Unit Outline

This unit involves the development of advanced writing, editing and administrative skills in the production of a high-quality peer reviewed Law Journal - the University of Tasmania Law Review (UTLR). Students will develop advanced editing and legal writing skills, the concept of publishable quality and will be introduced to legal publishing and editing. They will also through communicating with authors and managing the editorial board of the journal, develop management and teamwork skills.

Intended Learning Outcomes

As per the Assessment and Results Policy 1.3, your results will reflect your achievement against specified learning outcomes.

On completion of this unit, you will be able to:


1	Evaluate whether legal articles are of publishable quality in terms of quality of writing, contribution to scholarship, originality, structure and coherence of argument.
2	Work collaboratively with the other student editors and the editorial board in ensuring the journal maintains the highest professional standards.
3	Communicate effectively with authors and reviewers in a professional and courteous manner and meet tight publication deadlines.
4	Communicate to an academic audience to a high level, demonstrating logical argument, good structure, expression and referencing.

Requisites


REQUISITE TYPE	REQUISITES
Pre-requisite	Selective enrolment

Alterations as a result of student feedback

How will I be Assessed?

For more detailed assessment information please see MyLO.

Assessment schedule


ASSESSMENT TASK #	ASSESSMENT TASK NAME	DATE DUE	WEIGHT	LINKS TO INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Assessment Task 1:	Book review	Week 7	15 %	LO2, LO3, LO4
Assessment Task 2:	Editing and administration of folio	Week 13	35 %	LO1
Assessment Task 3:	Case note or law reform essay	Week 13	50 %

Assessment details

Assessment Task 1: Book review

Task Description:

Undertake a book review of a recent publication for inclusion in the UTLR.

Task Length:

1000 words

Due Date:

Week 7

Weight:

15 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Quality of argument, clarity and conciseness of expression, understanding of the material, originality and relevance.	LO4
2	X	LO2
3	30 X	LO3

Assessment Task 2: Editing and administration of folio

Task Description:

This assessment task assesses the student editor's editing and administration of the UTLR. This includes initial screening of articles for publication, referring articles for peer review, evaluating whether peer review comments have been taken into account sufficiently, arranging book reviews with the UTLR editorial board, editing, and forward planning to ensure timely publication.

Students are to submit:
1) a folder with covering minute containing examples of their administrative work and
2) a copy of the draft issue for which they are responsible regardless of whether this issue is completed or not.*

Where the issue for which a student editor is responsible is not yet completed and submitted for publication owing to circumstances outside the student’s control (eg authors or reviewers missing deadlines) this is to be fully documented and explained by the student in a covering Memo.

*Where there are three editors then a portion of an issue may be agreed upon with the unit coordinator.

Task Length:

Review

Due Date:

Week 13

Weight:

35 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Ability to improve the structure, expression and clarify where necessary legal arguments in draft articles, understanding of publishable quality, meeting publication deadlines where possible, organisation skills, dealing with authors in a professiona
2	X	LO1

Assessment Task 3: Case note or law reform essay

Task Description:

Critically analyse a recent significant case from a superior court OR critically analyse recent law reform or a relevant legal issue. Students should discuss this assessment task with the Unit Coordinator

Task Length:

3000 words

Due Date:

Week 13

Weight:

50 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Quality of argument, clarity and conciseness of expression, understanding of the material, originality and relevance.

How your final result is determined

To pass this unit, you need to demonstrate your attainment of each of the Intended Learning Outcomes, achieve a final unit grade of 50% or greater, and pass any hurdle tasks.

Submission of assignments

Where practicable, assignments should be submitted to an assignment submission folder in MYLO. You must submit assignments by the due date or receive a penalty (unless an extension of time has been approved by the Unit Coordinator). Students submitting any assignment in hard copy, or because of a practicum finalisation, must attach a student cover sheet and signed declaration for the submission to be accepted for marking.

Academic integrity

Academic integrity is about acting responsibly, honestly, ethically, and collegially when using, producing, and communicating information with other students and staff members.

In written work, you must correctly reference the work of others to maintain academic integrity. To find out the referencing style for this unit, see the assessment information in the MyLO site, or contact your teaching staff. For more detail about Academic Integrity, see Important Guidelines & Support.

Requests for extensions

If you are unable to submit an assessment task by the due date, you should apply for an extension.

A request for an extension should first be discussed with your Unit Coordinator or teaching support team where possible. A request for an extension must be submitted by the assessment due date, except where you can provide evidence it was not possible to do so. Typically, an application for an extension will be supported by documentary evidence: however, where it is not possible for you to provide evidence please contact your Unit Coordinator.

The Unit Coordinator must notify you of the outcome of an extension request within 3 working days of receiving the request.

Late penalties

Assignments submitted after the deadline will receive a late penalty of 5% of the original available mark for each calendar day (or part day) that the assignment is late. Late submissions will not be accepted more than 10 calendar days after the due date, or after assignments have been returned to other students on a scheduled date, whichever occurs first. Further information on Late Penalties can be found on the Assessments and Results Procedure.

Review of results and appeals

You are entitled to ask for a review of the marking and grading of your assessment task if there is an irregularity in the marking standards or an error in the process for determining the outcome of an assessment. Details on how to request a review of a mark for an assignment are outlined in the Review and Appeal of Academic Decisions Procedure.