Designing, conducting and presenting a methodologically sound individual legal research on an academic level meeting the generally accepted standards for publication in the field of research at hand entails the following skills and expertise:

The thesis is the last requirement of the Legal Research Masters programme. Therefore, the candidate should show a great deal of independence whilst engaging in original research up to a level that resembles publications in a double-blind refereed academic journal as closely as possible.

The thesis is carried out under the supervision of an experienced professor or associate professor. In consultation with the tutor a topic can be devised at the student's initiative and a supervisor can be approached by the student. The co-ordinator of the Legal Research Masters should be informed about the topic and the supervisor as soon as they are known.

To develop a thesis, you will consult with the supervisor you have found, to formulate a research question which will then be further elaborated.

The thesis takes the form of a paper of 30 ECTS (indicatively 80 to 100 pages). The thesis should be written in English unless the supervisor agrees with a thesis in another language. In this case an English summary should be added.

For further information see the LRM information guide.

Methodology Round Table
The Methodology Round Table aims to support the Legal Research Master students in the process of conducting research for the two LRM research projects and, in particular, their LRM thesis. During the roundtable meetings, students use intervision techniques to discuss particular questions and issues that arise in relation to their research activities. For example, they may give a short presentation on a particular problem they encountered and ask other students for advice on how to solve this. Students may raise all kinds of research related matters, such as issues of research integrity, supervision, data management, the best way to draft a research question, access to particular sources, ideas on how to conduct interviews and the use of statistical data. The idea behind these sessions is that it is possible to learn from discussing and solving the problems encountered by one’s peers as much as from one’s own questions. For that reason, attending the monthly roundtable sessions is obligatory as from period 4 in year 1 of the Legal Research Master. The roundtable sessions are moderated by both experienced and more junior researchers so as to enable a fruitful and open exchange of problems, ideas and solutions.
 
Academic writing and presentation skills
To be able to write the LRM thesis, it is elementary to learn to write clear, accessible and well-structured academic texts in English. In addition, learning to deliver a clear oral presentation is conducive to structuring one’s arguments and to offering information in an audience-focused manner. For that reason, in the beginning of year 1 of the Legal Research Master, a six-week course on academic writing and presentation skills is offered. This course aims to set students on the path towards writing high-quality academic texts in English as well as help students design and deliver well-introduced, well-structured, fully audience-focused oral presentations.
The course consists of six sessions, three of which are dedicated to academic writing and three of which focus on presentation skills. In small working group sessions, students receive some theoretical information on good writing. Students give peer feedback to each other, they submit texts for revision and they practice at least one presentation. The texts to be reviewed are mainly draft versions of papers the students have to prepare for the Legal Research Master courses running in parallel so as to ensure maximum synergy between the different elements of the overall programme.

Place of the course within the curriculum: