LW1LSC: Legal Skills for Criminologists

Module code: LW1LSC

Module provider: School of Law

Credits: 20

Level: 4

When you’ll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Mr Robin Brooker, email: r.d.brooker@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded: IN TAKING THIS MODULE YOU CANNOT TAKE LW1ELS (Compulsory)

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2026/7

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 9 April 2026

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This first-year module is designed to introduce students to teaching methods and expectations on the undergraduate Criminology programme, and develop the skills and confidence required for independent academic study. The module provides an introduction to Criminology as an academic field of study, and a grounding in foundational principles of social scientific epistemology and core secondary research skills.

Students will gain an introductory overview of the English Legal System and consider the interrelationship between society, culture, the law and crime. Students will explore principles and problems of academic integrity, and develop tools and practices for academic reflection.

The module provides opportunities to reflect on, develop and evidence key employability and transferable skills.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Understand key principles of the English Legal System and distinguish between legal and the social scientific approaches to understanding crime and justice.
2. Develop, implement and refine an effective personal skills-development plan.
3. Develop and refine effective practices and strategies for independent academic study and reading.
4. Understand key principles of social scientific inquiry and academic integrity.
5. Work confidently with a range of empirical social scientific evidence, and develop evidence-based claims.
6. Devise an effective criminological research question and work with support to plan and execute a synthesis of relevant evidence.

Module content

While there may be some variation in module content each year, teaching will typically include:

• The English Legal System.
• The disciplinary relationships and distinctions between Social Sciences, Law and Criminology.
• Information literacy and library skills.
• Time Management, target-setting and planning skills.
• Formulating criminological research questions.
• Conducting an academic literature search.
• Academic reading skills.
• Interpreting, evaluating and synthesising evidence.
• Academic integrity and referencing.
• Academic writing and argumentation.
• Working effectively and ethically with Generative AI (Large Language Models).
• Presentation, discussion and group-working skills.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The scope and structure of the module is designed to scaffold the steady development of students’ study and assessment skills throughout the module. Lectures will introduce students to key academic perspectives, principles and practices, which will be developed through hands-on independent and collaborative work in tutorials and workshops. Students will work towards their module assessments throughout the semester, compiling a wide-ranging reflective portfolio of skills development work and building the skills required.

Study hours

At least 50 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each calendar day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three calendar days;
• where the piece of work is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in you Individual Learning Plan), the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three calendar days of the deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

Where a piece of work is submitted late after a deadline which has been revised owing to an extension granted through the Assessment Adjustments policy and process (self-certified or otherwise), it will be subject to the maximum penalty (i.e., considered to be more than three calendar days late). This will also apply when such an extension is used in conjunction with a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

• Annotated bibliography and report

Reassessment

Additional costs