GUIDELINES FOR DISSERTATION

FORMAT TO BE USED
- Cover Page
- Declaration
- Certificate
- Acknowledgement
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations (in alphabetical order).
- List of Cases (in Alphabetical order, in italics, with full citation and page number
on which the case is mentioned in the dissertation).
- Chapters
- Bibliography
The last chapter is to be followed by Bibliography (Bibliography must be divided in two
parts:
- Primary sources- The Constitution of India, Statutes, Conventions,
International Treaties, Reports etc.
- Secondary sources: Books, Articles, Webliography/Websites, etc.
Note- 1. While mentioning the name of the author, the surname must precede the first
name.
e.g. Baxi, Upendra, On how not to judge the judges: Notes towards evaluation
of the Judicial Role, 25 JILI (1983).
2. Bibliography must be in alphabetical order.

CONTENTS OF DISSERTATION
1. It will include historical background / theoretical background;
2. Legal Aspects (International, National Laws as per the requirement in area of
research);
3. Decided landmark cases;
4. Conclusion and Suggestions
First chapter will cover a General Introduction, Hypothesis, Objectives, Research
Methodology and Chapterisation

PRESENTATION
- Use A-4 size paper, font style –Times New Roman, Font Size 12 of text, and 10 of
footnotes, Line spacing – 1.5
 - Use format of Cover page, Declaration and Certificate as given in the guidelines.
- Hard Bound Dissertation – One copy to the Law office and another copy to the
supervisor.
- Dissertation should be not less than 80 pages.

PLAGIARISM CHECK

Maximum permitted limit for similarity is not more than 10%. Submit the Plagiarism report separately

along with hard bound copy.

 Format for the Cover Page of Dissertation

A
Dissertation
On

………………………………………

………………………………………
(Title)

Submitted for Subject

Code LLB 502 / GEN 110

X Semester / II Semester

B.A.LL.B / BBA LL.B. / LLM (CL) / LLM (ADR)

By

(Name of the Student)

(Enrollment Number)

Supervisor

(Name of the Supervisor)

(Designation of the Supervisor)

VIVEKANANDA SCHOOL OF LAW AND LEGAL STUDIES

VIVEKANANDA INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES-TC

GGSIP University

MONTH YEAR
 DECLARATION

I, hereby declare that the dissertation entitled “...................................” is based

on original research undertaken by me and it has not been submitted in any

University for any degree or diploma.

Place Signature of the Student

Date Name of the Student

Enrollment No.
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the dissertation entitled “………………………………….”

has been prepared by … ………………………………………, a student of
Vivekananda School of Law and Legal Studies, Vivekananda Institute of
Professional Studies - Technical Campus under my supervision. I recommend
it for evaluation.

Place (Name and Signature of the Supervisor)

Date
 CITATION / FOOTNOTE STYLE

ALL STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO STRICTLY ADHERE TO THE CITATION / FOOTNOTE

STYLE AS FOLLOWED AT VIVEKANANDA SCHOOL OF LAW AND LEGAL STUDIES IN THEIR
DISSERTATION

MODE OF CITATION FOR BOOKS

A. FOR AN AUTHORED BOOK

 By a single author:

Name of the author, Title of the book p.no. (if referring to specific page or pages)
(Publisher, Place of publication, edition/year of publication).

E.g. M.P. Jain, Indian Constitutional Law 98 (Kamal Law House, Calcutta, 5th
edn.,1998).

 By two authors:

Name of the authors, Title of the book p.no. (if referring to specific page or pages)
(Publisher, Place of publication, edition/year of publication).

E.g. M.P. Jain and S.N. Jain, Principles of Administrative Law 38 (Wadhawa,
Nagpur,2001).

 By multiple authors (more than two):

Name of the first two authors, et.al., Title of the book p.no. (if referring to specific
page or pages) (Publisher, Place of publication, edition/year of publication).

E.g. Jerry L. Mashaw, Richard A. Merrill, et.al., The American Public Law System – Cases
and Materials 50 (West Group, St. Paul, MN, 1992).

 Books with volume no.:

Name of the author(s), Volume no. Title of the book p.no. (if referring to specific page or
pages) (Publisher, Place of publication, edition/year of publication).

E.g. Charles Robert Norberg, III General Introduction to Inter-American

CommercialArbitration Year Book- Commercial Arbitration 30 (1978)

B. FOR EDITED BOOKS

 By a single editor:
Name of the editor (ed.), Title of the book p.no. (if referring to specific page or pages)
(Publisher, Place of publication, edn/year).

E.g. Susan A. Bandes (ed.), The Passions of Law 180 (New York University Press,
NewYork, 1999).

 By two editors:

Name of the editors (eds.), Title of the book p.no. (if referring to specific page or
pages) (Publisher, Place of publication, edn/year).

E.g. S.K. Verma and Raman Mittal (eds.), Intellectual Property Rights: A
GlobalVision 38-42 (ILI, Delhi, 2004).

 By more than two editors:

Name of the editors, the first two only, et.al. (eds.), Title of the book p.no. (if referring to
specific page or pages) (Publisher, Place of publication, edn/year).

E.g. Chatrapati Singh, P.K. Coudhary, et.al. (eds.), Towards Energy

ConservationLaw 78 (ILI, Delhi, 1989).

 By, or an auspice of, an organization/institution:

Indian Law Institute, Index to Indian Legal Periodicals (ILI, Delhi, 2002).

MODE OF CITATION FOR ARTICLES/ESSAYS

 Citation of a paper published in a journal/periodical:

Name of author of the article, title of the essay within inverted commas, volume
number of journal Name of the journal page number (year).

E.g. Upendra Baxi, “On how not to judge the judges: Notes towards evaluation of
theJudicial Role” 25 Journal of Indian Law Institute 211 (1983).

 Citation of a paper published in a case reporter:

P.K. Thakur, “Permissibility of Probation in Offences Punishable with Minimum

Imprisonment” 2 SCJ 26-38 (2002).

 Citation of an essay/chapter published in an edited book:

Name of author(s) of the essay, title of the essay within inverted commas, in Name ofthe
editor(s), title of the edited book page number (publisher, edition/year).

E.g. Jutta Brunnee, “Enforcement Mechanisms in International Law and International

Environmental Law”, in Ulrich Beyerlin, Peter-Tobias Stoll, et.al. (eds.), Ensuring
Compliance with Multilateral Environmental Agreements: A dialogue between
practitionersand academia 1-24 (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2006).

 Citation of an essay published as a part of a Survey of Law (e.g.

Annual Survey of Indian Law, an annual publication of the Indian Law
Institute, NewDelhi):

Name of author of the essay, title of the essay within inverted commas, volume
number name of the survey, page number (Name of the institute, year).

E.g. B.B. Pande, “Criminal Law” XLI Annual Survey Indian Law 171-198 (Indian
LawInstitute, 2005).

 Citation of a write-up published in a news paper/periodical:

Name of the writer, Title of the write-up within inverted commas, Name of the newspaper,date
(month.date,year)

E.g. Robert I. Freidman, “India‟s Shame: Sexual Slavery and Political Corruption areLeading to
an AIDS Catastrophe” The Nation, Apr. 8, 1996.

 Citation of an editorial from a newspaper:

Editorial, Title of the Editorial within inverted commas, Name of the newspaper, date.

E.g. Editorial, “Short-circuited” The Times of India, Aug. 2, 2004.

 Citing a reference form Encyclopaedia:

E.g. Edwin R.A. Seligman (ed.), XV Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences (The
Macmillan Co., NY, 1957).

WEBSITES

 The author must indicate the date of visiting the website.

E.g. Information Technology Act 2000, India, available at: http://www.mit.gov.in/itbill.asp

(last visited on July 29, 2003).

UNPUBLISHED WORKS

 Unpublished Research Work (E. g., Dissertation/Thesis):

Name of the Researcher, Title of the dissertation/thesis (Year) (Unpublished Ph.D.

thesis,Name of the University/organization).

Sahil Kumar, Corporate Governance: Regulatory Mechanism With Special Emphasis

OnCorporate Social Responsibility (2017) (Unpublished LL.M dissertation, Indian
Law Institute).
  Interviews:

E.g. Interview with M. Veerappa Moily, Law Minister, The Hindu, July 25, 2004.

 Forthcoming publication of a book:

E.g. G. Gann Xu, Information for Corporate IP Management (In Press, 2015).

 Forthcoming publication of an article:

E.g. P. Leelakrishnan, V. R. Jayadevan, “Concept of Common but Differentiated

Responsibility in Climate Negotiations” 61 Journal of Indian Law Institute 47 (In Press,
2019).

MODE OF CITATION OF CASE LAW

 Where the case title is written in the body of the text, only the name of the case
shallbe in the text e.g. Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala and the citation is
writtenin the footnote as AIR 1973 SC 1461.

 If the name and citation are to be written in the footnote itself: Kesavananda
Bharati v. State of Kerala, AIR 1962 SC 933.

 If parties to a case are numerous, for e.g. State of Punjab v. Union of India and
others; this case is to be cited as: State of Punjab v. Union of India (1977) 3 SCC
592.

 Foreign Cases to be cited in the same manner as Indian cases, according to the
rulesmentioned above.

ACTS/ CONSTITUTION

 The Complete name of statute/act, year (citation)

 The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Act 21 of 2000).

 Constitution to be cite as:

 The Constitution of India.

SECTION(S) IN A STATUTE/CONSTITUTION

 The complete name of the statute (citation), section/articles in abbreviation

(s./art.)E.g.
 The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Act 21 of 2000), s. 30.
 The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Act 21 of 2000), ss. 30, 32.
 The Constitution of India, art. 14.
 The Constitution of India, arts. 14, 15, 16.
 The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act 45 of 1860), s.300.

Foreign legislations (Constitution/Acts/Codes)

 The complete name of the statute (citation), section/articles in abbreviation

(s./art)E.g.
 The United Kingdom Sovereign Immunity Act, 1978, art. 4
 National Parks of Canada Fishing Regulations, 1978, s. 10.

 The constitutions to be cited in the same manner as the Constitution of India,

however, where the official citation mentions the particular form of citation or
title,the same must be mentioned.
E.g.
 The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900, s. 9.
 The Constitution of the People‟s Republic of China, 1982, art.124.
 The Constitution Acts for certain state constitutions in federal
countries: Constitution Act, Year (name of the particular province or
state), pinpointreference.
E.g. Citation for the constitution of the State of New South Wales, Australia:
Constitution Act, 1962 (NSW), s 5.

REPORTS

 Institution/Author, “title of the Report within inverted commas” page number

(Yearof publication).

E.g. Law Commission of India, “144th Report on Conflicting Judicial Decisions

Pertaining to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908” (April, 1992).

E.g. Government of India, “Report of the Committee on Reforms of Criminal Justice

System” (Ministry of Home Affairs, 2003).

Constituent Assembly Debates and Parliamentary Debates

 Volume no. , Constituent Assembly Debates, page number

E.g. VIII, Constituent Assembly Debates, 31,32.

 Constituent assembly debates available online

E.g. Constituent Assembly Debates on April 29, 1947 available at:

http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/debates/vol3p2.html (last visited on May 30, 2008).

 Parliamentary Debates

E.g. Lok Sabha Debates on July 06, 2019 available at:

http://164.100.47.194/Loksabha/Debates/debatelok.aspx(last visited on Aug. 01,
2019).
 INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTS

 International conventions and/or treaties

The complete name of the convention or treaty, section/article number

E.g. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982, art. 12.

 Constitutive and Basic Documents of International Organisations

The complete name of the statute/charter, article number (art.) or section number (s.)

E.g. The United Nations Charter, art. 12

The Statute of the International Court of Justice, art. 24

 Official United Nations (UN) Documents (Resolutions, Decisions,

CommitteeReports)

The citation of the United Nations documents should include the following elementsin
the given order:
 Author (either an individual or an organ)
 Title of the document in italics
 Resolution or decision number
 Official Records
o General Assembly Official Records – UN GAOR
o Security Council official Records – UN SCOR
o Economic and Social Council- UN ESCOR
o Trusteeship Council Official Records- UN TCOR

 UN document number
 Full date (both date of adopting, and date of entering into force)
 Pinpoint reference (preamble/para./p.no./art./s./pt./annex.)

Examples of the commonly cited types of UN documents:

 Author (individual followed by designation/institution), Title of the

document, Resolution or decision number, Official records, UN document
number (full date),pinpoint reference.

 General Assembly resolution to be cited as:

UN General Assembly, Prevention of armed conflict, GA Res 57/337, GAOR,

UN Doc A/Res/57/337 ( July 18, 2003).

 Security Council resolution to be cited as:

 UN Security Council, SC Res 827, SCOR, UN Doc S/Res/827 (May 25,1993).

 Economic and Social Council Decision to be cited as:

UN Economic and Social Council, Basic Programme of Work of the

Economicand Social Council for 2001, ESC Dec 2001/203, UN ESCOR, UN
Doc E/2000/99 (Feb. 4, 2000).

 Report of a UN Organ to be cited as:

UN General Assembly, Report of the Economic and Social Council for

2005,UN GAOR, UN Doc A/60/3/Rev.1 (July 11, 2007).

 Report of the UN Treaty Body:

Conference of the Parties, United Nations Framework Convention on

ClimateChange, Report of the Conference of Parties in its Fifteenth Session,
Held in Copenhagen from 7 to 19 December 2009- Addendum-Part 2:
Action Taken by the Conference of the Parties at Fifteenth Session, UN Doc
FCCC/CP/2009/11/Add.1 (March 30, 2010).

 Secretary General‟s Report to be cited as:

UN Secretary General, In Larger Freedom: Towards Development,

Securityand Human Rights for All- Report of the Secretary General, UN
Doc A/59/2005 (March 21, 2005).

SUPRANATIONAL CASES

 International Court of Justice Cases:

Name of the case (Name of the Parties) (Phase) [Year] Report series,
pinpointreference.

Phases:

 (Provisional Measures)
 (Preliminary Objections)
 (Jurisdiction)
 (Merits)
 (Judgment)

E.g.

LaGrand Case (Germany v. United States of America) (Judgment) [2001]

ICJRep. 466.

Right of Passage over Indian Territory (Portugal v. India)

(PreliminaryObjections) [1957] ICJ Rep 125.
  European Court of Human Rights Cases/ International Criminal Court
Cases(and other supranational courts)

Name of the Parties (Year) Report Series, pinpoint

reference.E.g.

Campbell v United Kingdom (1992) 233 ECHR.

ELECTRONIC SOURCES

 Electronic Newspapers to be cites as (where an identical print version

is notavailable)

Name of the author, “Title of the article”, Name of the Newspaper in

italics,full date, available at <URL> (last visited on)

 Audiovisual Sources/Documentaries

Name of the Studio/Production Company, Title in italics, Year, available at

<URL>

 Speeches/Interviews/ Papers presented at Seminars available at websites:

Name of the author, Title of the Paper, name of the

conference/workshop,Held on (Place and date), available at <URL>
(last visited on)

REFERENCING

 Supra/ Infra

 Supra (Latin: „above‟) is used to refer to a prior footnote.

 If a different page number is to be indicated in a source referred to in a prior

footnote
E.g. Supra note 5 at 34.

 If referring to a section/article in a source referred

E.g. Supra note 5, s.40.
Supra note 6, art.14.

 Avoid the use of Infra (below).

 Ibid./ Id.

 Ibid. (meaning „in the same place‟) is used to refer to an authority in the
footnote immediately preceding the current footnote and the same page/ place
is being referredto.
 Id. (meaning „the same‟) is used if the authority is the same but the page or place
ofreference is different.

E.g. Id. at 30.

 If referring to a section / article in the same authority

E.g. Id., art. 14.

Abbreviations for Pinpoint references:

 Article- art.
 Section- s.
 Point- pt.
 Schedule- sch.
 Annexure- annex.
 Paragraph- para.
 Page number- p.no.
 Clause- cl.