Critical Reflection on Conducting Socio-Legal Research on a Criminological Topic

Critical Reflection on the following subject:

Explain why you want to carry out a piece of socio-legal research on a criminological topic and discuss the relevant type(s) of research needed to help achieve that goal.

Write your critical reflection making reference to academic reading on the subject, particularly that drawn from the first part of this module. Use the Harvard system of referencing when you refer to this literature.

Write in prose  You can use the first person ('I') but make sure you retain academic engagement when justifying your argument and the approach you are going to take.

Guidelines:

Topics: Select a specific criminological or socio-legal topic/theme/issue based on the material covered in TB1. You may use topics already generated in class as reflected in the selected topics reading lists on canvas. Feel free to draw inspiration from this material as long as your research topic falls within the scope of the module.

Readings: You need to reference relevant content from academic literature to support your points. Read through the essential items for weeks 1-5 as well as from the recommended and selected topics reading lists. Depending on your topic, you should also read a wider range of literature. This will help you to identify specific research questions that you will discuss in your critical review.

The critical review: This is really about how you would approach a piece of research on your chosen topic based on the relevant academic debates in the literature you have read.

Thinking critically about researching law and society is also about exploring particular dimensions, such as class, race, gender, religion, politics, power, etc in relation to crime. It is also about the nature of and how we acquire knowledge.

You should draw connections with appropriate type(s) of research as covered in TB1. Discuss the kinds of methodological approaches that would be involved in your research and any relevant underlying theoretical assumptions about the nature of law and society.

Structure: This should be presented in the format of an essay:

a) An introduction in which you identify and contextualise your research topic in light of relevant academic debates and state the main argument that justifies your approach to the topic

b) Develop each point supporting the claim in argument in the body of your review about where your topic fits in social-legal research in terms of methodology and associated theories

c) A conclusion summarising your main point and the possible aims of your research. The word limit is 1000 words.