Step: 1
Select your topic and Gather all material to help you, inclusive of books, surveys and notes.
Do this to help gain a complete understanding of everything you need in your case. Sit down and write out all you need to use and do, and everything that is currently going on. Do include facts you consider unimportant.Revise it to make sure is accurate and reflects the facts of your topic.
Step: 2
Plan for Your Legal Problem/topic and Your Desired Outcome
The second step is to get an idea of the legal problem you are facing, and what your ideal outcome at the end of the legal process would be. Simply figuring out where to start your legal research can often be a very hard part of the process. It may help to sit down and write down the issues you are facing, along with your ideal outcome. Also think about what a good compromise could be.
Step: 3
Search Legal Information and authority about the Law
Treatises, handbooks, and practice guides are commonly a good place to start finding specific legal information. They summarize the current state of the law, and tell you what specific cases and statutes are important. This is where attorneys commonly start their legal research.
Before applying the law to your case, you will need to have a general understanding of the law relevant to your case, and that knowledge must be up-to-date.
Step: 4
Legal Analysis- whether you`re on point
During legal analysis, you apply the law to the facts of your case. Once you have determined which law applies to your case, made sure it is binding and current, and have read up on it, it is time to start your legal analysis and writing. Follow up the cases and judgments that seem applicable. Confirm that your authority is still good law
Step: 5
Search other online sources to fill any gaps in your research.
There are many online sources for legal information. For finding English and Commonwealth cases by topic you can use ; digests, boolean connectors. Also for Ugandan case law, acts journals, you can use ; Uganda Law reform journals, Uganda Law Information Institute, Uganda Online law library etc
Step: 6
Know when to stop
The process of legal research is a complicated one and facts as well as information can keep flowing once you land on the right sources, however you ought to know when the research work is ready and to stop or finalize. After this, you're able to start with your draft.
TYPES OF LEGAL RESEARCH
1) Descriptive Legal Research
Descriptive Legal research is defined as a research method that describes the characteristics of the population or phenomenon that is being studied. This methodology focuses more on the “what” of the research subject rather than the “why” of the research subject. In other words, descriptive legal research primarily focuses on the nature of a demographic segment, without focusing on “why” something happens. In other words, it is a description towards "what is this?"
For example, a lawyer that wants to understand the crime trends among Kampala will conduct a demographic survey of the region, gather population data and then conduct descriptive research on this demographic segment. The research will then give us the details on “what is the crime pattern of Kampala?”, but not cover any investigative details on “why” the patterns exits. Because for the lawyer trying to understand these crimes patterns, for them, understanding the nature of their crimes is the objective of the study.
2) Quantitative legal research
Quantitative Legal Research is a characteristic of Descriptive Legal Research Methodology that attempts to collect quantifiable information to be used for statistical analysis of the population sample. It is a popular research tool that allows us to collect and describe the nature of the demographic segment. Quantitative Legal Research collects information from existing and potential data using sampling methods like online surveys, online polls, questionnaires, etc., the results of which can be depicted in numerical form. After careful understanding of these numbers, it is possible to predict the future and make changes to manage the situation.
An example of quantitative research is the survey conducted to understand the turnaround time of cases in the high court and how much time it takes from the time the case is filed until the judgment is passed. A complainant's satisfaction survey template can be administered to ask questions like how much time did the process take, how often were they called to court, and other such questions.
3) Qualitative legal research
Qualitative Legal Research is a subjective form of research that relies on the analysis of controlled observations of the legal researcher. In qualitative research, data is obtained from a relatively small group of subjects. Data is not analyzed with statistical techniques. Usually, narrative data is collected in qualitative research.
Qualitative research can be adopted as a method to study people or systems by interacting with and observing the subjects regularly. The various methods used for collecting data in qualitative research are grounded theory practice, narratology, storytelling, and ethnography.
Grounded theory practice: It is research grounded in the observations or data from which it was developed. Various data sources used in grounded theory are quantitative data, review of records, interviews, observation, and surveys.
Narratology: It refers to the theory and study of narrative and narrative structure. It also shows the way in which the result affects the researcher's perception.
Storytelling: This is a method by which events are recounted in the form of a story. The method is generally used in the field of organization and management studies.
Ethnography: Ethnography is used for investigating cultures by collecting and describing data intend to help the development of a theory.
4) Analytical Legal Research
Analytical Legal Research is a style of qualitative inquiry. It is a specific type of research that involves critical thinking skills and the evaluation of facts and information relative to the research being conducted. Lawyers often use an analytical approach to their legal research to find the most relevant information. From analytical research, a person finds out critical details to add new ideas to the material being produced.
For example, examining the fluctuations of Crime Rates of Uganda between 2010-2020 is an example of descriptive research; while explaining why and how the Crime rates spiked over time is an example of analytical research.
5) Applied Legal Research
Applied Legal Research is a methodology used to find a solution to a pressing practical problem at hand. It is a straightforward practical approach to the case you are handling. It involves doing full-fledged research on a specific area of law followed by gathering information on all technical legal rules and principles applied and forming an opinion on the prospects for the client in the scenario.
For Example, if your client is an employee of an organization and is fighting against wrongful termination of contract then the practical approach to this would be by carefully evaluating the company policies and finding company policies that were violated and to suing the organization based on those arguments.
6) Conceptual Legal Research
Conceptual Legal Research is defined as a methodology wherein research is conducted by observing and analyzing already present information on a given topic. Conceptual research doesn't involve conducting any practical experiments. It is related to abstract concepts or ideas.
They are generally resorted to by the philosophers and thinkers to develop new concepts or reinterpret the existing concepts but has also proven to be a useful methodology for legal purposes.
For example, many of our ancient laws were influenced by the British Rule. Only later did we improve upon many laws and created new and simplified laws after our Independence. So another way to think of this type of research would be to observe, come up with a concept or theories aligned with previous theories to hopefully derive new theories.
7) Empirical Legal Research
Empirical Legal Research describes how to investigate the roles of legislation, regulation, legal policies and other legal arrangements at play in society. It acts as a guide to paralegals, lawyers and law students on how to do empirical legal research, covering history, methods, evidence, growth of knowledge and links with normativity. This multidisciplinary approach combines insights and approaches from different social sciences, evaluation studies, Big Data analytics, and empirically informed ethics.
For example, Pharmaceutical companies use empirical research to try out a specific drug on controlled groups or random groups to study the effect and cause.
8) Pure Legal Research
Pure legal research is also known as basic Legal Research usually focuses on generalization and formulation of a theory. The aim of this type of research methodology is to broaden the understanding of a particular field of investigation. It is a more general form of approach to the case you are handling. The researcher does not focus on the practical utility
For Example, researchers might conduct basic research on illiteracy leads to unemployment. The results of these theoretical explorations might lead to further studies designed to solve specific problems of unemployment.
OTHER TYPES OF LEGAL RESEARCH
a)Comparative legal research
Usually used to identify similarities and differences between units at all levels.
This involves a comparison of legal doctrines, legislations and foreign laws. It highlights the cultural and social character of law and how does it act in different settings. So it is useful in developing and amending, and modifying the law. But a
cautious approach has to be taken in blindly accepting the law of another social setting as a base because it might not act in the same manner in a different setting.
b) Doctrinal legal Research
The central question of inquiry here is ‘what is the law?' on a particular issue. It is concerned with finding the law, rigorously analyzing it and coming up with logical reasoning behind it. Therefore, it immensely contributes to the continuity, consistency, and certainty of law. The basic information can be found in the statutory material i.e.
primary sources as well in the secondary sources. However, the research has its own limitations, it is subjective, that is limited to the perception of the researcher, away from the actual working of the law, devoid of factors that lie outside the boundaries of the law, and fails to focus on the actual practice of the courts.
c) Non-Doctrinal legal Research
It is also known as socio-legal research and it looks into how the law and legal institutions molds and affects the society. It employs methods taken from other disciplines in
order to generate empirical data to answer the questions.
The format of a full research paper is as given below:
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Acknowledgment
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Declaration
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Table of Contents
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Index of Authorities Includes cases that you have referred to. May also include a list of Abbreviations if you have used any, though it is not mandatory to do so.
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Scope
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Limitations
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Literature Survey/Resources Used
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Research Questions/Hypothesis
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Chapterization
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Abstract
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Introduction
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Chapters respectively
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Conclusion: Will mainly include what opinion or judgement you, as a researcher, have formed about the topic after the research.
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Bibliography
Please Note: The Introduction, Conclusion and Bibliography are NOT parts of Chapter section!
Basic rules to follow;
Academic and professional legal research and writing requires you to develop an argument and demonstrate relationships between the ideas you are expressing. This makes it important to express yourself accurately. Below is what you should do and should avoid while making your research and writing;
Academic writing in law is:
-Clear and concise - only includes what is relevant and necessary in as few words as possible
- Formal
-Based on research - cite cases, laws or legislation
-Objective - words should be neutral, showing neither too much emotion nor attitude
-Written in plain English where appropriate
Academic writing in law does not:
-Contain contractions (e.g. isn't, doesn't, it'll, can't)
-Contain slang (e.g. stuff)
-Contain colourful or strong emotional language ("really", "very", "surely", "often", "basically", "hopefully", etc.)
-Contain abbreviations that are not standard (don`t formulate you're own abbreviations)
FORMAT AND GUIDELINES OF PREPARING A FULL RESEARCH PAPER EXPLAINED
1- Acknowledgement
Examples: We/I take this opportunity to express profound gratitude and deep regards to (Professor) for her/his exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant encouragement throughout the completion of this project topic. The blessing, help and guidance given by him/her time to time shall carry me a long way in the journey of life on which we are about to embark.
We/I have taken efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible without the kind support and help of many individuals and organizations. We/I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them.
Our/My thanks and appreciations also go to my colleague in developing the project and people who have willingly helped me out with their abilities.
We/I are/am obliged to students of (College) for the valuable information provided by them in their respective fields. Lastly, we/I thank almighty, our/my parents, brother, sisters and friends for their constant encouragement without which this assignment would not be possible.
2- Declaration
Declaration is an integral part of a journal or paper being published wherein you, as an author, declare that your work is original and would not attract plagiarism or copyright issues.
Example: We hereby declare that we (Name of the author(s)) are the authors of this research paper. The text reported in the project is the outcome of our own efforts and no part of this project assignment has been copied in any unauthorized manner and no part of it has been incorporated without due acknowledgement to their rightful sources and source persons. We authorize (University Name) to lend this research paper to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research.
3- Table of contents
The Table of contents can be created by:
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First Marking all the ‘Heading’ in the word file.
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Then click on to “Reference” Button in the Menu Bar.
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Go to ‘Table of Contents’
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Click on “Insert Table of Contents’
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Set the Font and Style According to your need using “Modify” Button.
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Click ‘OK’
4- Index of authorities
This contains where you got the information or the real facts which confirm what you are writing about
5- Scope
State the Problem/Aim/Scope of the Research Paper: includes presenting a skeleton of your subject matter. In simpler terms, under this sub-heading, you have to state what your “research problem” is. Say, you are working on an environmental issue:
Example: “This research paper will highlight the issue of sustainable development in Uganda in comparison to issues of ecology in South Africa and how current global development needs to be checked to sustain along with ecology. Also, this research paper also aims to cover case laws decided by the Uganda Supreme Court vis-à-vis decisions of committees on sustainable development.”
6- Limitations
This seeks to restrict the scope of your research topic – the things that you do not want to include in your paper, like any other related issue or areas which may widen the scope of your topic. So here is where you restrict the scope of your topic to what you as a researcher would want. A sample of a limitation clause would look like this:
Example: “During the course of validating and analyzing resources that the researcher has relied upon, it has been strongly felt that the ambit of this area of law is underdeveloped, especially in Uganda. And therefore, the researcher has found in the course of looking for information that the information is unorganized and scattered. The researcher will be working on the available information through the resources previously categorized to emphasize on the relevant issues pertaining to the topic.”
7- Literature review/ survey/ resources used
Sticking to the Research Methodology format shall include:
Literature review/Resources Used: The former (Literary Survey) is mostly used at the post-graduate level wherein you are required to give detailed information about the resources you have relied upon to support your research and compare between them. The latter gives a simplistic detail of the primary resources you have relied on – for instance, The Environment Protection Act or the Uganda law reform commission Report etc.
There are essentially three kinds of resources;
- Primary (Statutes, Case Laws, Original Works or Books),
- Secondary (Articles – Both online and offline, Journals, Commentaries, Dictionaries, Compendiums and Encyclopedias)
and
- Tertiary (Not used as much, but those online resources which make reference to the primary and secondary sources) resources.
8- Research questions/ hypothesis
There is a difference between “research questions” and formulating a “hypothesis” to a research paper. Research questions are the questions which you would put forth, as a researcher, to explore your topic. For example:
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Is Ugandan Environment Protection Act, adequate enough to cover all aspects of ecological issues?Or
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Are South African laws on environment more comprehensive in penalizing offenders than Ugandan laws?
A Hypothesis on the other hand, is a premise or presupposition, on the basis of which one furthers one’s research. It expresses the expectation of a researcher and is the basis on which one starts one’s research paper and also represents how one expects to end it. Remember, do not get lost in the technical heaviness of the word. Look at it from the perspective of a researcher and you will understand that this is an idea which you have in mind when you start – it might get validated or negated in the course of your research. It looks something like this:
“The Ugandan environmental laws are inadequate in protecting the ecology in the globalizing world”
Please notice that there is already a concrete idea as to what the researcher wants to look at here – that Ugandan environmental laws are inadequate.
9- Chapterization
Chapters should be a reflection of what your research questions are asking and must divide your research into logical flow. The number of chapters should not be less than three and should be arranged in an answering manner. Your first chapter could explore what your topic is followed by the second which addresses your concerns about the area and third would be a comparative analysis of your topic.
10- Abstract
The full and final paper is often preceded by an abstract submission that acts as a summary of what you are going to write/research on the topic. This is in a way act as a filter for the peer reviewer. Therefore, in the abstract (normally in 500-1000 words) you have to give the pin point summary of the research topic and the objective. After selection of commendable papers, a peer review panel might opt for an online publication or release a periodic journal. More can be found in the ‘Research Papers’ section.
11- Introduction
Give a brief Introduction of the Topic. This may also include some background information of the topic. You may also include important case law to describe a situation if you are not getting substantive material. Fore example: if you are writing about environmental protection, you can mention the case of Godfrey Nyakana v National Environment Management Authority.
12- Body
Here write your ideas and avoid repeating the phrases.
Paragraphing: use paragraphs as a planning tool. As you write, form your thought into paragraphs. Begin each paragraph with one or two sentences that introduces the topic. The beginning of the paragraph must always have some kind of a ‘hook’ with the last paragraph.
13- Conclusion
Lastly, conclude the research paper taking your stand. If have already supported your arguments with the authorities, this is a kind of a prayer, so conclude in affirmative or negative tone as the case may be.
Kindly Note: Please proof read the paper at least 4 times before submitting the Research Paper.
Check: Grammar, style, font, spellings, punctuation etc.
LEGAL RESEARCH AND WRITING
The ability to research in an effective manner is an essential skill whether you are a student or in practice. The primary aim of conducting clear and methodical legal research is finding the answer to a legal question in the most time effective way and knowing that you have searched in all the relevant sources. Being able to show that you have good legal research skills can help in securing training contracts in law firms or funding for study or research projects.
