Master Thesis (masterprogrammet i sjørett)

It is recommended that you have passed and completed the mandatory courses

JUS5406 (or JUS5401 and JUS5402 for students admitted in 2022 or earlier), MARL5110 and MARL5120 in addition to two elective courses chosen among the listed courses below before you hand in your thesis.

Elective courses:

• JUS5420
• JUS5430
• JUS5450
• JUS5230
• JUS5911
• JUS5851
• JUS5520
• JUS5850
• emne: JUS5932
• JUS5411
• JUS5440
• JUS5260

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

To be allowed to write the thesis in maritime law - MARLTHESIS, you must be accepted at the JFML-MARL.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

The form of teaching is independent work and seminars. Before starting the actual writing, you will take part in seminars which prepares you for the process of thesis writing. The seminars will offer the necessary tools and guidelines for researching and writing a good scholarly thesis based on independent thinking and sound argument. Supervision is mandatory, and the students are given individual supervision of a maximum of 15 hours.

If a student has not found an approved supervisor him/herself, a supervisor will be assigned by the individual who is administratively responsible for master`s theses in consultation with the programme director. The individual who is administratively responsible will appoint a supervisor according to the subject of the thesis.

Practical information (guidelines, deadlines, regulations)

1. Remember to register for exam in MARLTHESIS the Studentweb within the deadline: September 1.
2. When writing the thesis, you should use the template listed at Student IT's homepage. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. There are guidelines for the use of the template.
3. Regulation for master`s theses for the international master programmes at the Faculty of Law
4. How to Write and Cite - At the Faculty of Law there is not required that you use one specific citing method, but you are required to use footnotes and not refering to author and page number in brackets directly in the text. If you want to use one specific style; Chicago 16 A is recommended.
5. Privacy Protection and Research Papers - University of Oslo - When writing a research paper (e.g. bachelor’s thesis, master’s thesis, etc.) in which you wish to include sensitive information, medical information, or other personal information from individuals, there are a number of requirements you must satisfy in addition to formally securing permission before you can begin work.
6. Here you can find Ethical guidelines for supervisors at the University of Oslo
7. Sources for your master´s thesis (LLM)

Other relevant information

A list of theses submitted by our previous students can be found by visiting Norwegian Research Information Repository (NVA). You can search for a specific title or a theme, or search by the name of the student.

From spring 2026 students are graded on the basis of

• A master thesis, written part
• An oral exam
  

Deadline of submission: 15 December

If you do not meet the deadline, it is important that you give us notice. Postponement of your thesis is given on formal grounds only (medical statement, etc).

If you are not able to meet this deadline, next deadline is 15 May. If you deliver within 15 May, your diploma will show that you have submitted your thesis during spring and thus has been delayed in your studies.

Submission of thesis:

The assignment must be submitted digitally in Inspera. If you need help, you can contact [email protected].

• Inspera - Submit as one PDF. The file name must be your candidate number (for example, 10070.pdf). If this is not done, the grading of your assignment may be delayed. See the instructions for how to submit assignments in Inspera.

All master's theses submitted in Inspera will be available in NVA . Students may also choose to delay or decline electronic availability. Read more about full text in the Norwegian Research Information Repository (NVA)

The faculty is unable to provide confirmations that the assignment has been submitted. However, you can check that your assignment is uploaded in Inspera. You can upload the assignment in Inspera as many times as you wish until the submission deadline.

To complete the submission of your thesis you need to;

1. Submit your thesis in Inspera. Send an e-mail to the student advisor when you have submitted the thesis.
2. It is very important that you ONLY use your candidate number as the name of the pdf-file you upload in Inspera.
3. If you have an external supervisor, (not a professor or lecturer employed by the Faculty of Law) you`ll in addition have to deliver a Supervisor form. It is the student`s responsibility to give the form to his/her supervisor to be filled out. The filled in Supervisor form can be scanned and sent by e-mail.
4. If you would like to give your thesis restricted access, read this information carefully.

Maximum length for the master thesis is 18.000 words. Front page, contents page and bibliography are not included. If footnotes are used in the text (at the bottom of each page), they are included in the 18.000 words limit.

Papers that exceed the 18.000 words limit will be rejected.

The grading will be finalized about 4 weeks after the handing in of the thesis as long as the thesis is handed in on time.

You must familiarize yourself with the rules that apply to exam support materials, and the use of sources and citations. If you violate these rules, you may be suspected of cheating or attempted cheating. You can read about what the university considers cheating, and the consequences of cheating here.

All available exam resources are allowed when answering this exam. Rules for source referencing are crucial for determining whether the use of resources is permitted.

1. The use of artificial intelligence as an aid when writing your master’s thesis must comply with UiO’s guidelines for using AI, and ethical issues related to AI use [must/should] be considered.
2. AI use must be explained and/or documented. The more AI is used in developing the text, the greater the expectations for documentation and reflection on that use. Text generated by AI tools is not considered (sokogskriv.no) an academic source.
3. Cheating: Use of AI can be considered cheating if, for example, you give a false impression of independence, omit sources, or cite fictitious sources.

A master's thesis that has not been passed can only be resubmitted once, and then within the agreed deadline and in revised form.

A master's thesis that has received a passing exam result cannot be resubmitted in a revised form.

If you withdraw from the exam after the deadline, it is counted as one exam attempt.

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

This guide is used by examiners for grading the master thesis.