STYLE MANUAL FOR UNDERGRADUATE THESES

AT THE VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY

INTRODUCTION

This Style Manual for Undergraduate Thesis at VSU provides students and thesis
advisers with guidance on preparing thesis manuscripts. This manual has been approved
by the Academic University Academic Council in its meeting on February 12, 2010.
Undergraduate thesis manuscripts should conform with the guidelines in this style
manual.

STYLE MANUAL

1. Number of Required Copies

VSU requires graduating students to submit four copies of the undergraduate thesis
manuscript. These copies are distributed as follows:

1. VSU Main Library – 1 copy

2. Students’ Department Library – 1 copy
3. Adviser – 1 copy
3. Student -- one copy

It is a must that the four copies conform to the guidelines in this style manual.

2. Cover of the Manuscript

The official color of the cover of the undergraduate thesis manuscript is green. The cover
should include the thesis title, label “Undergraduate Thesis”, student’s name, Visayas
State University, VSU Seal, term and year of thesis completion. Font, font size, and
letters should follow Fig. 1.

The spine should include a bar code indicating the color code of the student’s degree,
family name, the initials of his/her given name/s and middle name, abbreviation of
his/her degree, and year of graduation. Font, font size, and letters should follow the Fig.
2.

The official binders of VSU students’ thesis are the Printing Press and the Library. These
binderies are expected to follow the guidelines. However, take note that students are
required to submit four copies only. So, only these four copies are required to be bound in
the official binderies. Should the student opt to reproduce more than four copies of
his/her manuscript, he/she can have the remaining copies bound outside VSU. However,
since the VSU seal is copyrighted, only the VSU Printing Press and VSU Library are
allowed to use it.

Style Manual for VSU Undergraduate Theses… 1

Fig. 1. Sample cover of VSU undergraduate thesis

Style Manual for VSU Undergraduate Theses… 2

Fig. 1. Sample spine of VSU undergraduate thesis

Style Manual for VSU Undergraduate Theses… 3

3. Preliminary Pages

The preliminary pages of the manuscript include the Transmittal, Acknowledgment, Table
of Contents, List of Tables, List of Figures, List of Boxes (if applicable), List of
Appendices, and the Abstract. Page numbers of the preliminary pages should be in the
lower case of the Roman numeral. Margins in these pages should follow the same
guidelines for the text.

3.1 Transmittal
The Transmittal serves as a legal document that the thesis is approved. In the bound
manuscript, the Transmittal should bear the signature and date of signing of the adviser,
members of the Student Research Committee (SRC), and the department head. In the
case of veterinary medicine students, the Transmittal should be signed by the adviser,
SRC members, and the dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, instead of the
Department Head.

3.2 Acknowledgment
The acknowledgment section recognizes the people, institutions and groups who have
contributed to completion of the work. The acknowledgment should be no more than two
pages, typed doubled-spaced using 12 points Times New Roman, and using a plain paper.
The Acknowledgment section should not include photographs, illustrations and other
unnecessary elements. Do not include your name and your signature in the
acknowledgment.

3.3 Table of Contents

The Table of Contents gives the reader an idea of the contents of the manuscript. In
preparing the Table of Contents, use Times New Roman, 12 points. Entries within the
major sections should be single-spaced. Leave a space between major sections.

3.4 List of Figures

The List of Figures should be composed of three columns. The first is the figure number,
second the figure title and the third, the page where the figure appears. Use 12 points,
Times New Roman when you prepare your List of Figures.

3.5 List of Boxes

Theses in social sciences require the use of boxes to amplify important findings. If your
thesis includes boxes, prepare a List of Boxes using 12 points, Times New Roman. In the
first column, put the box number, title of the box in the second column and the page
number in the third column.

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3.6 Abstract
The Abstract gives a bird’s eye view of the rationale, methods and findings of the thesis.
Type your Abstract double-spaced using 12 points Times New Roman. Limit your
Abstract to 250 words only. Include the thesis title, the month and year of approval and
the major thesis adviser in your abstract.

4. Inside Pages

4.1 Components of the Inside Pages

For theses in the social science fields (i.e., Development Communication, Economics),
the inside pages of the thesis manuscript include the following:

CHAPTER I -- INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER II-- REVIEW OF LITERAUTRE
CHAPTER III -- THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
CHAPTER IV -- METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER V -- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
CHAPTER VI – SUMMARY, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
LITERATURE CITED
APPENDICES

For theses in the bio-physicals sciences, the inside pages should be composed of the
following:

CHAPTER I -- INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER II-- REVIEW OF LITERAUTRE
CHAPTER III-- MATERIALS AND METHODS
CHAPTER IV -- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
CHAPTER V – SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
LITERATURE CITED
APPENDICES

4.2 Margins and Font

Top and left margins should be 1.5 inches, while the right and bottom margins, 1 inch.
Throughout the manuscript, use Times New Roman. Set the text in 12 points and double-
spaced. Each indention should be 5 spaces and use the “Tab” key, instead of the spacebar,
to ensure consistency of indentions.

4.3 Pagination
Page numbers should be at the upper right hand corner of each page. At the beginning of
each chapter, however, page number should be hidden.

4.4 Scientific names

Whether in the title or in the text, scientific names should be written using the following
standard format:
 Capitalize only the first letter of the genus.

Style Manual for VSU Undergraduate Theses… 5

  Italicize both the genus and species names when printed or underlined separately
when typewritten.
 Write the author’s name after the species name. Do not italicize it and exclude the
date of publication in the title. It can be mentioned in the text.
 If no species name is indicated, write sp. (if only one species) or spp. (if more
than one species) after the genus. Do not italicize sp. or spp. Because these are
not latin words.

4.5 Chapters
Each chapter should begin with a chapter number. The chapter number and title should be
written in the upper case.

As a rule, never start a sentence with a number. Spell out numbers 1 to 10. Write
numbers 11 and up as numbers.

For research objectives, indent and list them using the Arabic numbers.

4.6 Subheadings
Write Subheading 1 -- e.g. Nature and Importance of the Study -- three spaces down from
the chapter title. Set it in bold lower case letters. Do not indent, underline and italicize it
and do not put a colon after it. Start the text two spaces below the subheading. Also,
flush it to the left margin.

Place Subheading 2 three spaces below the last line of the preceding paragraph. Indent it
five spaces from the left margin and set in bold lower case letters. For Subheading 3,
indent it, set in bold letters, underline and put a period at the end. Start the text right after
and in the same line as the subheading. Flush it to the left margin.

4.7 Citing References in the Text

4.71 Direct Quotations. As much as possible, direct quotes should be avoided. Use
direct quotations when presenting an author's specific definition or original label. The
best way is to paraphrase the writing effectively and more concisely, taking care to
properly attribute the source or sources of your statements.

If a direct quotation is inevitable, include the author, year of publication, and the page
number for the reference (preceded by "p."). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase
that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.
Examples are:

According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially
when it was their first time" (p. 199)

Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what
implications does this have for teachers?

Style Manual for VSU Undergraduate Theses… 6

She stated, "Students often had difficulty using the APA style," (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but
she did not offer an explanation as to why.

4.7.2 Citing a Work by Two Authors. Name both authors in the signal phrase or in the
parentheses each time you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names
within the text and use the ampersand in the parentheses.

Research by Wegener and Petty (1994) supports...

(Wegener & Petty, 1994)

4.7.3 A Work by Three or More Authors. Use the first author's name followed by “et
al.” in the signal phrase or in parentheses.

Harris et al. (2001) argued...

(Harris et al., 2001)

4.7.4 Organization as Author. Mention the organization in the signal phrase or in the
parenthetical citation the first time you cite the source.

According to the American Psychological Association

(2000),…

If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, include the abbreviation in brackets

the first time the source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in later citations.

First citation: (Department of Agriculture [DA], 2000)

Subsequent citations: (DA, 2000)

4.7.5 Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses. Order them the same way they
appear in the Literature Cited, separated by a semi-colon.
(Berndt, 2002; Harlow, 1983)

4.7.6 Authors With the Same Last Name. Use the first initials with the last names.

(E. Johnson, 2001; L. Johnson, 1998)

4.7.7 Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year. Use lower-case
letters (a, b, c) with the year to order the entries in the reference list. Use the lower-case
letters with the year in the in-text citation.

Research by Berndt (1981a) illustrated that...

4.7.8 Personal Communication. For interviews, letters, e-mails, and other person-to-
person communication, cite the communicator’s name, the fact that it was personal

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communication, and the date of the communication. Do not include personal
communication in the reference list.

(E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2001).

A. P. Smith also claimed that many of her students had difficulties with APA style
(personal communication, November 3, 2002).

4.7.9 Citing Indirect Sources. As much as possible, exert effort to use the original
source as doing so weakens your work. Use only secondary sources when the original
work is not available. In this case, name the original source in your signal phrase. List the
secondary source in your reference list and include the secondary source in the
parentheses.

Johnson argued that... (as cited in Smith, 2003).

4.7.10 Unknown Author and Unknown Date. If no author or date is given, use the title
in your signal phrase or the first word or two of the title in the parentheses and use the
abbreviation "n.d." (for "no date").

Another study of students and research decisions discovered that students succeeded with
tutoring ("Tutoring and APA," n.d.).

5. Tables

Write the table title in lower case letters, and single spaced. Do not put a period at the
end. If the table title consists of more than two lines, the first letter of the next lines shall
be aligned with the 1st letter of the table heading.

Start the one space down from table heading. As much as possible, tables should not
contain inner gridlines unless there are several columns and rows with multiple-digit
numeric entries that seem to mix up if not delineated by lines. Tables should preferably
contain only the top and bottom lines and another inner line below the column headings.
Use single thicker top and bottom lines and thinner inner line(s).

Column headings are in caps, not bold, not italicized. Entries inside the table are single-
spaced, uniform aligned decimal spaces, centered if numerical or same-length text
entries, left-justified if different-length text entries. Footnotes are left-justified using 10
pts Times New Roman.

6. Figures

Figure numbers and titles are also written in Times New Roman, 12 pts, not bold, no
period at the end. It should be placed at the bottom of the figure, left-justified if long,
centered if short. If the title consists of more than one line, the next line shall be aligned

Style Manual for VSU Undergraduate Theses… 8

with the first letter of the title. Spell out the word Figure in the figure title and in the text,
except when inside a parenthesis where it shall be abbreviated as Fig., i.e. Fig. 24 .
Put a single space from the figure to the figure title.

Text and numbers within the figure should be also follow Times New Roman, 12 pts or
smaller.

7. Literature Cited

The references shall be single spaced within each author entry, double spaced between
entries. These should be indented five spaces but not justified. For theses in the social
sciences, write the references following the style manual of the American Psychological
Association (APA). For those in the bio-physical sciences, follow the format of the
Annals of Tropical Research as follows:

Paper in Journals

PARDALES, J.R. JR., Y. KONO and A. YAMAUCHI. 1992. Epidermal cell elongation
in the growth zone of sorghum seminal roots exposed to high root zone temperature.
Plant Science 81: 143-146.

Books and Monographs

MARSCHNER, H. 1995. Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants, 2nd edn. Academic Press,
London.

Books and Monographs

MARSCHNER, H. 1995. Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants, 2nd edn. Academic Press,
London.

CAMPILAN D.M. 1995. Learning to change, changing to learn: managing natural

resources for sustainable agriculture in the Philippine uplands. WURS, Wageningen.

Paper within a book

JAHN, R. and V.B. ASIO. 1998. Soils of the tropical forests of Leyte, Philippines:
weathering, characteristics, classification and site qualities. In: Soils of Tropical Forest
Ecosystems (A. Schulte and D. Ruhiyat, eds). Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 29-36.

Paper in conference proceedings

MARGRAF, J., P.P. MILAN and P. WIDMANN. 1997. Rainforestation farming:

community based biodiversity utilization for sustainable development of critical
watersheds in the Philippines. Proceedings of the International Conference on
Reforestation with Philippine Species. Palo, Leyte, Philippines. pp. 320-334.

Style Manual for VSU Undergraduate Theses… 9

Thesis

GERMANO B.P. 1998. Benthic-pelagic coupling in tropical shallow soft bottoms and
implications for management. PhD thesis, University of Vienna, Austria.

No personal communication is included in your reference list; instead, parenthetically cite

the communicators’ name, the fact that it was personal communication, and the date of
the communication in your main text only.

Style Manual for VSU Undergraduate Theses… 10