GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

All the information provided in this section is regarding the format of the thesis.
Read it carefully and make sure that your thesis is according to the required format.
For your ease, the format is not only explained but also has been demonstrated with
proper font, font size, style and other formatting requirements.
Once the Research work is complete, students are required to submit three hard bound
copies of thesis report and a CD containing the MS Word/ PDF file of the
report/thesis in the format explained in this document. The thesis should be around 60
pages or according to the limits set forth by your supervisor.
Contents/chapters of the Thesis Report should be in the format and order as given in
this document. Initially, we will discuss all the format requirements of the Thesis.
Then the contents to be included in the thesis will be briefly discussed

1.1

Formatting

The single-sided, normal character spaced manuscript is to be arranged as follows:

1.1.1 Submissions Required

Three hard-bound copies of the final project documentation /thesis must be submitted
to your supervisor before the Final Evaluation along with a CD. Spine of binding
must contain complete Project/Thesis, level of work i.e. BS Project/MS Thesis/ PhD
Dissertation and the year of submission Please keep in mind that the binding takes 3-4
days to complete

1.1.2 Binding
Color of binding should be Mahroon for PhD, Green for MS Thesis and Blue for All
type of Projects with golden text. Use 80 grams paper; A4 (8.27 x 11.69) and make
sure that right paper is selected for both page setup and printer. All copies to be
submitted should be printed, photocopies will not be accepted.

1.1.3 Fonts and Spacing

The preferred font is Times New Roman; acceptable font size is 12; different
typefaces (e.g., italics) may be used only to show differences in captions and special

Top
margin

1 inch

text. Starting from chapter 1, the line spacing must be 1.5 whereas the spacing both
before and after paragraph must be 6 points. For all the pages before Chapter 1 e.g.
Table of Contents, Abstract, Declaration etc, Line spacing should be single i.e.1.

1.2

Chapter Heading

Chapters and section numbering should be same as given in Table of Contents.

Chapter should begin with Chapter XX on the first line, in font size 18, Sentence
Case, left aligned and bold. Here XX refers to the chapter number. Spacing before
Chapter XX should be 6 points and after should be 24 points.
The following line should contain CHAPTER HEADING TITLE, all Upper case,
font size 18, center aligned and bold. Spacing before CHAPTER HEADING TITLE
should be 6 points and after should be 24 points.

1.3
Left
margin
1.5 inches

Section Heading

Font size 16, Bold, Title case, left-aligned, spacing before and after 6 points.

1.3.1 Sub-Section Heading

Font size 14, Title case, left-aligned, spacing before and after 6 points.
1.3.1.1 Sub-Sub-Section Heading

Right
margin

Font size 12, Underlined, Sentence case, left-aligned, spacing before and after 6

1 inch

points.
If (Code has to be included)
{
Use Courier New with font size 10.
Use single line spacing and the spacing before and after the
paragraphs should be 0 points.
}

1.4

Print Quality

Use laser printers or minimum 600 dpi inkjet printers.

1.4.1 Margins and Pagination

Left Margin 1.5 inches from the edge of paper.
Gutter 0 inches.
Top Margin 1 inch from edge of paper.
Bottom
margin

1.2 inches

Bottom Margin 1.2 inches from edge of paper.

Right Margin 1 inch from edge of paper.
Pages before Chapter 1 must have lower case Roman numerals, right aligned inch
from bottom of page, starting with the Copyright page that is numbered ii. Title
page is unnumbered, but is implied as number i.
First page of text uses the Arabic number 1 and pages thereafter carry consecutive
Arabic numbers, including the pages in the Appendices and the Bibliography. Arabic
numbers are positioned in the bottom right-hand corner, inch from the bottom and
one inch in from the right edge of the paper.
Note: If required, footer can be used to provide any additional information in font size 10.

1.5

Equations

Equations and formulas should preferably be type-written in good quality wordprocessing or graphics package.
All equations should be numbered in the format (XX.YY) where XX is chapter
number and YY is the sequence number within that chapter; e.g. equation appearing
seventh in chapter two will be numbered as (Eq 2.7).
2

Vgs
I ds = I dss 1
tanh( Vds ) (1 + Vds )
V
gs

(1
+

e
)
(
V
+

V
+

V
)
T
T
ds

where
VT =

1.6

qN d a 2
2 s

(Eq 1.1)

2 L
and VT = VT G
3
a

References and Citation

All references used in the thesis should be provided in a separate section of the thesis
after the last chapter and before the appendices. IEEE style of citation should be used
in the entire thesis. When referring to the very first reference in the text of the
document, put the number of the reference in square brackets. Eg: [1]. All the forth
coming references should be numbered as [2], [3], [4] and so on.
The reference section in the end will then be used to provide the complete reference
detail e.g. Author Name, Book, Journal, Paper, Weblink, Location, Printing company,

Year e.t.c. In this section, all the references should be sorted in ascending order by
the number of the reference.
The IEEE citation style has 3 main features:
The author name is first name (or initial) and last. This differs from MLA style
where authors last name is first.
The title of an article (or chapter, conference paper, patent etc.) is in quotation
marks.
The title of the journal or book is in italics.
These conventions allow the reader to distinguish between types of reference at a
glance. The correct placement of periods, commas and colons and of date and page
numbers depends on the type of reference cited. Check the examples in the
References section at page 16. Follow the details exactly. Eg.: put periods after
author and book title, cite page numbers as pp., abbreviate all months to the first three
letters (eg. Jun.). Check the distinctions between print and electronic sources
(especially for journals) carefully.
Font size: 12, Line Spacing: 1.0, Spacing before and after paragraphs: 6 Points.
Sample correct formats for various types of references are as follows.

1.6.1 Books
Author(s).+Book$title.+Location:+Publishing+company,+year,+pp.++
Example:++
W.K. Chen. Linear Networks and Systems. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1993, pp. 12335.

1.6.2 Book Chapters

Author(s). Chapter title in Book title, edition, volume. Editors name, Ed. Publishing
location: Publishing company, year, pp.
Example:
nd

J.E. Bourne. Synthetic structure of industrial plastics, in Plastics, 2 ed., vol. 3. J.

Peters, Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964, pp.15-67.

1.6.3 Article in a Journal

Author(s). Article title. Journal title, vol., pp, date.
Example:
G. Pevere. Infrared Nation. The International Journal of Infrared Design, vol. 33,
pp. 56-99, Jan. 1979.

1.6.4 Articles from a Conference Proceedings (published)

Author(s). Article title. Conference proceedings, year, pp.
Example:
D.B. Payne and H.G. Gunhold. Digital sundials and broadband technology, in Proc.
IOOC-ECOC, 1986, pp. 557-998.

1.6.5 Papers presented at Conferences (unpublished)

Author(s). Papers title, Conference name, Location, year.
Example:
nd

B. Brandli and M. Dick. Engineering names and concepts, presented at the 2 Int.
Conf. Engineering Education, Frankfurt, Germany, 1999.

1.6.6 Standards/Patents
Author(s)/Inventor(s). Name/Title. Country where patent is registered. Patent
number, date.
Example:
E.E. Rebecca. Alternating current fed power supply. U.S. Patent 7 897 777, Nov. 3,
1987.

1.7

E. ReferencesElectronic Sources

The guidelines for citing electronic information as offered below are a modified
illustration of the adaptation by the International Standards Organization (ISO)
documentation system and the American Psychological Association (APA) style.
Three pieces of information are required to complete each reference: 1) protocol or
service; 2) location where the item is to be found; and 3) item to be retrieved. It is not
necessary to repeat the protocol (i.e., http) in Web addresses after Available since
that is stated in the URL.

1.7.1 Books
Author. (year, Month day). Book title. (edition). [Type of medium]. Vol. (issue).
Available: site/path/file [date accessed].
Example:
S. Calmer. (1999, June 1). Engineering and Art. (2

nd

edition). [On-line]. 27(3).

Available: www.enggart.com/examples/students.html [May 21, 2003].

1.7.2 Journals
Author. (year, month). Article title. Journal title. [Type of medium]. Vol. (issue),
pages. Available: site/path/file [date accessed].
Example:
A. Paul. (1987, Oct.). Electrical properties of flying machines. Flying Machines.
[On-line]. 38(1), pp. 778-998. Available: www.flyingmachjourn/properties/fly.edu
[Dec. 1, 2003].

1.7.3 World Wide Web

Author(s)*. Title. Internet: complete URL, date updated* [date accessed].
Example:
M. Duncan. Engineering Concepts on Ice. Internet: www.iceengg.edu/staff.html,
Oct. 25, 2000 [Nov. 29, 2003].

1.7.4 Reports and Handbooks

Author. (year, month). Title. Company. City, State or Country. [Type of Medium].
Available: site/path/file
Example:
S. L. Talleen (1996, Apr.). The Intranet Architecture: Managing information in the
new paradigm. Amdahl Corp., CA. [Online].
Available: http://www.amdahl.com/doc/products/bsg/intra/infra/html

1.7.5 Computer Programs and Electronic Documents

ISO recommends that capitalization follow the accepted practice for the language or
script in which the information is given.
Example:
A. Harriman (1993, June). Compendium of genealogical software.
Humanist. [Online].
Available e-mail: HUMANIST@NYVM
Message: get GENEALOGY REPORT

1.8

Odd Sources

1.8.1 Newspaper
Author(s)*. Article title. Newspaper (month, year), section, pages.
Examples:
B. Bart. Going Faster. Globe and Mail (Oct. 14, 2002), sec. A p.1.
Telehealth in Alberta. Toronto Star (Nov. 12, 2003), sec. G pp. 1-3.

1.8.2 Dissertations and Theses

Author. Title. Degree level, school, location, year.
Example:
S. Mack. Desperate Optimism. M.A. thesis, University of Calgary, Canada, 2000.

1.8.3 Lecture
Lecturer(s). Occasion, Topic: Lecture title. Location, date.
Example:
S. Maw. Engg 251. Class Lecture, Topic: Speed skating. ICT 224, Faculty of
Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Oct. 31, 2003.

1.8.4 E-mail
Author. Subject line of posting. Personal E-mail (date).
Example:
J. Aston. RE: new location, okay? Personal e-mail (Jul. 3, 2003).

1.8.5 Internet - Newsgroup

Author or Topic, Title, Complete network address, date when it was updated [date
accessed].
Example:
G.G. Gavin. Climbing and limb torsion #3387, USENET: sci.climb.torsion, Apr.
19, 2000 [Oct. 4, 2002].

1.8.6 Exact Page Number References

To refer readers to specific page numbers in a text, use the number of the reference
followed by a colon (:) and the page numbers.
Example:
Johnson suggests that citing will lead to a decrease in being cited for plagiarism [1:2829].
The [1] refers to the numbered reference
And the 28-29 refers to the pages being cited.

1.9

Appendices

Title = APPENDIX AA where AA corresponds to A, B, C.... in sequential order,

font size 18, left-aligned, starting from line 1 of page.
Numbering will continue from references in a sequential order; e.g. if last page of
references is page 182, Appendix A will start from page 183 and so forth.
The text in appendices should be with single line spacing, and with 12 font size.
Solutions to some equations or Authors publications or a list of publications arising
from MS work can be included in an appendix.

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
The introduction chapter of your dissertation or thesis is the one in which you provide
all of the basic information that the reader will need to understand the thesis which is
to follow. Such things as the background of your research, how you came to research
your topic, what your topic is and how it relates to the world around it, and what kind
of general principles and methodology you will be using to research your topic and
evaluate your hypothesis, are all aspects of what you will cover in the introduction
chapter.

1.1

Overview

To start writing your introduction chapter, first come up with a simple one sentence
summary of the goal of your research. The reader will come to the first chapter of
your thesis expecting a statement of purpose. This statement should tell the reader
what the topic of the thesis/project is and what you hope to achieve. Then elaborate
the statement a little and explain it briefly.

1.2

Statement of Problem

Now tell the reader what your hypothesis is, as well as your basic reasons for
believing in the hypothesis. How does your knowledge of the reality of the field make
you lean towards one hypothesis or another? Explain to the reader how you will be
able to prove or disprove the hypothesis that you set out with through the course of
your research/work. Talk about any particular relevant issues that could affect the
course of the research, or any basic questions or problems that people might have
regarding the topic and how you will go about your research process. Try to anticipate
how people will react to your hypothesis and make sure that you are able to start your
project on a strong heading. It may be best to have the opening paragraph of your
thesis reviewed before you embark on the research process, to make sure that you are
on the right track (or at least that the track makes sense to others) before you set off
and put a lot of effort into collecting data.

10

1.3

Purpose of the research/project

Next, you can talk about the background of the project. How did you choose the
project? What kind of greater historical context does the research that you are
engaged in exist within? You may want to talk about any related experiments or
research that specific people have done in the past, including landmark research cases
which are related to the topic at hand. This gives the reader a sense of how your
research fits into the greater scheme of things, and lets the reader compare what you
are about to present to the research which they may or may not already be familiar
with from leading figures in the history of the field.

1.4

Applications of the research

The subheading is self explanatory. Tell the reader what difference your work
can/will make in real life.

1.5

Theoretical bases and Organization

Finally, give the reader a sense of how the dissertation will be organized. Provide
some kind of chapter by chapter breakdown to tell the reader what can be expected so
that the reader will be able to scan the paper at first and have a good sense of what
ended up happening. Use solid principles of organization throughout your paper, in
addition to hitting all the above topics in your introductory paragraph, to make your
dissertation as readable as possible.

1.6

Summary

Summarize all what you have written in introduction.

11

Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter will include all of you work before starting the core of your thesis. What
you studied and why you studied that particular article/paper or book.

2.1

Related Technologies

Write what technologies are related to your thesis/project work.

2.1.1 Related Technology 1

Go in detail of one technology very close to your work.

2.1.2 Related Technology 2

If required, select another appropriate technology related to your work and explain it.

2.2

Related Projects

Projects already done or currently being done related to your work.

2.3

Related Studies

In what direction other researchers from your field are working. What is hot in
research these days and what is not?

2.4

Their Limitations and Bottlenecks

Whatever you discussed above, discuss their limitations and bottlenecks so that the
reader becomes aware of what needs to be done in this research area.

2.5

Summary

Summarize all what you have written in literature review.

12

Chapter 3
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
In this chapter, you will be discussing in detail all the tools used in your work. This
includes hardware, software and simulation tools or any other thing which aided in
your project. If multiple hardware/software tools are used, use subheadings and go in
detail of each one of them.

3.1

Hardware used with technical specifications

Details about hardware used. Use subheadings to explain different types of hardware
used.

3.2

Software(s), simulation tool(s) used

Details about software(s) used. Use subheadings to split different software, simulation
or mathematical tools used.

3.3

Summary

Summary of the chapter.

13

Chapter 4
METHODOLOGIES
This is the very core of your project/thesis/work. By now the reader is aware of your
goal, the relevant work going on and the tools you are going to use. Now explain from
beginning till very end all the methods you used to accomplish your results. Do not
hesitate in writing about all the techniques you applied but they were unable to give
you the required results. This is a part of learning process and should be included in
your thesis. The section headings in this chapter will be different for each thesis. Don
not hesitate in modifying/ adding/ removing any of these section headings as per your
requirement as you know best how you proceeded in your work and what were the
key steps features involved. Just make sure not to miss out on any of the steps. Some
sample section headings are given below. These wont be explained as they are self
explanatory and most probably will be amended by you according to your thesis
requirements.

4.1

Design of the investigation/Algorithms/ Hardware

4.2

Analysis procedures

4.3

Implementation procedure

4.3.1 Details about hardware

4.3.2 Details about software/ algorithms
4.3.2 Details about control etc

4.4

Verification of functionalities

4.5

Details about simulation / mathematical modeling

4.6

Summary

Summary of all your methodologies.

14

Chapter 5
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
In this chapter, you will explain all the results you achieved after completing all what
you explained in previous chapter. Try to find a balance while explaining your results.
Neither makes your project/work look worthless in case you were unable to achieve
the goals identified. Nor should you claim to have solved all the problems in the
world by the results you have achieved. Take a step by step approach as identified in
the section headings below.

5.1

Presentation of the findings

A general description of results of the thesis.

5.1.1 Hardware results

Split the project in major parts and discuss the results for each part.

5.1.2 Software results

Again split the project in different parts discuss the results for each part.

5.2

Discussion of the findings

Elaborate your findings/results and provide a critical analysis. Comparisons with

some standards or other authentic work done.

5.2.1 Comparison with initial GOAL

What you initially claimed and what you achieved in the end.

5.2.2 Reasoning for short comings

Most probably there will be some results not in line with your goal, explain the
reasons for this e.g. Hardware/recourses unavailability, time constraints e.t.c.

15

5.3

Limitations

The goals/results you achieved if some constraints have or if they are for some
specific conditions, explain all these.

5.4

Recommendations

What your recommendations would be to someone who wants to carry on with your
work where you left it or wants to improve it.

5.5

Summary

Summary of the results.

16

Chapter 6
CONCLUSION
What is the strongest and most important statement that you can make from your
observations? If you met the reader at a meeting six months from now, what do you
want them to remember about your paper? Refer back to problem posed, and describe
the conclusions that you reached from carrying out this investigation, summarize new
observations, new interpretations, and new insights that have resulted from the present
work. Include the broader implications of your results. Make sure you do not repeat
word for word of any part of thesis above.

17

REFERENCES
[1]
W.K. Chen. Linear Networks and Systems. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1993,
pp. 123-35.
nd

[2]
J.E. Bourne. Synthetic structure of industrial plastics, in Plastics, 2
vol. 3. J. Peters, Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964, pp.15-67.

ed.,

[3]
G. Pevere. Infrared Nation. The International Journal of Infrared Design,
vol. 33, pp. 56-99, Jan. 1979.
[4]
D.B. Payne and H.G. Gunhold. Digital sundials and broadband technology,
in Proc. IOOC-ECOC, 1986, pp. 557-998.
[5]
nd

B. Brandli and M. Dick. Engineering names and concepts, presented at the

2 Int. Conf. Engineering Education, Frankfurt, Germany, 1999.

[6]
E.E. Rebecca. Alternating current fed power supply. U.S. Patent 7 897 777,
Nov. 3, 1987.
nd

[7]
S. Calmer. (1999, June 1). Engineering and Art. (2 edition). [On-line]. 27(3).
Available: www.enggart.com/examples/students.html [May 21, 2003].
[8]
A. Paul. (1987, Oct.). Electrical properties of flying machines. Flying
Machines.
[On-line].
38(1),
pp.
778-998.
Available:
www.flyingmachjourn/properties/fly.edu [Dec. 1, 2003].
[9]
M.
Duncan.
Engineering
Concepts
on
www.iceengg.edu/staff.html, Oct. 25, 2000 [Nov. 29, 2003].

Ice.

Internet:

18

APPENDICES
Appendix A

19

Appendix B

20