Dramatised Dissertation

What is a dramatised dissertation?

This stream provides students with the opportunity to follow up a particular research interest on a topic chosen by them and to explore those interests through creative writing. Those undertaking this stream will submit their work in the form of a dramatic script such as a play or film script. Students will only have the option of doing this as a 5,000-word piece taken in Term 2 (15 CAT).

Samples of good practice

A dramatised dissertation sample from 2023:

Irmak Baksu, A Public Display of Love (LLB Dissertation, University of Warwick 2023)

Not for sharing. If cited or quoted, please use the above citation.

What can you write about?

Dramatised dissertation allows you to follow up a particular research interest in law and to explore it through creative writing. While you can explore any area of law in your dramatised project, the output has to be a dramatic script such as a play or film script.

What kind of support will you receive?

Teaching support is delivered in streams and through supervision. In streams, you will have workshop style lectures that provide training and guidance on getting started, research methods, ethics, and writing.

All students will also be supported by a supervisor. Supervision will mainly consist of regular group meetings that will focus on proposals, literature, writing, and reviewing past work. In addition, there will be termly individual supervision to discuss draft written work.

Do you have questions about this stream? Contact the stream lead: Professor James Harrison

Working towards a project proposal: step by step guidance

You can download the timeline and all exercises as a word document here if you wish to use it as a worksheet.

Tab 1

When?	I need to attend	By the end of the week, I should have..
Week 2 Term 2	One of the project information sessions	Completed Exercise 1 (side tab) and read about different project options to decide on a stream
Week 3 Term 2		Considered an area of law or a broad topic I want to explore further Decided on the stream I want to do my research in
Week 5 Term 2	A stream specific session on developing proposal
Week 6 Term 2		Completed Exercise 2 (side tab) and in particular, narrowed down ideas from a broad topic to a more specific issue and identified five sources relevant to my research and considered why they are important.
Week 8 Term 2	If I have any questions, attend one of the drop-in sessions	Read further into the readings identified
Week 10 Term 2	If I have any questions, attend one of the drop-in sessions	Completed Roadmap to a topic (side tab)
March 20th 2025		Final deadline for submission of my proposal

Exercise 1: Brainstorming

This exercise is designed to help you to get started.

Start by listing all of the ideas for dissertation topic you can think of in about 10 minutes. You can reflect on your past study experiences, news, and personal interests to do this.
List as many pros and cons as you can think of for each item.
After all pros and cons have been identified, rank each item based on the idea, the pros, and the cons.

Exercise 2: Finding focus

EXERCISE 2: Finding focus

Answer the questions on the right in 1-2 sentences per topic you are contemplating.

These questions are designed to help you crystallise your ideas and to find your focus as you are preparing for the proposal.

Questions to consider

What am I actually interested in finding out the most?
What do I hope to learn or gain by choosing this topic?
What kind of research or data would help me answer the questions I am interested in?
Using the Online Library search function, identify and write down 5 potential sources
Which one(s) of these sources is the most helpful and why? You can just read the abstracts for now, and save the most helpful ones to later to read in full.

Roadmap to a topic

Roadmap to finding a topic

Reflect on all the questions in the infograph; this is an aid to help you find your topic. When you can answer all the questions, you are ready to submit your proposal.

This infographic is made by Alison Phipps and it is freely available on her website: https://phipps.space/resources-for-researchers/ You can find other research resources there too.