How to Write a Good Research Proposal for a Law Paper
Once you’re at the research proposal writing stage, it’s good to keep in mind that the process requires the author to be familiar with the methodology of research as well as legal method course. The research proposal for the law paper should be submitted to the university supervisors within the set deadline – make sure to meet one.
First thing to remember is that the law research proposal must include not more than 2500 words. But this number does not include bibliography and footnotes. The cover page must include the title, name, registration, completion year, word count, supervisor’s name and the date.
As soon as you have the topic of the research proposal, allow yourself enough time to identify the specific problem that you will be researching though stating an overall question. The topic could be the broad segment of law, but make sure to choose the one that is related to the area you like best.
As for the proposal structure, there is no guidance regarding the format of proposal, as well as how its content should look like. Typically, it’s the supervisor that decides in what order the Research Methodology and theoretical part should be placed.
A law paper proposal may include either background or intro, or both. This will depend on your supervisor’s way of thinking. But the typical thing about this part is that it sets out a broad, but hooking start to the area of research being performed. As a rule, it is not long, but it includes catchy information that presents your topic to the readers. For example, the intro of the research proposal of the law paper may look like this: ‘Article 51 of the United Nations Charter reveals that an armed attack originally comes from the other American state. However, the state practice proved that there were special cases, when the attacks were justified by the states on the territory of the other in the name of self-defence, when this very attack was caused by a non-state actor. It is necessary to mention that customary and treaty international law recognize the right of the state to take some measures to stop the danger that has been posed to the citizens and the state.’
The law paper research proposal requires you to state the problem you work on. It usually includes a concise matter that has arisen in a certain context and consequently must be properly investigated and the right solution recommended at the end. To cut the story, what you are about to research is what you have to describe in this part. Take a look at the following example: ‘The problem that comes up lies in whether the self-defence right should be exercised legally in the event of the armed attack that happened against the American state by a non-state actor. That is, the problem is whether the American state should be responsible for the international law on regard to the armed attacks by the non-state actor working form its own region and thus become the object of the retaliatory attack by the victim territory in exercise of the self-defense right.’
It is recommended to limit your research proposal to a single legal question. The following questions may serve as an example for your own project: What do we call ‘the armed attack’? Does the Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations consider an attack by the non-state actors as the armed attack? Does the attack made by the non-state actors relate to the armed attack? Make sure to choose one of the alternative research questions or work out your own.