Hawassa University College of Law

and Governance, School of Law

LLB Senior Thesis Guideline (Laws-M5030)

Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................1

2. TOPIC AND PROPOSAL.............................................................................................1

3. ADVISE...........................................................................................................................2

4. CONTENT OF THE THESIS.......................................................................................2

4.1. Word Limit...........................................................................................................................2
4.2. Font, Font Size, Marigin and Line Spacing.........................................................................2
4.3. Format and Thesis Structure................................................................................................3
4.3.1. Format.....................................................................................................................3
4.3.2. Structure..................................................................................................................3

5. CITATION......................................................................................................................5

6. Submission and defence...................................................................................................6

i
 1. Introduction

As indicated in the revised national modular curriculum, Senior Thesis is a graduation paper
students should write in their final year of law studies. Accordingly, students are required to
write the thesis as a mandatory Module for the fulfilment of LLB degree.

The primary purpose of it is to enable students to improve their legal writing skills through
logical thinking. In addition, it pledges the improvement of academic level in higher education.
By writing Senior Thesis, students are expected to put-forth legal issues and produce arguments.
And hence, it helps to develop, exercise and demonstrate expertise in the particular area of law

In order to achieve the above-mentioned purposes, the School of Law understood a specific
guideline is necessary. This guideline will give an idea of what is required practically,
technically and professionally when students write the thesis. It deals about the topic, proposal,
advise, structure, citation and submission of the thesis. Every LLB student in the school should
follow this guideline.

2. Topic and proposal

Students are expected to frame their research topics in order to get an advisor. To that effect,
they are encouraged to consult instructors of the school based on their area of specialization.
After framing the topic and the school assign advisor, they can reframe the topic in agreement
with the advisor.
The next step after framing the research topic is to write proposal. The proposal should include
the following:

A. Background of the Research

B. Statement of the Problem
C. Objective of the Study
D. Research Questions
E. Scope of the Study
1
 F. Significance of the Research
G. Limitation of the Study
H. Methodology
The length of the proposal shall not exceed 3000 words or not a maximum of 10 pages.

3. Advise

In order to get an advisor, a student must submit research topic before the deadline specified by
the school of law. Then after, the school is under duty to assign an appropriate advisor. Students
are offered a minimum of 6 hours of advice.

The advice includes electronic communication (the likes of email) or communication via
telephone, personal contact between supervisor and student, and time for preparation, reading
and commenting of the student’s draft.

The student and advisor shall meet in person for at least three times, unless this kind of
arrangement is not practical. With regard to when to meet, it is the advisors’ right, to determine.

4. Content of the thesis

4.1. Word limit

The thesis should be no more than 15,000 words or not more than 50 pages. The introduction, all
chapters, conclusion parts and footnotes are included in the word counting. However, abstract,
table of contents, list of acronymes, bibliography, preface, acknowledgements, table of cases and
the likes are not included in the word counting.

4.2. Font, font size, marigin and line spacing

The font style of the text of all part of the thesis, except the cover page, preface, table of content
and acknowledgment, must be in Times New Roman. Withregard to the font size, the main part

2
of the thesis should have 12 point. The font size for the footnote and biblioraphy must have 10
point.
The thesis should be written in a normal marigin.

The line spacing for all parts except the cover page, preface, table of content, acknowledgment,
footnote and bibliography must be 1.5. however, the linespacing for the footnote and
biblkiography should be 1.0.

4.3. Format and Thesis Structure

4.3.1. Format

The thesis must be written in the ’Thesis Template’ prepard by the school. However, significant
departures may enatail rejection.

4.3.2. Structure
The thesis must contain the following parts:

i) Cover Page:

The title and sub-title of the thesis must be written in cover page as it has been indicated in the
thesis template. In addition, the ID No. of the student, the number of words, the date of submis-
sion and the name of the advisor should be written.

ii) Table of Contents:

The table of contents is an outline of the thesis used as a map for the audience. As a result, it
should be easier for the audience to find information in the document based on title and page
number. It should be on a separate page and refer to pages in the text. It should be inserted in
automatic standard format.

iii) Introduction:

The incorporation of introduction depends on whether the student write proposal or not. If the
student wrote proposal, then the proposal should be chapter one and should be headed as an
3
introduction. However, if the student did not write proposal, s/he should, in the beginning of
writing the main part, write an introduction.

The introduction should include: presentation of subject and issues to be addressed, reason for
choosing the topic, intention and theoretical approach, possible terminology clarification and the
organization of the chapters

iv) Bibliography:

The bibliography part of your thsesis should include:

 The names of the authors of the source material

 the titles of the of the source material
 the names and locations of the companies that published the sources
 the dates of publication of the source
 the page numbers the sources

The bibliography should contain only the literature which are quoted and cited in the main part
of the thesis. It should be same as the style the student use in the footnote. E.g. if the student use
Harvard style for citation then s/he should use Harvard style in bibliography.

The list of references in bibliography should be arranged alphabetically in ascending order.

v) Main part/ body

Being the largest and main part of your thesis, the body is the most important section. basically,
it involves interpretation of laws, facts and makes a sound judgment. It is in this part that
student expected to demonstrate understanding of the area and develop argument throgh
discussion and evaluation of the issues with the help of relevant literature. Thereof, in this part,
students are expected to show high level of independent thinking and sound judgment.

4
The text of the body part should be divided into main sections and sub sections. In the main sec-
tions a main point in the argument should be discussed. In the sub-sections further elaboration of
the main section should be given.

In addition, every main and sub sections should be analyzed properly. On this regard, the two
common ways of approaching legal analysis are CREAC (Conclusion, Rule, Explanation of
Rule, Analysis, and Conclusion) and IRAC (Issue Rule Analysis Conclusion). It is strongly
sggested to use one of the two so that readers can follow your argument.

vi) Conclusion

Basically, the conclusion is a consolidation and summary of the thesis which comes at the end of
the thesis. In writing conclusion, students are expected to carry out the following:

a) Draw out key aspects of the thesis

b) Making summary of the major findings
c) Recommendations  and Comments regarding possible limitations
d) Future implications

NB: the thesis may contain parts other than those listed above. For example, it may contain List
of figures, list of tables or table of cases. In this case, the the list should include a short title for
each table but not the whole caption and page numbers.

5. Citation
Until the school developed its own citation, stdents may, as long as it is uniform throghout the
thesis, use any citataion style. However, three citation styles are highly recommended. Namely,
the Harvard, Colombia and APA styles.
The easiest way to cite is using google scholar. The link herein under will help you understand
how to use google scholar.
 http://libguides.com.edu/c.php?g=649172&p=4554037
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY_4EHvSjOY
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJByIPRrTfE

5
 6. Submission and defence
6.1. Submission
The submission of the final research shall be guided by the time frame of the school research
coordinator. It shall be submitted to the office of the research coordinator in 3 hard copies.
Meting the submission deadline is mandatory and delayance may lead to rejection.

6.2. Defence
The defense shall be made before the advisor and reader/examiner. The result and formality
requirements shall be guided by the following tools.