International Arbitration and International Investment - Coursework Example

?The Reflective Research Diary Introduction The topic that I selected for my dissertation writing is ‘International Arbitration and International Investment: A Comparative Study between Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom’. The reason to why I selected this topic is chiefly my interest and my association with the two countries. Also, I wanted to investigate and scrutinize the detailed content available on this topic in order to gain some information that helps me out in my understanding about the two countries and their arbitration processes. I am quite aware that this topic is not minute or easy to do as a large number of literature is available on the issue of international arbitration. However, reading into the details of arbitration and investment in Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom will give me not only information but also enjoyment because of my curiosity for the topic. Before starting to write this diary, as mentioned earlier on, I opted for the given topic and this selection was not easy as a wide range of topics were available to choose from. For the process of selection, I surfed through internet to find a topic that gives me interest and which, I am able to complete successfully. Week 1 After deciding on a topic, the first step that I took was start drafting the ideas that came to my mind about the topic. I wrote everything I came to my mind and the knowledge that I had. I also wrote general ideas of people about the topic. After this procedure, I started conducting research on the topic of international arbitration and investment and I wrote the same full topic that I had mentioned earlier on in Google to see what comes as a result. I see the available books, journals, articles and magazines available on the internet. By researching at the initial stage, I was happy to find out that internet served a great information retrieval source. There are databases available that help an individual to surf for any topic that he likes. The research terms that I used on Google to search for helpful content are ‘international arbitration’, ‘international arbitration and investment’, ‘history of arbitration’, ‘arbitration in Arab countries’, ‘arbitration in European countries’, ‘agreements of arbitration and investment’, ‘disputes related o arbitration and investment among countries’, ‘international arbitration and investment in Saudi Arabia’, ‘international arbitration and investment in United Kingdom’ and so on. There were many books available on internet along with articles and journals related to my topic. When I scrutinized through the available content, I tried to note the important points and collected them as bullet points as a draft that can be further used for the final write up. According to my understanding, the first stage that can be there in any dissertation writing is collection of all available data from various resources such as internet, library and bookstores. On Thursday, I read the book named ‘International Arbitration: Law and Practice’ by Mauro and I came to know that as per Saudi law the aggrieved first should refer the matter to their competent court to seek remedy since the Saudi law restricts agencies to sue the party in their country of origin. It means that the government accommodates parties to seek justice from its own court system and not external courts. Week 2 An important point that needs to be kept in mind in dissertation writing is knowledge of writing, I am required to use OSCOLA because my dissertation is related to law and OSCOLA referencing style of writing suits law dissertations. Therefore, when I accessed information about the topic of my research, I also collected information about the referencing style. I saved important direct quotes of writers by highlighting them in their respected documents and I was quite aware that I have to reference them fully in order to avoid plagiarism of any kind. Direct copying is plagiarism and I really don’t want to do that because I want to complete and hand over my dissertation successfully and without any bad tag. I tried to collect the sources that were the latest and as far as their accuracy is concerned, the works those were written with proper referencing and were published appeared to be as accurate. While working, I learnt a lot and also recognized that learning is a continuous process. Each day some new things come before me and I am happy to know about it. For example, before starting to actually write anything, I only thought that I have to collect data and write. In my perception, research writing was only two phased but in actuality when I have started the process, I learnt that dissertation writing is a long process incorporating many phases such as searching the required content, drafting, selecting a suitable methodology for writing, structuring the written content in a format that is legible and easy yet attractive. While surfing the internet on Friday, I came to know that arbitration is regarded as a significant tool in Saudi Arabia to handle disputes. In addition, an arbitrator should have the ability to resolve the issue and he should be fully knowledgeable about Saudi Arbitration rules and regulations (Doing Business in the Kingdom). Week 3 As I have previously mentioned that dissertation writing is a continuous learning process, therefore, as a researcher, I am continuously in the phase of learning through the steps of research. Writing is also not an easy task as it requires quite good effort. Before starting to write anything about arbitration and the whole topic, I thought that it will be quite simple but when I actually started to write, I realized that putting up the ideas in an attractive and eye-catching manner is not simple. Reading also is difficult as a lot of information has to be read and understood after which, it can be incorporated in the dissertation according to its relevancy. For example, when I read the book ‘International Commercial Arbitration’ by Gary B Born on Tuesday, I realized that international investing parties have many options in resolving an issue. In case of dissatisfaction of the judgment of the arbitrator, parties may have the option to invoke the competent jurisdiction of that country to seek justice and compensation against the colossal loss occurred in the business deal. The extraction of the right content at right place is must. This week, I also checked the dissertations available in the library to get a general idea as to how my final work will look like. What I understood is that every dissertation should have a well described introduction that gives descriptive information about the topic and its related area. A strong literature review is also required as it makes the dissertation accurate and reliable. Similarly, while writing a dissertation or working for a research, a well defined methodology should also be there according to which, there are some findings in the dissertation with the help of which, the researcher comes to a conclusion roughly. Introduction, literature review, methodology, data analysis, conclusion and recommendations are some of the essential parts of dissertation writing. Week 4 I have started preparing the draft of the dissertation but the first part is preparing a proposal that leads me to the final dissertation writing. I have prepared the proposal after surfing enough through internet and printed resources. I was required to set my aims and objectives that I drafted and kept with me personally. I prepared a rough table of contents that needs to be recreated as it is just a rough draft and what I see at this juncture. An overview of the topic is given in the proposal along with summary of the whole argument and literature review. Although what I feel is that it is a small piece of work and much improvement is required and much work is left as it is just the start. Read More