Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City

International University
School of Industrial Engineering and Management

THESIS
GUIDELINES

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 Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City
International University
School of Industrial Engineering and Management

IEM-IU Thesis Format and Example

I- Content and Sequence: Thesis should be bound in the order as below:

1. Front cover,
2. Inside cover,
3. Approval letter from advisor and dean of IEM school,
4. Abstract,
5. Acknowledgements,
6. Tables of Contents,
7. List of Tables,
8. List of Figures,
9. List of Abbreviations,
10. List of Symbols,
11. Main text of the thesis,
12. References,
13. Appendices,
14. Back cover.

II- Regulations of Thesis format:

1. Front Cover: Including school name, the title of the thesis, the full name of the
department or graduate program, student’s name, advisor’s name and the date
of school-leaving should all be noted (as APPENDIX A). The colour for the
front cover and the back cover: Dark green for bachelor’s
theses/dissertations; Blue for master’s theses/dissertations.
2. Inside Cover: Including school name, the title of the thesis, the full name of
the department or graduate program, student’s name, advisor’s name and the
date of school-leaving should all be noted (as APPENDIX B)
3. Approval letter from advisor and dean of IEM school. (as APPENDIX C)
4. Abstract: purposes, sources, methods and results of the research should be
noted in three hundred to five hundred words. (as APPENDIX D)
5. Acknowledgements (optional). (as APPENDIX E)
6. Table of Contents. (as APPENDIX F)
7. List of Figures and Tables: Number all the figures in sequential order. (as
APPENDIX G and H, respectively)

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 Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City
International University
School of Industrial Engineering and Management

8. List of Abbreviations: List and explain particular abbreviations used in the

thesis on one page. The list of abbreviations is needless to number. (as
APPENDIX I1)
9. List of Symbols: List and explain all mathematical notations or any other
particular symbols used in the thesis on one page. The list of symbols is
needless to number. (as APPENDIX I2)
10. Main text: Refer to the next Section IV for details. (see APPENDIX J)
11. References: Number the references in sequential order by [ ] regardless of
language, sections, and chapters. Full reference information should be
enclosed after the main text. (see APPENDIX K)
12. Appendices: Copious data, materials, figures, tables and so forth can be put on
a new page as Appendices. (see APPENDIX L). If there is more than one
appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in
appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a
subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1), and so on. Similarly, for tables and figures:
Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

III- General requirements:

1. The thesis must be in English, written from left to right and row by row.
2. The font should be neat, clear, and consistent. Any part of the content should
not be stained or erased.
3. Text size and paper quality requirement:
o Normal text - Font: Times New Roman; Size: 13 pts.
o Heading (Abstract, Chapter, Reference, etc.) - Font: Times New Roman;
Size: 14 pts.
o Thesis should be sized in A4 paper of 210 mm * 297 mm.
4. Margins: Every page of your thesis must be regulated by the following: Top:
2.5 cm, Left: 3 cm, Right: 2 cm, Bottom: 2.5 cm and leave 1.5 cm for page
number at the center in the bottom.
5. Pagination:
o Use lowercase Roman numerals (i, ii, iii...) to number the pages from
Abstract to Explanation of Symbols.
o Use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3…) to number the rest of the pages.
o A page number should be marked at the center at the bottom of every
page.

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 Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City
International University
School of Industrial Engineering and Management

6. Binding: Please bind your thesis on the left-hand side, and print the year of
your graduation, school name, department name, master or doctoral degree,
title of the thesis, and author’s name. (see Appendix M)

IV- Detailed Writing Principles:

1. Chapter and section Number: Use “1, 2, 3,…” to number chapters and use
“1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc.” for sections depending on their order.
2. Chapter Titles and Section Order:
o Chapter number and name should be put in the center at the top.
o Section and paragraph numbers should be put on the left side of the page
and indent one (for sections) or two (for paragraphs).
o For paragraphs within paragraphs, indent different spaces at the beginning
of each major and minor paragraph to state the order clearly.
3. Line Spacing: Set 1.5 or 2 (double-spaced) between lines. At least 25 lines on
every page. Use double space under the name of the chapter.
4. Mathematical Expressions: Number each formula with parenthesis according
to their order in the thesis.
5. Footnotes: Use footnotes to make incidental comments, amplification, or
acknowledgements.
o Number the footnotes in order and put the numbers in the upper right
corner of the related words or sentences. Number the footnotes
consecutively within the same chapter and start over in new ones.
o Mark the footnotes with their assigned numbers at the bottom of the page.
Use a line to separate the main text and footnotes. You can use the bottom
of the next page if there is not enough space.
6. Figures and Tables Arrangement:
o Figures and Tables should be placed as near as possible to the place where
you first refer to them.
o Section-based Numbering: Figures and Tables are numbered sequentially
through each section (e.g. Table 1.1 refers to the first table in Section 1,
Table 2.3 refers to the third table in Section 2).
o Captioning: After each Figure or Table number, add a descriptive
caption that indicates what the figure or table illustrates without having to
read anything else on the page.

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 Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City
International University
School of Industrial Engineering and Management

o Table number and caption should be put above the table. Example:

o Figure number and caption should be put under the figure. Example:

o Referent
i al
sources
and

comments should all be put under figures and tables.

o Texts inside tables or figures should be typed, not written.

7. References:
o Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is present in the
reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be
given in full.
o All references should be listed individually on a new page after the main
text. The page numbers of the references should follow the main text. (See
Appendix K)
o A citation software (EndNote, Mendeley, etc.) should be used for citation
in the text by following the referencing style - the American
Psychological Association (APA Style).
o References can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent.
Where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter
title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter, and the
article number or pagination must be present.
o Example:

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 Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City
International University
School of Industrial Engineering and Management

Citation in text: In-text citations are placed within sentences and

paragraphs so that it is clear what information is being quoted or
paraphrased and whose information is being cited.
 Works by a single author
The last name of the author and the year of publication are inserted in
the text at the appropriate point.
…from theory on bounded rationality (Simon, 1945).
Simon (1945) proposed that…
 Works by two authors
When a work has two authors, always cite both names every time the
reference occurs in the text and the year of publication.
…as has been shown (Leiter and Maslach, 1998).
Leiter and Maslach (1998) demonstrated…
 Works by multiple authors
When a work has three, four, or five authors, cite only the last name of
the first author followed by "et al." (Latin for "and others") and the year
of publication.
Kahneman et al. (1991) found…

References List: references should be arranged first alphabetically and

then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference
from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters
'a', 'b', 'c', etc., placed after the year of publication.
 Reference to a journal publication:
Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J. A. J., & Lupton, R. A. (2010). The art
of writing a scientific article. Journal of Scientific
Communications, 163, 51–59.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sc.2010.00372.
 Reference to a book:
Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (2000). The elements of style (4th ed.).
Longman (Chapter 4).
 Reference to a website:
Powertech Systems. (2015). Lithium-ion vs lead-acid cost analysis.
Retrieved from
http://www.powertechsystems.eu/home/tech-corner/lithium-ion-vs-
lead-acid-cost-analysis/. Accessed January 6, 2016

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 Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City
International University
School of Industrial Engineering and Management

 Reference to a dataset:
[dataset] Oguro, M., Imahiro, S., Saito, S., & Nakashizuka, T.
(2015). Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding
forest compositions. Mendeley Data, v1.
https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.
 Reference to a conference paper or poster presentation:
Engle, E.K., Cash, T.F., & Jarry, J.L. (2009, November). The Body
Image Behaviours Inventory-3: Development and validation of the
Body Image Compulsive Actions and Body Image Avoidance Scales.
Poster session presented at the meeting of the Association for
Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies, New York, NY.
 Reference to software:
Coon, E., Berndt, M., Jan, A., Svyatsky, D., Atchley, A., Kikinzon,
E., Harp, D., Manzini, G., Shelef, E., Lipnikov, K., Garimella, R., Xu,
C., Moulton, D., Karra, S., Painter, S., Jafarov, E., & Molins, S.
(2020, March 25). Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS) v0.88
(Version 0.88). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3727209.

V- Assessment Scheme:
Assessment types Assessment component Percentage (%)
A1.1 Report > 50%
A1. Proposal Assessment
A1.2 Presentation > 50%
A2. Midterm assessment A2.1 Midterm Report > 50%
A3.1 Advisor Evaluation 20%
A3. Final assessment A3.2 Reviewer Evaluation 20%
A3.3 Committee Evaluation 60%

VI- Regulations
1. No cheating.
2. Workload: cover all chapters.
3. Attendance:
o Before Midway.
o After Midway.
4. Teamwork Thesis:
o Indicating the team member who is responsible for each section.
o Adding a table for summarizing Task allocations and Score distributions.

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 Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City
International University
School of Industrial Engineering and Management

o Highlighting the special contribution of each member make it easier for

the evaluation from advisors, reviewers, and committee members.
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY
INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND
MANAGEMENT

TITLE OF THE DISSERTATION

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 Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City
International University
School of Industrial Engineering and Management

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the

Degree of Bachelor of Engineering in Logistics and Supply

Chain Management

Student:

ID:

Thesis Advisor:

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Month Year
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY
INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND
MANAGEMENT

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 Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City
International University
School of Industrial Engineering and Management

TITLE OF THE DISSERTATION

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

Degree of Bachelor of Engineering in Logistics and Supply

Chain Management

Student:

ID:

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 Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City
International University
School of Industrial Engineering and Management

Thesis Advisor:

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Month Year

TITLE OF THE DISSERTATION

By

Name

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

Degree of Bachelor of Engineering in Logistics and Supply
Chain Management
International University, Ho Chi Minh City
Month Year

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 Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City
International University
School of Industrial Engineering and Management

Signature of Student:

Certified by
Thesis Advisor

Approved by
Dean of IEM school

Abstract

Begin writing here…

Content:

 Briefly introduce the study topic, state the research problem.

 Provide the research methodology, design, procedures, and result from

analysis.

 State the conclusions to include both the potential implications of the

results on and the recommendations for future research and practice.

 References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s)

and year(s).

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 Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City
International University
School of Industrial Engineering and Management

 Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but

if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract

itself.

Keywords:

Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 5 keywords, using American

spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for

example, 'and', 'of'). 

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APPENDIX D. A sample of the format of the Abstract

Acknowledgements

Begin writing here…

i
APPENDIX F. A sample of the arrangement of the Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Abstract...................................................................... Error: Reference source not found
Acknowledgement.................................................... Error: Reference source not foundi
Table of Contents...................................................... Error: Reference source not foundi
List of Tables............................................................. iError: Reference source not found
List of Figures............................................................ Error: Reference source not found
List of Abbreviations.................................................. Error: Reference source not found
List of Symbols......................................................... Error: Reference source not foundi
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................................................1
1.1. Ba
ckground........................................................................................................................1
1.2. Pr
oblem Statement.............................................................................................................1
1.3. Objectives of the Study.....................................................................................................1
1.4. Scopes and Delimitation...................................................................................................1
Chapter 2: RELATED WORKS.....................................................................................2
2.1. Overview .........................................................................................................................2
2.2. Literature Review ............................................................................................................2
2.3. Key References/Candidate Solution Methods..................................................................2
Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY.......................................................................................3
3.1. Approaches Comparison and Selection............................................................................3
3.2. Proposed System Design/ Proposed Solution Approach..................................................3
Chapter 4: SOLUTION DEVELOPMENT....................................................................4
4.1. Model/ Prototype Solution...............................................................................................4
4.2. Solution Development......................................................................................................4
Chapter 5: RESULT ANALYSIS...................................................................................5
5.1. Experimental Design........................................................................................................5
5.2. Result Illustration and Explanation..................................................................................5
5.3. Result Analysis.................................................................................................................5
Chapter 6: CONCLUSIONS..........................................................................................6
6.1. Result Discussion and Implication...................................................................................6
6.2. Limitation of the Study and Recommendations for Future Research..............................6
References...................................................................................................................... 7
Appendices....................................................................................................................8
Appendix A XXX.....................................................................................................8
APPENDIX F. A sample of the arrangement of the Table of Contents

Appendix B XXX....................................................................................................9

List of Tables

Begin a list of tables here…

As Example:
APPENDIX F. A sample of the arrangement of the Table of Contents

List of Figures

Begin list of figures here…

As Example:
APPENDIX F. A sample of the arrangement of the Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations

Begin list of abbreviations here…

As Example:
APPENDIX I2. A sample of the format of the List of Symbols

List of Symbols

Begin list of symbols

here…

As Example:
APPENDIX I2. A sample of the format of the List of Symbols
APPENDIX J. A sample of Main Text

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

Begin writing here…

1.1. Background: Why study this topic?

1.2. Problem Statement – The Need for Study:

- Identify the problem or the gap needed to fill in the case.
- What needs to solve or achieve?

1.3. Objectives of Study:

- Who will benefit from the results of this study?
- What are expected outputs and/or applications? What are expected scientific
contributions, if any?
- Design requirements.

1.4. Scope and Delimitation:

- The scope of the study refers to the boundaries within which your research will be
performed.
- To define the scope of the study, you must be clear on the research parameters that
you will and won’t consider. These parameters usually consist of the sample size, the
duration, inclusion and exclusion criteria, the methodology, and any geographical or
monetary constraints.
- The sources of the data set? What kind of data? Time to collect the data? e.g. time
frame of the data, primary assumptions of your model, if any.
- Specify some practical constraints.
- Delimitations refer to the boundaries of the research study, based on your decision of
what to include and what to exclude. They narrow your study to make it more
manageable and relevant to what you are trying to prove.

1
APPENDIX J. A sample of Main Text

Chapter 2: RELATED WORKS

Begin writing here…

2.1. Overview:
- Theoretical foundations.
- Or Introduction to the case studied company.

2.2. Literature Review:

- Investigate current development approaches in the literature related to the study.
- Summarize and classify the existing approaches, and select key references.
- Analyze the similarity and differences between key references and the thesis.
- Design concepts consideration.
- Note that this subsection includes the references cited and discussed in the thesis. The
minimum number of references is 10 documents. It requires that at least 50% of the
cited documents have been published within the last 5 years.

2.3. Key references/ Candidate Solution Methods

- A detailed description of potential approaches is to be considered.

2
APPENDIX J. A sample of Main Text

Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY

Begin writing here…

3.1. Approaches Comparison and Selection:

- Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of the considered approaches.
- Conduct qualitative and/or quantitative comparisons to select the final approach.

3.2. Proposed System Design or Proposed Solution Approach:

- From the selected approach, develop the structure of the proposed system (inputs,
process, outputs) or details of the proposed solution approach.
- Conceptual design description:
o Conceptual design is a framework for establishing the underlying idea behind
a design and a plan for how it will be expressed visually.
o It is related to the term “concept art”, which is an illustration that conveys the
vision for how the final product/system might take form.
o Note that this is the process of the system you designed, NOT the procedure
of doing the thesis.
- Analyze and justify the techniques to be used.

3
APPENDIX J. A sample of Main Text

Chapter 4: SOLUTION DEVELOPMENT

Begin writing here…

4.1. Model or Prototype Solution:

- Identify parameters, components of the system and related assumptions & constraints.
- Construction phase: formulate a Mathematical Model or a Prototype Solution for the
system.

4.2. Solution Development:

- Construct a small numerical solution.
- Implementation of the proposed solution or model.
- Investigate all possible solutions and develop an improved solution.
- Compare alternative solutions subject to feasibility constraints (economic factors,
environmental and social) and the appropriate standards: ISO, OSHA, ANSI, HACPP,
TCVN, etc.

4
APPENDIX J. A sample of Main Text

Chapter 5: RESULT ANALYSIS

Begin writing here…

5.1. Experimental Design
TÌM DATA  tổng hợp data lại như thế nào
- Describe the process of planning an experiment to test a hypothesis.
- Plan experiments in advance so that your results are both objective and valid.

5.2. Result Illustration and Explanation:

SHOW KẾT QUẢ VÀ GIẢI THÍCH
- Describe the obtained results of the model or prototype’s solution.
- Conduct validation (experiments, measure of prototype outputs,…) and analyze the
efficiency of the obtained results/ prototype/design/ model/solution.
- Ex: In machine learning, model validation is the set of processes and activities
intended to verify that models are performing as expected. There are two ways to
statistically validate a model: one can evaluate the model on the data the model was
trained on, or one can evaluate it on an external test set

5.3. Result Analysis:

- Conduct Sensitivity Analysis.
o The purpose of running a sensitivity analysis is to determine the relative
influence of parameters, initial conditions, and alternative assumptions on model
output.
o The process is iterative, providing feedback that can improve the model. A
sensitivity analysis compares response variables from multiple model runs.
o In each of the comparison runs all parameters are held constant except for the
parameter being examined.
o When a model parameter is observed to exert undue influence on the output
which does not reflect reality, the characterization of the model must be re-
evaluated. 

5
APPENDIX J. A sample of Main Text

- Analyze and evaluate the environmental, social, and economic impacts. Note that this
analysis should be associated with the framework of the thesis topic, thus students
should not write this part in general only. For example, the topic of transportation
optimization will create what impacts specifically.
- Recommended final design solution.

6
APPENDIX J. A sample of Main Text

Chapter 6: CONCLUSIONS

Begin writing here…

6.1. Result Discussion and Implication

- Provide a strong, concise conclusion to include a summary of the study, the problem
addressed, and the importance of the study.
- Present the results in the context of the study by describing the extent to which they
address the study problem and contribute to the existing literature and framework
described in the literature review.
- Identify the most significant implications and consequences of the dissertation
(whether positive and/or negative) to society/desired societal outcomes and
distinguish probable from improbable implications.

6.2. Limitation of the Study and Recommendations for Future Research

- Discuss the limitations of the dissertation. Limitations relate to the validity and
reliability of the study. They are characteristics of the research design or methodology
that are out of your control but influence your research findings. 
- Based on the framework, findings, and implications, explain what future researchers
might do to learn from and build upon this study.
- Discuss how future researchers can improve upon this study, given its limitations.

7
APPENDIX K. A sample of the format of References

References

Author, A., & Author, B. (year). Article title. Journal title, X(X), xxx-xxx. https://doi.org/xxxxx

As Example:

8
APPENDIX K. A sample of the format of References

Appendix A
XXX
Insert Appendix A content here…

9
 Appendix B
XXX
Insert Appendix B content here…

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