Introducing research in law and beyond

This free course, Introducing research in law and beyond, is designed to introduce you to the skills required to develop and complete a legal research project. You will learn about the complexities of research, how to identify a research topic, how to conduct a literature review and how to develop research questions. This course also considers the uses and applications of information and data, research methods, the process of analysing information to draw valid conclusions, and explains how to write up a research proposal.

• Introduction
• Learning outcomes
• 1 Preparing for research: the research process
• 1 Preparing for research: the research process
• 2 Getting started
• 2 Getting started
• 2.1 Generate research ideas
• 2.2 Brainstorm
• 2.3 Scan
• 2.4 Mind maps
• 2.5 Decision trees
• 2.6 Using drawing techniques
• 2.7 Suitability analysis
• 2.7.1 Is the research question suitable and appropriate?
• 2.7.2 Is the research question suitable for stakeholders?
• 2.8 The difference between a topic and a research question
• 3 Literature review and referencing
• 3 Literature review and referencing
• 3.1 The purpose of a literature review
• 3.1.1 Different types of research
• 3.1.2 Different sources
• 3.1.3 Understanding existing research in your chosen area
• 3.1.4 Explaining relevant concepts and ideas
• 3.1.5 Contextualising your results
• 3.2 What to read?
• 3.2.1 Peer review
• 3.3 Searching the literature
• 3.3.1 Plan
• 3.3.2 Search
• 3.4 Gather
• 3.5 Analyse
• 3.5.1 Critically evaluating documents: the PROMPT system
• 3.6 Compare
• 3.7 Referencing
• 3.8 Using a reference management tool
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgements