LEGAL RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY
LLM 2021-22

COURSE INSTRUCTORS
PROF. (DR.) SARBANI SEN, DR. MIZANUR RAHAMAN, DR. KHUSHBOO CHAUHAN
Course Instructor:

Khushboo Chauhan
Assistant Professor, JGLS

1. AIM

This course seeks to provide an integrated training in legal research and methods
appropriate for conducting research. In this course, Post Graduate research
students will become acquainted with different methodological traditions and
choices in legal research, such as doctrinal, comparative, and socio-legal
research. The course will also introduce Post graduate students to various
theoretical approaches to legal research as well as provide an understanding of
various ethical issues that arise in social science or legal research.

2. OBJECTIVES

At the end of this course students should have:

a. Insight into the objectives of academic research and writing;

b. Knowledge of different procedures and approaches to carrying out
research;
c. Knowledge about different debates surrounding knowledge production
and academic research;
d. Understanding of various strategies to answer research questions;
e. The ability to adopt or choose various research methods;
f. Understanding about the need to ensure ethical conduct in carrying out
research.

3. MODULE MATERIALS

Recommended Readings:

Howard S Becker (2007) Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your
Thesis, Book, or Article (2nd Ed.), Chicago and London: University of Chicago
Press.

Wayne C Booth et.al., (2008) The Craft of Research (3rd Ed.), Chicago and London:
University of Chicago Press.

Gail Craswell and Megan Poore (2012) Writing for Academic Success (2nd Ed.),
London: Sage.

Mark Tushnet and Peter Cane (2005) (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Legal
Studies, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Peter Cane and Herbert M Kritzer (2010) (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Empirical
Legal Research, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mike McConville and Wing Hong Chui (2017) (eds.) Research Methods for Law (2nd
Ed.), Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

For each Module, there is a list of ‘Required Readings’. They are essential to
preparation for the relevant modules. Module Materials are sourced from primary
and secondary sources. Materials provided are non-exhaustive. In addition,
concerned faculty member handling the module may introduce further reading
material which may be used to enhance your understanding or to stimulate
additional research and reflection.

4. APPROACH

Course is imparted through lectures, student discussions and class exercises.

5. PREPARATION

Students must read the texts included in the materials for each week. Students
may also be invited at the start of the session to volunteer to lead discussions.
Each session demands approximately eight hours of prior preparation.

6. METHOD OF ASSESSMENT

Part Assignment Deadline for Marks

submission
1 Quiz and/or Exercises To be confirmed 30
2 Research Essay To be confirmed 35

3 End-Term (Detailed To be confirmed 35

Dissertation Proposal)
TOTAL 100

7. CREDITS

This is a 3 credits course.

8. Grading Scheme
Percentage of Marks Grade Grade Value Grade Description

80 and above O 8 Outstanding – Exceptional

knowledge of the subject
matter, thorough
understanding of issues;
ability to synthesize ideas,
rules and principles and
extraordinary critical and
analytical ability

75 – 79 A+ 7.5 Excellent - Sound knowledge

of the subject matter,
thorough understanding of
issues; ability to synthesize
ideas, rules and principles and
critical and analytical ability

70 – 74 A 7 Very Good - Sound

knowledge of the subject
matter, excellent
organizational capacity,
ability to synthesize ideas,
rules and principles, critically
analyse existing materials and
originality in thinking and
presentation

65 – 69 A- 6 Good - Good understanding

of the subject matter, ability
to identify issues and provide
balanced solutions to
problems and good critical
and analytical skills

60 – 64 B+ 5 Fair – Average
understanding of the subject
matter, limited ability to
identify issues and provide
solutions to problems and
reasonable critical and
analytical skills

55 – 59 B 4 Acceptable- Adequate
knowledge of the subject
matter to go to the next level
 Percentage of Marks Grade Grade Value Grade Description

of study and reasonable

critical and analytical skills.

50 – 54 B- 3 Marginal- Limited
knowledge of the subject
matter and irrelevant use of
materials and, poor critical
and analytical skills
Pass 1: Pass with Basic
P1 45 - 49 2 understanding of the subject
matter.
Pass 2: Pass with Rudimentary
P2 40 - 44 1 understanding of the subject
matter.
Fail: Poor comprehension of the
subject matter; poor critical and
F Below 40 0 analytical skills and marginal use
of the relevant materials. Will
require repeating the course.
‘P’ represents the option of
choosing between Pass/Fail
grading system over the CGPA
grading system in the COVID 19
semester in Spring 2021. The
P Pass
option is provided when students
attain a minimum of 40
percentage marks under the
current grading structure in a
given subject.
Extenuating circumstances
preventing the student from
completing coursework
assessment, or taking the
examination; or where the
I Incomplete Assessment Panel at its discretion
assigns this grade. If an "I" grade
is assigned, the Assessment Panel
will suggest a schedule for the
completion of work, or a
supplementary examination.

In order to the pass the course, there shall be a minimum of 30% of marks in the end-
term/external component. End-term/external component being a test of students’ overall
knowledge in the subject, it is essential that one should obtain minimum grades in that
component. There are no minimum pass marks in the internal component.
 9. Online Sources and Plagiarism

Online Sources
Online sources can be classified into reliable, unreliable and outright bogus. The
Internet is an open domain in which all and sundry can create web pages and
indulge in propaganda, falsification or misrepresentation of events. Please avoid
sources like Wikipedia that might provide generic but unverified information
about certain aspects of international banking.

The few sources that can help you with basic information and which are fairly
unbiased are: websites of established newspapers, magazines and journals.
Student should always consult with the instructors about the veracity and
authenticity of a particular website and its suitability for researching topics
covered in this syllabus.

Plagiarism
Any idea, sentence or paragraph you cull from a web source must be credited
with the original source. If you paraphrase or directly quote from a web source
in the exam, presentation or essays, the source must be explicitly mentioned.
You SHOULD NOT feel free to plagiarise content, be it from scholarly sources (i.e.
books and journal articles) or from the Internet. The university has strict rules
with consequences for students involved in plagiarism. This is an issue of
academic integrity on which no compromise will be made, especially as
students have already been trained in the perils of lifting sentences or paragraphs
from others and claiming authorship of them.

10. COURSE STRUCTURE

Module Topic Reading Material

1 Academic Research and Writing Required Readings:
(Week 1)

Badley, G (2009) ‘Academic Writing

as Shaping and Re-shaping’, 14(2)
Teaching in Higher Education, pp
209-219.

Richardson, L and St. Pierre, E A

(2005) ‘Writing: A Method of
Inquiry’ in Norman K Denzin and
Yvonna S Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage
 Handbook of Qualitative Research,
London: Sage, pp 959–978,
(selected pages – 967 - 975)

Chapter 3 – ‘Essentials of
Academic Writing’ in Gail Craswell
and Megan Poore (2012) Writing
for Academic Success (2nd Ed.),
London: Sage.

2 Introduction to Legal Research Required Readings:

(Week 2)
Chynoweth, P (2008) ‘Legal
Research’ in Andrew Knight and
Les Ruddock (eds.) Advance
Research Methods in the Built
Environment, West Sussex, UK:
Blackwell, pp 28-38.

Mæhle, Synne S (2017) ‘Pursuing

Legal Research’, 2017 Law and
Method, pp 1-14.

Siems, M (2008) ‘Legal Originality’,

28(1) Oxford Journal of Legal
Studies, pp 147-164.

3 Ethical Concerns (Week 3) Israel, M (2017) ‘Research Ethics and

Plagiarism and Research Misconduct Integrity in Socio-legal Research and
a. Deception Legal Research’ in Mike McConville
b. Falsification and Wing Hong Chui (eds.) Research
c. Fabrication Methods for Law (2nd Ed.), Edinburgh:
d. Privacy Edinburgh University Press, pp 180-
e. Anonymity 204.

Whiliot, S. “Helping students avoid

plagiarism” Vol. 42, No. 4, (1994),
a. Types pp.161-164.
b. Consequences
c. Academic Referencing Stolley, K. & Brizee, A. , “Avoiding
Plagiarism” Online Writing Lab, Purdue
University, available at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
owlprint/589/
 OSCOLA REFERENCING
https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-
subject-groups/publications/oscola

4 Practice, Feedback and Required Readings:

Discussion Session
N/A

5 Methodology and Method (Week Required Readings:

5)
Chapter 4 – ‘The Meanings of
Methodology’ in W. Lawrence
Neuman (2014) Social Research
Methods: Qualitative and
Quantitative Approaches (7th Ed.),
Essex, England: Pearson (Selected
Pages).

Klink, Bart v and de Vries, B (2013)

‘Skeptical Legal Education: How to
Develop a Critical Attitude?’, 2013
Law and Method, pp 37-52.

Sokhi-Bulley, B (2013) ‘Alternative

Methodologies: Learning Critique
as a Skill’, 2013 Law and Method,
pp 6-23.

6 Developing a Research Proposal Required Readings:

(Week 6)
Chapter 3 – ‘Developing Your
Ideas’ in Colin Robson (2002) Real
World Research: A Resources for
Social Scientists and Practitioner-
Researchers (2nd Ed.), Oxford, UK:
Blackwell.

Chapter 5 – ‘Proposal writing:

explaining your research to

7 Framing Research Questions
(Week 7)
8 Literature Review (Week 8 and 9)
a. What is Literature Review
How to write a Literature Review
institutional review boards,
instructors, supervisory
committees, and funding agencies’
in Sarah J Tracy (2013) Qualitative
Research Methods: Collecting
Evidence, Crafting Analysis,
Communicating Impact, West
Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Required Readings:
Pryor, J (2010) ‘Constructing
Research Questions: Focus,
Methodology and Theorisation’ in
Pat Thomson and Melanie Walker
(eds.) The Routledge Doctoral
Student’s Companion, Abingdon,
Oxon: Routledge, pp 161-171.
Brown, A (2010) ‘Research
Questions: What’s Worth Asking
and Why?’ in Pat Thomson and
Melanie Walker (eds.) The
Routledge Doctoral Student’s
Companion, Abingdon, Oxon:
Routledge, pp 172-183.
Required Readings:
Chapter 1 – ‘The Literature Review
in Research’ in Chris Hart (2007)
Doing a Literature Review:
Releasing the Research
Imagination, London: Sage, pp 1-
25.
Chapter 5 – ‘How to Review the
Literature Review and Conduct
Ethical Studies’ in W. Lawrence
Neuman (2014) Social Research
Methods: Qualitative and
Quantitative Approaches (7th Ed.),
Essex, England: Pearson, pp 125-
145.
9 Practice, Feedback and Required Readings:
Discussion Session
N/A

10 Doctrinal Legal Research Required Readings:

(Week 11)
Smits, Jan M (2015) ‘What is Legal
Doctrine? On the Aims and
Methods of Legal-Dogmatic
Research’, M-EPLI Working Paper
No. 2015/06.

Snel, Marnix V A (2014) ‘Source-

usage within doctrinal legal
inquiry: choices, problems, and
challenges’, 2014 Law and
Method, pp

Hutchinson, T and Duncan, N

(2012) ‘Defining and Describing
What We Do: Doctrinal Legal
Research’, 17(1) Deakin Law
Review, pp 83-119 (Selected
Pages).

11 Comparative Legal Method Required Readings:

(Week 12 )
Glen, H Patrick (2006) ‘Aims of
Comparative Law’ in Jan M Smits
(ed.) Elgar Encyclopedia of
Comparative Law, Cheltenham, UK:
Edward Elgar, pp 57-65.

Hoecke, Mark V (2015)

‘Methodology of Comparative
Law’, 2015 Law and Method, pp 1-
35.

Tourkochoriti, I (2017)
‘Comparative Rights Jurisprudence:
An Essay on Methodologies’, 2017
Law and Method, pp 1-26.
 Mak, E (2015) ‘Watch Our for the
Under Toad: Role and Method of
Interdisciplinary Contextualisation
in Comparative Legal Research’,
2015(2) Erasmus Law Review, pp
65-77.

12 Socio-legal Research Required Readings:

(Week 13)
Cotterrell, R (1998) ‘Why Must
Legal Ideas Be Interpreted
Sociologically?’, 25(2) Journal of
Law and Society, pp 171-192.

Hutchinson, T (2013) ‘Empirical

Facts: A Rationale for Expanding
Lawyers’ Methodological
Expertise’, 2013 Law and Method,
pp 53-66.

Roux, Theunis R (2015) ‘The

Incorporation Problem in
Interdisciplinary Legal Research:
Some Conceptual Issues and a
Practical Illustration’, 2015(2)
Erasmus Law Review, pp 55-64.

13 Practice, Feedback and Required Readings:

Discussion Session (week 14)
N/A

Suggested Readings:

‘Epistemology’ in The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Method, London

and New York: Sage.

Steup, M and Neta, R (2005) ‘Epistemology’, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epistemology/?virtue
Samuel, G (2009) ‘Interdisciplinarity and the Authority Paradigm: Should Law Be
Taken Seriously by Scientists and Social Scientists’, 36(4) Journal of Law and
Society, pp 431-459.
Valverde, M (2016) ‘What Counts as Theory, Today? A post-philosophical
framework for socio-legal empirical research’, 3(1) Brazilian Journal of Empirical
Legal Studies, pp 172-181.
Alexander J (2015) ‘The Contribution of Empirical Research to Law’, 2015 Journal
of Jurisprudence, pp 29-49.
Denzin, Norman K and Lincoln, Yvonna S (2005) ‘Introduction: The Discipline and
Practice of Qualitative Research’ in Norman K Denzin and Yvonna S Lincoln (eds.)
The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, London: Sage, pp 1-32.

Hage, J (2014) ‘Comparative Law as Method and the Method of Comparative Law’,
M-EPLI Working Paper No. 2014/11.
Pieters, D ‘Functions of Comparative Law and Practical Methodology of
Comparing’.

Williams, Melanie L (2009) ‘Socio-legal studies and the humanities – law,

interdisciplinarity and integrity’, 5(3) International Journal of Law in Context, pp
243-161.

J.D.M.Derret, An Introduction to Legal Systems (New Delhi: Universal Publishers,

2011)

J.Paul Lomio, H.Spang-Hanssen and G.D.Wilson, Legal Research Methods in a Modern

World (London: DJOF Publishing, 2011)

M.V.Hoecke, Methodologies of Legal Research (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2011)

S.M.Barkan, Fundamentals of Legal Research (New York: Foundation Press/Thomson

Reuters: 2009)

S.K.Verma and Afzal Wani, eds., Legal Research and Methodology (New Delhi: Indian
Law Institute, 2nd ed. 2001)

The Blue Book: A Uniform System of Citation (Cambridge: Harvard Law Review
Association, 18th ed. 2006)

A.Anghie, B.S.Chimni, K.Mickelson and O.Okafor, eds., The Third World and
International Legal Order: Law, Politics and Globalisation (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff
Publishers: 2003)

A.Carty, Critical International Law: Recent Trends in the Theory of International Law,
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the Methods of International Law: A Prospectus for Readers, Special Issue of the
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Study, in B.Cali ed., International Law for International Relations (Oxford University
Press: 2009)

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Approaches (New Delhi: Sage, 1993)

B.Rajagopal, International Law from Below: Developments, Social Movements and

Third World Resistance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 2003)

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Publishers, 2nd ed.2010)

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(1970), pp.212-216

E.Bodenheimer, Jurisprudence: The Philosophy and Method of Law (New Delhi:

Universal Publishing: 2008)

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Vol.XXVIII No. 6 (June, 1928), pp.679-707

E.H.Levi, Introduction to Legal Reasoning (Chicago: University of Chicago Press:

1962)

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Allocation of Body Parts, Stanford Law Review, Vol.55 (June, 2003), pp.2113-2151

H.E.Chodosh, Comparing Comparsions: In Search of Methodology, Iowa Law Review,

Vol.84 (Aug, 1999), pp.1025-1132

H.L.A.Hart, The Concept of Law (New Delhi: Universal Publishing: 2000)

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American Journal of International Law, Vol.85, No.4 (Oct, 1991), pp.613-645

I.Mcleod, Legal Method (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 6th ed.2008) 10

J.Blackman, How to Use Internet for Legal Research (New York: Find/SVP, 1996)

J.G.Getman, Contribution of Empirical Data to Legal Research, Journal of Legal

Education, Vol.35 (1985), pp.489-494

J.Jeff, Frame-Shifting: An Empowering Methodology for Teaching and Learning Legal

Reasoning, Journal of Legal Education, Vol.36 (1986), pp. 249 – 287

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2008)

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