BLO1105: Business Law – Trimester 3 2016 (VU Sydney)
Assessment 3: Research Assignment (30%)
Overview of the task
Task: Research Assignment (Essay)
Length: 2,000 (minimum) - 2,500 Words (not including footnotes and bibliography)
Due Date: Week 9 of the semester. Please refer to closing date and time specified in Assignment Dropbox.
Details of the task
The research assignment is to be completed individually and requires students to undertake their own research of academic materials outside of those prescribed or provided in the unit as a basis for their completed assignment (e.g., legal journal articles, case summaries, other texts).
Students must read and follow all instructions carefully and familiarise themselves with the VU Academic Integrity and Plagiarism policies.
The assignment should be written in the style of an essay. All assertions should be supported with appropriate references to Australian law (cases) and relevant articles/journals. Students should be wary of using internet sources that are not of acceptable academic standard.
Footnotes and bibliography (Australian Guide to Legal Citation format) are required. Other referencing styles (e.g., Harvard style) are not to be used for this assignment.
Preparation
The essay topic may not be fully covered in lectures and tutorials prior to the due date.
Students are nonetheless expected to review the topic (i.e., lecture slides and relevant chapters of prescribed text) as well as to conduct more in-depth research into the topic using a variety of reputable academic resources. VU library resources and databases are recommended for this purpose.
It is recommended that students begin researching the assignment as early as possible.
Assessment Criteria and Submission
All essays are to be submitted electronically via the Assessment Dropbox provided. Assignments will be submitted via Turnitin, where originality reports will be generated can be viewed. Students should endeavour to achieve less than 30% similarity.
Students may submit multiple drafts via Turnitin to view their similarity report and make necessary changes until the due date.
Individual tutors may also request hard copies be submitted. Where a hard copy is submitted, students must also attach a completed and signed College of Law and Justice assignment declaration form.
Assignment Topic
Topic:
Consideration need not be adequate or commercially realistic. It merely needs to be ‘sufficient’.
Discuss what the term ‘sufficient’ means in this context and whether the statement is accurate in regards to Australian contract law.
Your answer should discuss, by reference to reputable academic sources, what is meant by ‘inadequate’ or ‘nominal’ consideration and provide contrasting scenarios of what is and is not ‘sufficient’ in the eyes of the law, citing the relevant cases and judicial decisions.
Purpose: to study and understand the relevant rules of consideration and the development of common law in regards to consideration.
In your essay you are to address the following issues:
• Explain the role of consideration in formation of a contract
• Discuss what is meant by the key words in the assignment topic
• Explain the development of the relevant law with regards to the assignment topic.
• Refer to the appropriate law/cases in your explanation
• Make appropriate observations on whether there are any existing problems or issues.
Note: Extensive summaries of facts of cases are not desirable. Students should focus on identifying and explaining the decision and reasoning of the court and the relevance with regard to the assignment topic.
Further instructions (READ THIS!!)
The assignment must include footnotes, a bibliography. Students are required to adhere to the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC) for footnotes, references and bibliography and must not employ an alternative method (e.g., the Harvard method). The VU guide to the AGLC and the 3rd Edition are available in the library resources section on VU Collaborate.
Marks will be deducted where students fail to adhere to the AGLC guidelines. Failure to include footnotes and bibliography in the required format may constitute breaches of the VU plagiarism policy.
It is all students’ own responsibility to be aware of and to comply with the VU plagiarism policy (see VU Collaborate for further details). All assignments must be submitted electronically and will generate a Turnitin similarity report. Students must aim for less than 30% similarity. Assignments can be submitted on multiple occasions until the due date, so that students can amend the assignment as necessary in order to comply with plagiarism and originality requirements.
Assignments will be marked out of a possible 30 marks. Students are assessed on their demonstrated understanding of the issues, legal principles and relevant case law and legislation. Marks are also allocated specifically for breadth of research and compliance with the AGLC (20% of total assignment mark).
Students are expected to conduct research outside of the prescribed course materials and to use reputable academic sources. A minimum of 6 sources is expected. Be very careful if using Internet sources, as many of these are not of academic standard. Consult the VU library site and links provided on VU Collaborate for reputable Internet sources. Sites such as Wikipedia, lawteacher.net, student papers or notes available on the Internet and similar are unacceptable.
Whilst there is no prescribed number of footnotes required, students are advised that at least 20 are desirable. More may be necessary in order to properly acknowledge sources in accordance with the VU Academic Integrity policy.