General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | JDOC1011 |
| Course name: | Dissertation |
| Programme offered under: | JD Programme |
| Semester: | Full year |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Credit point value: | 6 credits |
1.2 Course description
An individual research project on an approved topic carried out under the supervision of an assigned teacher, resulting in the submission of a research paper not exceeding 8,000 words (excluding tables of cases and statutes, notes, appendices and bibliographies. Footnotes or endnotes should not exceed 1,000 words.). While comparative perspectives are permitted, the topic must be primarily on common law and/or HK legal issues.
1.3 Instructions
It is the responsibility of each student to find a full-time member of the academic staff to act as the supervisor of their dissertation. Different faculty members have different considerations and requirements on the decision to supervise a student, but it is typically expected that the student when approaching the faculty member should have a reasonably viable research topic/proposal that falls into the research/teaching interest of the faculty member.
Instructions will be given on the principles of legal writing and in legal research methodology.
1.4 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Stefan Lo | stefanlo@hku.hk | CCT 301A | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 be able to identify, and engage in, good legal scholarship;
CLO 2 have developed advanced skills in legal research;
CLO 3 have refined their legal writing skills; and
CLO 4 demonstrate their ability to combine advanced legal research skills with the ability to write clearly in order to produce a sophisticated piece of legal scholarship.
2.2 JD Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link: https://course.law.hku.hk/jd-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Classwork | N/A | 10% | 2, 3, 5 | 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| Dissertation | 5 July 2024 | 90% | 2, 3 | 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by course convenor(s).
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Seminar | 1 meeting in Semester 1 and 2 meetings in Semester 2 |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hour(s) / week for 12 teaching weeks in each of Semesters 1 and 2 |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
To be advised by course convenor(s).
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | The reading guide and selected reading materials will be posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | TBA |
| Recommended reading list: | TBA |
The Graduate School has a number of publications which you may find useful during the preparation phase:
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/