Purpose, Principles, and Pathways

3. Learning Outcomes

3.1 Overview

Learning outcomes describe what you should be able to know, understand and do by the end of the course. They provide:

•       The pathway to your learning;

•       A basis for how teaching activities are designed; and

•       It shows the criteria on which your assessed work will be judged.

The following results function at three levels:

1.     Programme-level outcomes - what you should achieve across the whole course.

2.     Domain-specific results - grouped under knowledge, skills, and professional attitudes.

3.     Module-level outcomes: more detailed abilities tied to individual modules

These are intentionally ambitious outcomes. It is not expected that you will achieve mastery of all of this in one lesson, or even in a couple of lessons; instead, you will develop over the eight lessons to reach this in the capstone project.

3.2 Programme-Level Learning Outcomes

By the end of Advanced Legal Research & Analytical Methods, you will be able to:

1.     Use advanced legal research methods to formulate complex legal questions and investigate them in relation to doctrinal, comparative, and socio-legal matters.

2.     carry out case analysis of judicial reasoning to determine accurately the reasoning of the court (ratio decidendi, obiter dicta) followed by judgment evaluation based upon precedent value.

3.     Apply knowledge of interpretative principles and aids to interpret statutes and regulations.

4.     Examine legal problems through a variety of lenses, such as comparison, doctrine, socio-legal, and critical, acknowledging the advantages and limitations associated with each approach.

5.     Make effective use of legal research tools, subscription-based sources such as Westlaw, LexisNexis, HeinOnline, as well as free access sources such as BAILII, legislation.gov.uk, etc., understanding their limitations as well as capabilities

6.     Produce well-structured legal research documents such as memos, briefing papers, and research papers in OSCOLA formatting and referencing

7.     Critically assess the interrelationship between law, policy, and society, including institutional, historical, and socio-economic contexts in which legal rules are made and applied.

8.     Effectively communicate, in writing and orally, the results of legal research in a persuasive manner, with attention to content, structure, and tone for various audiences such as judicial, academic, policy, or lay.

9.     Demonstrate ethical and professional standards in conducting legal research, including academic integrity, responsible use of digital tools and AI, and respect for confidentiality and vulnerable groups.

3.3 Knowledge, Skills, and Professional Attitudes

For added clarity, the outcomes for each program can be categorised into three areas:

3.3.1 Knowledge and Understanding

By the end of this course, you should:

·        Be able to comprehend the character and intents behind the practice of legal research.

·        Know the principal sources of law (legislation, case law, constitutions, treaties, regulation, soft law) and their hierarchy.

·        Understand court structure and the workings of precedents: binding and persuasive precedents.

·        Understand the key rules and tenets of judicial interpretation of statutes, such as the literal rule, golden rule, mischief rule, and purposive interpretation based on internal and external aids.

·        Know major legal research methodologies such as doctrinal, comparative, socio-legal, empirical, or critical, and their applicability in certain contexts.

·        Be able to produce a general overview of the legal frameworks for comparison and international laws, involving regional courts and international forums.

·        Grasp the fundamentals of academic/professional writing in the legal field, such as the presentation of arguments, the usage of footnotes, and the logic of OSCOLA citation..

3.3.2 Skills

Research and Analytical Skills

You should be able to:

Develop pointed research questions from a broad legal issue.

·       Formulate and execute a planned approach to research.

·       Find, retrieve, and update cases and laws from a number of databases.

·       Read cases, identifying key facts, issues, holdings, and rationales in legal decisions.

·       Apply, interpret, and evaluate statutory provisions against hypothetical as well as real-life cases, including their intended meanings.

·       Compare approaches towards legal problems in different legal systems or institutions.

·       Evaluate the authenticity and applicability of sources, such as electronic and AI-generated results.

·       Integrate analysis of doctrine with policy analysis, and where applicable, empirical research.

Writing and Communication Skills

You should be able to:

·        Organise written tasks in an orderly manner, using proper introductions, organisation, and conclusion.

·        Present legal arguments in an accurate and logical manner that distinguishes between description, analysis, and evaluation.

·        Rest on the OSCOLA citation guidelines for the citation of varied sources.

·        Write in styles suited to different settings (e.g., essays, policy analysis, policy recommendations).

·        Make effective oral presentations and use visual aids whenever appropriate.

·        Respond constructively to questions and feedback, both in written comments and live discussion.

Digital Literacy Skills

You are expected to be able to:

·        Browse and use the major legal databases such as Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis for searching.

·        To filter the results, use the Boolean operators and advanced searching features.

·        Use a reference management tool to manage citations and bibliographies.

·        Interact with AI tools with a necessary level of critical awareness of the capabilities and limitations of such tools and make sure the result is based on reliable sources.

3.3.3 Professional Attitudes and Values

When the course is completed, you should be able to:

·        There must be intellectual honesty, which involves crediting others’ work, refraining from plagiarism, as well as not misrepresenting others’ or one

·        Critical curiosity – doubting assumptions, considering alternative perspectives, and looking for a deeper level of understanding instead of accepting the conclusions drawn.

·        Respect for diversity and inclusivity - awareness of how law affects different groups in different ways and an open-minded approach to insights offered by feminist, critical race, and other forms of critical thought.

·        Ethical awareness – a concern for the practical effects of legal arguments and research findings, especially for vulnerable groups.

·        Professionalism – timely completion of tasks, effective interactions with peers and staff members, and the ability to present high-quality work.

3.4 Module-Level Learning Outcomes (Summary)

Specific elements from each module contribute to the overall outcomes. A quick summary is provided here, but the expected details for the beginning of every module is presented thereafter.

Module 1: Foundations of Legal Research

By the end of Module 1, you should be able to:

·        Describe the nature of law and its significance to research.

·        Know the difference between primary sources of law and secondary sources of law.

·        Find the appropriate jurisdiction and court hierarchy for a particular legal issue.

·        Outline a research plan, starting with a research question.

Module 2: Case Law Research

By the end of Module 2, you are expected to be able to:

•       Discover cases using a variety of research tools.

•       Analyse and summarise judgments in a formatted manner.

•       Discuss ratio decidendi and obiter dicta, and explain the principles of precedent.

•       Utilise citations in following the case history, treatments, and judicial review.

•       Prepare a case analysis report, integrating judicial rationale and notes on the importance of the case.

Module 3: Statutory Interpretation

By the end of Module 3, you will be able to:

·        Explain and apply the principal rules of statutory interpretation: literal, golden, mischief, purposive.

·        Apply internal aids (e.g. preambles, headings, schedules) and external aids (e.g. Hansard, law reform reports) appropriately.

·        Trace the legislative history of a provision and identify key amendments.

·        Take statutory provisions and apply them to factual hypothetical situations, explaining your analysis clearly.

 

Module 4: Legal Research Methodologies

By the end of Module 4 you should be able to:

·        Describe and differentiate doctrinal, comparative, socio-legal, empirical and critical approaches to legal research.

·        Evaluate the strengths and limitations of various methodologies for specific types of research questions.

·        Justify the adopted methodological approach for a research project proposal and sources of data for analysis.

·        Consider the ethical and practical implications of your methodological decisions.

Module 5: Digital Research Tools

At the completion of Module 5, the learner will be able to:

·        Perform efficient and systematic searches of key legal databases.

·        Leverage open source legal tools for supplementation of subscription-based research.

·        Organise a system for storing literature (reference management tools) you have read, and reuse in different applications.

·        Pay careful attention to using AI-assisted technologies, checking all information against reliable sources.

·        Prepare an annotated bibliography with proper OSCOLA citations.

Module 6: Comparative & International Research

At the end of Module 6, the learner will be able to:

·        Determine and explain proper rationale for comparing more than two legal systems.

·        Identify and explain foreign and international legal information.

·        Carry out research on international treaties, judgments of regional courts, and soft law.

·        Engage in a comparative analysis that deals with similarities and differences with a view to deriving lessons or implementing changes.

Module 7: Legal Writing & Presentation

Be able to, by the end of Module 7:

·        Plan, organise, and write a well-structured legal research report.

·        Adjust writing style and topics according to different target groups (academic, professional, policy).

·        Using OSCOLA properly on a wide variety of sources.

·        Prepare and present an oral presentation of legal research findings in a proper manner with the aid of visual or written materials.

Module 8: Capstone Project

At the completion of Module 8, a learner will be able to:

·       Develop a focused legal question investigated in a substantive project.

·       Choose and explain the appropriate method, incorporating relevant doctrinal and contextual information.

·       Carry out case and legislative analysis, utilising skills learned in the previous modules.

·       Synthesise your findings into a well-structured 3,000-word research report.

·       Condense key results and recommendations into a formal, confident, 10-minute presentation that reflects an awareness of the strengths, as well as weaknesses, inherent in your work.

3.5 Alignment with Assessment

Every formal assessment task in the course will test one or more of the listed learning outcomes above. In general terms:

•       The Case Analysis Brief (Module 2) highlights the areas of outcomes associated with case law research, judicial reasoning, or clear written communication.

•       The Methodology Justification (Module 4) assesses how well you comprehend methodologies used in research, as well as what you can reflect upon regarding methodologies.

•       The Comparative Analysis (Module 6) tests your comparative research skills on an international level, as well as your capacity for combining a doctrine-based perspective with a contextual perspective.

•       RESEARCH ESSAY (Module 7) enables you to expand your skills of written argument and referencing.

•       The Capstone Project (Module 8) integrates all the learning outcomes such that research planning, analysis, methodological rigour, ethics, and writing and communication skills for both the report and the project presentations.

The Assessment Rubrics in Section 13 below should be considered in conjunction with the learning outcomes. This will provide you with a clear understanding of what you are required to achieve in terms of your competence in your role as an advanced legal researcher. 

The following module, Module 1: Foundations of Legal Research, marks the beginning of an in-depth examination of skills and knowledge you will develop throughout the course.

What to do next

You have completed the introductory module. You may now take the Mini Quiz: Introduction to Advanced Legal Research & Analytical Methods