples based on one legal topic which is surrogacy,• this topic is generally accessible, resource rich and readily understood by

lawyers from diverse work experience backgrounds, or trained in differing legal systems,

• examples of each step in the process using this topic so that there is a research paper on surrogacy,

• reflections on and critique of each step in the research process, and• further reading and sources of assistance in undertaking each step.


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How does the website work?

• Hyperlinks, site map, software, examples, critique and reflection, further reading,

• Community Site so other units beyond Postgrad research unit can link in to it

• Future enhancements? Developing Interactivity? Website beyond BB? More fluid, blogs, creating online research community?

• Testing and Evaluation


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Research Planning


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Assessing the Approach

Advantages• BB is cheap and easy to mount

on the QUT internal system• Breaks down the research into

components or chunks which should simplify the process

• Provides examples as guidance

• Connects with other general materials available

Disadvantages• BB has limited graphics

capabilities and is not as fluid or attractive as a website

• Students may struggle with the software and need hands on instruction

• Very linear approach – and research is anything BUT linear


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Feedback

• ‘overall I found the 12 steps site to be extremely useful’

• Themes – information new and pertinent examples useful software new and useful suggestions for FAQs, vodcasts reading lists need to link to fulltext Wordle - steps need to be numbered


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Peer FeedbackComments?1. Look and feel of site? Professionalism & usefulness for

international students2. Usefulness of surrogacy example?3. Have we left anything out?4. Uses beyond what is envisaged? (Not directly tied into

assessment at this point – simply a reinforcement with examples of what is happening in class)

5. More interactivity planned for site in future … any suggestions … blog, supervisor/student conversations?

Questions?


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