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Accessibility statement
Qualification dates
StartEnd
30 Jan 2027Jul 2027
This module will give you the opportunity to research a legal topic of your own choice. It will support your research on your chosen topic and help you to present your findings as a written report of your research methods and in poster format. You will work with other students to prepare your poster and will be encouraged to help each other in your academic endeavours.
This module will enable you to develop critical research skills and present your findings in relation to a topic of your choice that has a legal focus. You'll be encouraged to explore the interrelationships within law and across disciplines. The aim is to enable you to explore legal boundaries by selecting your own choice of legally relevant subject matter.
The module provides teaching and support for the development of a skills base to enable you to develop as a researcher. It will provide the scope to research comparative and interdisciplinary issues of relevance to law. Additionally, it will enable you to develop your skills of academic critique and mature as a researcher. This will be achieved by various means, including reflecting on peer-to-peer critique, tutor critique and personal reflection on research performance.
The type of skills covered will be relevant to:
These skills are directly relevant to Personal Development Planning, so this module will help you to gain skills for whatever you intend to do on completion.
The choice of question to study and research will be key to your success on this module. From the outset, you'll be encouraged to engage with the process of choosing a research topic suitable for exploration in a research poster. You'll also be encouraged to post an image in OpenStudio in the first two weeks of the module to start a discussion with your peers about a topic you might like to research. It is anticipated that you will not have experience in framing research questions, and therefore, support in the form of written and interactive materials will help you with the mechanics of choosing a topic to research. This support will continue throughout your research and assist you in formulating the topic appropriately and presenting your initial thoughts about your research.
The first assignment will enable dialogue between peers and tutors regarding your choice of question to research and the thinking behind selecting the topic, permitting you to adjust the research topic and question in the light of feedback. The second assignment enables you to reflect on your research for your poster and to present and critique both the methodology of your research and its findings.
As this is a research module, you will need to have completed 120 credits from modules at each of the OU levels 1 and 2 or, if you are a graduate entrant to the degree programme, at least 60 credits of OU level 2 modules.
If you are studying this module towards the Academic degree or Foundations of Legal Knowledge route as part of the Bachelor of Laws (Honours) (LLB) (R81) or Bachelor of Laws (Honours) (graduate entry) (LLB) (R82), then you will need to have studied or be studying on a presentation of Trusts law (W311) before enrolling on W350.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the module, please speak to an adviser.
You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.
They’ll help by:
Online tutorials run throughout the module. Where possible, we’ll make recordings available. While they’re not compulsory, we strongly encourage you to participate as your ability to work with your peers and complete the summative assessment will be severely compromised if you do not participate.
Course work includes:
You’ll have access to a module website, which includes:
The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone, and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying W350 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our Disability support website.
Exploring legal boundaries starts once a year – in February.
This page describes the module that will start in February 2027.
We expect it to start for the last time in February 2030.
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