1. GENERAL The manual is intended to provide broad guidelines to the M.E./M.Sc./M.Tech./M.C.A./M.B.A. candidates in the preparation of the thesis. In general, the thesis shall report, in an organised and scholarly fashion, an account of original research work of the candidate leading to the discovery of new facts or techniques or correlation of facts already known (analytical, experimental, hardware oriented, etc.)
2. NUMBER OF COPIES TO BE PREPARED Atleast four copies are to be prepared, one each for External Examiner, Guide, Departmental Library and self. The copies should be submitted to the Controller of Examinations through the Head of the Department before the due date.
3. ARRANGEMENT OF CONTENTS OF THESIS The sequence in which the thesis material should be arranged and bound should be as follows:
1. Title page
2. Bonafide Certificate
3. Abstract
4. Acknowledgement
5. Table of Contents
6. List of Tables
7. List of Figures
8. List of Symbols, Abbreviations or Nomenclature (Optional)
9. Chapters
10. References
11. Appendices
The Tables and Figures shall be introduced in the appropriate places.
4. PAGE DIMENSIONS AND MARGIN The thesis should be prepared on good quality white paper preferably not lower than 80 gsm.Standard A4 size paper should be used for preparing the copies.The final thesis should have the following page margins:
Top edge : 30 to 35 mm
Left side : 35 to 40 mm
Bottom edge : 25 to 30 mm
Right side : 20 to 25 mm
Tables and figures should conform to the margin specifications. Large size figures should be photographically or otherwise reduced to the appropriate size before insertion.
5. MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION The headings of all items 2 to 11 listed in section 3 should be typed in capital letters without punctuation and centred 50mm below the top of the page. The text should commence 4 spaces below this heading.
5.1 Title Page – A specimen copy of the title page is given in Appendix 1.
5.2 Bonafide Certificate – A specimen copy of the bonafide certificate is given in Appendix 2.
5.3 Abstract – Abstract should be an essay type of narrative not exceeding 600 words, outlining the problem, the methodology used for tackling it and a summary of the findings.
5.4 Acknowledgement – It should be brief and preferably should not exceed one page when typed double spacing.
5.5 Table of Contents – The table of contents should list all material following it as well as any material which precedes it. The title page, bonafide certificate and acknowledgement will not find a place among the items listed in the table of contents. One and a half spacing should be adopted for typing the matter under this head.
5.6 List of Tables – The list should use exactly the same captions as they appear above the tables in the text. One and a half spacing should be adopted for typing the matter under this head.
5.7 List of Figures – The list should use exactly the same captions as they appear below the figures in the text. One and a half spacing should be adopted for typing the matter under this head.
5.8 List of Symbols, Abbreviations and Nomenclature – One and a half spacing should be adopted for typing the matter under this head. Standard symbols and abbreviations should be used.
5.9 Chapters – The chapters may be broadly divided into 3 parts
(i) Introductory chapter,
(ii) Chapters developing the main theme of the thesis,
(iii) Results, Discussions and Conclusions.
The main text will be divided into several chapters and each chapter may be further divided into several divisions and sub-divisions. * Each chapter should be given an appropriate title. * Tables and figures in a chapter should be placed in the immediate vicinity of the reference where they are cited. * Footnotes should be used sparingly. They should be typed single space and placed directly underneath in the very same page which refers to the material they annotate.
5.10 List of References – When works of other researchers are used either directly or indirectly the origin of the material thus referred to at appropriate places in the thesis should be indicated. A paper, a monograph or a book may be designated by the name of the first author followed by the year of publication, placed inside brackets at the appropriate place of reference. The citation may assume any one of the following forms.
REFERENCES
1. Ariponnammal S. and Natarajan S. (1994) ‘Transport Phonomena of Sm Sel-x Asx’, Pramana – Journal of Physics, Vol. 42, No.5, pp.421-425.
2. Barnard R.W. and Kellogg C. (1980) ‘Applications of Convolution Operators to Problems in Univalent Function Theory’, Michigan Mach. J., Vol 27, pp 81-94.
3. Jankins G.M. and Walts D.G. (1968) ‘Spectral Analysis and its Applications’, Holder Day, San Francisco.
4. Shin K.G. and McKay N.D. (1984) ‘Open Loop Minimum Time Control of Mechanical Manipulations and its Applications’, Proc. Amer. Contr. Conf., San Diego, CA, pp.1231-1236.
5.11 Appendices – Appendices are provided to give supplementary information, which if included in the main text may serve as a distraction and cloud the central theme under discussion. * Appendices should be numbered using Arabic numerals, e.g. Appendix 1, Appendix 2, etc. * Appendices, tables and references appearing in appendices should be numbered and referred to at appropriate places just as in the case of chapters.
5.12 Tables and Figures – The word table means tabulated data in the body of the thesis as well as in the appendices. All other material used in the body of the thesis and appendices such as charts, graphs, maps, photographs and diagrams may be designated as figures.
* A table or figure including caption should be accommodated within the prescribed margin limits and appear on the page following the page where their first reference is made.
* Tables and figures half page or less in length may appear on the same page along with the text. However, they should be separated from the text both above and below by triple spacing. * All tables and figures should be prepared on the same paper or material used for the preparation of the rest of the thesis. * Two or more small tables or figures may be grouped if necessary in a single page. * Photographs, if any, should be included in colour xerox form or as colour printouts of scanned images. More than one figure can be included in a page.
6. TYPING INSTRUCTIONS
6.1. General Uniformity of the font (say, Times New Roman) in the entire thesis shall be observed. A sub-heading at the bottom of a page must have atleast two full lines below it or else it should be carried over to the next page. The last word of any page should not be split using a hyphen. Double spacing should be used for typing the bonafide certificate and acknowledgement. One and a half spacing should be used for typing the general text. Single spacing should be used for typing: (i) Long Tables (ii) Long quotations (iii) Foot notes (iv) Multiline captions (v) References All quotations exceeding one line should be typed in an indented space - the indentation being 15mm from either margins.
6.2. Chapters The format for typing chapter headings, divisions headings and sub division headings are explained through the following illustrative examples. Chapter heading : CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Division heading : 1.1 OUTLINE OF THESIS Sub-division heading : 1.1.2. Literature review The word CHAPTER without punctuation should be centred 50mm down from the top of the page. Two lines below, the title of the chapter should be typed centrally in capital letters. The text should commence 4 lines below this title. The division and sub-division captions along with their numberings should be left-justified. The typed material directly below division or sub-division heading should commence 2 spaces below it. Within a division or sub-division paragraphs are permitted. Every paragraph should commence 3 spaces below the last line of the preceding paragraph.
7. NUMBERING INSTRUCTIONS
7.1 Page Numbering All page numbers (whether Roman or Arabic) should be typed without punctuation on the upper right hand corner 20mm from top with the last digit in line with the right hand margin. The preliminary pages of the thesis (such as title page, acknowledgement, table of contents, etc.) should be numbered in lower case Roman numerals. The title page will be numbered as (i) but this should not be typed. The page immediately following the title page shall be numbered (ii) and it should appear at the top right hand corner as already specified. Pages of main text, starting with Chapter 1 should be consecutively numbered using Arabic numerals.
7.2 Numbering of Chapters, Divisions and Sub-8 Divisions The numbering of chapters, divisions and sub-divisions should be done using Arabic numerals only and decimal notation should be used for numbering the divisions and sub-divisions within a chapter. For example, sub-division 4 under division 3 belonging to Chapter 2 should be numbered as 2.3.4. The caption for the sub-division should immediately follow the number assigned to it. Every chapter beginning with the first chapter should be serially numbered using Arabic numerals. Appendices included should also be numbered in an identical manner starting with Appendix 1.
7.3 Numbering of Tables and Figures Tables and figures appearing anywhere in the thesis should bear appropriate numbers. The rule for assigning such numbers is illustrated through an example. Thus, if a figure in Chapter 3, happens to be the fourth then assign Fig. 3.4 to that figure. Identical rules apply for tables except that the word Fig. is replaced by the word Table. If figures (or tables) appear in appendices then figure 3 in Appendix 2 will be designated as Fig. A2.3. A table may be continued into the next page, but no line should be drawn underneath an unfinished table. The top line of the table continued into the next page should, for example, read Table 2.1 (continued) placed centrally and underlined.
7.4 Numbering of Equations
Equations appearing in each chapter or appendix should be numbered serially, the numbering commencing afresh for each chapter or appendix. Thus, for example, an equation appearing in Chapter 2, if it happens to be the eighth equation in that chapter should be numbered (2.8) thus:
… (2.8) While referring to this equation in the body of the thesis it should be referred to as Eqn. 2.8.
8. BINDING SPECIFICATIONS The thesis should be bound using flexible cover of thick white or blue art paper. The cover should be printed in black letters and the text for printing should be identical to what has been prescribed for the title page. * * * * *
{ Title }
In { Degree } ({ Specialisation }) By { Name of the student }{ Department }
(Deemed University) { Month Year }
APPENDIX 2
This is to certify that the Report on Project Work (Phase I) titled { Title } is a bonafide record of the work done by
{ Name of the student }
studying in { Degree } ({ Specialisation }) in the NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, tiruchirappalli, during the year { Academic year }
{ Name of the guide } { Name of the HOD }
Guide Head of the Department
of { Department } Project Viva – voce held on …………………………… Internal Examiner External Examiner
