Valuation of dissertation / thesis : Thesis will be evaluated using with the following criteria:

I Title: 1. Appropriateness.2. Clarity & brevity.3. Justification of the topic.

II. Introduction:1. Purpose of study.2. Mention of lacunae in current knowledge.3. Hypothesis, if any.

III. Review of Literature:1. Relevance.2. Completeness.3. Is it current and up-to-date?4. Citation of reference is properly done or not?

IV. Methods:1. Type of study.2. Details of subjects. (I.e. cases) and controls.3. Details of materials (for e.g., apparatus used, laboratory tests, etc,) and

experimental design.4. Procedure used for data collection.

a) Questionnaire.b) Cases.c) Records.d) Field study.

5. Statistical methods employed, level of significance considered.6. Statement of limitations.7. Mention of ethical issues involved.

IV Observations and results:1. Logical organization in readily identifiable sections.2. Correctness of data analysis.3. Appropriate use of charts, tables, graphs, figures, etc.4. Statistical interpretation.5. Objectivity of interpretation.

V Discussion:1. Relevance (within framework of study) and appropriateness for data.2. Interpretation of implication of results.3. Statement of limitation of interpretation (Mention of appropriate caution while stating inferences).4. Mention of unanswered questions.

5. Mention of questions raised.6. Summary and conclusions.

VI. Annexure: Whether all required annexure and appendices are included, e.g. the clinical Proforma, the questionnaire used, etc.

Dissertation:

1.1. Every candidate pursuing MD degree course is required to carry out work on a selected research project under the guidance of a recognized post graduate teacher. The results of such a work shall be submitted in the form of a dissertation.

1.2. The dissertation is aimed to train a post graduate student in research methods and techniques. It includes identification of a problem, formulation of a hypothesis, search and review of literature, getting acquitted with the recent advances, designing of a research study, collection of data, critical analysis, and comparison of results and drawing conclusions.

1.3. Every candidate shall submit to the registrar (Academic) of the university in the prescribed proforma, a synopsis containing particulars of proposed dissertation work within six months from the date of commencement of the course on or before the date notified by the university. Synopsis shall be sent through the proper channel. Proforma needs to be submitted to the HOD earlier than the above mentioned time as notified by him and/ or Dean.

1.4. Such synopsis will be reviewed and dissertation topic registered by the University. No change in the dissertation topic or guide shall be made without prior approval of the university.

1.5. The dissertation should be written under the following headings:

1) Introduction.2) Aims or Objectives of study.3) Review of literature.4) Materials and Methods.5) Results.6) Discussion.7) Summary.8) References.9) Tables.10) Annexure.

1.6 The written text of dissertation shall not be less than 50 pages and shell Not exceed 150 pages excluding references, tables, questionnaires and other annexure. It should be neatly typed in double line spacing on one one side of paper ( A4 size, 8.27” x 11.69”) and bound properly. Spiral binding should not be done. A declaration by the candidate that the work was done by him /her shall be included. The guide, head of the department and head of the institution shall certify the dissertation.1.7 Four copies of dissertation along with a soft copy on a CD shall be Submitted to the Registrar ( evaluation), six months before final Examination on/ or before the dates notified by the University.1.8 Completed dissertation should be submitted to the head of Department as notified by him. 1.9 The dissertation shall be valued by examiners appointed by the University. Approval of dissertation work is an essential precondition For a candidate to appear in the University examination.

2. Schedule of examination: The examination for MD course shall be held at the end of three academic Years (Six academic terms).3. Scheme of examination:

3.1 MD Degree examination in any subject shall consist of dissertation, written paper ( Theory), Practical/Clinical and Viva voce. 3.2 Dissertation: Every candidate shall carryout work and submit a dissertation as indicated in SL No. 1.1. Acceptance of dissertation shall be a precondition for the candidate to appear for the final examination. 3.3 Written examination ( Theory): a written examination shall consist of four papers, Each of three hours duration. Each paper shall carry 100 marks. Out of four Papers the first paper will be on applied aspect of basic medical sciences. Recent Advances may be asked in any or all the papers. 3.4 Practical / clinical examination: 3.4.1 In case of practical examination, it should be aimed at assessing competence and skills of techniques and procedures as well as testing students ability to make relevant and valid observations, interpretations and inference of laboratory or experimental work relating to the subject. 3.4.2 In case of clinical examination, it should aim at examining clinical skills and Competence of candidate for undertaking independent work as a specialist. 3.4.3 The total marks for practical / clinical examination shall be 200. 3.5 Viva Voce: Viva voce examination shall aim at assessing depth of knowledge, logical reasoning, confidence and oral communication skills. The total marks shall be 100 and the distribution of marks shall be as under:

1) For examination of all components of syllabus- 80 marks.2) For Pedagogy 20 marks.

3.6 Criteria for declaring as pass in the examination:

A candidate securing less than 50% of marks as described above shall be declared to have failed in the examination. Failed candidate may appear in any subsequent examination upon payment of fresh fee to the Registrar.

Helpful Tips for Writing a Thesis

By Professor James Poland

Edited by Professor Roland Dart, III

Modified to suite our needs.

Introduction

The following pages are written assuming that you have already selected a topic.

You now face the writing. Writing is not the insurmountable obstacle you imagine

if you will use the following suggested guidelines. There is no easy way to

overcome inadequacies in logic or language control. But, if you will read this set

of instructions carefully, you will find a step-by-step process whereby you can

begin with the raw idea of your design and terminate with an acceptable copy for

your thesis committee.

To Whom Do You Write?

While writing, you must remember that you are directing your remarks to a

broader audience than your own discipline. You must meet not only your

advisor's requirements, but also the requirements of a second reader.

Furthermore, your thesis will be available in the library and may be read by

people of other disciplines. Therefore, the thesis must be able to communicate to

a broad audience.

Your particular style of writing will emerge in the initial chapters of your rough

draft. Your guide will try as much as possible to let you retain your style, but at

the same time directs you toward good expository writing. For some of you this

process will be most difficult because you are used to writing in high abstraction

with absence of operational definitions. For others, the writing will be difficult

because you insist upon using elaborate constructions, which confuse the

reader. However, for a happy few of you, writing will be no trouble at all because

you have already acquired the habit of scientific exposition, and a simple and

straightforward writing style.

How to Get Started

Writing a thesis can have the same overwhelming effect on the future author that

writing a book can have. If you sit down to write a thesis you will probably be

"immobilized." Instead, consider approaching the task by deciding to write

chapters. If you set small goals for yourself around the chapter production and

use the detailed outline in the following section, you will find that the task readily

begins to fall into place. (In fact, it might help you to start if you expand or adopt

the suggested outline into a table of contents, realizing that as you progress you

will put your own stamp of creativity and originality on the skeleton.)

The point of writing in smaller units needs to be examined further. Generally, in

one sitting, it is more efficient to write a complete section--such as a chapter--and

then go back and rewrite the rough spots. If you write in too small a unit, you will

find that your writing begins to degenerate in creative quality and become filled

with "dead" vocabulary. The experience of seasoned writers has been that

writing progresses most rapidly when they write a section, let it "set" for two or

three days, edit it carefully, looking for particular weaknesses, and then let it "set"

for two or three days more, editing again where necessary. At the end of this

time, the copy may be ready to show to some sympathetic friend or guide for

critical analysis.

Getting started on thesis writing has more to it than just developing an outline.

When you have determined your topic and design, you might try writing the

outline from the sections, which are described in the following pages.

Immediately thereafter, label a file folder for each chapter with the outline of that

chapter inked on the face of the folder. On the back of the folder, list the types of

information that have to be included for your final writing in that chapter. In this

way, as you progress through your study - whether it is descriptive, predictive,

and experimental or literature review - you will find that you will be accumulating

the necessary information for the final stage of assimilation. Without taking such

precaution, you can find yourself in the embarrassing position of needing a

particular bit of information, such as a current reference, and not having it. The

chapter-by-chapter file folders are convenient for keeping notes to remind

yourself of necessary processes and incidental kinds of information, which is

accumulated as you, go through the research experience. Then you will find that

when you finally start to write the chapter the basic relevant material will be there

and your task of writing a meaningful thesis is simplified.

Outline of the Thesis

The format of a thesis has become fairly standardized. It is not necessary for you

to "invent the wheel" all over again. Each chapter has its usual content and if you

will examine the following sections carefully, you will find a way to organize your

own particular thesis. It should be stressed that this outline is a flexible one and

is subject to alteration as your needs dictate. Note: Please see university

guidelines for an outline of the chapter of a thesis.

.Remember that a chapter designation is used to highlight a particularly important

subject or concept. Most theses in will have five chapters; (1) Introduction:

statement of the problem, (2) review of literature, (3) design of study or

methodology, (4) analysis of results and (5) summary, conclusions, and

recommendations.

Please note that the titles of each chapter are as they should be in the actual

thesis.

IntroductionThis is sub-divided into the statement of the problem, need, purpose, hypothesis,

theory (if used), terms and definitions, and over-view of thesis. (Theory may be

developed in a separate chapter if it is highly original or sufficiently elaborate.)

Statement of the Problem The statement of the problem is a succinct and clear explanation of “what is broken that needs fixing.” Is there an absence of literature on the topic that the

student is writing about? Is the study a replication of a previous study? What is this

student going to do that other studies have not done?

Need

For some reason many students find this section one of the most difficult of the

entire thesis. You might fall back on the old high school and college English

theme trick -force yourself to start to write while you think your problem is

important and look carefully to see if the second or third paragraph might be a

better beginning than the one with which you started.

This section need not be long but should clearly focus on why your particular

study should be done. It is difficult for a reader to distinguish between what you

specifically are doing. Try to modestly relate what your research might contribute,

either to theory building or to understanding about the problem under study or as

a positive contribution to the literature. Purpose Here you need a distinct, direct,

short paragraph that explicitly states what your study is about. You cannot

wander and ramble for four or five paragraphs, weaving the ideas hither and yon,

and expect your readers to acquire the main intent of your writing. Somewhere in

this section you should write, preferably the first sentence, "The purpose of this

study is .... . There should be no question as to you are about.

Hypothesis As out of keeping as it may seem, tradition has it that the hypotheses appear in

Chapter 1. Many students protest that they cannot write the hypotheses in the

first chapter because they generate them from the theory and the particular

design of study. As pertinent as this argument is, we suggest that you capitulate

to the conservatives' point of view and view the solution to the problem as

follows: If you will state your hypotheses in broad research form you will not

encounter the internal resistance that comes as a reaction to this apparent

"jumping of the gun." Initially, your hypothesis should be a succinct statement of

the broad implications which you expect to find in your study.

Examine the following examples of a good first-chapter research hypothesis:

1. A positive relationship exists between unemployment and the increase in

armed robberies in the United States. Or,

2. Students who are taught following procedures 'Y' will achieve higher

scores at the end of treatment and one year later than will students who

are taught following the traditional "y" approach.

If you have difficulty in formulating hypotheses or your thesis design does not

require a hypothesis statement you may substitute, "General Research

Questions." (See your advisor for clarification.)

Theory The elaboration of theory in the first chapter begins the tie-in with the Summary

and Conclusion chapter of your thesis. In this regard, it is similar to the first

statement of the hypothesis (above) which links the first chapter with your Design

chapter and you Analysis-of-Results chapter. The selection of theory is always

difficult, particularly because theories in medicine and the behavioral sciences

tend to be extremely broad and difficult to operationalize. You may select only

some of the assumptions of a broad theory, but remember that in this section you

must bring your conceptualizations down the hierarchy of abstraction to a point

where they make sense for your study. Remember also that a theory is not just

"tacked" into the first chapter and then wantonly forgotten. You must formulate

this section so that you satisfactorily operationalize what it is that you are trying

to describe, predict, or control.

Terms and Definitions

To ensure clear understanding of your thesis, ambiguous terms must be defined

in the context of your writing, e.g., terms such as alcoholism, etc., must be

specifically defined by the writer. You can begin this section with the sentence "To ensure a clear understanding of this thesis, terms used throughout the study are here defined".

Overview You will note that the first and last chapters do not have summaries. Instead, by

tradition, you tell the reader how you are going to treat him in the middle sections

of your "magnum opus" by including an overview of the thesis in the last section

of the first chapter. You start by describing what you will do in Chapter 2, then 3,

stopping short of the final chapter, which is, itself, a summary and conclusion,

Beware! A most common error is to animate chapters. That is, do not write,

"Chapter 2 reviews the literature ...... Chapters do nothing! You do things in

chapters! Therefore, the statement should read, "In Chapter 2, the pertinent

literature is reviewed." (The above is meant only as an example--not a dictum to

have all students use this phrase in their writings. Put it into your own style.)

Finally, the overview should end with a transitional phrase or statement which will

lead from Chapter I into Chapter 2.

Review of the LiteratureWhen you begin the review of the literature, you should give the reader a basic

idea of how you intend to treat him. You are not writing a mystery. Tell the reader

who "done" it! Show your plot! Reviewing literature may be particularly difficult

because for some topics you will have a hard time "hedging" in the beginning and

ending of your review. The more extensive the previous work, the more difficult

the preparation of the Literature chapter becomes. Following are some

suggestions which may be of help to you. (If you have chosen a topic on which

there has been little previous research, do not panic.) It is acceptable for you to

review two or three closely related studies and no more.

You may find, on the other hand, two or three areas of investigation that relate to

what you are doing. Then you face the question of which of these to review in

depth, or whether it is necessary for you to review all of them. Generally, the

solution is worked out as follows:

1. You review in depth those studies which are similar to yours, indicating

their strengths and weaknesses and how their findings might be

incorporated or improved upon in your research design;

2. And, you put those aspects which have a bearing on your problem but are

not directly related into a general review of several paragraphs or pages to

bring the reader closer to your particular problem.

In such a case, you may cite summaries that others have pulled together on the

topic. It is highly unlikely that any area of high "investigatory saturation" has not,

somewhere along the line, been reviewed in either a professional journal or a

doctoral dissertation. Remember that you are responsible for the authenticity of

the summary, so you should read the original accounts of investigation that are

particularly germane to your study, in other words, go directly to the original

source, avoid secondary sources.

It is especially desirable to include a discussion section at the end of the

literature review, in which the implications of the previous studies are pulled

together and the direction you will be taking in the third chapter is pointed out.

Some of you will find that a separate section labeled "Discussion of Previous

Research" is a comfortable way to go about this articulation. Others will prefer to

put their overall observations in the "Summary" section. Other times a table or

figure in which you summarize the major research components and findings can

serve as a useful device to help your reader comprehend the various elements of

the studies you reviewed.

The summary section of the review of the literature should include some of the

major findings of your review. You must remember that committee members may

only have time to read the summaries of some of your chapters. Therefore, give

the committee facts, data, and the important information. Then, too, since you will

have read other peoples' theses, you should begin to feel some compassion for

those who follow you and will have to figure out what you were doing! The

summary is where you give a succinct account of your contributions.

Design of the Study or MethodologyThis chapter is your "map of operation" in which you describe your sample,

operational measures, testable hypotheses, design, and analysis. For many of

you it will be a "rewrite" of the proposal, which you prepared for earlier courses.

Check with your advisor before making any major "detours."

Sample Specify the nature of your sample, indicating the population from which it came.

Give the sex, age, range, geographical location and all other vital demographic

data you can accumulate on your particular group. This is important because

future researchers may want to replicate your study (when you become famous

for your discoveries). Remember, unnecessary arguments can be forestalled if

you have adequately defined the sample.

Measures Specify the nature of the devices you have used for measuring the

characteristics you are studying. Also, include your reliability estimates for your

particular sample. Many of you express an inclination to move reliability findings

into the analysis of results chapter. This is an inappropriate move because when

you calculate the reliability for the particular group you studied, you are merely

trying to establish the soundness of your independent variable; therefore, what

you find cannot, in all honesty, be classified as a result.

The fact that it is necessary for you to establish the reliability of your instruments

on your samples cannot be emphasized too much! The figures reported in the

standardization manual are not sufficient to explain or define the reliability of your

own samples. Low reliability might be one explanation for negative or "flip flop"

results.

As stated previously, if you have developed a new instrument and you think it

should be seen as a particular contribution, you may want to write a separate

chapter on instrumentation.

Design Tell your reader what plan you will follow in arriving at probability statements

about the nature of the variables you incorporate into your study. If you do an

experimental study, standard terminology such as "felony" or "misdemeanor" will

be sufficient to communicate to your reader what you intend, provided you also

diagram the adaptations you made to your problem. You may find it useful to cite

Campbell and Stanley's "Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for

Research," Chicago: Rand McNally, 1976, for descriptions of certain variations of

"true" experimental designs. In other cases, you may simply name the plan

appropriate for your data, such as "predictive" or "descriptive" in nature.

Remember, the design of your study is the framework you are to follow. Make the

plan explicit to your reader.

Testable Hypotheses

It is now time to restate your statistical or testable hypotheses. However, you still

may not state them specifically. The hypotheses will be broader in nature than

those used in the analysis chapter, but not as broad as stated in Chapter 1. If you

have directional hypotheses these are also stated. In other words, you will state

your null hypotheses and their directional alternates. (Because it is so thoroughly

understood that you will test the null before examining the alternate hypotheses,

some authors only state the alternates. If you are not confused on this issue, the

procedure is acceptable.

Students find it helpful to translate the hypothesis from word statements to

symbols. Both ways are illustrated below. Note that the word "significant" would

be redundant because you are testing for significance.

Null hypothesis: No difference will be found in empathy as measured by average test performance between police officers and probation officers.

Symbolically: Ho; M, = M2

Legend: M, = Police officers mean; M2 = Probation officers group

mean

Alternate hypothesis: The police officers group mean score on a measure of

empathy will exceed that of the probation officer

group.

Symbolically: H1a ; M1 = M2

Legend: M, = Police officers mean; M2 = Probation officers group

mean

Analysis Designate which models you will use to test your hypotheses. It helps if you

include a discussion of the appropriateness of the models and any assumptions.

If you make certain assumptions about the nature of your data, such as normality

or homogeneity, give the reader cues to help understand why you think they are

warranted. Remember, too, that you should use the most powerful model

appropriate for your data. You need not state commonly acceptable statistical

formulas, nor do you need to derive them for the readers' benefit. This activity is

merely "padding" and annoys your readers. However, if you use a statistical

formula, which is not generally accessible or known to the reader, you should

state it with full interpretation of all symbols.

SummaryWrite a meaningful summary, letting the reader know in a few specific statements

what it is that you are using as a "map for your hunting license."

CHAPTER IVAnalysis of Results

The three previous, chapters serve to prepare your reader for the "main course."

It is in The Analysis Chapter that you present findings that come from the data

you have gathered and analyzed. Incidentally, do not be dismayed if you get

negative findings. It is disappointing, but perfectly acceptable if you have

developed an appropriate design and followed it. Present your results in the

same order in which you presented your hypotheses in Chapter I. Use tables to

summarize and pull together information wherever appropriate to do so.

Organization of Analysis ChapterThe general procedure for presenting data is to restate your hypothesis, show

your data with probability statement of reject or accept, and then make a

statement about whether the hypothesis was rejected or accepted. Do not begin

to interpret the meaning of your data at the same time that you present your data

to the reader. You may want to do this in Chapter 5 under a title labeled

Discussion. The combination of presentation and discussion can sway your

reader and bias conclusions about what you have done.

The combination of presentation and discussion can sway your reader and bias

Restatement of Hypotheses For each section of your analysis, begin with a statement of the hypothesis under

consideration. If you have stated the hypothesis in Chapter III in symbolic form,

restatement in symbolic form in this section is completely appropriate. However,

your statement of hypothesis should be specifically related to the instrument

used for its testing.

Interpretation of Results

There are three conditions which can result from your analysis. Consider each of

these conditions carefully. Each has its own peculiar hang-ups.

1. Condition 1 : "Not So Good" You failed to reject your null hypotheses. Do

not say that you accept your null hypotheses and that no differences

between groups exist. You do not prove equality by failing to reject the null

hypotheses. All you know is that there is not a statistical difference.

Establishing equality or identity requires more sophisticated testing than

normally included in master's theses.

Negative results do not necessarily mean your study is unacceptable, only

that your "rabbit test" is disappointing. Watch the temptation to write about

"approaching significance."

2. Condition 2: "All Systems Go!" You win! You have rejected your null

hypothesis and accepted your alternate hypothesis: you are in the grand

position of having lots of "goodies" to relate to your theory and interpret in

your conclusion section.

3. Condition 3: "Nice Try" You reject your null! But, oops, the alternate is

contrary to prediction. You lose! Accept fate. Do not try to rationalize the

many mysteries of nature. For all practical purposes your findings lead to

conclusions similar to condition "Not So Good." Accept the fact that you

made predictions which were either not right or at least not verified by your

data. The findings suggest revising theory, but be sure you make

suggestions in a section separate from your result section or some

readers may misunderstand.

Note: Sometimes you find combinations of the above conditions from one

replication to another. In such cases be conservative, assume your findings are

unstable, and try to identify conditions such as low-measure reliability which

resulted in such a catastrophe.

Statements of Significance

Do not commit the sin of saying your results approach significance. You either

have significance or you don't. There are no near misses in statistical analysis,

unless you consistently find an alpha level over a number of studies. Trends are

not interpretable on a single study; you just lucked out, even though the

magnitude of the value of the statistic is only a few points from that required for

your specified alpha level. Remember, error can vacillate below as well as above

a point.

Summary This section becomes the last of your summaries. Sometimes it is helpful to

make a table which summarizes hypotheses tested, the significance level, and

statement of reject or accept. This is a helpful procedure if you have tested a

number of hypotheses. In any event give your reader "meaty" material--facts, just

the facts!

CHAPTER 5Summary and Conclusions

In the last chapter you collate your summaries (it sounds repetitious and it

undoubtedly is), state your conclusions, discuss the implications of the results for

your theory, and set up the theses of your fellow graduate students and your own

future research endeavors.

Summary Writing the major summary is a difficult job because usually you are so loaded

with information, tables, data, and interpretations that you find narrowing yourself

down to a few words almost impossible. However, see if in a few pages you can

bring your reader from the beginning to the end of your contribution to the

science of behavior. It is perfectly permissible to go back and lift paragraphs and-

sentences from summaries in the body of your report. Furthermore, if this section

is carefully enough written it can be adapted easily for the abstract which is

necessary for the completion of your thesis.

Conclusions You should bring your conclusions to the attention of your reader. In general, a

listing of the findings by number, blocked and indented, helps the reader to see

unquestionably what you found.

DiscussionHere is your chance to integrate the findings of your study with the theory that

you might have employed in the first chapter. You should come to some

conclusions and not merely raise questions about what you have done.

Particularly is this true if you have positive findings in your study. It is permissible

in the discussion section of your thesis to quote others' findings and to raise

some general doubts about the previous research if your is in contradiction to

what others have found.

Implications for Future Research Be careful in this section. Your tendency will be to have the next investigator

discovering "God, mother, and country!" Narrow it down to an extension of what

you think should have been done or could have been done, now that you know

something about going through the labyrinth of research yourself You can "sky"

dream a little, but don't go too far afield.

Appendices

Do not fill chapters with irrelevant details. Picayune details may be put in the

appendix for the specialist who may want to replicate your study. These details

will not be lost to the few who may want access to them and yet they do not

"clutter up" the main study.

The appendixes (or appendices) are labeled in order of their appearance in the

body of your report. That is, those things that are first mentioned in the body

becomes the first appendix and those that are mentioned later become second,

third, and fourth appendix. Following the appendices is the last piece of

information--the bibliography. Needless to say the bibliography should be

comprehensive and current.

STYLE OF WRITING

The style of scientific writing is different from other forms of written

communication. You must write so that your reader has no doubt what you

actually are describing or intending. Therefore, you will have to dispense with

using indefinite, vague, and nefarious references.

Expression

All of us acquire a set of loaded words or phrases with which we harangue

readers at random.

In terms of

This expression is freely battered. Rewrite the sentence to remove it completely.

As to

Here is a phrase that is cumbersome and awkward. Generally the word "to" will

suffice, or "about" is appropriate.

Etc.

In scientific writing we do not use etc. If you use the word "such as" then give

some illustration or example and cut it off with that.

Indefinite Person

You use the indefinite person in thesis writing. To be more explicit you do not use

pronouns such as, "you," "our," and "we." Furthermore, you do not refer to

yourself except on rare, rare occasions. Some of you will fall into the habit of

stating "the author..." You will be allowed this luxury only a few times in your

scientific publications, say after your third book.

Tense

Much energy is spent trying to decide what to do -about tense in thesis writing.

Please follow this procedure! In the first chapter you will probably use the present

tense and you will also probably use the present tense in the paragraphs at the

beginning of the chapters where you let the reader in on what you're going to do.

The rest of the thesis should be in the past tense except for the suggestions for

future research in the last chapter.

Use of abbreviations

You may have a situation where you will repeat the name of a concept, such as a

test, throughout the body of your thesis. If you do, it is permissible to make a

footnote and use the capital letters of the words in the title. Be sure that you

repeat the footnote in your summaries and at the beginning of chapters, where

you may lose your readers. Be merciful in such endeavors because your reader

may find himself in the position of having to refer back and forth time and time

again, trying to remember what it is you are about. Some of our current

professional journals are so saturated with such junk that reading becomes a

chore.

Spelling

You can be as certain as death that your guide and reader will know when the

slightest letter is misplaced, inverted, or substituted, so beware of misspelling.

you are totally responsible for the accuracy of your copy.

If you have trouble, hire an editor. In fact, the services of an editor will greatly

enhance the readability of your study. Check with the English Department for

editors.

This, These, That, Them, Many, Most

The excessive use of the above words indicates lack of clarity in writing. Avoid

using such words. Usually "the noun" will do.

PART IVSubmitted for Reading

Your thesis will have to be read by both your advisor and HOD.

GuideWhen you turn copy in to your guide, give him or her an outline of the total thesis

and at least two chapters. He/She will read them carefully and indicate his/her-

reactions. Therefore, be sure that you leave wide margins and that you double-

space everything. It goes without saying that this should be a typed copy.

After your guide has read the first two chapters, you are to apply the criticisms to

the remaining chapters. You are not expected to retype the rough draft unless it

is too messy. Just make sure that when you hand the copy back to your guide he

can read easily what it is that you have corrected. You may use inserts, pinned-

on or staples sheets, and whatever else your ingenuity will allow. Do not use

scotch tape--it is too hard to write over; a stapler is much better. Remember,

rough draft is not an exercise in perfection so use the most expedient way to

show clearly how you have altered your copy.

ReaderSome of you may want to present your rough draft to your second reader as you

go along. As a staff, we have not clearly defined whether this should be done or

not. Usually if a reader does agree to read your rough draft, he is doing you a

favor because the primary responsibility of the gude is to get the draft in shape

so that the second reader will approve it. If you have any doubts on this, check

with your guide and reader to see how they feel.

Final Copy After the copy is ready for final production, you can have it typed and

the required number of copies made.

You should give the final copies to your advisor and reader at least two weeks in

advance for their final review. Courtesy requires that you make a copy of your

thesis for both your advisor and reader.

CHAPTER VTHE FINAL THRUST

When a thesis is finished, you still have some details to take care of.

Checking with the HOD & Dean Office You must check to be sure that all of your

requirements have been met. Be sure that you go over your courses carefully to

determine if you have taken everything you contracted to take. At the same time,

acquire all the forms necessary for the guide, HOD & Dean signatures.

Furthermore, you should have an abstract of the thesis which your guide signs.

Finally, you should have all of your courses cleared through the guide.

One last but important point

If you are trying to meet a deadline for submitting, remember that the

guide/HOD will under no circumstances certify you for graduation unless the

copy is in their hands at the specified date. Do not forget to thoroughly review the

Manual of Thesis Preparation.

How to Write a Thesis StatementWhat is a Thesis Statement?Almost all of us—even if we don’t do it consciously—look early in an essay for a one- or two-sentence condensation of the argument or analysis that is to follow. We refer to that condensation as a thesis statement.

Why Should Your Essay Contain A Thesis Statement?To test your ideas by distilling them into a sentence or two To better organize and develop your argument To provide your reader with a “guide” to your argument In general, your thesis statement will accomplish these goals if you think of the thesis as the answer to the question your paper explores.

How Can You Write Good Thesis Statement?Here are some helpful hints to get you started. How to Generate a Thesis if the Topic is Assigned.How to Generate a Thesis if the Topic is Not Assigned.

How to Tell a Strong Thesis Statement from a Weak One.

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How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Assigned.Almost all assignments, no matter how complicated, can be reduced to a single question. Your first step, then, is to distill the assignment into a specific question. For example, if your assignment is “Write a report to the local school board explaining the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class,” turn the request into a question like “What are the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class?” After you’ve chosen the question your essay will answer, compose one or two complete sentences answering that question.

Q: “What are the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class?”

A: “The potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class are . . . .”

OR

A: “Using computers in a fourth-grade class promises to improve . . . .”

The answer to the question is the thesis statement for the essay.

How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Not Assigned.

Even if your assignment doesn’t ask a specific question, your thesis statement still needs to answer a question about the issue you’d like to explore. In this situation, your job is to figure out what question you’d like to write about.

A good thesis statement will usually include the following four attributes:

Take on a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree Deal with a subject that can be adequately treated given the nature of the assignment Express one main idea Assert your conclusions about a subject Let’s see how to generate a thesis statement for a social policy paper.

Brainstorm the topic.Let’s say that your class focuses upon the problems posed by drug addiction. You find that you are interested in the problems of crack babies, babies born to mothers addicted to crack cocaine.

You start out with a thesis statement like this:

Crack babies.

This fragment isn’t a thesis statement. Instead, it simply indicates a general subject. Furthermore, your reader doesn’t know what you want to say about crack kids.

Narrow the topicYour readings about the topic, however, have led you to the conclusion that not only do these babies have a difficult time surviving premature births and withdrawal symptoms, but their lives will be even harder as they grow up because they are likely to be raised in an environment of poverty and neglect. You think that there should be programs to help these children.

You change your thesis to look like this:

Programs for crack kids.

This fragment not only announces your subject, but it focuses on one main idea: programs. Furthermore, it raises a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree, because while most people might agree that something needs to be done for these children, not everyone would agree on what should be done or who should do it. You should note that this fragment is not a thesis statement because your reader doesn’t know your conclusions on the topic.

Take a position on the topic.After reflecting on the topic a little while longer, you decide that what you really want to say about this topic is that in addition to programs for crack babies, the government should develop programs to help crack children cope and compete.

You revise your thesis to look like this:

More attention should be paid to the environment crack kids grow up in.

This statement asserts your position, but the terms more attention and the environment are vague.

Use specific language.You decide to explain what you mean about “the environment,” so you write:

Experts estimate that half of crack babies will grow up in home environments lacking rich cognitive and emotional stimulation.

This statement is specific, but it isn’t a thesis. It merely reports a statistic instead of making an assertion.

Make an assertion based on clearly stated support.You finally revise your thesis statement one more time to look like this:

Because half of all crack babies are likely to grow up in homes lacking good cognitive and emotional stimulation, the federal government should finance programs to supplement parental care for crack kids.

Notice how the thesis answers the question, “Why should anything be done for crack kids, and who should do it?” When you started thinking about the paper, you may not have had a specific question in mind, but as you became more involved in the topic, your ideas became more specific. Your thesis changed to reflect your new insights.

How to Tell a Strong Thesis Sentence from a Weak One.1. A strong thesis takes some sort of stand.Remember that your thesis needs to show your conclusions about a subject. For example, if you are writing a paper for a class on fitness, you might be asked to choose a popular weight-loss product to evaluate. Here are two thesis statements:

There are some negative and positive aspects to the Banana Herb Tea Supplement.

This is a weak thesis. First, it fails to take a stand. Second, the phrase “negative and positive aspects” is vague.

Because Banana Herb Tea Supplement promotes rapid weight loss that results in the loss of muscle and lean body mass, it poses a potential danger to customers.

This is a strong thesis because it takes a stand.

2. A strong thesis justifies discussion.Your thesis should indicate the point of the discussion. If your assignment is to write a paper on kinship systems, using your own family as an example, you might come up with either of these two thesis statements:

My family is an extended family.

This is a weak thesis because it states an observation. Your reader won’t be able to tell the point of the statement, and will probably stop reading.

While most American families would view consanguineal marriage as a threat to the nuclear family structure, many Iranian families, like my own, believe that these marriages help reinforce kinship ties in an extended family.

This is a strong thesis because it shows how your experience contradicts a widely-accepted view. A good strategy for creating a strong thesis is to show that the topic is controversial. Readers will be interested in reading the rest of the essay to see how you support your point .

3. A strong thesis expresses one main idea.

Readers need to be able to see that your paper has one main point. If your thesis expresses more than one idea, then you might confuse your readers about the subject of your paper. For example:

Companies need to exploit the marketing potential of the Internet, and web pages can provide both advertising and customer support.

This is a weak thesis statement because the reader can’t decide whether the paper is about marketing on the Internet or web pages. To revise the thesis, the relationship between the two ideas needs to become more clear. One way to revise the thesis would be to write:

Because the Internet is filled with tremendous marketing potential, companies should exploit this potential by using web pages that offer both advertising and customer support.

This is a strong thesis because it shows that the two ideas are related. Hint: a great many clear and engaging thesis statements contain words like “because,” “since,” “so,” “although,” “unless,” and “however.”

4. A strong thesis statement is specific.A thesis statement should show exactly what your paper will be about, and will help you keep your paper to a manageable topic. For example, if you write a paper on hunger, you might say:

World hunger has many causes and effects.

This is a weak thesis statement for two major reasons. First, “world hunger” can’t be discussed thoroughly in five or ten pages. Second, "many causes and effects" is vague. You should be able to identify specific causes and effects. A revised thesis might look like this:

Hunger persists in Appalachia because jobs are scarce and farming in the infertile soil is rarely profitable.

This is a strong thesis because it narrows the subject to a more specific and manageable topic and it also identifies the specific causes for the existence of hunger.

Source: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/thesis_statement.shtml#assigned

Introduction

This guide has been created to assist students in thinking through the many aspects of crafting, implementing and defending a thesis or dissertation. Usually a guide of this nature focuses on the actual implementation of the research. This is not the focus of this guide. Instead of examining such aspects as identifying

appropriate sample size, field testing the instrument and selecting appropriate statistical tests, this guide looks at many of the quasi-political aspects of the process. Such topics as how to select a supportive committee, making a compelling presentation of your research outcomes and strategies for actually getting the paper written are discussed.

Probably the best advice to start with is the idea of not trying to do your research entirely by yourself. Do it in conjunction with your adviser. Seek out his/her input and assistance. Stay in touch with your adviser so that both of you know what's happening. There's a much better chance of getting to the end of your project and with a smile on your face.

With this in mind, enjoy the guide. I hope it will help you finish your graduate degree in good shape. Good luck and good researching!

Summary of Key Ideas in this Guide

The Thinking About It Stage

1. Be inclusive with your thinking. 2. Write down your ideas. 3. Don't be overly influenced by others-it's your research. 4. Try and set a realistic goal. 5. Set appropriate time lines. 6. Take a leave of absence when it will do the most good. 7. Try a preliminary study to help clarify your research.

Preparing The Proposal

8. Read other proposals. 9. Prepare a comprehensive review of the literature.10. Photocopy relevant articles.11. Proposal should be first 3 chapters of dissertation.12. Focus your research. 13. Include a title on your proposal. 14. Organize around a set of questions. 15. Some considerations for designing your research:

a. Design your research so the subjects benefit. b. Choose your methodology wisely. c. Consider combining methodologies. d. Carefully select location for your research. e. Avoid conducting research in conjunction with another agency.

16. Use your advisory committee well.

a. Select faculty who will support you.

b. Your major professor is your ally. c. Provide committee with well-written proposal. d. Plan the proposal meeting well.

Writing The Thesis Or Dissertation

17. Begin writing with sections you know the best. 18. Rewrite your proposal into dissertation sections. 19. Use real names/places in early drafts of dissertation. 20. Print each draft on a different color paper. 21. Use hand drawings of graphics/tables for early drafts. 22. Make your writing clear and unambiguous. 23. Review other dissertations before you begin to write. 24. Introduce tables in the text, present the table and then describe it. 25. Use similar or parallel wording whenever possible.26. Let your Table of Contents help you improve your manuscript. 27. Write real conclusions and implications - don't restate your findings.28. Make your Suggestions for Further Research meaningful. 29. Chapter One should be written last.

The Thesis/Dissertation Defense

30. Attend some defenses before it's your turn. 31. Discuss your research with others. 32. Don't circulate chapters to committee.33. The defense should be team effort - you and adviser. 34. Don't be defensive at your defense. 35. Organize your defense as an educational presentation. 36. Prepare an article on the outcomes of your research.

THE "THINKING ABOUT IT" STAGE The "thinking about it stage" is when you are finally faced with the reality of completing your degree. Usually the early phases of a graduate program proceed in clear and very structured ways. The beginning phases of a graduate program proceed in much the same manner as an undergraduate degree program. There are clear requirements and expectations, and the graduate student moves along, step by step, getting ever closer to the completion of the program. One day, however, the clear structure begins to diminish and now you're approaching the thesis/dissertation stage. This is a new and different time. These next steps are more and more defined by you and not your adviser, the program, or the department.

1. Be inclusive with your thinking. Don't try to eliminate ideas too quickly. Build on your ideas and see how many different research projects you can identify. Give yourself the luxury of being expansive in your thinking at this stage -- you won't be able to do this later on. Try and be creative.

2. Write down your ideas. This will allow you to revisit an idea later on. Or, you can modify and change an idea. If you don't write your ideas they tend to be in a continual state of change and you will probably have the feeling that you're not going anywhere. What a great feeling it is to be able to sit down and scan the many ideas you have been thinking about, if they're written down.

3. Try not to be overly influenced at this time by what you feel others expect from you (your colleagues, your profession, your academic department, etc.). You have a much better chance of selecting a topic that will be really of interest to you if it is your topic. This will be one of the few opportunities you may have in your professional life to focus in on a research topic that is really of your own choosing.

4. Don't begin your thinking by assuming that your research will draw international attention to you!! Instead, be realistic in setting your goal.

Make sure your expectations are tempered by: ... the realization that you are fulfilling an academic requirement,

... the fact that the process of conducting the research may be just as important (or more important) than the outcomes of the research, and

... the idea that first and foremost the whole research project should be a learning experience for you.

If you can keep these ideas in mind while you're thinking through your research you stand an excellent chance of having your research project turn out well.

5. Be realistic about the time that you're willing to commit to your research project. If it's a 10 year project that you're thinking about admit it at the beginning and then decide whether or not you have 10 years to give to it. If the project you'd like to do is going to demand more time than you're willing to commit then you have a problem.

I know it's still early in your thinking but it's never too early to create a draft of a timeline. Try using the 6 Stages (see the next item) and put a start and a finish time for each. Post your timeline in a conspicuous place (above your computer monitor?) so that it continually reminds you how you're doing. Periodically update your timeline with new dates as needed. (Thanks to a website visitor from Philadelphia for sharing this idea.)

6. If you're going to ask for a leave of absence from your job while you're working on your research this isn't a good time to do it. Chances are you can do the "thinking about

it" stage without a leave of absence. Assuming that there are six major phases that you will have during your research project, probably the best time to get the most from a leave of absence is during the fourth stage* - the writing stage. This is the time when you really need to be thinking well. To be able to work at your writing in large blocks of time without interruptions is something really important. A leave of absence from your job can allow this to happen. A leave of absence from your job prior to this stage may not be a very efficient use of the valuable time away from your work.

Stage 1 - Thinking About It

Stage 2 - Preparing the Proposal

Stage 3- Conducting the Research

Stage 4- Writing the Research Paper*

Stage 5- Sharing the Research Outcomes with Others

Stage 6- Revising the Research Paper

7. It can be most helpful at this early stage to try a very small preliminary research study to test out some of your ideas to help you gain further confidence in what you'd like to do. The study can be as simple as conducting half a dozen informal interviews with no attempt to document what is said. The key is that it will give you a chance to get closer to your research and to test out whether or not you really are interested in the topic. And, you can do it before you have committed yourself to doing something you may not like. Take your time and try it first.

PREPARING THE PROPOSAL

Assuming you've done a good job of "thinking about" your research project, you're ready to actually prepare the proposal. A word of caution - those students who tend to have a problem in coming up with a viable proposal often are the ones that have tried to rush through the "thinking about it" part and move too quickly to trying to write the proposal. Here's a final check. Do each of these statements describe you? If they do you're ready to prepare your research proposal.

I am familiar with other research that has been conducted in areas related to my research project.

(___Yes, it's me)( ___No, not me)

I have a clear understanding of the steps that I will use in conducting my research.

(___Yes, it's me)( ___No, not me)

I feel that I have the ability to get through each of the steps necessary to complete my research project.

(___Yes, it's me)( ___No, not me)

I know that I am motivated and have the drive to get through all of the steps in the research project.

(___Yes, it's me)( ___No, not me)

Okay, you're ready to write your research proposal. Here are some ideas to help with the task:

8. Read through someone else's research proposal. Very often a real stumbling block is that we don't have an image in our mind of what the finished research proposal should look like. How has the other proposal been organized? What are the headings that have been used? Does the other proposal seem clear? Does it seem to suggest that the writer knows the subject area? Can I model my proposal after one of the ones that I've seen? If you can't readily find a proposal or two to look at, ask your adviser to see some. Chances are your adviser has a file drawer filled with them.

9. Make sure your proposal has a comprehensive review of the literature included. Now this idea, at first thought, may not seem to make sense. I have heard many students tell me that "This is only the proposal. I'll do a complete literature search for the dissertation. I don't want to waste the time now." But, this is the time to do it. The rationale behind the literature review consists of an argument with two lines of analysis: 1) this research is needed, and 2) the methodology I have chosen is most appropriate for the question that is being asked. Now, why would you want to wait? Now is the time to get informed and to learn from others who have preceded you! If you wait until you are writing the dissertation it is too late. You've got to do it some time so you might as well get on with it and do it now. Plus, you will probably want to add to the literature review when you're writing the final dissertation. (Thanks to a website visitor from Mobile, Alabama who helped to clarify this point.)

10. With the ready availability of photocopy machines you should be able to bypass many of the hardships that previous dissertation researchers had to deal with in developing their literature review. When you read something that is important to your study, photocopy the relevant article or section. Keep your photocopies organized according to categories and sections. And, most importantly, photocopy the bibliographic citation so that you can easily reference the material in your bibliography. Then, when you decide to sit down and actually write the literature review, bring out your photocopied sections, put them into logical and sequential order, and then begin your writing.

11. What is a proposal anyway? A good proposal should consist of the first three chapters of the dissertation. It should begin with a statement of the problem/background information (typically Chapter I of the dissertation), then move on to a review of the literature (Chapter 2), and conclude with a defining of the research methodology (Chapter 3). Of course, it should be written in a future tense since it is a proposal. To turn a good proposal into the first three chapters of the dissertation consists of changing the tense from future tense to past tense (from "This is what I would like to do" to "This is what I did") and making any changes based on the way you actually carried out the research when compared to how you proposed to do it. Often the intentions we state in our proposal turn out different in reality and we then have to make appropriate editorial changes to move it from proposal to dissertation.

12. Focus your research very specifically. Don't try to have your research cover too broad an area. Now you may think that this will distort what you want to do. This may be the case, but you will be able to do the project if it is narrowly defined. Usually a broadly defined project is not do-able. By defining too broadly it may sound better to you, but there is a great chance that it will be unmanageable as a research project. When you complete your research project it is important that you have something specific and definitive to say. This can be accommodated and enhanced by narrowly defining your project. Otherwise you may have only broadly based things to say about large areas that really provide little guidance to others that may follow you. Often the researcher finds that what he/she originally thought to be a good research project turns out to really be a group of research projects. Do one project for your dissertation and save the other projects for later in your career. Don't try to solve all of the problems in this one research project.

13. Include a title on your proposal. I'm amazed at how often the title is left for the end of the student's writing and then somehow forgotten when the proposal is prepared for the committee. A good proposal has a good title and it is the first thing to help the reader begin to understand the nature of your work. Use it wisely! Work on your title early in the process and revisit it often. It's easy for a reader to identify those proposals where the title has been focused upon by the student. Preparing a good title means:

...having the most important words appear toward the beginning of your title,

...limiting the use of ambiguous or confusing words,

..breaking your title up into a title and subtitle when you have too many words, and

...including key words that will help researchers in the future find your work.14. It's important that your research proposal be organized around a set of questions that will guide your research. When selecting these guiding questions try to write them so that they frame your research and put it into perspective with other research. These questions must serve to establish the link between your research and other research that has preceded you. Your research questions should clearly show the relationship of your research to your field of study. Don't be carried away at this point and make your questions too narrow. You must start with broad relational questions.

A good question:

Do adult learners in a rural adult education setting have characteristics that are similar to adult learners in general ?

A poor question:

What are the characteristics of rural adult learners in an adult education program? (too narrow)

A poor question:

How can the XYZ Agency better serve rural adult learners? (not generalizable)

15. Now here are a few more ideas regarding the defining of your research project through your proposal.

a. Make sure that you will be benefitting those who are participating in the research. Don't only see the subjects as sources of data for you to analyze. Make sure you treat them as participants in the research. They have the right to understand what you are doing and you have a responsibility to share the findings with them for their reaction. Your research should not only empower you with new understandings but it should also empower those who are participating with you.

b. Choose your methodology wisely. Don't be too quick in running away from using a quantitative methodology because you fear the use of statistics. A qualitative approach to research can yield new and exciting understandings, but it should not be undertaken because of a fear of quantitative research. A well designed quantitative research study can often be accomplished in very clear and direct ways. A similar study of a qualitative nature usually requires considerably more time and a tremendous burden to create new paths for analysis where previously no path had existed. Choose your methodology wisely!

c. Sometimes a combined methodology makes the most sense. You can combine a qualitative preliminary study (to define your population more clearly, to develop your instrumentation more specifically or to establish hypotheses for investigation) with a quantitative main study to yield a research project that works well.

d. Deciding on where you will conduct the research is a major decision. If you are from another area of the country or a different country there is often an expectation that you will return to your "home" to conduct the research. This may yield more meaningful results, but it will also most likely create a situation whereby you are expected to fulfill other obligations while you are home. For many students the opportunity to conduct a research project away from home is an important one since they are able to better control many of the intervening variables that they can not control at home. Think carefully regarding your own situation before you make your decision.

e. What if you have the opportunity for conducting your research in conjunction with another agency or project that is working in related areas. Should you do it? Sometimes this works well, but most often the dissertation researcher gives up valuable freedom to conduct the research project in conjunction with something else. Make sure the trade-offs are in your favor. It can be very disastrous to have the other project suddenly get off schedule and to find your own research project temporarily delayed. Or, you had tripled the size of your sample since the agency was willing to pay the cost of postage. They paid for the postage for the pre-questionnaire. Now they are unable to assist with postage for the post-questionnaire. What happens to your research? I usually find that the cost of conducting dissertation research is not prohibitive and the trade-offs to work in conjunction with another agency are not in favor of the researcher. Think twice before altering your project to accommodate someone else. Enjoy the power and the freedom to make your own decisions (and mistakes!) -- this is the way we learn!

16. Selecting and preparing your advisory committee to respond to your proposal should not be taken lightly. If you do your "homework" well your advisory committee can be most helpful to you. Try these ideas:

a. If you are given the opportunity to select your dissertation committee do it wisely. Don't only focus on content experts. Make sure you have selected faculty for your committee who are supportive of you and are willing to assist you in successfully completing your research. You want a committee that you can ask for help and know that they will provide it for you. Don't forget, you can always access content experts who are not on your committee at any time during your research project.

b. Your major professor/adviser/chairperson is your ally. When you go to the committee for reactions to your proposal make sure your major professor is fully supportive of you. Spend time with him/her before the meeting so that your plans are clear and you know you have full support. The proposal meeting should be seen as an opportunity for you and your major professor to seek the advice of the committee. Don't ever go into the proposal meeting with the feeling that it is you against them!

c. Provide the committee members with a well-written proposal well in advance of the meeting. Make sure they have ample time to read the proposal.

d. Plan the proposal meeting well. If graphic presentations are necessary to help the committee with understandings make sure you prepare them so they look good. A well planned meeting will help your committee understand that you are prepared to move forward with well planned research. Your presentation style at the meeting should not belittle your committee members (make it sound like you know they have read your proposal) but you should not assume too much (go through each of the details with an assumption that maybe one of the members skipped over that section).

WRITING THE THESIS OR DISSERTATION

Now this is the part we've been waiting for. I must assume that you have come up with a good idea for research, had your proposal approved, collected the data, conducted your analyses and now you're about to start writing the dissertation. If you've done the first steps well this part shouldn't be too bad. In fact it might even be enjoyable!

17. The major myth in writing a dissertation is that you start writing at Chapter One and then finish your writing at Chapter Five. This is seldom the case. The most productive approach in writing the dissertation is to begin writing those parts of the dissertation that you are most comfortable with. Then move about in your writing by completing various sections as you think of them. At some point you will be able to spread out in front of you all of the sections that you have written. You will be able to sequence them in the best order and then see what is missing and should be added to the dissertation. This way seems to make sense and builds on those aspects of your study that are of most interest to you at any particular time. Go with what interests you, start your writing there, and then keep building!

(David Kraenzel - North Dakota State University - wrote in describing the "A to Z Method". Look at the first section of your paper. When you are ready go ahead and write it. If you are not ready, move section-by-section through your paper until you find a section where you have some input to make. Make your input and continue moving through the entire paper - from A to Z - writing and adding to those sections for which you have some input. Each time you work on your paper follow the same A to Z process. This will help you visualize the end product of your efforts from very early in your writing and each time you work on your paper you will be building the entire paper - from A to Z. Thanks David!)

18. If you prepared a comprehensive proposal you will now be rewarded! Pull out the proposal and begin by checking your proposed research methodology. Change the tense from future tense to past tense and then make any additions or changes so that the methodology section truly reflects what you did. You have now been able to change

sections from the proposal to sections for the dissertation. Move on to the Statement of the Problem and the Literature Review in the same manner.

19. I must assume you're using some form of word processing on a computer to write your dissertation. (if you aren't, you've missed a major part of your doctoral preparation!) If your study has specific names of people, institutions and places that must be changed to provide anonymity don't do it too soon. Go ahead and write your dissertation using the real names. Then at the end of the writing stage you can easily have the computer make all of the appropriate name substitutions. If you make these substitutions too early it can really confuse your writing.

20. As you get involved in the actual writing of your dissertation you will find that conservation of paper will begin to fade away as a concern. Just as soon as you print a draft of a chapter there will appear a variety of needed changes and before you know it another draft will be printed. And, it seems almost impossible to throw away any of the drafts! After awhile it will become extremely difficult to remember which draft of your chapter you may be looking at. Print each draft of your dissertation on a different color paper. With the different colors of paper it will be easy to see which is the latest draft and you can quickly see which draft a committee member might be reading. (Thanks to Michelle O'Malley at University of Florida for sharing this idea.)

21. The one area where I would caution you about using a word processor is in the initial creation of elaborate graphs or tables. I've seen too many students spend too many hours in trying to use their word processor to create an elaborate graph that could have been done by hand in 15 minutes. So, the simple rule is to use hand drawing for elaborate tables and graphs for the early draft of your dissertation. Make sure your data are presented accurately so your advisor can clearly understand your graph/table, but don't waste the time trying to make it look word processor perfect at this time. Once you and your advisor agree upon how the data should be graphically represented it is time to prepare "perfect" looking graphs and tables.

22. Dissertation-style writing is not designed to be entertaining. Dissertation writing should be clear and unambiguous. To do this well you should prepare a list of key words that are important to your research and then your writing should use this set of key words throughout. There is nothing so frustrating to a reader as a manuscript that keeps using alternate words to mean the same thing. If you've decided that a key phrase for your research is "educational workshop", then do not try substituting other phrases like "in-service program", "learning workshop", "educational institute", or "educational program." Always stay with the same phrase - "educational workshop." It will be very clear to the reader exactly what you are referring to.

23. Review two or three well organized and presented dissertations. Examine their use of headings, overall style, typeface and organization. Use them as a model for the preparation of your own dissertation. In this way you will have an idea at the beginning of your writing what your finished dissertation will look like. A most helpful perspective!

24. A simple rule - if you are presenting information in the form of a table or graph make sure you introduce the table or graph in your text. And then, following the insertion of the table/graph, make sure you discuss it. If there is nothing to discuss then you may want to question even inserting it.

25. Another simple rule - if you have a whole series of very similar tables try to use similar words in describing each. Don't try and be creative and entertaining with your writing. If each introduction and discussion of the similar tables uses very similar wording then the reader can easily spot the differences in each table.

26. We are all familiar with how helpful the Table of Contents is to the reader. What we sometimes don't realize is that it is also invaluable to the writer. Use the Table of Contents to help you improve your manuscript. Use it to see if you've left something out, if you are presenting your sections in the most logical order, or if you need to make your wording a bit more clear. Thanks to the miracle of computer technology, you can easily copy/paste each of your headings from throughout your writing into the Table of Contents. Then sit back and see if the Table of Contents is clear and will make good sense to the reader. You will be amazed at how easy it will be to see areas that may need some more attention. Don't wait until the end to do your Table of Contents. Do it early enough so you can benefit from the information it will provide to you.

27. If you are including a Conclusions/Implications section in your dissertation make sure you really present conclusions and implications. Often the writer uses the conclusions/implications section to merely restate the research findings. Don't waste my time. I've already read the findings and now, at the Conclusion/Implication section, I want you to help me understand what it all means. This is a key section of the dissertation and is sometimes best done after you've had a few days to step away from your research and allow yourself to put your research into perspective. If you do this you will no doubt be able to draw a variety of insights that help link your research to other areas. I usually think of conclusions/implications as the "So what" statements. In other words, what are the key ideas that we can draw from your study to apply to my areas of concern.

28. Potentially the silliest part of the dissertation is the Suggestions for Further Research section. This section is usually written at the very end of your writing project and little energy is left to make it very meaningful. The biggest problem with this section is that the suggestions are often ones that could have been made prior to you conducting your research. Read and reread this section until you are sure that you have made suggestions that emanate from your experiences in conducting the research and the findings that you have evolved. Make sure that your suggestions for further research serve to link your project with other projects in the future and provide a further opportunity for the reader to better understand what you have done.

29. Now it's time to write the last chapter. But what chapter is the last one? My perception is that the last chapter should be the first chapter. I don't really mean this in the literal sense. Certainly you wrote Chapter One at the beginning of this whole process. Now, at the end, it's time to "rewrite" Chapter One. After you've had a chance to write

your dissertation all the way to the end, the last thing you should do is turn back to Chapter One. Reread Chapter One carefully with the insight you now have from having completed Chapter Five. Does Chapter One clearly help the reader move in the direction of Chapter Five? Are important concepts that will be necessary for understanding Chapter Five presented in Chapter One?

THE THESIS/DISSERTATION DEFENSE

What a terrible name - a dissertation defense. It seems to suggest some sort of war that you're trying to win. And, of course, with four or five of them and only one of you it sounds like they may have won the war before the first battle is held. I wish they had called it a dissertation seminar or professional symposium. I think the name would have brought forward a much better picture of what should be expected at this meeting.

Regardless of what the meeting is called, try to remember that the purpose of the meeting is for you to show everyone how well you have done in the conducting of your research study and the preparation of your dissertation. In addition there should be a seminar atmosphere where the exchange of ideas is valued. You are clearly the most knowledgeable person at this meeting when it comes to your subject. And, the members of your committee are there to hear from you and to help you better understand the very research that you have invested so much of yourself in for the past weeks. Their purpose is to help you finish your degree requirements. Of course other agenda often creep in. If that happens, try to stay on course and redirect the meeting to your agenda.

The following ideas should help you keep the meeting on your agenda.

30. The most obvious suggestion is the one seldom followed. Try to attend one or more defenses prior to yours. Find out which other students are defending their research and sit in on their defense. In many departments this is expected of all graduate students. If this is not the case for you, check with your adviser to see that you can get an invitation to attend some defenses.

At the defense try and keep your focus on the interactions that occur. Does the student seem relaxed? What strategies does the student use to keep relaxed? How does the student interact with the faculty? Does the student seem to be able to answer questions well? What would make the situation appear better? What things should you avoid? You can learn a lot from sitting in on such a meeting.

31. Find opportunities to discuss your research with your friends and colleagues. Listen carefully to their questions. See if you are able to present your research in a clear and coherent manner. Are there aspects of your research that are particularly confusing and need further explanation? Are there things that you forgot to say? Could you change the order of the information presented and have it become more understandable?

32. I hope you don't try circulating chapters of your dissertation to your committee members as you are writing them. I find this practice to be most annoying and one that creates considerable problems for the student. You must work closely with your dissertation director. He/she is the person you want to please. Develop a strategy with the dissertation director regarding how and when your writing should be shared. Only after your dissertation director approves of what you have done should you attempt to share it with the rest of the committee. And by then it's time for the defense. If you prematurely share sections of your writing with committee members you will probably find yourself in a situation where one committee member tells you to do one thing and another member says to do something else. What should you do? The best answer is not to get yourself into such a predicament. The committee meeting (the defense) allows the concerns of committee members to surface in a dialogical atmosphere where opposing views can be discussed and resolved.

33. It's important that you have the feeling when entering your defense that you aren't doing it alone. As was mentioned earlier, your major professor should be seen as an ally to you and "in your corner" at the defense. Don't forget, if you embarrass yourself at the defense you will also be embarrassing your dissertation director. So, give both of you a chance to guarantee there is no embarrassment. Meet together ahead of time and discuss the strategy you should use at the defense. Identify any possible problems that may occur and discuss ways that they should be dealt with. Try and make the defense more of a team effort.

34. Don't be defensive at your defense (this sounds confusing!). This is easy to say but sometimes hard to fulfill. You've just spent a considerable amount of time on your research and there is a strong tendency for YOU to want to defend everything you've done. However, the committee members bring a new perspective and may have some very good thoughts to share. Probably the easiest way to deal with new input is to say something like "Thank you so much for your idea. I will be giving it a lot of consideration." There, you've managed to diffuse a potentially explosive situation and not backed yourself or the committee member into a corner. Plus, you've not promised anything. Try and be politically astute at this time. Don't forget that your ultimate goal is to successfully complete your degree.

35. Probably the most disorganized defense I've attended is the one where the dissertation director began the meeting by saying, "You've all read the dissertation. What questions do you have for the student?" What a mess. Questions started to be asked that bounced the student around from one part of the dissertation to another. There was no semblance of order and the meeting almost lost control due to its lack of organization. At that time I vowed to protect my students from falling into such a trap by helping them organize the defense as an educational presentation.

Here's what we do:

I ask the student to prepare a 20-25 minute presentation that reviews the entire study. This is done through the help of a series of 10-12 large pieces of paper, wall charts, that

have been posted sequentially around the walls of the room. Each piece of paper contains key words regarding each of the different aspects of the study. Some pieces of paper contain information about the study setting, questions and methodology. Other pieces of paper present findings and finally there are those pieces that present the conclusions and implications. By preparing these wall charts ahead of time the student is able to relax during the presentation and use the pieces of paper as if they were a road map toward the goal. No matter how nervous you are you can always let the wall charts guide YOU through your presentation. Lettering is done with a dark marking pen and extra notes are included in very small printing with a pencil (that no one can really see). We've also tried it with overhead projected transparencies but it doesn't work as well. With the transparencies they're gone from view after a few seconds. The wall charts stay up for everyone to see and to help focus attention.

Following this structured presentation the committee begins to ask questions, but as can be expected the questions follow along with the wall charts and the whole discussion proceeds in an orderly manner. If guests are present at the defense, this form of presentation helps them also follow along and understand exactly what was accomplished through the research.

36. Consider tape recording your defense. Using a small portable recorder, record your entire presentation and also the questions and comments of the committee members. This helps in two ways. First, the student has documentation to assist in making suggested changes and corrections in the dissertation. The student can relax more and listen to what is being said by the committee members. The tape recorder is taking notes! Second, the student has a permanent record of his/her presentation of the study. By keeping the paper charts and the tape together, they can be most useful for reviewing the research in future years when a request is made for a presentation. (Bring out the tape and the pieces of paper the night before your presentation and you can listen to you make the presentation. What a good way to review.)

Well that about does it. By following the above suggestions and ideas I hope it will be possible for you to finish your graduate degree program in a most timely and enjoyable manner. By looking ahead to the different aspects of this final part of your graduate study it becomes clear that you can do a number of things to insure your success. Good luck!

37. Oh, I almost forgot. There's one last thing. Get busy and prepare an article or paper that shares the outcomes of your research. There will be no better time to do this than now. Directly after your defense is when you know your study the best and you will be in the best position to put your thinking on paper. If you put this writing task off it will probably never get done. Capitalize on all of the investment you have made in your research and reap some additional benefit - start writing.

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Thinking About Buying a Book? I have spent time identifying a number of different books that are available to help in writing a thesis/dissertation. The quality of the books, as can be expected, varies greatly. If you would like to see a listing of the books I have identified and my reactions to them, please click here.

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Staying in Touch With Colleagues and FriendsTrying to maintain contact with colleagues and friends while working on a dissertation or thesis can be a real challenge. To assist you in continuing your dialogue with others, I invite you to open a free user account with DialogTime - a new project I have been developing. DialogTime is a very simple-to-use threaded discussion system that provides just the right amount of structure to allow you to enter into discussions with family and friends on just about any topic you would like. And best of all - it is free!

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A Handful of Worthwhile Bookmarks -If I only had time to visit a single website for help with my thesis I'd probably go directly to the Thesis Handbook (http://www.tele.sunyit.edu/ThesisHandbook.html) maintained by the Telecommunications Program at SUNY Institute of Technology. Especially helpful are the accompanying Thesis Workbook and Frequently Asked Questions where you will find a wealth of clearly written and helpful information. (Selecting a topic; Developing a search strategy for going after relevant literature: Deciding which tense to use in your writing; etc.)

An extensive set of hints and ideas on how to improve your dissertation/thesis writing. How To Write A Dissertation or Bedtime Reading For People Who Do Not Have Time To Sleep (http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/dec/essay.dissertation.html) lays out suggestion after suggestion in direct and non-confusing form. A great list to bring out after you've completed the first draft of your writing, are rather tired of your topic, and you are not sure where to begin your fine tuning.

An excellent website with lots of highly specific information (especially if the focus of your work is in a scientific or technical area) has been developed by Joe Wolfe at The University of New South Wales (Australia). How to Write a PhD Thesis (http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/thesis.html) provides a variety of very useful suggestions on how to get from the beginning to the end of your thesis project - and survive the process!

Wouldn't it be great if there were a bunch of theses/dissertations available for reading right on the web? Well, there are some resources you should be aware of that will let you see what the finished product could look like. You can always purchase a copy of most US dissertations/theses. These are available from ProQuest's (formerly UMI) website - ProQuest's Online Dissertation Services (http://www.umi.com/hp/Products/Dissertations.html). Theses Canada Portal (http://www.collectionscanada.ca/thesescanada/) provides access and search of the full text electronic versions of numerous Canadian theses and dissertations. You should also be aware of the various Electronic Dissertation/Thesis (ETD) projects that are currently underway. A good access to this area is via the library at the University of Virginia which has a page dealing with Electronic Theses and Dissertations in the Humanities (http://etext.virginia.edu/ETD/).

Another website that's worth visiting is maintained by Computer Science & Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and also the Computer Science Department at Indiana University-Bloomington. How to Be a Good Graduate Student/Advisor (http://www.cs.indiana.edu/how.2b/how.2b.html) "attempts to raise some issues that are important for graduate students to be successful and to get as much out of the process as possible, and for advisors who wish to help their students be successful."

Prof. John W. Chinneck at Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada) has created a very practical and well written webpage on the preparation of your thesis. How to Organize your Thesis (http://www.sce.carleton.ca/faculty/chinneck/thesis.html) starts with a description of what graduate research/the graduate thesis is all about and then moves point-by-point through a "generic thesis skeleton".

Mike Hart, Professor of Business and Informatics at King Alfred's College, has put together a very helpful website focused on successfully completing the "final year project." Final Year Projects (http://final-year-projects.com/) is loaded with numerous ideas and suggestions for helping the student get started in the project and then to keep going until the project is finished.

Don't let the title scare you away. Discussion On Ph.D. Thesis Proposals in Computing Science (http://john.regehr.org/reading_list/proposal.html) has lots of excellent suggestions to assist in creating a meaningful proposal in just about any academic discipline. The ideas will serve to not only get you started on your research project but also establish a foundation for actually completing it.

Confused about what tense to use in writing the different sections of your dissertation or thesis? Need some help in identifying the different sections you will include in your writing? This "Original Research" (http://www.writing.ku.edu/students/docs/original.shtml) website from the K U Writing Center at the University of Kansas is excellent. It is concisely written with good examples. It will be especially helpful after you've written the first draft and need some feedback on how you are doing.

Not sure of all the administrative steps at your university that are required to successfully complete a dissertation? Check out this well thought through website from Pepperdine University's Graduate School (http://gsep.pepperdine.edu/studentservices/dissertation/education/). Everything seems to be included from a definition of exactly what is a dissertation all the way to exactly how many spaces between the title and your name."

Feeling a bit lonesome in the process of writing your thesis or dissertation? Take a minute to find out who else has visited this website and read what others have said about this Guide (http://LearnerAssociates.net/dissthes/results.htm) and their own situation. It might just be reassuring!!

And finally, when all else fails, you might want to see what other sites have included a link to this Thesis/Dissertation website. These other sites will have a variety of additional resources to check out.

Source: http://www.learnerassociates.net/dissthes/

How to Organize your Thesis Prof. John W. Chinneck Dept. of Systems and Computer EngineeringCarleton UniversityOttawa, Canada

Home for this document is: http://www.sce.carleton.ca/faculty/chinneck/thesis.html

Introduction This note describes how to organize the written thesis which is the central element of your graduate degree. To know how to organize the thesis document, you first have to understand what graduate-level research is all about, so that is covered too. In other words, this note should be helpful when you are just getting started in your graduate program, as well as later when you start to write your thesis.

What Graduate Research is All AboutThe distinguishing mark of graduate research is an original contribution to knowledge. The thesis is a formal document whose sole purpose is to prove that you have made an original contribution to knowledge. Failure to prove that you have made such a contribution generally leads to failure.

To this end, your thesis must show two important things:

you have identified a worthwhile problem or question which has not been previously answered, you have solved the problem or answered the question. Your contribution to knowledge generally lies in your solution or answer.

What the Graduate Thesis is All AboutBecause the purpose of the graduate thesis is to prove that you have made an original and useful contribution to knowledge, the examiners read your thesis to find the answers to the following questions:

what is this student's research question? is it a good question? (has it been answered before? is it a useful question to work on?) did the student convince me that the question was adequately answered? has the student made an adequate contribution to knowledge? A very clear statement of the question is essential to proving that you have made an original and worthwhile contribution to knowledge. To prove the originality and value of your contribution, you must present a thorough review of the existing literature on the subject, and on closely related subjects. Then, by making direct reference to your literature review, you must demonstrate that your question (a) has not been previously answered, and (b) is worth answering. Describing how you answered the question is usually easier to write about, since you have been intimately involved in the details over the course of your graduate work.

If your thesis does not provide adequate answers to the few questions listed above, you will likely be faced with a requirement for major revisions or you may fail your thesis defence outright. For this reason, the generic thesis skeleton given below is designed to highlight the answers to those questions with appropriate thesis organization and section titles. The generic thesis skeleton can be used for any thesis. While some professors may prefer a different organization, the essential elements in any thesis will be the same. Some further notes follow the skeleton.

Always remember that a thesis is a formal document: every item must be in the appropriate place, and repetition of material in different places should be eliminated.

A Generic Thesis Skeleton 1. Introduction

This is a general introduction to what the thesis is all about -- it is not just a description of the contents of each section. Briefly summarize the question (you will be stating the question in detail later), some of the reasons why it is a worthwhile question, and perhaps give an overview of your main results. This is a birds-eye view of the answers to the main questions answered in the thesis (see above).

2. Background Information (optional)

A brief section giving background information may be necessary, especially if your work spans two or more traditional fields. That means that your readers may not have any experience with some of the material needed to follow your thesis, so you need to give it to them. A different title than that given above is usually better; e.g., "A Brief Review of Frammis Algebra."

3. Review of the State of the Art

Here you review the state of the art relevant to your thesis. Again, a different title is probably appropriate; e.g., "State of the Art in Zylon Algorithms." The idea is to present (critical analysis comes a little bit later) the major ideas in the state of the art right up to, but not including, your own personal brilliant ideas.

You organize this section by idea, and not by author or by publication. For example if there have been three important main approaches to Zylon Algorithms to date, you might organize subsections around these three approaches, if necessary:

3.1 Iterative Approximation of Zylons 3.2 Statistical Weighting of Zylons 3.3 Graph-Theoretic Approaches to Zylon Manipulation

4. Research Question or Problem Statement

Engineering theses tend to refer to a "problem" to be solved where other disciplines talk in terms of a "question" to be answered. In either case, this section has three main parts:

1. a concise statement of the question that your thesis tackles 2. justification, by direct reference to section 3, that your question is previously unanswered3. discussion of why it is worthwhile to answer this question.

Item 2 above is where you analyze the information which you presented in Section 3. For example, maybe your problem is to "develop a Zylon algorithm capable of handling very large scale problems in reasonable time" (you would further describe what you mean by "large scale" and "reasonable time" in the problem statement). Now in your analysis of the state of the art you would show how each class of current approaches fails (i.e. can handle only small problems, or takes too much time). In the last part of this section you would explain why having a large-scale fast Zylon algorithm is useful; e.g., by describing applications where it can be used.

Since this is one of the sections that the readers are definitely looking for, highlight it by using the word "problem" or "question" in the title: e.g. "Research Question" or "Problem Statement", or maybe something more specific such as "The Large-Scale Zylon Algorithm Problem."

5. Describing How You Solved the Problem or Answered the Question

This part of the thesis is much more free-form. It may have one or several sections and subsections. But it all has only one purpose: to convince the examiners that you answered the question or solved the problem that you set for yourself in Section 4. So show what you did that is relevant to answering the question or solving the problem: if there were blind alleys and dead ends, do not include these, unless specifically relevant to the demonstration that you answered the thesis question.

6. Conclusions

You generally cover three things in the Conclusions section, and each of these usually merits a separate subsection:

1. Conclusions 2. Summary of Contributions 3. Future Research

Conclusions are not a rambling summary of the thesis: they are short, concise statements of the inferences that you have made because of your work. It helps to organize these as short numbered paragraphs, ordered from most to least important. All conclusions should be directly related to the research question stated in Section 4. Examples:

1. The problem stated in Section 4 has been solved: as shown in Sections ? to ??, an algorithm capable of handling large-scale Zylon problems in reasonable time has been developed.

2. The principal mechanism needed in the improved Zylon algorithm is the Grooty mechanism.

3. Etc.

The Summary of Contributions will be much sought and carefully read by the examiners. Here you list the contributions of new knowledge that your thesis makes. Of course, the thesis itself must substantiate any claims made here. There is often some overlap with the Conclusions, but that's okay. Concise numbered paragraphs are again best. Organize from most to least important. Examples:

1. Developed a much quicker algorithm for large-scale Zylon problems.

2. Demonstrated the first use of the Grooty mechanism for Zylon calculations.

3. Etc.

The Future Research subsection is included so that researchers picking up this work in future have the benefit of the ideas that you generated while you were working on the project. Again, concise numbered paragraphs are usually best.

7. References

The list of references is closely tied to the review of the state of the art given in section 3. Most examiners scan your list of references looking for the important works in the field, so make sure they are listed and referred to in section 3. Truth be known, most examiners also look for their own publications if they are in the topic area of the thesis, so list these too. Besides, reading your examiner's papers usually gives you a clue as to the type of questions they are likely to ask.

All references given must be referred to in the main body of the thesis. Note the difference from a Bibliography, which may include works that are not directly referenced in the thesis. Organize the list of references either alphabetically by author surname (preferred), or by order of citation in the thesis.

8. Appendices

What goes in the appendices? Any material which impedes the smooth development of your presentation, but which is important to justify the results of a thesis. Generally it is material that is of too nitty-gritty a level of detail for inclusion in the main body of the thesis, but which should be available for perusal by the examiners to convince them sufficiently. Examples include program listings, immense tables of data, lengthy mathematical proofs or derivations, etc.

Comments on the Skeleton Again, the thesis is a formal document designed to address the examiner's two main questions. Sections 3 and 4 show that you have chosen a good problem, and section 5 shows that you solved it. Sections 1 and 2 lead the reader into the problem, and section 6 highlights the main knowledge generated by the whole exercise.

Note also that everything that others did is carefully separated from everything that you did. Knowing who did what is important to the examiners. Section 4, the problem statement, is the obvious dividing line. That's the main reason for putting it in the middle in this formal document.

Getting Started The best way to get started on your thesis is to prepare an extended outline. You begin by making up the Table of Contents, listing each section and subsection that you propose to include. For each section and subsection, write a brief point-form description of the contents of that section. The entire outline might be 2 to 5 pages long. Now you and your thesis supervisor should carefully review this outline: is there unnecessary material (i.e. not directly related to the problem statement)? Then remove. Is there missing material? Then add. It is much less painful and more time-efficient to make such decisions early, during the outline phase, rather than after you've already done a lot of writing which has to be thrown away.

How Long Does it Take to Write a Thesis? Longer than you think. Even after the research itself is all done -- models built, calculations complete -- it is wise to allow at least one complete term for writing the thesis. It's not the physical act of typing that takes so long, it's the fact that writing the thesis requires the complete organization of your arguments and results. It's during this formalization of your results into a well-organized thesis document capable of withstanding the scrutiny of expert examiners that you discover weaknesses. It's fixing those weaknesses that takes time.

This is also probably the first time that your supervisor has seen the formal expression of concepts that may have been approved previously in an informal manner. Now is when you discover any misunderstandings or shortcomings in the informal agreements. It takes time to fix these. Students for whom english is not the mother tongue may have difficulty in getting ideas across, so that numerous revisions are required. And, truth be known, supervisors are sometimes not quick at reviewing and returning drafts.

Bottom line: leave yourself enough time. A rush job has painful consequences at the defence.

Tips Always keep the reader's backgrounds in mind. Who is your audience? How much can you reasonably expect them to know about the subject before picking up your thesis? Usually they are pretty knowledgeable about the general problem, but they haven't been intimately involved with the details over the last couple of years like you have: spell difficult new concepts out clearly. It sometimes helps to mentally picture a real person that you know who has the appropriate background, and to imagine that you are explaining your ideas directly to that person.

Don't make the readers work too hard! This is fundamentally important. You know what few questions the examiners need answers for (see above). Choose section titles and wordings to clearly give them this information. The harder they have to work to ferret out your problem, your defence of the problem, your answer to the problem, your conclusions and contributions, the worse mood they will be in, and the more likely that your thesis will need major revisions.

A corollary of the above: it's impossible to be too clear! Spell things out carefully, highlight important parts by appropriate titles etc. There's a huge amount of information in a thesis: make sure you direct the readers to the answers to the important questions.

Remember that a thesis is not a story: it usually doesn't follow the chronology of things that you tried. It's a formal document designed to answer only a few major questions.

Avoid using phrases like "Clearly, this is the case..." or "Obviously, it follows that ..."; these imply that, if the readers don't understand, then they must be stupid. They might not have understood because you explained it poorly.

Avoid red flags, claims (like "software is the most important part of a computer system") that are really only your personal opinion and not substantiated by the literature or the solution you have presented. Examiners like to pick on sentences like that and ask questions like, "Can you demonstrate that software is the most important part of a computer system?"

A Note on Computer Programs and Other Prototypes The purpose of your thesis is to clearly document an original contribution to knowledge. You may develop computer programs, prototypes, or other tools as a means of proving your points, but remember, the thesis is not about the tool, it is about the contribution to knowledge. Tools such as computer programs are fine and useful products, but you can't get an advanced degree just for the tool. You must use the tool to demonstrate that you have made an original contribution to knowledge; e.g., through its use, or ideas it embodies.

Master's vs. PhD Thesis There are different expectations for Master's theses and for Doctoral theses. This difference is not in format but in the significance and level of discovery as evidenced by the problem to be solved and the summary of contributions; a Doctoral thesis necessarily requires a more difficult problem to be solved, and consequently more substantial contributions.

The contribution to knowledge of a Master's thesis can be in the nature of an incremental improvement in an area of knowledge, or the application of known techniques in a new area. The Ph.D. must be a substantial and innovative contribution to knowledge.

Source: http://www.sce.carleton.ca/faculty/chinneck/thesis.html

 Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

       

    Abstract and Key Words

The second page should carry an abstract (of no more than 150 words for unstructured abstracts or 250 words for structured abstracts). The abstract should state the purposes of the study or investigation, basic procedures (selection of study subjects or laboratory animals; observational and analytic methods), main findings (giving specific data and their statistical significance, if possible), and the principal conclusions. It should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations.

Below the abstract authors should provide, and identify as such, 3 to 10 key words or short phrases that will assist indexers in cross-indexing the article and may be published with the abstract. Terms from the medical subject headings (MeSH) list of Index Medicus should be used; if suitable MeSH terms are not yet available for recently introduced terms, present terms may be used.

            Introduction

State the purpose of the article and summarize the rationale for the study or observation. Give only strictly pertinent references and do not include data or conclusions from the work being reported.

            Methods

Describe your selection of the observational or experimental subjects (patients or laboratory animals, including controls) clearly. Identify the age, sex, and other important characteristics of the subjects. The definition and relevance of race and ethnicity are ambiguous. Authors should be particularly careful about using these categories.

Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods (see below);

provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well known; describe new or substantially modified methods, give reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.

Reports of randomized clinical trials should present information on all major study elements including the protocol (study population, interventions or exposures, outcomes, and the rationale for statistical analysis), assignment of interventions (methods of randomization, concealment of allocation to treatment groups), and the method of masking (blinding).

Authors submitting review manuscripts should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data. These methods should also be summarized in the abstract.

            Ethics

When reporting experiments on human subjects, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 1983. Do not use patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the institution's or a national research council's guide for, or any national law on, the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

            Statistics

Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Avoid relying solely on statistical hypothesis testing, such as the use of P values, which fails to convey important quantitative information. Discuss the eligibility of experimental subjects. Give details about randomization. Describe the methods for and success of any blinding of observations. Report complications of treatment. Give numbers of observations. Report losses to observation (such as dropouts from a clinical trial). References for the design of the study and statistical methods should be to standard works when possible (with pages stated) rather than to papers in which the designs or methods were originally reported. Specify any general-use computer programs

used.

Put a general description of methods in the Methods section. When data are summarized in the Results section, specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Avoid nontechnical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as "random" (which implies a randomizing device), "normal," "significant," "correlations," and "sample." Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols.

            Results

Present your results in logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations. Do not repeat in the text all data in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important

observations.

            Discussion

Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the Results section. Include in the Discussion section the implications of the findings and their limitations, including implications for future research. Relate the observations to other relevant studies.

Link the conclusions with the goals of the study but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by the data. In particular, authors should avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless their manuscript includes economic data and analyses. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed. State new hypotheses when warranted, but clearly label them as such. Recommendations, when appropriate, may be included.

At an appropriate place in the article (the title-page footnote or an appendix to the text; see the journal's requirements) one or more statements should specify (a) contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, such as general support by a departmental chair; (b) acknowledgments of technical help; (c) acknowledgments of financial and material support, which should specify the nature of the support; and (d) relationships that may pose a conflict of interest.

Persons who have contributed intellectually to the paper but whose contributions do not justify authorship may be named and their function or contribution described — for example, "scientific advisor," "critical review of study proposal," "data collection," or "participation in clinical trial." Such persons must have given their permission to be named. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from persons acknowledged by name, because readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions.

Technical help should be acknowledged in a paragraph separate from those acknowledging other contributions.

            References

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in parentheses. References cited only in tables or in legends to figures should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure.

Use the style of the examples below, which are based on the formats used by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) in Index Medicus. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Consult the List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus, published annually as a separate publication by the library and as a list in the January issue of Index Medicus. The list can also be obtained through the library's web site: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/.

Avoid using abstracts as references. References to papers accepted but not yet published should be designated as "in press" or "forthcoming"; authors should obtain written permission to cite such papers as well as verification that they have been accepted for publication. Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as "unpublished observations" with written permission from the source.

Avoid citing a "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text. For scientific articles, authors

should obtain written permission and confirmation of accuracy from the source of a personal communication.

The references must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents.

The "Uniform Requirements" style (the Vancouver style) is based largely on an ANSI standard style adapted by the NLM for its data bases. Notes have been added where Vancouver style differs from the style now used by NLM.

            Articles in Journals

(1) Standard journal article

List the first six authors followed by et al. (Note: NLM now lists up to 25 authors; if there are more than 25 authors, NLM lists the first 24, then the last author, then et al.)

Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B. Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Ann Intern Med 1996 Jun 1;124(11):980-3.

As an option, if a journal carries continuous pagination throughout a volume (as many medical journals do) the month and issue number may be omitted. (Note: For consistency, the option is used throughout the examples in "Uniform Requirements." NLM does not use the option.)

Vega KJ, Pina I, Krevsky B. Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Ann Intern Med 1996;124:980-3.

More than six authors:

Parkin DM, Clayton D, Black RJ, Masuyer E, Friedl HP, Ivanov E, et al. Childhood leukaemia in Europe after Chernobyl: 5 year follow-up. Br J Cancer 1996;73:1006-12.

(2) Organization as author

The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Clinical exercise stress testing. Safety and performance guidelines. Med J Aust 1996;164:282-4.

(3) No author given

Cancer in South Africa [editorial]. S Afr Med J 1994;84:15.

(4) Article not in English

(Note: NLM translates the title to English, encloses the translation in square brackets, and adds an abbreviated language designator.)

Ryder TE, Haukeland EA, Solhaug JH. Bilateral infrapatellar seneruptur hos tidligere frisk kvinne. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 1996;116:41-2.

(5) Volume with supplement

Shen HM, Zhang QF. Risk assessment of nickel carcinogenicity and occupational lung cancer. Environ Health Perspect 1994;102 Suppl 1:275-82.

(6) Issue with supplement

Payne DK, Sullivan MD, Massie MJ. Women's psychological reactions to breast cancer. Semin Oncol 1996;23(1 Suppl 2):89-97.

(7) Volume with part

Ozben T, Nacitarhan S, Tuncer N. Plasma and urine sialic acid in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Ann Clin Biochem 1995;32(Pt 3):303-6.

(8) Issue with part

Poole GH, Mills SM. One hundred consecutive cases of flap lacerations of the leg in ageing patients. N Z Med J 1994;107(986 Pt 1):377-8.

(9) Issue with no volume

Turan I, Wredmark T, Fellander-Tsai L. Arthroscopic ankle arthrodesis in rheumatoid arthritis. Clin Orthop 1995;(320):110-4.

(10) No issue or volume

Browell DA, Lennard TW. Immunologic status of the cancer patient and the effects of blood transfusion on antitumor responses. Curr Opin Gen Surg 1993:325-33.

(11) Pagination in Roman numerals

Fisher GA, Sikic BI. Drug resistance in clinical oncology and hematology. Introduction. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am 1995 Apr;9(2):xi-xii.

(12) Type of article indicated as needed

Enzensberger W, Fischer PA. Metronome in Parkinson's disease [letter]. Lancet 1996;347:1337.

Clement J, De Bock R. Hematological complications of hantavirus nephropathy (HVN) [abstract]. Kidney Int 1992;42:1285.

(13) Article containing retraction

Garey CE, Schwarzman AL, Rise ML, Seyfried TN. Ceruloplasmin gene defect associated with epilepsy in EL mice [retraction of Garey CE, Schwarzman AL, Rise ML, Seyfried TN. In: Nat Genet 1994;6:426-31]. Nat Genet 1995;11:104.

(14) Article retracted

Liou GI, Wang M, Matragoon S. Precocious IRBP gene expression during mouse development [retracted in Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1994;35:3127]. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1994;35:1083-8.

(15) Article with published erratum

Hamlin JA, Kahn AM. Herniography in symptomatic patients following inguinal hernia repair [published erratum appears in West J Med 1995;162:278]. West J Med 1995;162:28-31.

            Books and Other Monographs

(Note: Previous Vancouver style incorrectly had a comma rather than a semicolon between the publisher and the date.)

(16) Personal author(s)

Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996.

(17) Editor(s), compiler(s) as author

Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996.

(18) Organization as author and publisher

Institute of Medicine (US). Looking at the future of the Medicaid program. Washington (DC): The Institute; 1992.

(19) Chapter in a book

(Note: Previous Vancouver style had a colon rather than a p before pagination.)

Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. p. 465-78.

(20) Conference proceedings

Kimura J, Shibasaki H, editors. Recent advances in clinical neurophysiology. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of EMG and Clinical Neurophysiology; 1995 Oct 15-19; Kyoto, Japan. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1996.

(21) Conference paper

Bengtsson S, Solheim BG. Enforcement of data protection, privacy and security in medical informatics. In: Lun KC, Degoulet P, Piemme TE, Rienhoff O, editors. MEDINFO 92. Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Medical Informatics; 1992 Sep 6-10; Geneva, Switzerland. Amsterdam: North-Holland; 1992. p. 1561-5.

(22) Scientific or technical report

Issued by funding/sponsoring agency:

Smith P, Golladay K. Payment for durable medical equipment billed during skilled nursing facility stays. Final report. Dallas (TX): Dept. of Health and Human Services (US), Office of Evaluation and Inspections; 1994 Oct. Report No.: HHSIGOEI69200860.

Issued by performing agency:

Field MJ, Tranquada RE, Feasley JC, editors. Health services research: work force and educational issues. Washington: National Academy Press; 1995. Contract No.: AHCPR282942008. Sponsored by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research.

(23) Dissertation

Kaplan SJ. Post-hospital home health care: the elderly's access and utilization [dissertation]. St. Louis (MO): Washington Univ.; 1995.

(24) Patent

Larsen CE, Trip R, Johnson CR, inventors; Novoste Corporation, assignee. Methods for procedures related to the electrophysiology of the heart. US patent 5,529,067. 1995 Jun 25.

            Other Published Material

(25) Newspaper article

Lee G. Hospitalizations tied to ozone pollution: study estimates 50,000 admissions annually. The Washington Post 1996 Jun 21;Sect. A:3 (col. 5).

(26) Audiovisual material

HIV+/AIDS: the facts and the future [videocassette]. St. Louis (MO): Mosby-Year Book; 1995.

(27) Legal material

Public Law:

Preventive Health Amendments of 1993, Pub. L. No. 103-183, 107 Stat. 2226 (Dec. 14, 1993).

Unenacted bill:

Medical Records Confidentiality Act of 1995, S. 1360, 104th Cong., 1st Sess. (1995).

Code of Federal Regulations:

Informed Consent, 42 C.F.R. Sect. 441.257 (1995).

Hearing:

Increased Drug Abuse: the Impact on the Nation's Emergency Rooms: Hearings before the Subcomm. on Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations of the House Comm. on Government Operations, 103rd Cong., 1st Sess. (May 26, 1993).

(28) Map

North Carolina. Tuberculosis rates per 100,000 population, 1990 [demographic map]. Raleigh: North Carolina Dept. of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, Div. of Epidemiology; 1991.

(29) Book of the Bible

The Holy Bible. King James version. Grand Rapids (MI): Zondervan Publishing House; 1995. Ruth 3:1-18.

(30) Dictionary and similar references

Stedman's medical dictionary. 26th ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1995. Apraxia; p. 119-20.

(31) Classical material

The Winter's Tale: act 5, scene 1, lines 13-16. The complete works of William Shakespeare. London: Rex; 1973.

            Unpublished Material

(32) In press

(Note: NLM prefers "forthcoming" because not all items will be printed.)

Leshner AI. Molecular mechanisms of cocaine addiction. N Engl J Med. In press 1997.

            Electronic Material

(33) Journal article in electronic format

Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 1995 Jan-Mar [cited 1996 Jun 5];1(1):[24 screens]. Available from: URL: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/eid.htm.

(34) Monograph in electronic format

CDI, clinical dermatology illustrated [monograph on CD-ROM]. Reeves JRT, Maibach H. CMEA Multimedia Group, producers. 2nd ed. Version 2.0. San Diego: CMEA; 1995.

(35) Computer file

Hemodynamics III: the ups and downs of hemodynamics [computer program]. Version 2.2. Orlando (FL): Computerized Educational Systems; 1993.

            Tables

Type or print out each table with double spacing on a separate sheet of paper. Do not submit tables as photographs. Number tables consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each. Give each column a short or abbreviated heading. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table. For footnotes use the following symbols, in this sequence: *, , , §, ||, ¶, **, , , etc.

Identify statistical measures of variation such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean.

Do not use internal horizontal and vertical rules.

Be sure that each table is cited in the text.

If you use data from another published or unpublished source, obtain permission and acknowledge the source fully.

The use of too many tables in relation to the length of the text may produce difficulties in the layout of pages. Examine issues of the journal to which you plan to submit your paper

to estimate how many tables can be used per 1000 words of text.

The editor, on accepting a paper, may recommend that additional tables containing important backup data too extensive to publish be deposited with an archival service, such as the National Auxiliary Publications Service in the United States, or made available by the authors. In that event an appropriate statement will be added to the text. Submit such tables for consideration with the paper.

            Illustrations (Figures)

Submit the required number of complete sets of figures. Figures should be professionally drawn and photographed; freehand or typewritten lettering is unacceptable. Instead of original drawings, x-ray films, and other material, send sharp, glossy, black-and-white

photographic prints, usually 127 x 178 mm (5 x 7 in.) but no larger than 203 x 254 mm (8 x 10 in.). Letters, numbers, and symbols should be clear and even throughout and of sufficient size that when reduced for publication each item will still be legible. Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for illustrations, not on the illustrations themselves.

Each figure should have a label pasted on its back indicating the number of the figure, author's name, and top of the figure. Do not write on the back of figures or scratch or mar them by using paper clips. Do not bend figures or mount them on cardboard.

Photomicrographs should have internal scale markers. Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background.

If photographs of people are used, either the subjects must not be identifiable or their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph (see Protection of Patients' Rights to Privacy).

Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text. If a figure has been published, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. Permission is required irrespective of authorship or publisher, except for documents in the public domain.

For illustrations in color, ascertain whether the journal requires color negatives, positive transparencies, or color prints. Accompanying drawings marked to indicate the region to be reproduced may be useful to the editor. Some journals publish illustrations in color only if the author pays the extra cost.

            Legends for Illustrations

Type or print out legends for illustrations using double-spacing, starting on a separate page, with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, identify and explain each one clearly in the legend. Explain the internal scale and identify the method of staining in photomicrographs.

            Units of Measurement

Measurements of length, height, weight, and volume should be reported in metric units (meter, kilogram, or liter or their decimal multiples).

Temperatures should be given in degrees Celsius. Blood pressures should be given in millimeters of mercury.

All hematologic and clinical chemistry measurements should be reported in the metric system in terms of the International System of Units (SI). Editors may request that alternative or non-SI units be added by the authors before publication.

            Abbreviations and Symbols

Use only standard abbreviations. Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement.

Sending the Manuscript to the Journal

Send the required number of copies of the manuscript in a heavy-paper envelope, enclosing the copies and figures in cardboard, if necessary, to prevent photographs from being bent. Place photographs and transparencies in a separate heavy-paper envelope.

Manuscripts must be accompanied by a covering letter signed by all coauthors. This must include (a) information on prior or duplicate publication or submission elsewhere of any part of the work, as defined earlier in this document; (b) a statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest; (c) a statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, that the requirements for authorship as stated earlier in this document have been met, and that each author believes that the manuscript represents honest work; and (d) the name, address, and telephone number of the corresponding author, who is responsible for communicating with the other authors about revisions and final approval of the proofs. The letter should give any additional information that may be helpful to the editor, such as the type of article in the particular

journal that the manuscript represents and whether the author(s) would be willing to meet the cost of reproducing color illustrations.

The manuscript must be accompanied by copies of any permissions to reproduce published material, to use illustrations or report information about identifiable people, or to name people for their contributions.

Citing Uniform Requirements

Journals throughout the world have published "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" and the accompanying statements (and several web sites now carry the document). To cite the most recent version of "Uniform Requirements," be sure to cite a version published on or after January 1, 1997.

* The members of the committee are Linda Clever (Western Journal of Medicine), Lois Ann Colaianni (Index Medicus), Frank Davidoff (Annals of Internal Medicine), Richard Horton (Lancet), Jerome P. Kassirer and Marcia Angell (New England Journal of Medicine), George D. Lundberg and Richard Glass (Journal of the American Medical Association), Magne Nylenna (Tidsskrift for den Norske Laegeforening), Richard G. Robinson (New Zealand Medical Journal), Richard Smith (British Medical Journal), Bruce P. Squires (Canadian Medical Association Journal), and Martin Van Der Weyden (Medical Journal of Australia).

How To Cite References - Vancouver StyleThe Vancouver (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) Style is used primarily for publications in medicine, biomedicine, medical technology and allied health sciences. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Vancouver style was first defined by a meeting of medical journal editors in Vancouver, Canada, in 1978. These guidelines follow the principles given in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and editing for biomedical publication published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) in 2004 and the American Medical Association Manual of Style, 9th edition, 1998. These publications constitute authoritative international guides to Vancouver publication standards and style.

Vancouver Style uses a notation method of referencing when referring to a source of information within the text of a document. In its simplest form, a citation is given consisting of a number in superscript format or enclosed by round brackets.

Citation Within The Text

Indicating the relevant reference in the textA number in superscript format eg. 6 or enclosed in round brackets, eg. (1) or (26), placed in the text of the essay, indicates the relevant reference. Citations are numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in the text and each citation corresponds to a numbered reference containing publication information about the source cited in the reference list at the end of the publication, essay or assignment. Once a source has been cited, the same number is used in all subsequent references. No distinction is made between print and electronic references when citing within the text. Here are some examples of this kind of referencing:

Superscript FormatThe largest lesion in the first study was 10 cm.13 The theory was first put forward in 1987.1 Scholtz2 has argued that... Several recent studies3,4,15,16 have suggested that... For example, see 7. Bracket FormatThe largest lesion in the first study was 10 cm (13). The theory was first put forward in 1987 (1). Scholtz (2) has argued that... Several recent studies (3,4,15,16) have suggested that... For example, see (7).

How to reference a work in a textThe identifying number is used each time that a reference is cited in the text. It is possible to list more than one number at a single reference point. The numbers are then separated by commas. This process is the same for both print and electronic sources. The list of references at the end of the text is arranged in numerical order. Examples of how this referencing is done are found below. You can use either format, but remember to apply your choice consistently.Example 1Information has been been published on treatment of breast cancer in premenopausal women.5,12

Example 2Information has been published on treatment of breast cancer in premenopausal women (5,12).

If quoting from a source ensure quotation marks are used, along with the relevant page number(s).

Example 1Murtagh 14 (p.530) notes that "some people experience a severe transient pain with factors such as coughing"

OR

Example 2"Some people experience a severe transient pain with factors such as coughing" (Murtagh 14 p.530)

http://www.library.uwa.edu.au

Superscript FormatThe largest lesion in the first study was 10 cm.13 The theory was first put forward in 1987.1 Scholtz2 has argued that... Several recent studies3,4,15,16 have suggested that... For example, see 7. Bracket FormatThe largest lesion in the first study was 10 cm (13). The theory was first put forward in 1987 (1). Scholtz (2) has argued that... Several recent studies (3,4,15,16) have suggested that... For example, see (7).

It is not necessary to mention either the author(s) or the date of the reference unless it is relevant to your text.It is not necessary to say "in reference (26) ...", "In (26) ..." is sufficient.

Citing more than one reference at a timeWhen citing more than one source at a time, the preferred method is to list each reference number separately with a comma or dash (without spaces) between each reference: Superscript Format1,3,5 1-5 2-5,9,13 Bracket Format(1,3,5) (1-5) (2-5,9,13)

Personal Communications

Personal communications should be included in the text of your document, but they should not be included in your reference list. It is recommended that permission is sought from the source/author of a personal communication if you wish to include quotes in your text. The details you need to include when referencing in text are: the date of the communication; whether the communication was in oral or written form; the affiliation of the person might also be included to better establish the relevance and authority of the citation (recommended).

ConversationIn a conversation with a colleague from the School of Population Health (Jameson LI 2002, oral communication, 7th August)...

LetterAs stated in a letter from B.J. Samuels, MD, in July 2002...

E-mailSmith P. New research projects in gastroenterology [online]. E-mail to Matthew Hart (mh@hospital.wa.gov.au) 2000 Feb 5 [cited 2000 Mar 17]. [Contents]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Reference List or BibliographyA numbered list of references must be provided at the end of the paper. The list should be arranged in the order of citation in the text of the publication, assignment or essay, not in alphabetical order. List only one reference per reference number. It is very important that you use the correct punctuation and that the order of details in the references is also correct.

The following examples demonstrate the format for a variety of types of references. Included are some examples of citing electronic documents. Such items come in many forms, so only some examples have been listed here.

Print DocumentsBooksNote: Only the first word of in the title of a book or conference should be capitalised, except for proper nouns or acronyms. Capitalise the "v" in Volume for a book title.

Standard format #. Author/editor AA. Title: subtitle. Edition(if not the first). Vol.(if a multivolume work). Place of publication: Publisher; Year. p. page number(s) (if appropriate).

Single author or editor

1. Hoppert M. Microscopic techniques in biotechnology. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH; 2003.

2. Storey KB, editor. Functional metabolism: regulation and adaptation. Hoboken (NJ): J. Wiley & Sons; 2004.

Two or more authors or editors

3. Lawhead JB, Baker MC. Introduction to veterinary science. Clifton Park (NY): Thomson Delmar Learning; 2005.

4. Gilstrap LC, Cunningham FG, Van Dorsten JP, editors. Operative obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002.

No author

5. The Oxford concise medical dictionary. 6th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2003. p. 26.

Later edition 6. Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobyashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St Louis: Mosby; 2002.

Multiple volumes

7. Lee GR, Bithell TC, Foerster J, Athens JW, Lukens JN, editors. Wintrobes clinical hematology. 9th ed. Vol 2. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger; 1993.

Series

8. Unwin E, Codde JP, Bartu A. The impact of drugs other than alchohol and tobacco on the health of Western Australians. Perth: Dept of Health; 2004. Epidemiology occasional papers series, No. 20.

Corporate author (ie: a company or organisation)

9. American Veterinary Medical Association. National Board Examination Committee. North American Veterinary Licensing Examination : bulletin of information for candidates. Bismarck (ND): The Committee; 2001.

Conference (complete conference proceedings)

10. Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour conference; 2001 Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

Government publication

11. Australia. Commonwealth Department of Veterans' Affairs and Defence. Australian Gulf War veterans' health study 2003. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia; 2003.

12. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Disability, ageing and carers: summary of findings. Canberra: ABS; 1999. ABS publication 4430.0.

Scientific / Technical report 13. Lugg DJ. Physiological adaptation and health of an expedition in Antarctica: with comment on behavioural adaptation. Canberra: A.G.P.S.; 1977. Australian Government Department of Science, Antarctic Division. ANARE scientific reports. Series B(4), Medical science No. 0126.

Patent / Standard

14. Pagedas AC, inventor; Ancel Surgical R&D Inc., assignee. Flexible endoscopic grasping and cutting device and positioning tool assembly. United States patent US 20020103498. 2002 Aug 1.

Thesis or dissertation

15. Borkowski MM. Infant sleep and feeding: a telephone survey of Hispanic Americans. PhD [dissertation]. Mount Pleasant (MI): Central Micihigan University; 2002.

16. Hincks CL. The detection and characterisation of novel papillomaviruses. Biomedical Science, Honours [thesis]. Murdoch: Murdoch University; 2001.

Parts of a BookNote: These examples are for chapters or parts of edited works in which the chapters or parts have individual title and author/s, but are included in collections or textbooks edited by others. If the editors of a work are also the authors of all of the included chapters then it should be cited as a whole book using the examples given above (Books).Capitalise only the first word of a paper or book chapter.

Standard format #. Author of Part, AA. Title of chapter or part. In: Editor A, Editor B, editors. Title: subtitle of Book. Edition(if not the first). Place of publication: Publisher; Year. p. page numbers.

Article/chapter in a book

1. Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.

2. Ford HL, Sclafani RA, Degregori J. Cell cycle regulatory cascades. In: Stein GS, Pardee AB, editors. Cell cycle and growth control: biomolecular regulation and cancer. 2nd ed. Hoboken (NJ): Wiley-Liss; 2004. p. 42-67.

Conference or Seminar Paper

3. Christensen S, Oppacher F. An analysis of Koza's computational effort statistic for genetic programming. In: Foster JA, Lutton E, Miller J, Ryan C, Tettamanzi AG, editors. Genetic programming. EuroGP 2002: Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Genetic Programming; 2002 Apr 3-5; Kinsdale, Ireland. Berlin: Springer; 2002. p. 182-91.

Study Guides and Unit ReadersNote: You should not cite from Unit Readers, Study Guides, or lecture notes, but where possible you should go to the original source of the information. If you do need to cite articles from the Unit Reader, treat the Reader articles as if they were book or journal articles. In your citations refer to the page numbers from the Reader, if given, not the original page numbers (unless you have independently consulted the original).

4. Lynch M. God's signature: DNA profiling, the new gold standard in forensic science. Endeavour. 2003;27(2):93-7. Reprinted In: Forensic Investigation (BIO373) unit reader for forensic DNA component. Murdoch: Murdoch University; 2005.

Journal ArticlesNote: Capitalise only the first word of an article title, except for proper nouns or acronyms. List the first six authors followed by et al. The titles of journals should be abbreviated as they appear in the MEDLINE Journals Database.Volume, issue and page numbers are given but not labeled. To indicate a page range use 123-9, 126-34 or 111-222. If you refer to only one page, use only 111.

Standard format #. Author of article AA, Author of article BB, Author of article CC. Title of article. Abbreviated Title of Journal. year; vol(issue):page number(s).

Journal article

1. Drummond PD. Triggers of motion sickness in migraine sufferers. Headache. 2005;45(6):653-6.

2. Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347(7):284-7.

3. Geck MJ, Yoo S, Wang JC. Assessment of cervical ligamentous injury in trauma patients using MRI. J Spinal Disord. 2001;14(5):371-7.

More than six authors

4. Gillespie NC, Lewis RJ, Pearn JH, Bourke ATC, Holmes MJ, Bourke JB, et al. Ciguatera in Australia: occurrence, clinical features, pathophysiology and management. Med J Aust. 1986;145:584-90.

Organization as author

5. Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40(5):679-86.

No author given

6. 21st century heart solution may have a sting in the tail. BMJ. 2002;325(7537):184.

Volume with supplement

7. Geraud G, Spierings EL, Keywood C. Tolerability and safety of frovatriptan with short- and long-term use for treatment of migraine and in comparison with sumatriptan. Headache. 2002;42 Suppl 2:S93-9.

Issue with supplement

8. Glauser TA. Integrating clinical trial data into clinical practice. Neurology. 2002;58(12 Suppl 7):S6-12.

Volume with part

9. Abend SM, Kulish N. The psychoanalytic method from an epistemological viewpoint. Int J Psychoanal. 2002;83(Pt 2):491-5.

Issue with part

10. Ahrar K, Madoff DC, Gupta S, Wallace MJ, Price RE, Wright KC. Development of a large animal model for lung tumors. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2002;13(9 Pt 1):923-8.

Issue with no volume

11. Banit DM, Kaufer H, Hartford JM. Intraoperative frozen section analysis in revision total joint arthroplasty. Clin Orthop. 2002;(401):230-8.

Newspaper article

12. O'Leary C. Vitamin C does little to prevent winter cold. The West Australian. 2005 Jun 29;1.

Electronic DocumentsNote: When you cite an electronic source try to describe it in the same way you would describe a similar printed publication. If possible, give sufficient information for your readers to retrieve the source themselves.If only the first page number is given, a plus sign indicates following pages, eg. 26+. If page numbers are not given, use paragraph or other section numbers if you need to be specific.An electronic source may not always contain clear author or publisher details.The access information will usually be just the URL of the source. As well as a publication/revision date (if there is one), the date cited is included since an electronic source may change between the time you cite it and the time it is accessed by a reader. E-Books

Standard format #. Author A, Author B. Title of e-book [format]. Place: Publisher; Date of original publication [cited year abbreviated month day]. Available from : Source. URL.

1. van Belle G, Fisher LD, Heagerty PJ, Lumley TS. Biostatistics: a methodology for the health sciences [e-book]. 2nd ed. Somerset (NJ): Wiley InterScience; 2003 [cited 2005 Jun 30]. Available from: Wiley InterScience electronic collection.

2. Sommers-Flanagan J, Sommers-Flanagan R. Clinical interviewing [e-book]. 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons; 2003 [cited 2005 Jun 30]. Available from: NetLibrary.

Article in an electronic reference book

3. Widdicombe J. Respiration. In: Blakemore C, Jennett S, editors. The Oxford companion to the body [e-book]. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2001 [cited 2005 Jun 30]. Available from: Oxford Reference Online. http://www.oxfordreference.com.

4. Lee HC, Pagliaro EM. Serology: blood identification. In: Siegel J, Knupfer G, Saukko P, editors. Encyclopedia of forensic sciences [e-book]. San Diego: Academic Press; 2000 [cited 2005 Jun 30]:1331-8. Available from: Science Direct Reference. www.elsevier.com.

E-Journals

Standard format #. Author A, Author B. Title of article. Abbreviated Title of Journal [format]. year [cited year abbreviated month day];vol(no):page numbers[estimated if necessary]. Available from: Database Name (if appropriate); article number (if given). URL.

Journal article abstract accessed from online database

1. Leroy EM, Telfer P, Kumulungui B, Yaba P, et al. A serological survey of Ebola virus infection in central African nonhuman primates. J Infect Dis [abstract]. 2004 [cited 2005 Jun 30];190(11):1895. Available from: ProQuest. http://www.umi.com/proquest/.

Note: Abstract citations are only included in a reference list if the abstract is substantial or if the full-text of the article could not be accessed. Journal article from online full-text database

Note: When including the internet address of articles retrieved from searches in full-text databases, please use the Recommended URLs for Full-text Databases, which are the URLs for the main entrance to the service and are easier to reproduce.

2. Palsson G, Hardardottir KE. For whom the cell tolls: debates about biomedicine (1). Curr Anthropol [serial online]. 2002 [cited 2005 Jun 30]; 43(2):271+[about 31 pages]. Available from: Expanded Academic ASAP Int'l Ed; Article A84966438. http://infotrac.galegroup.com.

3. Allen C, Crake D, Wilson H, Buchholz A. Polycystic ovary syndrome and a low glycemic index diet. Can J Diet Pract Res [serial online]. 2005 [cited 2005 Jun 30];Summer:3. Available from: ProQuest. http://il.proquest.com.

Journal article in a scholarly journal (published free of charge on the internet)

4. Eisen SA, Kang HK, Murphy FM , Blanchard MS, Reda DJ, Henderson WG, et al. Gulf War veterans' health: medical evaluation of a U.S. cohort? Ann Intern Med [serial on the Internet]. 2005 [cited 2005 June 30];142(11):881+[about 12 pages]. Available from: http://www.annals.org/.

Journal article in electronic journal subscription

5. Barton CA, McKenzie DP, Walters EH, et al. Interactions between psychosocial problems and management of asthma: who is at risk of dying? J Asthma [serial on the Internet]. 2005 [cited 2005 Jun 30];42(4):249-56. Available from: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/.

Newspaper article from online database

6. Dearne K. Dispensing with the chemist. The Australian [newspaper online]. 2005 Jun 14 [cited 2005 Jun 30];[about 8 screens]. Available from: Factiva. http://global.factiva.com.

Newspaper article from the Internet

7. Diseased organs may be used to deter smokers. Sydney Morning Herald [newspaper on the Internet]. 2005 Jun 29 [cited 2005 Jun 30]; para. 4-5. Available from: http://www.smh.com.au/.

Internet Documents

Standard format #. Author A, Author B. Document title. Webpage name [format]. Source/production information; Date of internet publication [cited year month day]. Available from: URL.

Professional Internet site

1. Australian Insitute of Health and Welfare. Chronic diseases and associated risk factors [document on the Internet]. Canberra: The Institute; 2004 [updated 2005 June 23; cited 2005 Jun 30]. Available from: http://www.aihw.gov.au/cdarf/index.cfm

Personal Internet site

2. Stanley F. Information page - Professor Fiona Stanley. Telethon Institute for Child Health Research [homepage on the Internet]. Perth: The Institute; 2005 [cited 2005 Jun 30]. Available from: http://www.ichr.uwa.edu.au/about/schools/

General Internet site

3. Lavelle P. Mental state of the nation. Health matters [document on the Internet]. ABC online; 2005 May 19 [cited 2005 Jul 1]. Available from: http://abc.net.au/health/features/mentalstate/.

Non-Book Formats#. Person AA, Responsibility (if appropriate). Title: subtitle [format]. Special credits (if appropriate). Place of publication: Publisher; Year.

Microform

1. Terry KW, Hewson GS, Rowe MB. Characterisation of inhaled dusts at minesites [microfiche] / Perth: Minerals and Energy Research Institute of Western Australia; 1998.

Video recording

2. Hillel J, writer. Out of sight out of mind: indigenous people's health in Australia [videorecording]. Bendigo: Video Education Australasia; 2003.

Television Program

3. Cohen J, reporter. Messing with heads. Four corners [television broadcast]. Australian Broadcasting Corporation; 2005 Mar 21.

A Reference List : What It Should Look LikeThe reference list should appear at the end of your paper. Begin the list on a new page. The title References should be either left justified or centered on the page. The entries should appear as one numerical sequence in the order that the material is cited in the text of your assignment.

Note: The hanging indent for each reference makes the numerical sequence more obvious.

1. Hoppert M. Microscopic techniques in biotechnology. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH; 2003.

2. Drummond PD. Triggers of motion sickness in migraine sufferers. Headache. 2005;45(6):653-6.

3. Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.

4. Storey KB, editor. Functional metabolism: regulation and adaptation. Hoboken (NJ): J. Wiley & Sons; 2004.

5. Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347(7):284-7.

6. Geck MJ, Yoo S, Wang JC. Assessment of cervical ligamentous injury in trauma patients using MRI. J Spinal Disord. 2001;14(5):371-7.

7. Gillespie NC, Lewis RJ, Pearn JH, Bourke ATC, Holmes MJ, Bourke JB, et al. Ciguatera in Australia: occurrence, clinical features, pathophysiology and management. Med J Aust. 1986;145:584-90.

8. Lawhead JB, Baker MC. Introduction to veterinary science. Clifton Park (NY): Thomson Delmar Learning; 2005.

9. Ford HL, Sclafani RA, Degregori J. Cell cycle regulatory cascades. In: Stein GS, Pardee AB, editors. Cell cycle and growth control: biomolecular regulation and cancer. 2nd ed. Hoboken (NJ): Wiley-Liss; 2004. p. 42-67.

10. Gilstrap LC, Cunningham FG, Van Dorsten JP, editors. Operative obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002.

11. The Oxford concise medical dictionary. 6th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2003. p. 26.

12. Palsson G, Hardardottir KE. For whom the cell tolls: debates about biomedicine (1). Curr Anthropol [serial online]. 2002 [cited 2005 Jun 30]; 43(2):271+[about 31 pages]. Available from: Expanded Academic ASAP Int'l Ed; Article A84966438. http://infotrac.galegroup.com.

13. Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobyashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St Louis: Mosby; 2002.

14. Barton CA, McKenzie DP, Walters EH, et al. Interactions between psychosocial problems and management of asthma: who is at risk of dying? J Asthma [serial on the Internet]. 2005 [cited 2005 Jun 30];42(4):249-56. Available from: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/.

15. Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40(5):679-86.

16. 21st century heart solution may have a sting in the tail. BMJ. 2002;325(7537):184.

17. Dearne K. Dispensing with the chemist. The Australian [newspaper online]. Jun 14, 2005 [cited 2005 Jun 30];[about 8 screens]. Available from: Factiva. http://global.factiva.com.

18. Diseased organs may be used to deter smokers. Sydney Morning Herald [newspaper on the Internet]. Jun 29, 2005 [cited 2005 Jun 30]; para. 4-5. Available from: http://www.smh.com.au/.

19. Allen C, Crake D, Wilson H, Buchholz A. Polycystic ovary syndrome and a low glycemic index diet. Can J Diet Pract Res [serial online]. 2005 [cited 2005 Jun 30];Summer:3. Available from: ProQuest. http://il.proquest.com/.

20. Geraud G, Spierings EL, Keywood C. Tolerability and safety of frovatriptan with short- and long-term use for treatment of migraine and in comparison with sumatriptan. Headache. 2002;42 Suppl 2:S93-9.

21. Banit DM, Kaufer H, Hartford JM. Intraoperative frozen section analysis in revision total joint arthroplasty. Clin Orthop. 2002;(401):230-8.

22. O'Leary C. Vitamin C does little to prevent winter cold. The West Australian. 2005 Jun 29; 1.

23. Lee GR, Bithell TC, Foerster J, Athens JW, Lukens JN, editors. Wintrobes clinical hematology. 9th ed. Vol 2. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger; 1993.

24. Australian Insitute of Health and Welfare. Chronic diseases and associated risk factors [document on the Internet]. Canberra: The Institute; 2004 [updated 2005 June 23; cited 2005 Jun 30]. Available from: http://www.aihw.gov.au/cdarf/index.cfm

25. Unwin E, Codde JP, Bartu A. The impact of drugs other than alchohol and tobacco on the health of Western Australians. Perth: Dept of Health; 2004. Epidemiology occasional papers series, No. 20.

26. van Belle G, Fisher LD, Heagerty PJ, Lumley TS. Biostatistics: a methodology for the health sciences [e-book]. 2nd ed. Somerset (NJ): Wiley InterScience; 2003 [cited 2005 Jun 30]. Available from: Wiley InterScience electronic collection.

27. Christensen S, Oppacher F. An analysis of Koza's computational effort statistic for genetic programming. In: Foster JA, Lutton E, Miller J, Ryan C, Tettamanzi AG, editors. Genetic programming. EuroGP 2002: Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Genetic Programming; 2002 Apr 3-5; Kinsdale, Ireland. Berlin: Springer; 2002. p. 182-91.

28. American Veterinary Medical Association. National Board Examination Committee. North American Veterinary Licensing Examination : bulletin of information for candidates. Bismarck (ND): The Committee; 2001.

29. Sommers-Flanagan J, Sommers-Flanagan R. Clinical interviewing [e-book]. 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons; 2003 [cited 2005 Jun 30]. Available from: NetLibrary.

30. Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour conference; 2001 Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

31. Australia. Commonwealth Department of Veterans' Affairs and Defence. Australian Gulf War veterans' health study 2003. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia; 2003.

32. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Disability, ageing and carers: summary of findings. Canberra: ABS; 1999. ABS publication 4430.0.

33. Lee HC, Pagliaro EM. Serology: blood identification. In: Siegel J, Knupfer G, Saukko P, editors. Encyclopedia of forensic sciences [e-book]. San Diego: Academic Press; 2000 [cited 2005 Jun 30]:1331-8. Available from: Science Direct Reference. www.elsevier.com.

34. Lugg DJ. Physiological adaptation and health of an expedition in Antarctica: with comment on behavioural adaptation. Canberra: A.G.P.S.; 1977. Australian Government Department of Science, Antarctic Division. ANARE scientific reports. Series B(4), Medical science No. 0126.

35. Widdicombe J. Respiration. In: Blakemore C, Jennett S, editors. The Oxford companion to the body [e-book]. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2001 [cited 2005 Jun 30]. Available from: Oxford Reference Online. http://www.oxfordreference.com.

36. Hincks CL. The detection and characterisation of novel papillomaviruses. Biomedical Science, Honours [thesis]. Murdoch: Murdoch University; 2001.

AbbreviationsStandard abbreviations may be used in your citations. A list of appropriate abbreviations can be found below: ed edition et al and others No number (series) p page/pages (book) para paragraph Pt part rev revised Suppl supplement Vol volume (book)

Other Sources of InformationNote: This list of examples is in no way exhaustive. Only the most often-used types of references are listed here. Refer to the following publications for more information on citing references:

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and editing for biomedical publication [document on the Internet]. ICMJE;2003 [updated 2004 Oct; cited 2005 Apr 14]. Available from: http://www.icmje.org/.

Iverson C, Flanagin A, Fontanarosa PB, Glass RM, Glitman P, Lantz JC, et al. American Medical Association manual of style: a guide for authors and editors. 9th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 1998.

Vancouver style : in-text references In the Vancouver system, the only indication required in the text of a paper is a number, allocated in ascending sequence, and presented in the text either in brackets, some or in superscript. For example:“Recent randomised controlled trials in primary care showed benefits for patients with depression from increased telephone support, better cooperation between primary care and mental health professionals, and more systematic follow up.7”

If the same source is cited again later in the text, the same number is used once more. If multiple references are cited, use a hyphen to join an inclusive range of numbers thus: 2-5. Use commas without spaces to separate non-inclusive numbers in a multiple citation thus: 2-5,7,10

How to reference a work in a textThe identifying number is used each time that a reference is cited in the text. It is possible to list more than one number at a single reference point. The numbers are then separated by commas. This process is the same for both print and electronic sources. The list of references at the end of the text is arranged in numerical order. Examples of how this referencing is done are found below. You can use either format, but remember to apply your choice consistently.Example 1Information has been been published on treatment of breast cancer in premenopausal women.5,12

Example 2Information has been published on treatment of breast cancer in premenopausal women (5,12).

If quoting from a source ensure quotation marks are used, along with the relevant page number(s).Example 1Murtagh 14 (p.530) notes that "some people experience a severe transient pain with factors such as coughing"

OR

Example 2"Some people experience a severe transient pain with factors such as coughing" (Murtagh

14 p.530)

http://www.library.uwa.edu.au