GRADUATE THESIS/DISSERTATION FORMAT TEMPLATE

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

ISLAMABAD
VERSION:PHD1.0; DATED: 27APR 2023

Template of Graduate Thesis/Dissertation is an “essential kit” to format thesis in

Microsoft Word. This template has Word’s auto-generate capability and facilitate
incorporation of automatic List of Tables, List of Figures and Table of Contents, and
numbering of equations.

Thesis template and guidelines assists to provide correct formatting of following:

correct page numbering, margins, the front pages format, chapter headings, section
headings, and subheading styles set up to level 3.

Furthermore, there are help boxes provided as Blue Text Boxes to explain the formatting.
These boxes need to be deleted before the printing of thesis. These boxes can be easily
deleted by viewing under View menu and Print Layout to see or delete these Blue text.

It is advised that this template should be used as a starting point to format the thesis, with
further assistance can be obtained from Supervisor, Exam cell and Students for proper
formatting.

[DELETE THIS PAGE BEFORE BEGINNING]

Thesis Title Goes Here Center [Doping Graphene Sheets]

[Times New Roman, Bold, Font Size 16]

By

Student Name

(Registration No: 00000123456)

Department of Materials Engineering

School of Chemical and Materials Engineering

National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST)

Islamabad, Pakistan

(2023)
 Thesis Title Goes Here Center

[Times New Roman, Bold, Font Size 16, Center]

By

Student Name

(Registration No: 00000123456)

A thesis submitted to the National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad,

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy in
Materials Engineering

Supervisor: Dr.

Co Supervisor (if any): Dr.

School of Chemical and Materials Engineering

National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST)

Islamabad, Pakistan
(2023)
 THESIS ACCEPTANCE CERTIFICATE

Certified that final copy of PhD Thesis written by Mr / Ms

(Registration No. ), of (School/College/Institute)
has been vetted by undersigned, found complete in all respects as per NUST Statutes/
Regulations/ PhD Policy, is free of plagiarism, errors, and mistakes and is accepted as
partial fulfillment for award of PhD degree. It is further certified that necessary
amendments as point out by GEC members and foreign/ local evaluators of the scholar
have also been incorporated in the said thesis.

Signature:

Name of Supervisor

Date:

Signature (HOD):

Date:

Signature (Dean/ Principal)

Date:
PhD-7 Form Goes Here
 CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL

This is to certify that research work presented in this thesis, titled

“………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………” was
conducted by Mr/Ms. ……………………………………………under the supervision of
Dr. ………………………………………………………………………………..….……
No part of this thesis has been submitted anywhere else for any other degree. This thesis is
submitted to the ………....…….. (Name of the Department) ……………………….. in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in field of
……………………………….…………(Subject name)…………………………………,
Department of …………(Department Name)………………….., ……………..………
(School/College/Institute name)………………, National University of Sciences and
Technology, Islamabad.

Student Name: Signature _______________

Examination Committee:

a. External Examiner 1:
Signature _______________
(Name, Designation & Office Address)

b. External Examiner 2:
Signature _______________
(Name, Designation & Office Address)

c. Internal Examiner 1:
Signature _______________
(Name, Designation & Office Address)

Supervisor Name: Signature _______________

Name of Dean/HoD: Signature _______________

AUTHOR’S DECLARATION
I hereby state that my PhD thesis titled “

” is my own work and has not been submitted previously by me for taking any
degree from National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad or anywhere
else in the country/ world.

At any time if my statement is found to be incorrect even after I graduate, the university
has the right to withdraw my PhD degree.

Student signature: _____ __

Name: _____________________________

Date: __________
 PLAGIARISM UNDERTAKING

I solemnly declare that research work presented in the thesis titled

“……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………”
is solely my research work with no significant contribution from any other person. Small
contribution/ help wherever taken has been duly acknowledged and that complete thesis
has been written by me.

I understand the zero tolerance policy of the HEC and that of National University of
Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad towards plagiarism. Therefore, I as an
author of the above titled thesis declare that no portion of my thesis has been plagiarized
and any material used as reference is properly referred/ cited.

I undertake that if I am found guilty of any formal plagiarism in the above titled thesis
even after award of PhD degree, the University reserves the rights to withdraw/revoke my
PhD degree and that HEC and NUST, Islamabad has the right to publish my name on the
HEC/University website on which names of students are placed who submitted
plagiarized thesis.

Student signature: _____ __

Name: _____________________________

Date: __________
 DEDICATION

Center [Times New Roman, Bold, Font Size 14]

Start typing the dedication here.

This is the (optional) Dedication page. If your thesis contains a Dedication, it would
replace the text above. The text should be centered both vertically and horizontally
on the page and should be single-spaced. The Dedication page DOES NOT have a
heading or a printed page number, but the page DOES count in the page numbering.
Since the Dedication bears no heading or page number, it is not listed in the Table of
Contents. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Note following point
• Count but do not number page.
• For Dedication, text should be brief and centered on page.
• Thethe
Start typing Dedication does nothere.
acknowledgment appear in the table of contents.

DELETE THE ABOVE TEXT BUT BE SURE TO RETAIN THE SPACING.

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DELETE THIS WHOLE PAGE IF YOUR ARE NOT INCLUDING A

DEDICATION
Most theses andIN YOUR THESIS.
dissertations include a brief statement of appreciation for, or
recognition of, any special assistance.
Acknowledgements must be written in complete sentences and in the third person.
i.e. not “Thanks, Mom and Dad!” but “I would like to especially thank my mother
and father, without whose guidance and support I would not be here.”

The Acknowledgements page should be double-spaced and is the first page to bear a
printed page number and be listed in the Table of Contents.
About the page number on this page:
• Count and number page(s) with lower case roman numerals.
Most often, the Acknowledgements will be page ix, but if you have no Dedication
page or you have additional front matter, such as an Epilogue, you may have to
change this page number.

To do so, double-click above the page number to edit the Footer area. Right-click the
page number and click “Format page numbers…” and change the page number in the
“Start at” box from iv to viii. Page numbering should continue correctly from there.

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Note: All major headings should start at the same position at the top of each page.
(e.g., Title, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, TABLE OF CONTENTS, LIST OF TABLES,
LIST OF FIGURES, … REFERENCES, etc.)
• Leave three blank lines. Begin typing the text. The text must be double-
spaced.

DELETE THIS INSTRUCTIONAL TEXT BOX BEFORE PRINTING.

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VIII

TABLE OF CONTENTS IX

LIST OF TABLES X

LIST OF FIGURES XI

LIST OF SYMBOLS, ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS XII

ABSTRACT XIII

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 How to Use This Template [This is a First-Level Subheading] 1
1.1.1 This is a Second-Level Subheading 1
1.1.2 Inserting and Numbering Equations 1
1.1.3 Inserting, Numbering, and Referencing Figures 2
1.1.4 Inserting, Numbering, and Referencing Tables 3
1.1.5 Things to be Careful of 4

CHAPTER 2: SETTING UP A NEW CHAPTER 6

2.1 Moving to a New Chapter 6
2.1.1 How to Insert a Page Break 6

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH WORK 7

CHAPTER 3: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RECOMMENDATION 8

REFERENCES 9

APPENDIX A: DESCRIPTION OF DEFAULT SUBHEADING SCHEME 10

A.1 First-Level Subheading 10
A.1.1 Second-Level Subheadings 10

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 12
 LIST OF TABLES

Page No.

Table 1.1: Example of a table..............................................................................................

By utilizing Word’s “Insert Caption…” feature, you can easily build your List of
Tables (this page) and List of Figures (following page).

To insert list of table and figures, click at reference tab > insert Table and figures
To update all fields prior to submitting your document, simply select the table, right
click the text, and select “Update Field.”

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Page No.

Figure 1.1: This is a figure. The “caption” uses the “Caption” theme from the quick
styles menu above and is added by right-clicking the figure and selecting “Insert
Caption...”............................................................................................................................2
Figure 1.2: Example of a Figure..........................................................................................3
 LIST OF SYMBOLS, ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

A the letter A

B the letter B

CGS Center for Graduate Studies

Common symbols, such as scientific fonts, may be used in the body of the thesis,
but not in the title of the work. Thesis or dissertation titles containing formulas,
symbols, superscripts, Greek letters, or other non-alphabetical symbols should use
word substitutes for those symbols (e.g., “Gamma Ferric Oxide Dispersion…,”“…
Alpha- and Beta- Globulin…,”“…The Neodymium-Barium-Copper Oxide System.
…”)
• Other names of lists can be acceptable to the department or Institution may be
allowed upon approval of GEC.
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 ABSTRACT

[Center, Times New Roman, Bold, Font Size 14]

Start typing the abstract here.

Keywords: Summary; format, font, abstract, keywords. (Between 5-10 words only)

The Abstract may have the same content as the doctoral Abstract but the format is different. The
Abstract is an external document you prepare for NUST. The Abstract is part of the body of your work
and so the Abstract must have the same spacing as the body of the thesis (generally double-
spaced).The abstract should be a single paragraph with 250-700 words.

There should be key words between 5 to 10 to be included to highlight the importance of research
work. Key words can be in order of significance or alphabetically.

There should be overall Abstract of the complete research dissertation.

An optional overall graphical abstract of research can be provided.

DELETE THE ABOVE TEXT BUT BE SURE TO RETAIN THE SPACING.

DELETE THIS INSTRUCTIONAL TEXT BOX WHEN DONE.

 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This is the first chapter of your manuscript. Often it is titled, 'INTRODUCTION'.

Mostly departments’ style guides require that the first chapter is titled
'INTRODUCTION,' but otherwise, you may use any title that suits your purpose. A
chapter heading uses the “Heading 1” quick style. Using this style will allow Word to
auto-populate the Table of Contents.

1.1 How to Use This Template [This is a First-Level Subheading]

The first-level subheading utilizes the “Heading 2” quick style. Using this style
will include your first-level subheading in the Table of Contents. This template file has
been set up to meet the formatting requirements for theses and dissertations but it does
get some of the confusing stuff taken care of: the margins are correct; the table of
contents is formatted correctly; the necessary parts are in the right order; the page
numbers will appear in the right place and in the right form; it has an acceptable font face
and size. Further, Appendix A has a description of the scheme for subheadings you
should use if your departmental style guide doesn't specify one.

1.1.1 This is a Second-Level Subheading

Second-level subheadings utilize Heading 3. It will be pretty obvious when you

need to get rid of some text in this template. For example, this part of the introduction
needs to go before you start typing. Easiest way to delete it is to click your cursor in front
of the first paragraph, scroll down to the last line in the chapter, hold the SHIFT key
down, and click after the last letter. 'SHIFT-clicking' like this selects everything between
the two clicks.

1.1.2 Inserting and Numbering Equations

To insert an equation to be referenced in the text, use the “INSERT” 

“Equation”.

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 Equations are generally described and referenced in the text as is done in the
following sentence. Equation1.1below describes the relationship between the need for a
vacation, VAC need , and the available time to take a vacation, t VAC. The equation number
(1.1) that appears in the table is a sequential field code which allows equation numbers to
update automatically by right-clicking highlighted text and selecting “Update Field.”
When adding an equation, select the number and bookmark it under the “INSERT” menu.
When you reference the equation in the text you can insert that bookmark so numbers
will automatically update.

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VAC need = (1.1)
t VAC

1.1.3 Inserting, Numbering, and Referencing Figures

When you insert an image into the text, it will look like Figure 1.1 below. In the
previous sentence, a figure reference is inserted by cross-referencing the figure label and
number (INSERT  Cross-reference  Reference Type: Figure  Select figure entry
and choose Insert reference to: Only label and number). Figure 1.1 should be written as
bold.

Figure 1.1:This is a figure. The “caption” uses the “Caption” theme from the quick styles menu
above and is added by right-clicking the figure and selecting “Insert Caption...”

Number the figures by chapter; e.g. Figure 1.1 and Figure 1.2 to indicate the tables
belong to Chapter 1. Whereas, Figure 2.1 and Figure 2.2 belong to Chapter 2 and so on.

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 Title for the figure should be placed at below the table. Figure 1.2 shows another example
of a figure.

Figure 1.2: Example of a Figure

1.1.4 Inserting, Numbering, and Referencing Tables

After a table is inserted, it must be captioned by selecting the Table and right
clicking. Then click on “Insert caption…” The process is similar for captioning a figure
except for the fact that a Table’s caption appears above the table as opposed to the figure
caption appearing below a figure. An example of a table is given in Table 1.1below. By
inserting the cross-reference to the table, the numbering will be done automatically.

Number the tables by chapter; e.g. Table 1.1 and Table 1.2 to indicate the tables
belong to Chapter 1. Whereas, Table 2.1 and Table 2.2 belong to Chapter 2 and so on.
Title for the table should be placed above the table. Table 2.1 shows an example of a
table. Table 1.1 should be written as bold.

Table 1.1: Example of a table

S. No. Materials Length (mm) Width (mm)

1 Metal 10 6

2 Composites 12 8

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 1.1.5 Things to be Careful of

You can make mistake when use the template. For example, when you delete the
text on a page, be careful not to accidentally delete the marker, called a 'page break,'
between the chapters or different types of pages. The page break marker makes your new
chapter begin at the top of a page, no matter what editing you do before them. If you
delete a section break, related to a page break, you may lose any formatting that was
particular to that page.

1.1.5.1 Using Tabs Correctly [This is a Third-Level Subheading]

When you put your headings into the Table of Contents, List of Tables, etc. things
should line up pretty well if you use tabs to skip to the next column. If you use spaces to
indent or move to the next column, you will have a mess. As spaces in most font families
are not fixed in size, things won’t necessarily line up perfectly and you may be required
to fix it. Moreover, when you use spaces rather than tab settings to determine placement
of text, any change in words, fonts, or margins requires a great deal of work to reformat.
If you use tab settings to control placement, making such changes becomes trivial.

Because of the way tabs are set, if a chapter title or section name in the Table of
Contents is very short, you may have to put an extra tab character to get the cursor to
jump correctly.

1.1.5.2 Using the Styles

The page and section heading styles have been set up as named styles in Word.
The page headings in the preliminary pages (e.g. “Table of Contents”), each chapter
heading (e.g. “Chapter 1: Introduction”), and the back page headings (e.g. “References”)
all use a style called “Heading 1“. The first-level subheadings (example above) use a

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style called “Heading 2”. The second-level subheadings use a style called “Heading 3”.
The third-level subheadings use a style called “Heading 4”. If you accidentally delete
any of those headings, go to the Format/Style menu, select the appropriate style and
“Apply”. If you cannot find the style under the list of styles, change the pull-down below
it called “List” to “All styles”.

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 CHAPTER 2: SETTING UP A NEW CHAPTER

Below are the steps for making a new chapter. This will help to begin a new
chapter using this template. This will also help to get the page numbers correctly.

2.1 Moving to a New Chapter

To move to a new chapter, you must tell Word that you are moving on to a new
page. You do this by inserting a page break. A page break forces the next line of text to
appear at the top of a fresh page.

2.2.1 How to Insert a Page Break

1. Go to the end of a chapter. That means, put your cursor after the very last
character of that chapter.
2. Hit Return to move to a new paragraph.
3. From the Insert menu, choose Page Break.

If you are in Outline View (see View menu), you'll see a dotted line across the
screen. That marks the end of the previous page. If you are in Page Layout view, you'll
just see the top of a new blank page.

Begin typing. If you are in Page Layout view, when you get to the end of the first
page, your text will skip to the next page. A page number will appear at the bottom center
of the new page. The number will be gray, and you can't edit it. That's OK; that is the
way it's supposed to look on the screen.

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 SUMMARY OF RESEARCH WORK

This is a 1-2 pager short summary of the total work done for a dissertation. It is larger
than the abstract as the abstract alone may not fulfill the purpose of summarizing the
entire thesis. It should be included in PhD dissertation and for MS theses.

Ideally, the short summary should be composed of 3-5 paragraphs that highlight, in
relatively more details, the work carried out during the PhD program.

The summary of the research work is optional.

It can be provided if required by international data base etc.

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CHAPTER 3: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RECOMMENDATION

This section contains the concluding statements made at the end of the thesis. It is to
restate the main argument. It reminds the reader of the key findings in the thesis, the
strengths of your main arguments and reiterates the most important evidence supporting
those arguments.

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 REFERENCES

It is highly recommended that you use some sort of reference manager when using the
Word template. Tutorial classes can be taken for any effective reference manager such as
End Note, Zotero, Mendeley etc. Capabilities include automatic formatting of the
Reference page and citations.
It is preferable to use APA/Harvard/IEEE reference style.
Use single spacing within the entries and doubles spaces after each one. These can be
modified under Format | Paragraph but please note that double-spacing between entries
and single-spacing within entries is required regardless of which method of citation and
referencing you choose.

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 APPENDIX A: DESCRIPTION OF DEFAULT SUBHEADING

SCHEME

This appendix illustrates the default style of subheadings as chapter-level

headings is bold, all upper case, and centered. Otherwise the font is the same font family
and the same size or no more than 2 font points larger (e.g. 14 points vs. 12).

A.1 First-Level Subheading

The default format for first-level subheadings is left-justified, bold, and upper and
lower case (UC/LC) . Alternatively, you may use plain (not bold), and all upper case
(UC). The former of the two is built into this Word document. In either case, it should
be the same size as the text font. If you use upper/lower case, capitalize words as you
usually would in a title.

A blank line above the subheading has already been built into this template so it is
not necessary to leave another blank line before headings so long as you are using the
proscribed heading and subheading styles. Styles were discussed in Chapter 1 of this
document.

A.1.1 Second-Level Subheadings

Second-level headings are also justified left. If the first-level subheading was
UC/LC and bold, the second-level subheading will be UC/LC and italicized. That is the
style built into this Word document.

Since a blank line above each subheading was built into this template, it is not
necessary to leave another blank line before headings so long as you are use the
proscribed subheading style.

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A.1.1.1 Third-Level Subheadings

Third-level subheadings are plain UC/LC text and underlined. Capitalize as with
the other subheadings.

A.1.1.1.1 Fourth-Level Subheadings

Fourth-level subheadings, if needed, should be plain UC/LC text, flush left.

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 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

OPTIONAL SECTION

This is where you can place a list of your publication or alternately, you can include a

PDF of a published article. This article may either be in color or black and white. If

you have questions or need any guidance inserting a PDF into your document,

contact our office.

All pages of publications need page numbers sequential to the number in the rest of

your thesis. You may need to block out original page numbers to prevent confusion.

You may use the landscape text box and rotate it to fit in the upper right hand corner

of the page. You will need to ensure the page number is horizontal when using the

text box.

If you have only one publication, list the title as PUBLICATION.

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