Exploring legal boundaries

This module gives you the opportunity to research a legal topic of your own choice. It will support your research on your chosen topic and help you present your findings as a written report of your research methods and in poster format. You will work with other students to prepare your poster and will be encouraged to help each other in your academic endeavours.

Register

Start	End	Fee	Register
30 Jan 2027	Jul 2027	Not yet available	Registration opens on 18/03/26
This module is expected to start for the last time in February 2030.

What you will study

This module will enable you to develop critical research skills and present your findings in relation to a topic of your choice that has a legal focus. You'll be encouraged to explore the interrelationships within law and across disciplines. The aim is to enable you to explore legal boundaries by selecting your own choice of legally relevant subject matter.

The module provides teaching and support for the development of a skills base to enable you to develop as a researcher. It will provide the scope to research comparative and interdisciplinary issues of relevance to law. Additionally, it will enable you to develop your skills of academic critique and mature as a researcher. This will be achieved by various means, including reflecting on peer-to-peer critique, tutor critique and personal reflection on research performance.

The type of skills covered will be relevant to:

formulating an appropriately focused research question
planning, designing, and researching a legal topic in depth
presentating your ideas in an appropriately focused and structured manner
reflecting on your own research, presentation and interpersonal skills.

These skills are directly relevant to Personal Development Planning, so this module will help you to gain skills for whatever you intend to do on completion.

The choice of question to study and research will be key to your success on this module. From the outset, you'll be encouraged to engage with the process of choosing a research topic suitable for exploration in a research poster. You'll also be encouraged to post an image in OpenStudio in the first two weeks of the module to start a discussion with your peers about a topic you might like to research. It is anticipated that you will not have experience of framing research questions, and therefore support in the form of written and interactive materials will help you with the mechanics of choosing of topic to research. This support will continue throughout your research and assist you in formulating the topic appropriately and presenting your initial thoughts about your research.

The first assignment will enable dialogue between peers and tutors regarding your choice of question to research and the thinking behind selecting the topic, permitting you to adjust the research topic and question in the light of feedback. The second assignment enables you to reflect on your research for your poster and to present and critique both the methodology of your research and its findings.

Vocational relevance

This module is relevant to any career that requires planning a research project, including further academic research at masters or doctoral level.

Entry

As this is a research module, you will need to have completed 120 credits from modules at each of the OU levels 1 and 2 or, if you are a graduate entrant to the degree programme, at least 60 credits of OU level 2 modules.

If you are studying this module towards the Academic degree or Foundations of Legal Knowledge route as part of the Bachelor of Laws (Honours) (LLB) (R81) or Bachelor of Laws (Honours) (graduate entry) (LLB) (R82), then you will need to have studied or be studying on a presentation of Trusts law (W311) before enrolling on W350.

If you have a disability

The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying W350 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.

To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our disability support pages.

Study materials

What's included

You’ll have access to a module website, which includes:

a week-by-week study planner
module guide and materials
audio and video content
assessment guide
small group online tuition, booked directly with your tutor.

Computing requirements

Primary device – A desktop or laptop computer. It’s possible to access some materials on a mobile phone, tablet or Chromebook; however, they will not be suitable as your primary device.
Peripheral device – Headphones/earphones with a built-in microphone for online tutorials.
Our OU Study app operates on supported versions of Android and iOS.
Operating systems – Windows 11 or latest supported macOS. Microsoft will no longer support Windows 10 as of 14 October 2025.
Internet access – Broadband or mobile connection.
Browser – Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge are recommended. Mozilla Firefox and Safari may be suitable.

Teaching and assessment

Support from your tutor

You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.

They’ll help by:

marking your assignments and offering detailed feedback to help you improve
providing individual guidance, whether that’s for general study skills or specific module content
guiding you to additional learning resources
facilitating online discussions between your fellow students in the dedicated module and tutor group forums.

Online tutorials run throughout the module. Where possible, we’ll make recordings available. While they’re not compulsory, we strongly encourage you to participate as your ability to work with your peers and complete the summative assessment will be severely compromised if you do not participate.

Assessment

The assessment details for this module can be found in the facts box.

Students also studied

Students who studied this module also studied at some time:

Future availability

Exploring legal boundaries starts twice a year – in October and February. This page describes the module that will start in October 2025 and February 2026. We expect it to start for the last time in February 2030.

How to register

To register a place on this module return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button.

Regulations

As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.

UG Undergraduate

Course facts

About this course:
Course code	W350
Credits	30
OU Level	3
SCQF level	10
FHEQ level	6
Course work includes:
2 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs)
End-of-module assessment
No residential school