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The aim of the course is to provide students with the ways and means to comprehend, question, evaluate and produce a range of discourses relevant to legal contexts. To be successful academic writers, students need to be able to interact with other texts. To this end the course does not treat writing in isolation but views reading and writing as integral. In order to write successfully in an academic legal context, students need to be able to analyse texts for relevant material, synthesise ideas from a number of sources (including legislation, case reports, journal articles and textbooks) and apply their knowledge to the problem scenarios and essay titles presented to them in their own words.

On successful completion of this module a student will be able to:
1 Begin to critically analyse legal texts, and identify relevant and irrelevant material;
2 Begin to recognise and produce a range of academic genres such as explanation, exposition, description and argument
3 Begin to apply argumentation skills to academic writing, including establishing one’s own opinion, building a logical, coherent and well-structured argument around this and using evidence to back up an argument
4 Begin to use skills in synthesis, comparison, contrast and evaluation of information from different sources of information
5 Understand what constitutes plagiarism and developing strategies for avoiding plagiarism; • Begin to adopt a successful approach to the writing process including awareness of the importance of planning, drafting, editing and revising
6 Be able to apply knowledge from a range of sources to ‘problem scenarios’ and produce reasoned and appropriate legal advice

• Selecting and adopting successful reading strategies to cope with the academic task: skimming, scanning, gist reading, intensive reading
• Analysing the logic of legal texts: recognising the main purpose of a text; identifying key information and concepts; differentiating fact from opinion; understanding writer bias; identifying assumptions, recognising inferences and implications;
• Analysing the question: which genre? Understanding the features and attributes of key academic genres: explanation, exposition, description and argument; establishing the issues in problem scenarios;
• Exploring academic writing conventions: the introduction; the conclusion; the bibliography; citation;
• Understanding the different purposes of citation in order to make active decisions when to use direct citation; indirect citation; integral citation; non-integral citation; paragraph-long citation; phrase-long citation;
• Developing effective summarising and paraphrasing skills to operate alongside citational choices in order to build an effective strategy for avoiding plagiarism;
• Examining the writing process of planning, drafting, editing, revising in order to find a technique that suits the individual student;
• Exploring and resolving problems of content, form, audience, style;
• Ensuring the text has coherence and cohesion from sentence-level, to paragraph-level to whole-text-level;
• Structuring the argument around the question and using evidence to back up an argument by developing the skills of establishing an independent viewpoint whilst also acknowledging an established viewpoint;
• Developing effective editing skills;
• Using academic language: nominalisation;
• Applying law to factual situations in ‘problem scenarios’; the IRAC/CLEO technique.

There would be a mixture of input and practice sessions to teach the mechanics of academic writing. These would be complemented with workshops to produce individual mini projects which emphasise formative learning and allow students to explore each stage of the writing process by simulating authentic tasks.

Input & Practice Sessions: Topics for input and practice sessions to teach the mechanics of academic writing include:
• Unpicking the essay question;
• Citation & bibliographies;
• Introduction & conclusion;
• Nominalisation;
• Editing;
• Avoiding plagiarism: paraphrasing & summarising;
• Sentence-level coherence;
• Paragraph-level coherence & cohesion;
• Features of different genres, particularly the legal problem scenario.

Students would look at exemplars in order to distinguish successful texts from failing texts, then identify the key features of success. They would then be required to complete tasks to emulate successful practice in each of the areas listed above.

Workshops: Mini Projects: The project allows students to explore each stage of the writing process by simulating authentic tasks. Students use texts which build on existing knowledge but are not subject-specific. Students respond to the text by evaluating it, considering its purpose or otherwise illuminating it. They develop their own ideas by giving examples from the text, a process which automatically requires the development of summarising, paraphrasing and citation skills. After the process of critical reading and unpicking of a group of texts on a topic, a writing task is set which asks students to develop a stance on the issue and weave information from the texts into their writing. Assignments follow a process-centred approach so that students are exposed to strategies of planning, drafting and revising. The looks and feel of the student’s end product would be based on features of academic genres which appear in the legal disciplines

Method of Summative Assessment: Portfolio.
Learning Outcomes: 1,2&3.
Grading Mode: Numeric.
Weighting: 50%..
Pass Mark: 40.
Word Length: 1500.
Outline Details: Collection of short, formative assignments to be completed on a weekly basis.

Method of Summative Assessment: Essay.
Learning Outcomes: 3,4&6
Grading Mode: Numeric.
Weighting: 50%.
Pass Mark: 40.
Word Length: 1500.
Outline Details: Essay on a legal topic.

Nature of FORMATIVE assessment supporting student learning
There would be a mixture of input and practice sessions to teach the mechanics of academic writing. These would be complemented with workshops to produce individual mini projects which emphasise formative learning and allow students to explore each stage of the writing process by simulating authentic tasks

Students are not required to pass all elements of summative assessment in order to pass the course.