So for the last few months, well since September 2014 I have been properly working away on my dissertation. But the process started quite a few months before that, so in about January 2014 I came up with a few possible areas I would like to write a dissertation (as well as already knowing in my head who I wanted my tutor to be!) and I planned them and started researching them.
I was very fortunate enough to speak to Stefan Fafinski and pick his brains on good areas, best methods for research and also some top tips for writing a dissertation (which can be found in their book!).
I decided on the top of Psychiatric Reform for Secondary Victims, but after discussions with my supervisor Neal, we decided that I didn’t really want to explore why the current law was a mess (as that is a given) so I would consider a couple of the proposed law reform methods instead and decide which would (if any) be the most effective in reforming the law. I would also comment briefly on the possible reasons as to why these proposals had not been adopted despite the need to reform the law!
My dissertation hand in date is the 24th April, and Herts don’t require bound copies, so I will be uploading my dissertation online, but I will be getting some copies bound to keep as personal copies, and also to send out to a few people that asked to read them.
I have really enjoyed working on this and researching in great depth this area of law (despite at times wanting to pull my hair out when I felt that I wasn’t getting anywhere fast with it all!), but one thing that has also come out of writing my dissertation is how easy it is to become quite passionate about very different areas of law. I had enjoyed studying this topic when I studied Law of Tort in second year, but psychiatric injury was only a one week topic, so to be able to spend the last 8 months researching this has made me even more keen to see some form of law reform adopted in this area, as soon as possible.
There is a slight chance my dissertation will be going up onto lexis or west law and if it does I will share the link! If any of you do want to read it then I will happily send you a copy.
Rebecca x