Guidelines for writing an essay

Your essay must be a case study involving THAI LAW. Case study is a study of a single individual, group, community or an event. It involves in-depth study of the 'case'. The actual subject matter of your case can be anything that involves international trade law. But it must be specific. It can be a legal case decided by a court, an event reported in a newspaper, one type of behaviour common for a particular group which can be observed, the story told by a friend, the event you witnessed by yourself, etc.

A case study includes two parts:

first, collection and presentation of the data (the facts); Facts can be collected in many ways: articles, newspapers, law reports, books, the internet, interviews.

second, analysis of these facts. Most case studies deal with common problems in a particular area of law. It involves a deep study of the problem, its effects on people and the possible solutions. Analysis must look at causes and effects. It must have clear conclusion or the result.

Types of case studies in law:

First, your case illustrates a common legal problem;

second, your case presents a new or unusual fact related to law and its application; third, your case compares different legal events or occurrences at present or in the past; fourth, your case criticizes a particular legal practice or norm.

Topics: Your case must fall within one of the following areas of Thai law:

1.  computer crime

2.  intellectual property violations on the Internet

3.  defamation on the Internet

Criteria for assessment of an essay.

Classification / Mark / Comment
Distinction / An outstanding essay, given at an advanced level. It is well presented, logical and clear. It contains evidence of a wide knowledge of the subject matter. It combines a comprehensive understanding of theoretical issues and empirical applications, with originality of approach. The student presents ideas that are logically developed and carefully formulated. Its arguments are clear and accurate. The use of legal concepts, theories and research findings is precise and accurate. The work reflects originality and insight in the student's thinking and analysis.
Merit / A comprehensive and well-organised answer. The argument presented is clear and logical, with evidence of having understood the issues and an ability to think about them effectively. The essay draws on a fairly wide range of sources and links these accurately to theory. The essay states ideas and develops its topic clearly, logically and adequately. Its ideas are supported with arguments that are clear and accurate. Its use of legal concepts, theories and research findings is largely precise, although there may be a few minor factual errors or inaccuracies.
Pass / This mark reflects a essay that is not well organised and is lacking a full answer to the question. It shows some grasp of theory and its relation to empirical data, but with little insight or grasp of wider issues. It is mostly accurate, but limited in scope and does not express any real development of argument. The essay is a satisfactory response to the assignment. Its central ideas are expressed and developed clearly enough to be understood by the reader. Although the essay may seem correct, it lacks the originality and clarity of thought that would entitle it to an above average grade. The use of legal concepts, theories and research findings may reflect more than minor inaccuracies, such as basic factual errors or errors of omission.
Fail / This essay shows little evidence of effort, and it is deficient in organisation and scope. The information it contains is insufficient and is mostly drawn from unclear sources. The essay indicates much below average achievement in the development of its ideas. These may be unclear or supported illogically or inconsistently. Its use of legal concepts, theories and research may contain errors, omissions and irrelevancies.

Guidelines for writing a reference list in an essay

Students must include only those works which have been used as references in the main text of the essay.

Works in a reference list are listed in alphabetical order by author name, (or by title where there is no author). See an example of a formatted reference list.

If a student has several works by the same author, he must list these works in chronological publication date order (i.e. start with the earliest publication date and end with the latest).

If one author has published several works in the one year, these works must be listed according to the lowercase letter attached to the date (i.e. 1986a comes before 1986b and so on).

In the author-date system of referencing, all the elements of the reference after the date are separated from each other by commas. A full stop concludes the citation.

Titles should always be in italics.

The first letter of the first word of the title and every other word except for definite articles (the, an, a), prepositions (of, for, in, to, on etc.) and conjunctions (but, and, than) must be a capital letter.

Titles of articles that are part of larger works should always be given in single quotation marks.

a) Referencing legislation has the following elements in the order given:

1. the Act's short title (which usually includes a year) in italics

2. legislation number (if appropriate)

3. the jurisdiction (e.g. SA, Vic., Cwlth, UK etc.) in parentheses (if appropriate)

4. the relevant section of the Act, abbreviated in the form s. 4 or ss. 4-7, or, if part of a subsection, s. 19(1)(a)(ii), or Article 119.

b) Referencing books has the following elements in the order given:

* author(s)

* year of publication

* title of the book, italicised and as it appears on the title page, not the book cover

* title of series (if applicable)

* volume number, or number of volumes (if applicable)

* edition (if not the first) written as 2nd edn, 5th edn etc.

* editor, reviser, compiler or translator, if other than the author

* publisher (or publishers when item is co-published)

* place of publication. Give the name of the suburb or city and of the state or country if the city is not well-known. If more than one place is listed, give only the first-named place.

c) Referencing journal articles has the following elements in the order given:

* author(s)

* year of publication

* title of the article, in single quotation marks

* title of the journal, in italics

* volume number, written as vol.

* issue number (written as no.) or some other identifier, usually a month

* page number(s).

A sample reference list

A. Legislation materials and its official interpretation by the Supreme Court of the People’s Republic of China:

Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China 1979, 1997, Article 14, Article 15, Article 16, Article 114, Article 115, Article 116, Article 119, Article 120, Article 124, Article 155, Article 338, Article 339, Article 340, Article 342, Article 343, Article 344, Article 345, English translation is available at http://www.colaw.cn/findlaw/crime/criminallaw1.html Accessed on 16.08.2010, Slightly different English translation is available at: http://www.procedurallaw.cn/english/law/200807/t20080724_40991.html Accessed on 19.07.2010,

Chinese text is at: http://www.gov.cn/banshi/2005-05/25/content_887.htm Accessed on 28.10.2010.

Criminal Procedural Law of the People's Republic of China 1979, 1996, Article 12, Article 35, Article 93, English translation is available at http://www.lehmanlaw.com/resource-centre/laws-and-regulations/general/criminal-procedure-law-of-the-peoples-republic-of-china-1996.html Accessed on 28.10.2010.

Supreme Court of People’s Republic of China: Interpretation of Certain Issues regarding Application of Law in Adjudicating Criminal Cases of Destruction of Wildlife Resources 2000, (最高人民法院关于审理破坏野生动物资源刑事案件具体应用法律若干问题的解释 11.12.2000), Article 3, Article 4, Article 5, Available in Chinese on line: http://www.forestry.gov.cn/portal/zfs/s/809/content-105804.html Accessed on 26.08.2010.

Supreme Court of People’s Republic of China: Interpretation of Certain Issues regarding Application of Law in Adjudicating Criminal Cases of Destruction of Forest Resources 2000, (最高人民法院关于审理破坏森林资源刑事案件具体应用法律若干问题的解释17.11.2000)， Article 2, Article 3, Article 4, Article 5, Available in Chinese on line at: http://www.zjagri.gov.cn/html/main/agriPolicyView/2006012664800.html Accessed on 16.08.2010.

Supreme Court of People’s Republic of China: Interpretation of Certain Issues regarding Application of Law in Adjudicating Criminal Cases of Environmental Pollution 2006, (最高人民法院关于审理环境污染刑事案件具体应用法律若干问题的解释 2006) Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, The Chinese text of the Court’s Interpretation is found at: http://www.chinacourt.org/flwk/show1.php?file_id=111917 Accessed on 16.08.2010.

B. Other Literature:

Bakken B 2005, Crime, Punishment, and Policing in China, Rowman & Littlefield, p. 98.

Bellamy J 2003, “Putting the Boss behind Bars: Using Criminal Sanctions against Executives Who Pollute – What China Could Learn from the United States” in: 13 Ind. Int’l & Comp. L. Rev., pp. 579 – 599.

“China: Massensterben durch Umweltverschmutzung” 2007, in: Welt, 5 of July, Available on line: http://www.welt.de/wissenschaft/article1000319/Massensterben_durch_Umweltverschmutzung.html Accessed on 31.08.2010

Cicero, De Legibus, (book III, part III, sub. VIII), Available on line: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/leg3.shtml#3 Accessed on 15.08.2010.

“Crime and Criminal Justice in Europe” 2000, Council of Europe, Vol. 1, p. 72.

Feng Weiguo 2009, Interview to China Environmental News Time, on 20 August, The text of the interview is available in Chinese at: http://www.zys365.com/Shic_3.aspx?id=208&page=1 Accessed on 15.08.2010.

Lee, Ch 2008, ‘“Pollute first, Control Later” No More: Combating Environmental Degradation in China Through an Approach based in Public Interest Litigation and public Participation’ in: 17 Pac. Rim L. & Pol’y J. - June, pp. 795 - 801.

Lewis & Short. Latin Dictionary. Available on line: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=salus&la=la#lexicon

Mansbach R, Rhodes E 2008 Global Politics in a Changing World, Cengage Learning, p. 379.

Peijun Shi et al. 2009, Integrated Disaster Risk Management in China, OECD: Hyderabad, Available at: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN025920.pdf (Accessed on 29.07.2010).

Sharma Ch 2005 “Chinese Endangered Species at the Brink of Extinction: a Critical Look at the Current Law and Policy in China” in: Animal Law Vol. 11, pp. 215 – 241

Sitaraman S 2007, “Regulating the Belching Dragon: Rule of Law, Politics of Enforcement, and Pollution Prevention in Post-Mao Industrial China” in: 18 Colo. J. int’l Envtl. L. & Pol’y, Spring, pp. 267 - 274.

Thieffry P 2006 ‘La Protection de l’Environnement en Chine: un Cadre Juridique Ambitieux a la Mesure d’Enjeux Considerables?” in: RJ.E. April, pp. 401-423. Available on line: http://www.thieffry.com/articles/rje_chine.pdf Accessed on 16.08.2010.

"Toxic leak reaches Russian river" 2005, BBC News, on 16 December, Available on line: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4534542.stm Accessed on 16.08.2010.