General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3242 |
| Course name: | Dissertation |
| Programme offered under: | LLB Programme [This course is only open to students on the UCL-HKU Dual Degree Programme] |
| Semester: | Full year |
| Designated research course: | Not applicable |
| Specialization: | Not applicable |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Course offered to non-law students: | No |
| Credit point value: | 12 credits |
1.2 Course description
This course is about legal scholarship. Students will acquire the skills of effective legal writing and research, including: the selection of research topics and questions; planning and structuring research, developing an original thesis/argument, and engaging critically with legal scholarship. To these ends, students will produce a research dissertation, under the supervision of a faculty member and informed by their participation in a series of seminar sessions. Learning activities during the seminars will consist of discussing the goals and challenges of legal research and scholarship, presenting one’s own research topic/idea, and constructive engagement with others about their research. The expected word count of the dissertation is between 10,000 to 12,000 words.
1.3 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 Produce a dissertation that conforms to University, Department, and course requirements in both subject and format.
CLO 2 Demonstrate a sophisticated appreciation of the elements of good legal research, including: posing good research questions, structuring and developing an original thesis/argument, and critical engagement with legal scholarship.
CLO 3 Work independently on a piece of substantive legal research.
2.2 LLB Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link: https://course.law.hku.hk/llb-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 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Classwork | TBC | 10% | 2, 3, 5 | 1, 2, 3 |
| Dissertation | 9 May 2025 | 90% | 2, 3 | 1, 2, 3 |
| *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
Learning Activity Plan
| Seminar: | 4-5 meetings in semester 1 |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks in each of semester 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
- Four interactive seminars
- Independent research
- One-on-one consultation with the supervisor and/or the course convener
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 |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/