There are a number of ways in which research can be conducted and the way you approach your research will be largely based upon the project area you have chosen, there is not one type of research that is inherently better than another. The key is to conducting your research strategy in such a way so as to satisfy the assessment criteria of the module.
Most students will research via use of the library books, journals and databases, and internet sources. The research should be through. Also you need to assess the quality of sources in terms of their use for an analytical research piece of work – is it regarded as a good quality journal, is it a well-known author, is it a government report published after enquiry and research or is it overview descriptive material made available for general public consumption.
Good quality newspapers are often good for highlighting issues that may exist but not usually as good on the depth of research and analysis required for work at this level. The Internet is of course a useful tool, especially in terms of getting material that may be hard to get hold of in other ways or which is in other jurisdictions.
However, it can also easily produce a large volume of material of limited value, insufficient depth or without a proper focus. So you should use caution about quality of materials and be judicious with time when using the internet. Remember internet material needs citing and sourcing properly in your footnotes and bibliography.
Once you have information, you need to be able to identify and concentrate on the material that will help you create your argument and identify gaps that need further research and evaluate other potential lines you might pursue. You may at this point think about refining your title or topic if appropriate to your research outcomes and direction.
Remember research is an iterative process – usually you do not research everything and then write the project. The process is more mixed between research, drafting and mapping out structure and writing, meeting with your supervisor and then more research and revisiting ideas, arguments, analysis, considering coherence and redrafting as appropriate.
Some examples of past student titles:
• An analysis of an employee’s rights under the Patents Act 1977
• Discuss the adequacy of the protection of moral rights in English law by comparison to French law.
• To what extent does trademark law provide an adequate scope of protection in reaction to colour trade marks.
• Discuss whether originality in English copyright law is an adequate principle for applying the CJEU’s concept of “own intellectual creation”
• Compare the doctrine of fair use in the US copyright law with fair dealing in English law and analyse which doctrine is preferable.
• Analyse to what extent the origin function of trade marks is still appropriate.
• Critically evaluate the extent to which the concept of goodwill is still appropriate in passing-off law.
• To what extent is the law concerning infringement of musical copyright adequate.
• Analyse the extent to which blocking injunctions are an appropriate legal tool for combating online copyright “piracy”.
• Analyse the extent to which AI created inventions meet the requirements for patentability.
• Analyse who owns the copyright in an AI created work.
• To what extent are trade secrets adequately protected in English law.
• Analyse whether the idea/expression concept in copyright law a useful one for identifying protected elements from non-protected elements?
