How to write a course paper (from the course Legal Writing and Language)
Quick guide: How to avoid common shortcomings in legal publications
Intellectual standards of scientifc legal research and writing
Intellectual and Formal Standards of Scientific Legal Research and Writing First part of the course Methodology of Legal Research and Legal Writing |
30.12.25 |
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Semester 1, 2025/26 (Intern. LL.M Program); Tuesday, 19.08., 08:05 - 09:20, and Thursday, 21.08. - 18.09.2025, 14:00 - 16:45, room B.2.1 |
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Final note
After the end of the course this website has been finished. It will stay available for the purpose of deepening and repetition. Thank you for your interest and commitment. You are always welcome to contact me for any comments or questions. With best wishes for your future studies, yours Prof. Dr. Thomas Schmitz
Course Contribution Description
At the Faculty of Law of Universitas Gadjah Mada the courses are shared by several lecturers. This website informs about the contents of my lectures in the first part of the course (19.08. - 16.09.2025). They complement those of my colleagues Dr. Rikardo Simarmata (second part) and Dr. Yance Arizona (third part of the course), mainly from the perspective of European, in particular German legal education and science.
After a crash course on how to avoid shortcomings that are common in scientific legal papers and publications (not only) in Indonesia, my course contribution covers in detail the demanding intellectual and formal standards of scientific legal research and writing, including the standards of intellectual authenticity, originality, accuracy, consistency, precision and thoroughness, the standards for the formal structure and composition of the academic work (including those for the bibliography and the index) and the scientific style of writing. The lectures on the intellectual standards will also include a brief overview of the methods of legal methodology. The lectures on the formal standards will place special emphasis on the art of scientific quoting, which is important for international publications. The course will also discuss why these standards are essential for sophisticated legal research and writing. The course will finally include practical exercises and present strategies and practices which are helpful to meet these standards with a reasonable amount of work.
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How to write a course paper (from the course Legal Writing and Language) |
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Quick guide: How to avoid common shortcomings in legal publications |
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Intellectual standards of scientifc legal research and writing |
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Diagram 1 (A brief overview over legal methodology) |
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Diagram 2 (Information on legal literature in the internet) |
Contents (summary/details)
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§ 1 Scientific legal
research and writing in a nutshell |
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§ 2 Intellectual
standards of scientific legal research and writing |
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§ 3 Formal standards
of scientific legal research and writing |
Bibliography (selection for this course contribution in English)
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Note that there are plenty of guides and introductions to legal research and writing in German and French! |
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Bahrych, Lynn; Merino, Jeanne; Mclellan, Beth: Legal Writing and Analysis in a Nutshell, 6th edition 2025 |
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Bailey, Stephen: Academic Writing. A Handbook for International Students, 6th edition 2025 |
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Barros, Luiz Otávio: The Only Academic Phrasebook You'll Ever Need: 600 Examples of Academic Language, 2016 |
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Bast, Carol M.: Introduction to Legal Research and Writing, 2nd edition 2024 |
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Bottomley, Jane: Academic Writing for International Students of Science, 2nd edition 2021 |
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Cameron, Catherine J.; Long, Lance N.: The Science Behind the Art of Legal Writing, 2nd edition 2019 |
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Eco, Umberto: How to write a thesis, 2015 |
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Gastel, Barbara; Day, Robert: How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, 9th Edition 2022 |
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Howe, Stephen: Concise PhraseBook for Writing Academic English. Over 3000 phrases to help you write papers, reports and theses at university and college, 2022 |
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Jiménez Serrano, Pablo: Scientific Methodology. Methods and techniques for legal research, 2022 |
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Kestemont, Lina: Handbook on Legal Methodology. From Objective to Method, 2018 |
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Möllers, Thomas M. J.: Legal Methods. How to work with legal arguments, 2020 [→ T.S.] |
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Nuñez, Martin A.: A Pocket Guide to Scientific Writing and Publishing, 2025 |
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Riesenhuber, Kai: European Legal Methodology, 2nd edition 2021 |
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Skern, Timothy: Writing Scientific English. A Workbook, 3rd edition 2019 |
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Vols, Michael: Legal Research. One Hundred Questions and Answers, 2021 |
A. Links concerning the general subject of the course
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Burns, Dermot (National University of Ireland, Galway), Writing a Scientific-Style Thesis. A Guide for Graduate Research Students, 2017 |
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University of Technology Sidney: UTS: Law Guide to Written Communication, last updated 2023 |
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Oxbridge Essays (editor), Dissertation Writing, last updated 2025 (practical guide, following British tradition) |
B. Some examples of modern texts in scientific legal writing
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watch in particular ►the structuring, ►the way of scientific citing and the ►scientific style of writing; note the differences in the formal style of citing! |
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published in Europe: Celia Challet, College of Europe Research Papers in Law 4/2020; Ingolf Pernice, WHI-Paper 01/2017; Carla Zoethout, Ancilla Iuris 2017, p. 1 ff.; Ulf Linderfalk, Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht 78 (2018), p. 1 ff.; Thomas Schmitz, Juristenzeitung 56 (2001), p. 883 ff.; Thomas Schmitz, Juridiskā zinātne 12 (2019), p. 86 ff.; Giulia Ciliberto, Goettingen Journal of International Law 11 (2021), p. 15 ff. |
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published in Asia: Poltak Partogi Nainggolan, Journal of Southeast Asian Human Rights 4, Issue 1 (2020), p. 23 ff.; Thomas Schmitz, ICONAS 2019 proceedings, 2019, p. 1 ff. |
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published in Common Law countries: Lucas Brang, Global Constitutionalism 9 (2020), p. 117 ff.; George Duke, I•CON 17, No. 1 (2019), p. 66 ff.; Jan Petrow, Jean Monnet Working Paper 3/2018 |
C. Information on legal literature in the internet (concerning § 2 VI and § 3 V)
D. Other links concerning special subjects
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concerning § 2 II: fight against plagiarism: Plagiarism.org; Harvard University, How to Avoid Plagiarism, Purdue University Global, A Guide to Plagiarism and Paraphrasing, 2020; University of Oxford, Plagiarism; Deutscher Hochschulverband; Allgemeiner Fakultätentag; Fakultätentag (Germany), Joint position paper: Good academic practice in the context of theses submitted for a degree, 09.07.2012; University of Hamburg, Faculty of Law, Guidelines for ensuring Compliance with the Rules of Academic Honesty, Avoidance of Plagiarism and the Requirements for the Evaluation Process within the Doctoral Degree Program at the University of Hamburg’s Faculty of Law, 2019 (with 9 general rules, see p. 42 ff.) |
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concerning § 2 IV: Danang Hardianto, Reorientation towards the Nature of Jurisprudence in Legal Research, Mimbar Hukum 26 (2014), p. 340 ff. |
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concerning § 3: University of Bern, Formal Guidelines for Scientific Theses, 2014 |
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concerning § 3 V: NYU School of Law, Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations, 2006 (on the style of legal citation in numerous countries; see in particular the information on the citing of books and periodicals) |