This unit provides theoretical and conceptual insights into socio-legal research, so students can reflect critically on their own research processes via the analysis of substantive topics, including policing, legal secrecy, surveillance, critical discourse analysis of race, sex and gender, and matters of indigenous law.

This unit examines a range of sociological research methods, including their historical and political locations and logics, with a view to providing students with a strong methodological framework to situate their own research practices, and to produce greater reflexivity about social research and writing in sociology.

This unit provides students the opportunity to begin developing their own research project working closely with their supervisors and engaging in activities that will facilitate the timely completion of their research. Activities may include drafting a literature and methods review, submitting an ethics application, and the scoping for fieldwork.

Working closely with supervisors, students produce an original piece of written socio-legal research, which may include the analysis of data gathered from fieldwork that is applied to relevant literature/s, or the writing of a thesis using secondary sources, which are analysed to produce an original contribution to knowledge.