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About us Faculty of Law Education Groningen Centre for Legal Skills

LLM thesis workshops

Do you start writing your master thesis? Each semester the Groningen Centre for Legal Skills provides a cycle of four workshops to give you additional help with writing your thesis. Each workshop has a different theme focused on the different components of your writing plan. During the workshops, you will work on these themes individually and in groups. Experienced researchers will give tips and tricks and help you find your way with your thesis. Below you will find more information about the workshops.

Please note that the support in our workshops is an addition to the guidance you receive from your thesis supervisor. Your thesis supervisor is also the final evaluator of your thesis.

Thesis workshops
Workshop 1: How to find a topic and how to define it?

During this workshop, you will look for a suitable topic for your thesis and we will help you to define it. Please come to the workshop with a preliminary topic or area of interest, so that we can work on it during the workshop. It is an interactive workshop where we provide tips and tricks and where you will be working as well.

In preparation for the workshop, we ask you to explore your thesis topic in more depth by thinking about the following four questions:

1. What topic or area of law do you find interesting?

2. What would you like to research and why is this relevant?

3. Have you identified a legal problem that you would like to investigate?

4. What do you need to know to solve the problem?

Workshop 2: How to formulate a research question?

This workshop focuses on formulating your central research question and sub-questions for your thesis. A good research question acts as a compass for your research. During this workshop, we offer you tools to formulate a good research question. It is an interactive workshop where we provide tips and tricks and where you will be working as well.

In preparation for the workshop, we ask you to further develop your thesis topic by thinking about the following three questions:

1. What is the legal issue you want to investigate?

2. What would you like to research and why is this relevant?

3. How could you translate this into a central research question and sub-questions?

Workshop 3: How to choose a research method?

During this workshop, you will learn more about research methods and how to link the right research method to your research question. We will discuss the various (legal) research methods and techniques. It is an interactive workshop where we provide tips and tricks and where you will be working as well.

In preparation for the workshop, we ask you to further develop your thesis topic by thinking about the following three questions:

1. What is the legal issue you want to investigate?

2. How do you translate this into a central research question and sub-questions?

3. What information and sources do you need to answer these questions?

Workshop 4: How to structure a master thesis?

During this workshop, you will gain insight the structure of (academic) texts, such as a thesis. After attending this workshop, you will not only have knowledge about the usefulness and necessity of structuring texts, but you will also have concrete tools to structure your research plan as clearly as possible. It is an interactive workshop where we provide tips and tricks and where you will be working as well.

In preparation for the workshop, we ask you to bring the table of contents of your thesis to the workshop because this table of contents forms the outline of your thesis. Please bring four printed copies of your table of contents because the participants will be split into groups and you will give each other feedback on each other's table of contents.

Last modified:23 January 2024 12.38 p.m.
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