Writing Law Dissertations: An Introduction and Guide to the Conduct of Legal Research

by Michael Salter, Julie Mason

Adopting a highly practical approach, this book shows the reader how to research and write a dissertation, covering the various stages - planning, identifying key issues, utilising the appropriate research methods, time management issues, and managing one,s supervision. This book covers legal dissertation level research, embracing both LL.B. (undergraduate) and the specific demands of LL.M. dissertations.

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

My work is focused on the intersections of gender, violence and culture and the ways in which violence is made meaningful by victims, perpetrators and others. Ongoing research interests include: child sexual abuse and its impacts across the lifespan, medico-legal responses to gendered violence, mental illness and substance abuse in traumatised populations, the role of online and digital technology in representations of violence, and the cultural significance of crime and violence. My background is in public health and public policy, and I've worked in the non-government and university sectors in translating research into policy and practice. My work aims to combine theoretical and empirical insights to inform work in a range of areas, including social work, child protection, therapy and counselling, policing and the law.

Research

I am currently a co-investigator on a Criminology Research Council funded grant addressing the social and legal aspects of young people's sexual use of digital and online technology with colleagues from the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales. In addition to this project, I am undertaking research in a number of diverse areas including: the use of social media by victims of gendered violence to challenge legal processes, the fetishisation of technology in crime control and politics, the phenomenon of multi-perpetrator domestic violence and the significance of ethnicity and culture in media reporting on organised sexual abuse.

I have recently completed a study of adult survivors of organised sexual abuse, and a study of sexually abused clients in the alcohol and drug sector with Dr Jan Breckenridge (UNSW). These projects involved qualitative research with traumatised populations, which continues to be an area of interest for me.

Source: http://www.uws.edu.au/school-of-socia...

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good theoretical book for law students about to set out on the journey of writing a dissertation. The book is divided along the lines of types of legal dissertations approaches - black letter, socio-legal and historical comparison. In itself it is very useful, however it would benefit from more model examples as well as graphic representations to summarise information. It needs more visual aids - in this day and age I am surprised that a publisher has not considered pictures or tables summarising approaches. I think this may put the students off an otherwise good source book.