LAW SCHOOL ESSAY REQUIREMENTS 2015-16 B.A. Legal Studies (Final Year) 2 nd & Final Corporate Law 2 nd & Final Civil Law LL.B. (Years 2 & 3 Full-Time) (Years 3 & 4 Part-Time) Students in each of the programme years listed above are required to write one extended essay during this academic year. Students must choose their essay topic from the list of topics in the subjects for which the student is registered in the year in question. (However 2 nd Civil Law and 2 nd Corporate Law students are permitted to choose their essay topic from the titles listed in 1 st year - Tort, Contract and Constitutional Law - in addition to the available 2 nd year essay titles). Essay topics in each subject are available on Blackboard. Only essays on the prescribed topics will be accepted, unless by prior written agreement with the lecturer in the subject. Essays on topics that have not been agreed in advance with the relevant lecturer will not be graded and will not satisfy the essay requirement. For Final Year BA (Legal Studies) the essay accounts for 50% of the marks obtained in the subject within which the essay is submitted. For Final Corporate Law, the essay accounts for 20% of the marks obtained in the subject within which the essay is submitted. In the LL.B and 2 nd Corporate Law and 2 nd & Final Civil Law the essay counts as 5 ECTS. Student should note that essay results will not be communicated to students in advance of their Summer results Word Limit LL.B. and 2 nd Corporate Law and 2 nd & Final Civil Law students must write an essay of 5,000 words in length (including footnotes/endnotes but excluding bibliography and cover page). Final BA (Legal Studies) and Final Corporate Law students must write an essay of 2,500 words (including footnotes/endnotes but excluding bibliography and cover page). A penalty may be imposed where a student exceeds the word limit. Students who think they may exceed the word limit must consult the lecturer concerned in this regard prior to submitting their essays. Essays must meet certain standards in terms of both content and presentation (see notes on format below).
Essay Registration Students must inform the Law School of their essay choice by registering on Blackboard. Online Registration will begin at 9am on Wednesday October 21 st 2015 and will close at 5pm on Wednesday November 4 th 2015. In order to ensure fair distribution of essays among lecturers, a cap has been placed on each set of subject titles so only a certain number of students will be able to register for any given subject. The system works on a first come first served basis. In exceptional circumstances students may request a change of essay title, this is at the discretion and approval of the lecturer in question. If approval is granted, students should contact the School of Law Administration Office (Nicola Gavin on ext. 2389 or TB406) to make the necessary registration changes. Please note that changes to essay titles cannot be made after semester 1 provisional results are released. Submission Students must lodge the completed essay in both hard copy and electronic format by the deadline of 9.30am Friday 26 th February 2016. A printed hard copy of the essay must be deposited in the boxes provided on Floor 2 (beside the lifts) of Tower 2 by the deadline above. An electronic copy of the essay must also be submitted via Blackboard. This must be in Microsoft Word (not Works) format, and consist of one file only. Students must also complete and sign the mandatory essay cover sheet and plagiarism declaration (available on Blackboard) and staple it to the hard copy of their essay The cover page of the essay must have the following data: Student name, I.D. number, Year of course, Title of relevant subject (i.e. Tort, Criminal etc.), Name of lecturer, Title of essay and word count. An Essay template is provided on Blackboard. Students should enter the required personal details (above) on the template and should also ensure that they enter their name and ID number in the template footer. Essays will not be returned by the School under any circumstances as they are required to be retained as examination material under the University s procedures. Students are strongly advised to retain a hard copy and a soft copy for their own use. Penalties For Late Submission It is entirely the responsibility of the student to register for an essay and to submit the essay on time. Where an essay is not submitted on time, the following penalties will apply. Essays deposited after 9.30am on Friday 26 th February 2016 are deemed late and are subject to the following penalties:
i. Essays submitted after 9.30am on Friday, 26th February 2016 shall incur a penalty deduction of 10% (This deduction will represent 10% of the mark actually obtained for the essay). ii. Essays submitted after 9.30am on Friday 4th March 2016 shall incur a penalty deduction of 20% (This deduction will represent 10% of the mark actually obtained for the essay). iii. Essays submitted after 9.30am on Friday 11 th March 2016 will be capped at 40%. Further, it may not be possible to correct such late essays in which case the essay would be considered at the repeat examination session in August thus requiring the student to enter for Autumn exams and pay the appropriate repeat exam fee. iv. Essays submitted to the Autumn Examination session are capped at 40% v. Essays submitted after 9.30am on Friday 29 th July 2016 will not be considered at the Autumn exam board and students will therefore be unable to progress where the essay has an ECTS weighting. This means that students will not be able to continue to the next year of their programme, and final year students will not be able to graduate. vi. Where an essay counts towards the marks in a particular subject, failure to submit prior to the July deadline may mean that the student forfeits all essay marks in that subject. Time extensions may be allowed to students only in exceptional circumstances, and in no case will time extensions be granted beyond the Autumn deadline. An application for a time extension must be made in person to the Head of the Law School. Formatting Essays must be typed in double spacing on A4 paper with margins of one inch on the left-hand side, at the top and at the bottom of the page. There should also be a generous margin on the right-hand side. Pages should be numbered and typing checked before submission. Please consult and follow the Law Stylesheet, available on Blackboard. Each essay must include footnotes or endnotes and a bibliography. The notes must include references for all cases, books, articles and other materials cited, paraphrased, or otherwise relied on in the text of the essay. The bibliography must include a list of all books, articles and reports consulted during the research for the essay or mentioned in it. Cases and secondary works must be cited in the appropriate manner in both notes and bibliography. NOTE: The Essay Template available on Blackboard is formatted in line with the Law School requirements. Content An essay must show clear evidence of original and independent research. Mere repetition of material found in textbooks, lecture notes, or published articles will not be sufficient, even for a bare pass mark. Students are expected to investigate their topic carefully, using primary legal sources (cases and statutes) as well as secondary literature (books, periodicals and reports). NOTE: Students may, if they wish, email a one page essay plan to the relevant lecturer for feedback purposes. Students wishing to submit an essay plan must do so by 5pm on Friday 27 th November 2015.
Marking Standards The following is offered as a guide to students, although it should be noted that it is not comprehensive and examiners may consider additional qualities: Honours will be awarded on the basis of: independent analysis of texts and legal materials relevant to the essay topic; a well-structured and persuasive argument; informed judgement and evidence of wide reading; a clear understanding of legal concepts; a broad and accurate historical/contextual sense; intelligent and illuminating use of quotation and reference; a fluent and precise command of English and of legal terminology; a clear differentiation between Irish law and that of other jurisdictions. A Pass mark will be awarded on the basis of: a coherent presentation of the area of law; evidence of limited, essential reading; limited competence with legal concepts; some detailed allusion to relevant texts. A Fail will result from: plagiarism; serious lack of content, detail; little or no evidence of coherent thinking; apparent misunderstanding of basic legal concepts; apparent ignorance of essential texts or materials; incompetent writing. Erasmus/Maine Exchange Students participating in Erasmus or Maine exchanges, whether for a year or a semester are not obliged to submit an essay for the year in which they are abroad. Moot Court Competitions Students who participate in an external Moot Court competition may write an essay on the legal issues arising in that competition. It is essential that students who wish to take this option receive the prior written consent of the relevant lecturer in advance of registering for their essay. Plagiarism Students should note that there will be heavy penalties, including disciplinary proceedings where appropriate, for plagiarism (taking passages from another person s work, published or otherwise, without acknowledgement). All work submitted must be the student s own work and students must sign a declaration to this effect on the mandatory essay cover sheet (available on Blackboard). Copying from another student s work or facilitating another student to copy your work is strictly prohibited and will be subject to the appropriate procedures. For the procedure applicable in cases of plagiarism please see the University s Code of Practice on Plagiarism below.
Code of Practice for Dealing with Plagiarism This Plagiarism Code comes into effect at the start of the 2015/16 academic year. 1.0 Purpose To set out the code of practice for dealing with issues of student plagiarism. 2.0 Description Plagiarism is the act of copying, including or directly quoting from the work of another without adequate acknowledgement, in order to obtain benefit, credit or gain. Plagiarism can apply to many materials, such as words, ideas, images, information, data, approaches or methods. Sources of plagiarism can include books, journals, reports, websites, essay mills, another student, or another person. Self-plagiarism, or auto-plagiarism, is where a student re-uses work previously submitted to another course within the University or in another Institution. All work submitted by students for assessment, for publication or for (public) presentation, is accepted on the understanding that it is their own work and contains their own original contribution, except where explicitly referenced using the accepted norms and formats of the appropriate academic discipline. Plagiarism can arise through poor academic practice or ignorance of accepted norms of the academic discipline. Schools should ensure that resources and education around good academic practice is available to students at all levels. The Plagiarism Penalty Grid (included in this document) will be made available to all students. Cases in which students facilitate others to copy their work shall also be subject to the procedures outlined here. 2.1 Procedures Each School will appoint at least one plagiarism advisor, who is normally a member of academic staff. These advisors are Designated Authorities, as described in the Student Code of Conduct, and have responsibility and authority for dealing with suspected and reported cases of plagiarism. A list of the current plagiarism advisors will be maintained and made available to all academic staff of the University. A member of teaching staff who suspects plagiarism is welcome to speak with an appropriate plagiarism advisor, in confidence, about the case. At this point, the staff member is free not to continue with a formal report. If a staff member decides to formally report a suspected case of plagiarism, a short report shall be prepared including a (marked-up) copy of the student work, along with any evidence for suspecting plagiarism. This report should be forwarded to the plagiarism advisor.
The plagiarism advisor shall conduct an initial investigation of the alleged plagiarism, to determine if there is a case to be made. If the advisor concludes that there is no case of plagiarism, the reporting member of staff will be notified, with a clear statement of the reasons for the decision. If the plagiarism advisor decides that the case is one of plagiarism, he/she will make an initial assessment of the case using the penalty grid (step 1). If the points, according to the penalty grid, are in the lower two bands (up to 379) the advisor may conduct an informal interview with the student to discuss the suspected case. If the advisor is satisfied that the case exists, an appropriate penalty will be selected from the grid (step 2). If the points, according to the penalty grid, are more than 524, the advisor should refer the case to the discipline committee, in accordance with the Student Code of Conduct. In all other cases (points in the bands 380-524), the student will be invited to attend an interview with the plagiarism adviser and an additional member of staff. The invitation may be by email or letter, and will include an explanation of the purpose of the meeting, including a copy of the marked-up piece of work. The student may be accompanied at the interview by a friend. The additional member of staff may be another plagiarism advisor, the member of staff who reported the case, or another senior member of staff from the School. Where a student does not engage with the process, by not responding or by refusing to attend an interview, the case will be referred to the discipline committee. At the interview, the student will be given a clear explanation of what has been alleged, shown a copy of his/her work, given the opportunity to justify the work and be invited to admit or deny responsibility. Following the interview, if the advisor is satisfied that the case exists, an appropriate penalty will be selected from the grid (step 2). After a penalty has been decided, the advisor will perform a fairness check to consider the impact of the penalty on the student s overall performance. If the impact is incommensurate with the offence, the advisor may choose to adjust the penalty. In all cases, the student will be notified by the advisor, in writing, of the decision and any penalty imposed. The plagiarism advisor will write a report, recording the decision and any penalty, which should be lodged centrally. This report is confidential and will not reflect upon the student s record. It will be used to determine if a second or subsequent offence has occurred, and for statistical information only. It may be appropriate for incidents of plagiarism to be made known to relevant academic and support staff where this is required for the proper administration of academic programmes and academic decision making. Such sharing of information with appropriate staff does not breach confidentiality.
3.0 Responsibilities Name Plagiarism Committee: Head of School: Plagiarism Advisor: Discipline Committee: Responsibility Policy Owner Each School will appoint at least one plagiarism advisor, who is normally a member of academic staff. To make decisions on student plagiarism based on the policy, as a designated authority. To deal with severe cases, in accordance with the Student Code of Conduct 4.0 Related Documents The Student Code of Conduct. http://www.nuigalway.ie/codeofconduct/
Plagiarism Penalty Grid Step 1: Assign Points Based on the Following Criteria History 1st Time 2nd Time 3rd/+ Time 100 points 150 points 200 points Amount/Extent Below 5% OR less than two sentences As above but with critical aspects* plagiarised Between 5% and 20% OR more than two sentences but not more than two paragraphs As above but with critical aspects* plagiarised Between 20% and 50% OR more than two paragraphs but not more than five paragraphs As above but with critical aspects* plagiarised Above 50% OR more than 5 paragraphs Submission purchased from essay mill or ghostwriting service 80 points 105 points 105 points 130 points 130 points 160 points 160 points 225 points * Critical aspects are key ideas central to the assignment Level/Stage 1st year Undergraduate (not 1st or final year) Final year/postgraduate 70 points 115 points 140 points Value of Assignment Standard assignment Large project (e.g. final year dissertation, thesis) 30 points 115 points Additional Characteristics (to be used only in extreme cases) Evidence of deliberate attempt to disguise plagiarism by changing words, sentences or references to avoid detection: 40 points.
Step 2: Award penalties based on the points Summative Work In all cases a formal warning is given and a record made contributing to the student s previous history. Points Available Penalties (select one) 280-329 No further action beyond formal warning Assignment awarded 0% - resubmission required, with no penalty on mark 330-379 No further action beyond formal warning Assignment awarded 0% - resubmission required, with no penalty on mark Assignment awarded 0% - resubmission required but mark capped or reduced* 380-479 Assignment awarded 0% - resubmission required but mark capped or reduced Assignment awarded 0% - no opportunity to resubmit 480-524 Assignment awarded 0% - no opportunity to resubmit 525+ Case referred to Discipline Committee Formative Work 280-379 Informal warning 380+ Formal warning, with record made contributing to the student s previous history * Normally, marks will be capped at the pass mark for the assignment.