On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1.  Analyse the foundational principles of their chosen thesis topic in law, undertake legal research with primary and secondary materials, and evaluate legal information.
2.  Apply the law to complex issues, and critique the operation of the law from a policy perspective, individually.
3.  Structure and sustain concise and cohesive written arguments for a legal audience.
4.  Conduct and analyse legal research, and write, individually.
5.  Analyse the impact of law from policy perspectives, and in the context of social and cultural diversity.
6.  Reflect on their abilities to effectively undertake individual work.

The course requires students to work alone with minimal supervision. It is an objective of the course to assist students to develop the organisational skills to work alone on a major research project.

There are no required resources for this course.

The course has no designated classes, and enrolment is by application only.  Successful applicants will be students with a GPA of at least 6, or with outstanding results in the particular subject area they wish to study and the recommendation of their potential supervisor based on individual past experience with that student.

Each student who applies to the course is responsible for undertaking individual discussions with their potential supervisor, a member of Academic Staff at the Adelaide Law School, to develop their research proposal.  This discussion must include the provision of an unofficial transcript to the potential supervisor, and discussion of their past achievements.

Once enrolled, students will meet and communicate to discuss the work with their allocated supervisor, on a schedule to be determined between the individual student and supervisor.

There will be a general MyUni course page, through which students will receive communication, but no course material.

There are no scheduled learning activities. It is expected that the supervisor and student will initially agree a provisional timetable for
submission of drafts.

ENTRY INTO THE COURSE
Candidates wishing to enrol in the dissertation should submit an application to the Dissertation Co-ordinator in accordance with the process set for that semester. This will usually involve preparing an outline of their proposed dissertation by the deadline advised by the Adelaide Law School, and speaking with potential supervisors about their availability and choice of topic. The topic outline should be about one to two A4 pages in length and provide a brief synopsis of the scope and purpose of the proposed dissertation. This will be assessed, along with the student's GPA and past achievements as demonstrated by the unofficial transcript, in order to determine if the student has the requisite base level of knowledge required to complete a large, individual research task to a high standard. Successful candidates will be enrolled before the semester commences.

Being a 6 unit course, students are expected to spend up to 24 hours a week during term time in the preparation of their dissertation.

The process of writing and supervising each dissertation is unique. The process is incapable of being precisely regulated. However, for the removal of uncertainty, it is appropriate that the relationship of candidate and supervisor should be governed by a statement of the minimum expectations and responsibilities of each party in academic terms. Both candidate and supervisor are encouraged to enter into a dynamic academic process which maximises contact for critical discussion and pastoral concern.

The Supervisor
The supervisor’s role is facilitative and advisory. The supervisor must recognise that the candidate is involved in a process, namely the writing of an extensive piece of legal research of which the candidate has little or no previous experience. Accordingly, it is the supervisor’s role to respond to the candidate’s requests for reasonable assistance and to provide an encouraging environment for the critical evaluation of the candidate’s progress. But the supervisor’s role is facilitative and advisory only. In particular, it is not the supervisor’s role to provide the candidate with a dissertation topic (although the supervisor may, and indeed generally will, offer advice in this regard). While it is not the supervisor’s role to seek out the candidate to check upon progress, it is advisable for supervisors to email a candidate who fails to attend their regularly scheduled meeting. If there is no response within a reasonable time the Dissertation Coordinator should be notified.

The particular responsibilities of the supervisor are:
- upon being informed of the identity of his/her candidate, to be available to meet the candidate as soon as possible and in any event not later than two weeks from the advice being given.
- at this initial meeting or soon thereafter, to inform the candidate: - at this initial meeting or soon thereafter, to comment critically upon the candidate’s selection of a dissertation topic leading to the supervisor’s approval thereof, in the light of any supervision, research, structural or presentation difficulties which in the  supervisor’s opinion may emerge.
- to be available to meet the candidate for a substantial discussion at least once a fortnight and to invite the candidate to discuss the regularity and need for meetings.
- to assist the candidate in making contact with outside agencies which may further the candidate’s research or to obtain research materials.
- to advise the candidate that the presentation of timely and sufficient drafts of the dissertation may enable problems to be detected at an early stage.
- to comment promptly and critically, whether orally or in writing, upon (a) the development of the themes, arguments and structure of drafts of the dissertation and (b) the style and presentation of these drafts and the observance of the scholarly conventions of writing.
- to comment promptly and critically in the same manner upon the final draft.

The Candidate
The candidate’s role is to produce the dissertation. The candidate has primary responsibility for the progress of the dissertation and the final decision upon any academic matter regarding the content of the dissertation rests with the candidate.

To this end, the particular responsibilities of the candidate are:
- upon being informed of the identity of their supervisor, to make contact with the supervisor as soon as possible and in any event no later than two weeks from the being informed of the allocation of a supervisor.
- at this initial meeting or soon thereafter, to provide their supervisor with their topic for critical comment leading to approval thereof. Any significant variation of the topic after approval must be likewise discussed with the supervisor and approved by the Dissertation Co-ordinator.
- to make contact with the supervisor to arrange meetings.
- to conduct research on the topic.
- to discuss the need for drafts of the dissertation with the supervisor and to prepare sufficient and timely drafts for critical comment.
- to develop the themes, arguments and structure of the dissertation and to avoid plagiarism by acknowledging sources of information and argument and to present the dissertation in a readable style observing the scholarly conventions of writing. It is
anticipated that the candidate will demonstrate an ability to carry out independent research, and to analyse and assess the material produced by that research and to express clearly and effectively the conclusions to be drawn from that analysis and assessment.
- to inform the supervisor of all significant matters affecting the progress of the dissertation and to discuss the academic impact of the same.
- to prepare a final draft of the dissertation for critical comment not less than fourteen days before the due date of submission or any extension granted.
- to prepare the final draft for submission and assessment by the appointed examiner.

Note:
These guidelines govern the relationship of candidate and supervisor only. In any case of difficulty or disagreement, candidates and supervisors are encouraged to discuss matters with the Dissertation Coordinator. In the event of the need for a change of supervisor during the production of the dissertation, the Dissertation Coordinator will arrange such meetings as are necessary to ensure a smooth transition between supervisors and candidate.

Assessment Item	% of final mark	Dates	Task Detail	Length	Learning Outcomes
Dissertation	100%	Due: Friday 30 October 2020 at 2.00pm	Individual	12,000 words	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Length of Dissertation
The word limit for the dissertation is strictly enforced. In presenting their dissertation candidates are required to incorporate a signed statement as to the length of their dissertation (main text and substantive footnotes are to be included in word length, while headings, bibliography, case list, list of contents, required declarations etc are excluded).

Style 
Citations and footnotes should follow the practice used by the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th Ed, 2018). A copy of the Australian Guide to Legal Citation is available from the reserve desk in the Law library. It is also available on the web at or from Melbourne University Law Review at relatively small cost. Pages of the dissertation should be numbered. If a candidate’s dissertation does not conform to the style set out in these guidelines the candidate will be required to rewrite and resubmit in the style designated in these guidelines.

Presentation
The dissertation must be presented in the following format.

The dissertation must be printed on A4 paper on one side only. The margin on the right hand side of the page should be approximately 2.5cm. The margin on the left hand side of the page should be wider, at least 3cm, to allow for binding.

Any one of the following fonts is acceptable: Times, Times New Roman, or Palatino.

The font size for the main text must be at least 12 pt.

The font size for footnotes must be at least 10pt.

The main body of the text should be double spaced.

For general rules relating to line spacing for quotations follow the Australian Guide to Legal Citation.

Footnotes may be single spaced.

It must contain a title page, table of contents and a bibliography.

The dissertation should have incorporated in it a signed statement to the effect that to the best of the candidate's knowledge and belief the dissertation contains no material previously published or written by another person except when due reference is made in the text of the dissertation, together with an acknowledgment of any help given or work carried out by another person or organisation. There should also be included a signed statement as to the word length of the dissertation (see 2 above).

Students should submit two (2) printed copies of their Dissertation. One of the two hard copies should be bound (comb, plastic, spiral, wire or wire-o bound types are appropriate). Students should factor the necessary time for binding into the completion of their thesis.

The Dissertation must also be submitted electronically via Turnitin.

Due Date - Dissertations must be completed and submitted by Friday 30 October 2020 at 2.00pm.

Extensions - Submissions to the course coordinator for an extension of time should be based only upon special or unforeseen personal or research circumstances.  As the dissertation must be engaged with, researched and written over a period of 12 weeks, significant circumstances will be required for an extension to be granted.  Please consider the Policy and make your application online on Unified.

Dissertations must be submitted by the due date in hard copy to the Law School Office and in electronic form to Turnitin (link available on MyUni).

Be sure to leave plenty of time to submit electronically, get a receipt and still get your hard copy in by the deadline.

The thesis supervisor and an independent examiner will mark the thesis. Having reached a mark independently, the supervisor and independent examiner will agree a final mark between them. If the supervisor and independent examiner cannot agree on a final mark, a further examiner will be appointed, and a majority position reached.

Courses for which a result of conceded pass has been obtained may not be presented towards the degree requirements for the Bachelor of Laws or the Honours Degree of Bachelor of Laws programs, or any postgraduate law program, nor to satisfy prerequisite requirements within any law course.

Finality of Assessment Grades

Students are advised that Course Coordinators will not enter into negotiations of any kind with any student regarding changes to their grades. It is irrelevant, in any given circumstance, that only a minimal number of additional marks are required to inflate a student’s grade for any individual assessment item or course as a whole. Pursuant to the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policyand the Adelaide Law School Assessment Policies and Procedures, grades may only be varied through the appropriate channels for academic review (such as an official re-mark).

Moderation

In accordance with the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, course coordinators ‘ensure that appropriate marking guidelines and cross-marking moderation processes across markers are in place’ in each course. Procedures adopted by Adelaide Law School to ensure consistency of marking in courses with multiple markers include:

• assurance of the qualifications of markers, and their knowledge of the content covered in each course;
• detailed marking guidelines and assessment rubrics to assist in the marking of items of assessment;
• sharing of example marked assessments at various grade bands across markers;
• reviewing of selected marked assessments from each marker by the course coordinator;
• comparison of the marks and their distribution across markers;
• automatic double-marking of all interim assessment receiving a fail grade, and of final assessments where a student’s overall result is a fail grade;
• the availability of re-marking of assessments in accordance with Adelaide Law School’s Assessment Policies and Procedures.

Approval of Results by Board of Examiners

Students are reminded that all assessment results are subject to approval (and possible moderation/change) by the Law School’s Board of Examiners. Assessment results at the University are not scaled. Under the Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, students are assessed ‘by reference to their performance against pre-determined criteria and standards … and not by ranking against the performance of the student cohort in the course’. However, under that same policy, the Board of Examiners (as the relevant Assessment Review Committee for courses at Adelaide Law School) is required to ‘ensure comparability of standards and consistency’ in assessment. On occasions, the Board of Examiners will form the view that some moderation is required to ensure the comparability of standards and consistency across courses and years, and accordingly provide fairness to all law students. All assessment results are therefore subject to approval (and possible change) until confirmed by the Board of Examiners and posted on Access Adelaide at the end of each semester.

The University Writing Centre provides academic learning and language development services and resources for local, international, undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students enrolled at the University of Adelaide.

The centre offers practical advice and strategies for students to master reading, writing, note-taking, time management, oral presentation skills, referencing techniques and exam preparation for success at university through seminars, workshops and individual consultations.

Lex Salus Program

Lex Salus (law and wellbeing) is an initiative of the Adelaide Law School aimed at destigmatising mental health issues; promoting physical, mental and emotional wellness; building a strong community of staff and students; and celebrating diversity within the school. It also seeks to promote wellness within the legal profession, through the involvement of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia, the Honourable Chris Kourakis, as the official Patron of the program.

Students can participate in the Lex Salus program by attending barbecue lunches, pancake breakfasts, knitting and crochet circles, seminars, guest speakers, conferences and other activities. Our Facebook page, website and regular all-student emails promote upcoming events, and have tips and information on wellness.

Our Lex Salus YouTube channel also includes videos on topics like managing stress, and interviews with LGBTQ lawyers and their supporters which celebrate diversity and individuality. Students who commit to 10 hours of volunteering with Lex Salus in one year can have their service recognised on their academic transcript and through a thank you morning tea with the Chief Justice and law school staff.

Student Life Counselling Support

The University’s Student Life Counselling Support service provides free and confidential service to all enrolled students. We encourage you to contact the Student Life Counselling Support service on 8313 5663 to make an appointment to deal with any issues that may be affecting your study and life.

Academic Honesty

Academic dishonesty is a serious act of academic misconduct. All students must be familiar with the University’s Academic Honesty Policy.

Academic dishonesty is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Academic dishonesty (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for a refusal by the Supreme Court of South Australia to admit a person to practice as a legal practitioner in South Australia.

Academic honesty is an essential aspect of ethical and honest behaviour, which is central to the practice of the law and an understanding of what it is to be a lawyer.