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Instruments per a l'Estudi

Code: 102251 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2500786 Law FB 1

Contact

Name:
Stefania Giombini
Email:
stefania.giombini@uab.cat

Teachers

Josep Gracia Casamitjana
Mariona Torra Cot
Jose Antonio Gonzalez Clapham
Albert Zuņiga Carulla
Patricia Fernanda Gonzalez Prado
Stefania Giombini
Marc Hernandez Valles
Maria Isabel Garcia Ruiz
Milagros Orozco Hermoso
Albert Ferrer Gomez
Josep Suquet Capdevila
Maria Barcons Campmajo

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

The teaching of the subject will be conducted considering the perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Teaching Language for groups and teachers:

Group 1: Prof. Stefania Giombini and Marc H. Vallès. Language: Spanish.

Group 2: Mariona Torra Cot. Language: Catalan.

Group 3: Prof.  María José Sánchez López. Language: to be determined

Group 4: Prof. Maria Barcons Campmajó. Language: Catalan.

Group 5: Prof.  to be determined Language: to be determined

Group 6: Prof.  María José Sánchez López. Language: to be determined

Group 51: José Antonio González Clapham. Language: Spanish.

Group 52: Maria Isabel García Ruiz. Language: Spanish.

Group 70: Proff. Milagros Orozco Hermoso, Josep Gràcia Casamitjana, Albert Zuñiga Carulla. Language: Catalan.

Group 71: Proff. Josep Suquet Capdevila, Albert Ferrer Gómez, Albert Zuñiga Carulla. Language: Catalan.

Group 72: Patricia Fernanda Gonzalez Prado. Language: Spanish.

 


Objectives and Contextualisation

'Instruments per a l'estudi' (Tools for studying) is a law degree first-year subject (first semester). This subject teaches students valuable tools for their legal training, such as information search, argumentation, oral and written expression, legal writing, etc.

These tools try to ensure that the student achieves skills that are not specifically legal. These skills, however, are essential for developing their training (search for legislation and jurisprudence, for example) and for the work of the jurist ( oral and written expression, writing of documents, etc.). On the other hand, students become familiar with information and legal and technological sources.


Regarding oral and written expression, will be held the following sessions: a session on how to speak in public, legal language, and legal argumentation. On the other hand, these skills will be put into practice with the realization of a "league of legal debate" among all the groups of Instruments for the study.


Finally, the aim is to provide students with a series of transversal skills necessary for acquiring their legal education.

 

Competences

  • Drawing up legal texts (contracts, judgements, sentences, writs, rulings, wills, legislation...).
  • Managing bibliographic and documentary resources: databases, browsing, etc.
  • Mastering the computing techniques when it comes to obtaining legal information (legislation databases, jurisprudence, bibliography...) and in data communication.
  • Memorising and utilising legal terminology.
  • Present information in a way that is appropriate to the type of audience.
  • Students must be capable of demonstrating a critical awareness of the analysis of the legal system and development of legal dialectics.
  • Working in teams, being either a member or a coordinator of working groups, as well as making decisions affecting the whole group.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analysing, in a critical way, key aspects of some branches of the legal system.
  2. Applying appropriate legal dialectics.
  3. Distinguishing the most frequent databases in the legal practice.
  4. Managing bibliographic and documentary resources: databases, browsing, etc.
  5. Preparing or forging networks for the communication of the obtained data.
  6. Present information in a way that is appropriate to the type of audience.
  7. Selecting through computing networks the appropriate bibliographical sources for a concrete work.
  8. Using in a practical way the theoretical concepts that will be later developed in some of the degree's subjects.
  9. Using the legal terminology through preparatory materials.
  10. Working in teams, being either a member or a coordinator of working groups, as well as making decisions affecting the whole group.

Content

  1. Legal databases: identification and use of databases of legislation, jurisprudence, and bibliography.
  2. Methodology for the preparation of research papers and academic essays.
  3. Acquisition of legal language.
  4. Study techniques and time organization.
  5. Critical commentary and analysis of legal texts.
  6. Discourse and written communication.
  7. Communication and oral argumentation.
  8. Group work in the legal field.
  9. Participation in a "league of legal debate" among all the groups of Instruments for the Study. Debates will be organized in each group with predetermined topics by all professors of the subject. The winning team of each group will participate in a final from which a single winning team.
  10. Governing bodies of the UAB and student participation.

Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures and principal active participation of professor (Sessions 1, 2, 3 (two thirds) 4 (two thirds), 5, 8 (two thirds), 9 (half), 10 (half) 22 0.88 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10
Lectures and principal active participation of students 22 0.88 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10
Type: Autonomous      
Documentation and biblography search 20 0.8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
Study 20 0.8
Work group out of classroom 24 0.96 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10
Writting and preparation of works 30 1.2 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10


The course is developed through a weekly session lasting three hours and a quarter (this time may vary in double degrees). Here is what sessions will be developed. The order of the sessions will vary depending on the group.

 

 

  1. Subject presentation, organization of group activities, written level test realization.
  2. Session on study techniques and time organization.
  3. Session on legal language (special reference to the gender perspective).
  4. Session on discourse and written communication.
  5. Session on comment and analysis of legal texts.
  6. Session on communication and oral argument.
  7. Session on methodology for the preparation of papers and academic essays.
  8. Session on the realization of recensions.
  9. Session on management of information sources (legal databases, on-line resources, etc.).
  10. Session on oral presentation techniques.
  11. First legal debate session for each group.
  12. Second legal debate session for each group.
  13. Governing bodies of the UAB and student participation.
  14. Third legal debate session for each group.
  15. Final debate league.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Documentation and Biblography Search 18,5% 2 0.08 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10
Lectures and principal active participation of professor (Sessions 1, 2, 3 (two thirds) 4 (two thirds), 5, 8 (two thirds), 9 (half), 10 (half) 14,81% 2 0.08 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10
Lectures and student active participation 18,5% 2 0.08 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10
Study 14,81% 2 0.08 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
Work out classroom 18,5% 2 0.08 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10
Writting and presentation of works 25,92% 2 0.08 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10

SYSTEM OF EVALUATION OF ACQUISITION OF COMPETENCIES AND GRADING SYSTEM

Evaluation is based on monitoring the student's work throughout the course. Each activity (in class or outside of class) is assessed and integrated into the final grade. Specifically, the different activities and assignments that constitute the evaluation are as follows:
1. Dossier on legal language: up to 1 point.
2. Exercise on methodology for the preparation of research papers and legal essays: up to 1 point.
3. Exercise on drafting a legal text (written argumentation): up to 1.5 points.
4. Text commentary and critical analysis of a legal text: up to 1.5 points.
5. Exercise on study techniques and time management: up to 1 point.
6. Exercise on legal databases and online resources (research on legislation, case law, and doctrine): up to 2 points.
7. Group work (legal debate / oral expression): up to 2 points.

Exercises 1 and 6 are conducted outside the classroom and must be submitted electronically to the teacher before the established deadlines. The absolute imperative nature of deadlines is an essential characteristic of this course. In the legal profession, deadlines and their adherence are of paramount importance; therefore, in this course, late submission of an exercise without a valid reason is never allowed. Similarly, if an exercise is scheduled for a specific day in class and, for any reason, the student cannot attend, there is no way to make up for that exercise. This inflexible nature is part of the education of future jurists who, from the beginning of their training, must be aware that deadlines are inexorable.

Attendance is mandatory. Absence from a practice or activity conducted in class cannot be substituted by work done at home, as this would alter its pedagogical objectives.

Students will be evaluated provided they have completed a set of activities that account for at least 2/3 of the total grade of the subject. If the value of the activities completeddoes not reach this threshold, the teacher may consider the student as not assessable . Students arriving late for a practice or activity will not be allowed to participate.

In cases where no work is submitted or no exercises are completed, or one or two assignments or exercises are submitted and/or completed, the grade will be marked as "not submitted". If three or more assignments are submitted, the grade will not be marked as "not submitted".

Students who leave an activity, practice, or lecture before its completion will be marked as not present. For these purposes, the teacher has the authority to conduct attendance checks at the end of the session.

The final grade for a subject will be rounded to the nearest whole number when it is one tenth away from a value that entails a change in a higher qualitative grade. For example: grades 4'9, 6'9 and 8'9 automatically become 5, 7 and 9, without the need for any activity on the part of the students. A day will be set for each student to review the grades obtained with the teacher.

Students are informed that evaluation in Instruments for Study is entirely continuous; therefore, there is no final exam or re-evaluation. This subject does not provide for a single evaluation system.

Fraudulent Conduct:
A student who copies or attempts to copy a final activity or practice will receive a grade of 0 for that assignment. A student who submits work containing plagiarism will receive a grade of 0 and a warning. In case of repeated misconduct, the student will fail the course.


Bibliography

In class and through the  Virtual Campus, the necessary information will be provided in each case, which will depend on the subjects that each student chooses to carry out the dossier of the legal news and the various topics proposed to carry out the argumentation exercises, university, and group work. The recommended general bibliography of the course is the following:

 

Atienza, Manuel, Curso de argumentación jurídica, Trotta, 2013.

Beas Franco, Josefina, Santa Cruz Valenzuela, Josefina, Thomsem Queirolo, Paulina, Utreras García Soledad, Enseñar a pensar para aprender mejor, Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile, 2003.

Bermúdez, Manuel, Lucena, Jorge, Manual de debate. Guía práctica para desarrollar tus habilidades en el debate académico y la oratoria, Editorial Berenice, 2019.

Bonomo Hernán, Mamberti, Juan, M., Miller, Jackson, B., Tolerancia crística y ciudadanía activa: una introducción práctica al debate educativo, International  Education Debate Association, 2010.

Hermosillo Lozano, Judith, Albornoz Barrientos, Jorge, Manual básico del debatiente, Mar adentro, 2010.

Lucas, Stephen, E. The art of public speaking, McGraw Hill, 2011.

Swatridge, Colin, Oxford Guide to Effective Argument & Critical Thinking, Oxford University Press, 2014.

Toulmin, Stephen, E., Los usos de la argumentación, Península, 2007.

Turull, Max (Dir.), Tècniques de treball i comunicació. Instrumentarium per a les ciències socials i jurídiques. Huygens editorial2011 . 

 

 

 Web links:

 

www.westlaw.es

www.tirantonline.es

www.uab.cat

www.gencat.cat

www.congreso.es

www.senado.es

www.europa.eu

www.etc.uab.cat/ted

 


Software

The subject does not require any specific software.


Language list

Information on the teaching languages can be checked on the CONTENTS section of the guide.