Legal academic writing methodology 1600-SZD-N-MSPN-PR
The classes will consist of lectures and workshops aimed at developing students' skills in formulating a research problem, creating research hypotheses and questions, scientific reasoning, critical analysis, and referencing relevant literature, including the perspectives presented and their own critical evaluations. Overall, the classes will prepare participants to write scientific papers, utilizing terminology appropriate to the discipline of legal science, effectively conducting scientific arguments, correctly constructing footnotes and bibliographies, appropriately formulating research hypotheses, and employing properly selected research methods. Students will also learn techniques for producing various publication formats used in legal sciences, such as monographs, articles, glosses, review articles, and critiques.
Substantive issues concerning work on a doctoral dissertation will be addressed dynamically - from selecting a dissertation topic and research methods, through material acquisition and selection, to the preparation of the dissertation. Particular emphasis will be placed on electronic databases, as well as preventing unacceptable practices such as plagiarism and ghostwriting, along with formal considerations, including proper citation of diverse sources in footnotes and bibliographies. The core of the workshops will focus on the evolution of approaches to legal science in Europe, especially in relation to the United States. Key questions include: Has legal science become “Americanized”? Is theoretical, contextual, and interdisciplinary analysis dominant? What trends prevail in Poland – specifically, what practices do we engage in and why?
A diverse array of methodological approaches accessible to lawyer- scientists will be presented, including examples of research projects and the dogmatic methods employed within them, as well as theoretical and empirical methods. A case study will provide a brief analysis of methods used in published doctoral theses in the field of European and international law.
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge: Knows and understands:
WG_3 - scientific research methodology in the field of the social sciences
WK_2 - economic, legal, ethical and other relevant determinants of scientific activity in the field of the social sciences
Skills: Can
UW_1 - make use of knowledge from various fields of science, in particular the social sciences in order to creatively identify, formulate and innovatively solve complex problems or perform tasks of a research nature, and in particular to: define the purpose and object of scientific research in the field of the social sciences, formulate a research hypothesis, develop research methods, techniques and tools and apply them creatively, make inferences based on scientific findings
UK_1 - communicating on specialist subjects to a degree that enables active participation in the international scientific research in the field of the social sciences
UK_2 - disseminating the results of scientific activities in the field of the social sciences, also with the use of popular forms
UK_3 - initiating debates within the field of the social sciences
UK_4 - participating in scientific discourse in the field of the social sciences
UO_1 – plan and carry out individual and team research or creative projects, also in an international environment
UU_1 - independently plan and act for their own development as well as inspire and organise the development of other people;
Social competences: Is ready to:
KK_2 - critically assessing one's own contribution to the development of a scientific discipline
KK_3 - recognise the importance of science in solving cognitive and practical problems
KO_1 - fulfilling the social obligations of researchers and creators
KR_1 - sustaining and developing the ethos of the research and creative communities, including: carrying out scientific activities in an independent manner, respecting the principle of public ownership of scientific results, taking into account the principles of protection of intellectual property
Assessment criteria
Description of requirements related to participation in classes, including the permissible number of excused absences: completing a short survey before online classes, permissible number of absences: 25%
Rules for crediting classes and subjects (including re-crediting):
Preparing a draft of a research project (so-called short description of the project with bibliography - up to 5 pages of typescript), which can then serve as the basis for the PhD student to submit a grant application to the selected financing institution. The task will consist of indicating the scientific goal of the project, the importance of the project, the concept and research plan, the research methodology and a list of literature on the project's issues.
Methods for verifying learning outcomes: none
Assessment criteria: attendance at classes and work done at home
Practical placement
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Bibliography
Arnull A., The Americanizaion of EU Law Scholarship [w:] Continuity and Change in EU Law: Essays in Honour of Sir Francis Jacobs, A. Arnull, P. Eeckhout, T. Tridimas (eds.), Oxford 2009, pp. 416-431.
Bertelli A. M., Law and Public Administration, in: E. Ferlie, L. E. Lynn, C. Pollitt (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Public Management, Oxford 2007.
Gestel van R., Micklitz H.-W., Why Methods Matter in European Legal Scholarship, European Law Journal 2013, nr 3, pp. 292-314.
Ginsburg J., Legal Methods, Foundation Press 2014.
Helland I., Koch S., Nordic and Germanic legal methods, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2014.
Kickert W.J.M., Distinctiveness in the study of public management in Europe. A hi- storical-institutional analysis of France, Germany and Italy, Public Management Review 2005, 4.
Micklitz H.-W., Gestel van R.,. Rubin E. L (eds.), Rethinking Legal Scholarship, Cambridge 2017.
Möllers T.M.J. (ed.), Legal Methods, Nomos, München 2019.
Riesenhuber K., European Legal Methodology, Intersentia, Cambridge 2017.
Wold C., Writing a law school paper, 2019: https://law.indiana.libguides.com/ld.php?content_id=56788351
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: