Handbook

Enrolment in a Research Thesis shall be approved by the Faculty of Law if:

1. A clearly defined project is proposed: the thesis topic must be approved at the outset but may be modified at a later stage;
2. The student has a sufficient academic background in legal study to enable the thesis to be completed in a satisfactory manner
3. Adequate supervision is available - supervision may be conjoint but at least one supervisor should be a full-time member of the School of Law's academic staff.

MCJC students may enrol in either LAWS8423 Research Thesis or CRIM500 CJ Research Thesis, but not both. MCJC students must complete 24uoc before being eligible to apply for a Research Thesis, unless they have permission from the program convenor, in order to ensure they have the adequate foundation for the research. Ideally students should have a WAM of 75% based on 24uoc in order to be eligible for admission to this course, or have achieved Honours 1 or 2:1 in a prior relevant degree, other than with the permission of the program convenor. MILIR students may enrol in either LAWS8423 Research Thesis or POLS5113 Research Project, but not both.

MILS students may enrol in either LAWS8423 Research Thesis or ZHSS8400 Research Project, but not both.

LLM, MHRL&P and MCJC students may request to convert the LAWS8423 (6 uoc) course into a 12 uoc Research Thesis option extending over two terms; subject to the approval of the Supervisor/s, the program Director/s and the Coordinator of Postgraduate Education. This option is not available to students enrolled in other postgraduate programs.

Examination

Each thesis shall have two examiners. One examiner will ordinarily be a supervisor. The second examiner will normally be a full-time member of the School of Law's academic staff and not involved in the supervision of the thesis. Unless the supervisor or supervisors otherwise agree, the final date for submission shall be the last day of the session in which the student is enrolled in the Research Thesis. Examiners may require a candidate or group of candidates to attend an oral examination on the subject matter of the thesis; examiners may require a thesis to be resubmitted under such conditions as the examiners may determine.

Requirements

The thesis must be typed on A4 bond paper and two copies must be prepared in a cover (spring back folder or bound). References may appear at the foot of each page or at the end of each chapter. As a general rule the thesis shall be a maximum of 12,000 words for an 6 UOC enrolment or 24,000 words for a 12 UOC enrolment.

Strict word limits will apply to all assessed work. All words in the coursework, including citations, bibliography, table of content, and tables of cases and statutes, whether in the main text or in footnotes or elsewhere, will count towards the word limits. The Word Count function of Microsoft Word will be the official count for these purposes.

Application Process

Please refer to the UNSW Law website to download the Research Thesis Application Form and to access the Research Thesis Information Sheet.