MEMORANDUM FOR THE PREPARATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW THESES
1) Copying is prohibited when writing degree theses. Copying means reproducing an author's text in its entirety, reproducing parts of it, mixing fragments from different authors (collage) or paraphrasing the text. The thesis must be written entirely by the graduate, in their own hand. In the event of plagiarism, even of a few lines, I will not consider the thesis valid and admissible, and you will have to find another lecturer with whom to complete it. This is the minimum penalty. Considering that this constitutes a criminal offence, the lecturer reserves the right to report the matter to the public prosecutor's office.
2) Any passage of the thesis that has been inspired in any way by another author must bear a footnote indicating the author. Thesis chapters that are not accompanied by footnotes will not be corrected.
3) Thesis chapters must only be submitted if they are complete, i.e. read and reread an indefinite number of times, refined until the author no longer makes any changes or corrections.
4) The thesis must be completed at least one month before the scheduled graduation date, in order to give the professors involved the time necessary to read it and the student the time necessary to make corrections.
5) The long thesis (old system and master's degree) usually consists of three chapters, which are in turn divided into paragraphs.
6) The first step in writing the thesis is to compile a bibliography, i.e. to identify the authors and titles of the works that will be consulted during the preparatory phase.

7) The thesis is the student's own work: consequently, the use of artificial intelligence to write the thesis is prohibited.

Example of the beginning of a bibliography:
There are three types of sources to be collected: A) Encyclopaedia entries. There are three encyclopaedias to consult: the encyclopaedia of law (of which there are also update volumes); the Treccani legal encyclopaedia and the Digesto discipline pubblicistiche, 4th edition. B) Monographs. C) Journal articles.
Journals of definite interest for constitutional law are: Quaderni costituzionali; giurisprudenza costituzionale; rivista trimestrale di diritto pubblico; diritto e società; politica del diritto; rivista di diritto pubblico comparato ed europeo; diritto pubblico. With regard to European Union law, the following are also noteworthy: la rivista italiana di diritto pubblico comunitario; rivista di diritto europeo; common market law review; European law review; European law journal; Revue du Droit de l'Union Europèenne. The latter can be consulted at the European Documentation Centre.
8) Several online journals are also important: we recommend the websites www.costituzionalismo.it, www.forumcostituzionale.it, www.associazionedeicostituzionalisti.it for research on constitutional jurisprudence, www.giurcost.org and www.cortecostituzionale.it
9) We also recommend consulting the institutional websites: www.camera.it, www.quirinale.it, www.governo.it, www.regioni.it, www.europa.eu, etc.

Operational phase.
The writing of the thesis can be divided into the following phases:
1) Collection of material and drafting of the bibliography. The bibliography must be submitted to the supervisor, who will assess its adequacy.
2) Reading of the material, starting with the most general items (usually encyclopaedia entries).
3) Preparation of a table of contents. The table of contents contains the titles of the chapters and paragraphs and must be approved by the supervisor.
4) Once the table of contents has been approved, a second analytical table of contents is prepared, identifying three or four key points along which the discussion of each paragraph will be developed. However, these “sub-paragraphs” will only serve to guide the writer in the development of the thesis and will not appear in the thesis (e.g. in the form of mini-paragraphs labelled 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc.). The analytical index must also be approved by the teacher. The drafting of the two outlines is a fundamental step, requiring considerable effort and the review of all the material read. Without an adequate outline, it is likely that the thesis will be fragmented and disorganised.
5) Once the analytical index has been approved, the student can proceed to write the thesis. The thesis must be submitted to the lecturer who supervises the thesis chapter by chapter. The submission of individual paragraphs or the entire thesis is not permitted.
Criteria for writing notes.

When citing an encyclopaedia entry, you must indicate the author's abbreviated name, surname, title of the entry (in italics), the encyclopaedia from which it is taken (in italics), the publisher, place and year of publication, and page number. The author's surname must be written in small capitals, except for the first letter, which is obtained by pressing the Ctrl and M keys simultaneously.
E.g.: See L. Elia, Governo (forme di), in Enc. Dir., vol. XIX, Giuffrè, Milan, 1970, p. 640.
When citing a monograph, indicate the author's first name (abbreviated) and surname (in small capitals), title (in italics), publisher, place of publication, year and page:
E.g. G. U. Rescigno, Le convenzioni costituzionali, Cedam, Padua, 1972, p. 45.
When citing a journal article, you must cite the author's first name (abbreviated) and surname (in small capitals), the title of the article (in italics), the journal (using conventional abbreviations, always in italics), the year, and the page or pages:
E.g.: See J. Buccisano, Premesse per uno studio sul Presidente
del Consiglio dei Ministri, in Riv. trim. dir. pubbl., 1972, pp. 44 ff.
After the first citation, it is sufficient to indicate the author, title, followed by the abbreviated word cit., and then the page or pages.
E.g.: See L. Elia, Governo (forme di), cit., p. 641
E.g.: See G. U. Rescigno, Le convenzioni costituzionali, cit., p. 45,
E.g.: See J. Buccisano, Premesse per uno studio sul Presidente
del Consiglio dei Ministri, cit., pp. 44 ff.