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Thesis Writing Guide
Thesis Writing Guide
___________________
San Beda College
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF LAW
Mendiola
THESIS WRITING GUIDE
FR. RANHILIO CALLANGAN AQUINO, PhD, JD, JSD
Dean
The Thesis Requirement
Graduate studies have characteristically culminated in the presentation of a thesis
that achieves three: first, it allows the proponent to make a contribution to the
field of study; second, it shares with the academic community – not only of the
institution but of institutions world-wide as well – the output of one’s research;
third, it provides the Graduate School Faculty a chance of assessing the
competence of a student at independent research and at articulating his mature
reflections in a field of study.
The cardinal rule of thesis writing therefore is that the proponent must select a
topic that truly interests her.
The key criteria for the selection of a research topic are:
Example: If one chooses to do a history of the doctrine of the “free exercise” and
“non-establishment” clauses relating to religion in the Constitution, one may go
through the constitutional history of the provision in the American constitution,
the jurisprudential development in American law, the history of the provision in
the Philippine constitution, and jurisprudential development in the Philippine law.
The thesis, quite importantly, should conclude with what the researcher believe
she can infer from the historical review.
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4. Comparative Jurisprudence
Example: One can study the rule on filiations or paternity in common law and in
civil law systems. For this, one can choose the laws of the common law
jurisdiction (should generally be a prominent legal system, e.g., UK law) and the
laws of a civil law system (e.g., Spain). One can also study the rules filiation only
within different civil law systems (e.g. Quebec’s civil law system, Louisiana’s civil
law system, etc.) and then compare the results of one’s study with what one finds
in the Philippines taking care to point out advantages and disadvantages.
5. Expository
Studies of this sort can be admitted only when there is a mass of conflicting or
difficult-to-reconcile doctrine, or when no expository studies on the subject have
as yet been done.
Example: the Anti-Money Laundering Law and its implementing rules and
regulations are new. An expository study would be helpful. The study examines
the background of the law, the circumstances it was meant to address,
international precedent, foreign models, and foreign jurisprudence (since there is
no Philippine jurisprudence yet).
The graduate student of law will readily see that there is marked difference
between theses proposed in the other fields of study – such as education and the
empirical sciences – where statistics, measurements and hypotheses weigh
considerably.