Are you interested in writing a diploma thesis at the Research Unit of Law?

Step 1: Contact your Prospective Supervisor

Do you have a thought-through proposal for a thesis topic?

Get in touch with the lecturer at the Research Unit of Law whose main research interests coincide with the intended topic of your thesis.

When you first contact your prospective supervisor, you should attach a tentative abstract and a provisional table of contents of your thesis proposal. It should include:

  • The aim of the work;
  • A research question;
  • Your chosen methodology;
  • An abstract (max. 1 page);
  • A provisional table of contents / rough structure; and
  • An indicative bibliography (literature, legal sources, etc.).

As soon as you have agreed on a topic with your supervisor, please fill in the corresponding form in TISS, opens an external URL in a new window.

Step 2: Determine a Research Question and Structure

Your prospective supervisor and you will have to agree on a research question and structure. You will then be expected to submit an abstract (exposé) to your supervisor for final approval.

Step 3: Writing your Thesis

a) General Specifications

In quantitative terms your thesis should roughly comply with the following:

Bachelor Master/Diploma
Scope: 30-40 pages Scope: ~ 100 pages
Recommended working time: not more than 4 months in total (incl. preparation) Recommended working time: not more than 6 months in total (incl. preparation)

Please use:

  • A legible font (Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri etc.);
  • Font size 12 pts for the body text (for the footnotes: 10 pts);
  • Line spacing: 1.5.

Please precede the body text with a table of contents and a list of abbreviations.

The sources used (literature, legal sources, internet sources, etc.) must be listed at the end of your thesis.

Depending on what has been agreed with your supervisor, individual sections of the thesis can be submitted for inspection in advance and, if necessary, discussed before the entire thesis is submitted.

In the case of electronic submission, attention must also be paid to the naming of the file. Avoid spaces in the file name and please adhere to the following naming rule: <Diploma-title>_<Name>_<Description>_<Date  yymmdd>.<Extension>
E.g.:

  • BA_Mueller_Abstract_200301.docx
  • MA_Berger_Final_220726.pdf

b) Citation Style

Lawyers usually work with footnotes. In Austria, quotations are made according to the specifications of Legcit, opens an external URL in a new window or AZR, opens an external URL in a new window. Both of these compilations of legal citation rules are available in the library of the FoB Law and can be viewed there.

You can also choose another common and familiar citation style. Above all, it is important that you quote completely and consistently! ATTENTION: Special citation rules apply to legal sources!

A distinction must be made in particular between those for legal provisions, opens an external URL in a new window and court decisions, opens an external URL in a new window. These are to be followed regardless of the selected citation style.

c) Plagiarism Check

In this context, please note the guidelines, opens an external URL in a new window (in German) for dealing with plagiarism in student theses at the TU Wien.