Information and updates on the “Best of ITM” seminar – SS 2025

• Update 03.04.2025 – Dates for preparation and presentations
  

The seminar is expected to take place on July 2, 2025 and thus shortly after the end of the examination period of the summer semester 2025 in the rooms of the ITM (Leonardo-Campus 9).

Your written paper must be submitted by 18.06.2025 at the latest. Please submit both a printed and a digital (PDF) version of your seminar paper. Please send the digital version to merlin.rombach@uni-muenster.de by the above-mentioned deadline. You can send the printed version by post or hand it in to Ms. Doris Eppe’s office (room 110.115, 1st floor) Mon. – Fri. between 10 am – 4 pm. The address is

ITM Münster, Civil Law Department, Leonardo-Campus 9, D-48149 Münster

You will receive your written grade and the vote after your presentation; the grade will also be activated on WILMA shortly afterwards.

• Outline discussion

In the course of the seminar paper we offer you a discussion of the outline. In the course of this, we will go through the structure of your seminar paper with you, discuss the basic structure and “central theme” of the paper and clarify any open questions. Of course, we do not take on any tasks that are part of your service, so we cannot answer any specific content-related questions or provide you with precise specifications regarding the focus. Rather, it is a general check to see whether you are on the right track. The central theme – based on a precisely formulated research question – is essential for tackling complex topics.

The timing of the outline discussion is up to you. However, it is advisable not to hold the interview just a few weeks before the submission. However, you should have already dealt with the topic in depth and created a detailed outline. Please contact merlin.rombach@uni-muenster.de in good time in advance with suggested dates.

In individual cases, several meetings are also possible depending on individual requirements.

• Conduct an interview with the author(s) of the doctoral thesis

You can also set yourself apart from the average thesis by contacting the author(s) of the thesis you are examining and discussing the findings of your thesis in a critical interview in relation to the thesis you are examining. A recording of the conversation should then be posted on Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoeren’s YouTube channel, so that you would have to record your conversation – e.g. via Zoom.

• Scope and requirements for the written elaboration & presentation

Your written work must be based on the following requirements:

• • Font: Times New Roman
  • Font size: 12 in the text, 10 in the footnotes
  • Justification
  • Matriculation number in the header
  • Margin: 7 cm left, 1 cm right, 1.5 cm top and bottom
  • Line spacing 1.5
  • Length: 25 pages, excluding cover sheet, bibliography, list of abbreviations (if applicable) and declaration of independence

Please note the following requirements for submission:

• • The written paper must be handed in on scannable paper in a C4 envelope with a viewing window in accordance with the examination office’s specifications and must not stapled / bound together.
  • The electronic submission is made by e-mail as one PDF file

Your presentation should be no longer than 12 minutes – there will be time for questions and discussion after each presentation. You have the opportunity to show a presentation on site. You can also hand out a handout.

• Citation guidelines

The preparation of a legal seminar paper follows certain formal requirements. Even if certain general standards have been established here, many professors have their own preferences for the formal design.

For your seminar paper, please follow the Notes on the formalities of legal examinations, term papers, seminar papers and dissertations from the ITM.

For general tips and advice on preparing the written thesis, which are not covered in our notes, you can consult, for example, Die rechtswissenschaftliche Dissertation – Eine Anleitung von Diethelm Klippel (available from the university network or as an e-book via VPN).

• Thesis & Lending

If the work you are looking at is not available online (you can find out by searching at https://katalogplus.uni-muenster.de/ ), you can consult a copy in our library (Leonardo Campus 9). This is a reference-only library. Unfortunately, an exception requested from the librarian was not granted, so that you would have to read the work on site and scan the relevant passages (an appropriate device is available in the library). If necessary, you can borrow a copy from the ULB to work from home.