Lecture 12: Formatting Master Dissertations

Aims of Lecture:

• To arrange the final copy of the dissertation

Lecture Objectives: Students will be able to

• to shape the title page

• to use capitalization properly

• to organize paragraphs, sections, chapters, margins, line spacing, titles, page

numbers, table of contents

Assumed prior knowledge:

Students may have some knowledge about the subject

Material:

PowerPoint presentation; computer & projector

Assessment

Class discussion

Targeted questioning

LECTURE 12: Formatting Master Dissertations

1. The Title Page

(See Sample at the end of the lecture)

2. Capitalization in Titles

When you copy an English title or subtitle, capitalize the first word, the last word, and aIl

principal words, including those that follow hyphens in compound terms . Therefore,

capitalize the following parts of speech:

1. Nouns (e.g., flowers, as in The Flowers of Europe)

2. Pronouns (e.g., our, as in Save Our Children; it, as in Sorne Like1tHot)

4. Adjectives Ce.g., ugly, as in The Ugly Duckling)

5. Adverbs Ce.g., slightly, as in Only Slightly Corrupt; down, as in Go Down, Moses)

6. Subordinating conjunctions Ce.g., after, although, as if, as soon as, because, before, if,

that unless until when where, while, as in One 1fby Land) , , , ,

Do not capitalize the following parts of speech when they fall in the middle of a title:

1. .. Articles Ca, an, the, as in Under the Bamboo Tree)

2. " Prepositions Ce.g., against, as, between, in, of, to, as in The Merchant of Venice and

''A Dialogue between the Soul and Body")

3. Coordinating conjunctions Cand, but, for, nor, or, so, yet, as in Rorneo and Juliet)

4. .. The to in infinitives Cas in How to Play Chess)

Use a colon and a space to separate a title from a subtitle, unless the title ends in a

question mark or an exclamation point.

3. Text of the Research Thesis

3.1. Paragraphs

 Use Times New Roman size 12;

 Paragraph Size : from 5 to 15 lines - avoid one-sentence or one-page paragraphs;

 No spaces between paragraphs

 Indent each paragraph five spaces or one half-inch.

 Indent block quotations ( long citations) of more than 40 words ten spaces from

the left margin

 For a block quotation of two or more paragraphs, indent the first line of each new

paragraph an additional three spaces. Do not use quotation marks. Do not use

italics. The citation information (author name and page number) follows the

quote’s end punctuation

-Sections and Chapters should be balanced in size – no chapter / section should be longer

than half of the whole document; i.e. If your thesis is 50 pages long, no chapter / section should

exceed 25 pages;

- Double space text

3.3. Margins

- Leave 2.5 centimeters on each side + another 0.5 centimeters for binding (left side=

3 cm);

- use titles to separate sections/chapters clearly;

-make all the sections explicit, separate from each other even if they are one paragraph

long;

3.4. Line spacing

-Double-space EVERYTHING, including block quotations

3.5. Titles

- Use Times New Roman 12 cm for Titles of chapters, sections and sub-

sections:

- Justify titles to the left (not centered except for title page);

- Do not underline titles

3.6. Page Numbers

- Page number should appear on the upper right-hand corner

4. Table of Contents: It general includes:

 Declaration of Plagiarism

 Dedications

 Acknowledgments

 Abstract
  Definition of Terms (if needed)

 List of Abbreviations(if needed)

 List of Tables (if needed)

 Table of Contents

 General Introduction (Including: Problematic.-Purpose- Research Question(s)-

Hypothesis (es)- Research Tools—Population- Data Collection Procedures. -Data

Analysis Procedures and the Organization of the Thesis )

 Chapter One ( Literature Review Related to the Topic)

 Chapter Two ( Date Analysis)

 Chapter Three (Discussions + Recommendations)

 General Conclusion

 Bibliography

 Appendices.

Remark: The content of each chapter may be different according to the nature of the

research. The student is asked to discuss this point this with his mentor)

05. Other Considerations

- Avoid frames and unnecessary colors as they distract readers from the text itself;

- Appendices: Append original documents that are important to understand your research;

- Make sure you include all the required sections in your research;
 (Sample Title Page)

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

University Hassiba Benbouali -Chlef

Faculty of Foreign Languages

Department of English

TITLE (capital letters, centered)

A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the

Master Degree in ( Speciality)

Submitted by: Supervised by:

................................... ...................................

Board of Examiners

President Name Grade 1 University of

Supervisor Name Grade University of

Examiner Name Grade University of

June 2020

1
Grade = ( MAA/ MAB/MCB/MCA/Prof, contact your mentor to provide you with the grades)