Law: Legal Research

Some simple steps you can take to help you prepare for writing essays:

• Read around: we have many subject related e-Books, journals and materials online too
• Research skills training: learn about the content and functionality of online legal resources
• General legal skills: refer to books on writing law essays and conducting legal research, and books and online tools to help with critical thinking and note making
• Writing up: present work well by becoming an accomplished user of Office 365 by following training courses on LinkedIn Learning. 
• Referencing: read books, guidance and view online tools that can all help with understanding plagiarism, and when and how to reference properly - view our Study Support pages for more information
• Presentation skills: refer to books on mooting and advocacy, as well as the online tools that can help with presenting coursework, legal research or research proposals online or face-to-face.
• Please also refer to the general but detailed help on the Study Support pages.

• Please use the BPP University Referencing Guidance for professional communications.
• Students writing academic essays or dissertations may be asked to use other referencing systems such as OSCOLA. Always check the information given by your programme and module.
• Find useful tips for Coursework Essays under Useful Resources on this page. This includes a video 'Researching an area of law that is new to you'. This guidance is from the Library, please always consult guidance given to you by Faculty staff.
• General help for writing skills, academic skills, referencing and so on can be found on the Study Support page.

Video Guides

Written Guides

• Students are advised to attend a Legal Research training session delivered by a Librarian
• Students should try to attend workshops for any of the online resources
• Legal Research Guidance on the use of primary and secondary sources can be found above
• Suggested practitioner texts arranged by subject area are available here
• This guidance is from the library, please always refer to any guidance from Faculty staff too
• Please read briefing sheets for advice on layout and style and consider Microsoft Word training

• Librarians are available to discuss a review of available literature and online resources
• Students working on a dissertation may be eligible for inter-library loans
• Please refer to Faculty briefing sheets for advice on layout and style