OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY

ILE-IFE, NIGERIA.

The Postgraduate College

GUIDELINES FOR WRITING THESES FOR

HIGHER DEGREES

October 2022.

0
PREAMBLE

A. PRELIMINARIES AND ARRANGEMENT OF CONTENTS

All pages of the bound thesis shall be numbered except the title page which is page one.
(i) The page number of the preliminary pages shall be written in the centre at the
bottom of each page in Roman Numerals. The pages with Arabic numbering
will be as from the first page of the main body of the actual thesis at the center
top. (The first page of every chapter should not be paged)
(ii) The thesis shall contain all or some of the following items (in capital letters)
arranged in the following order:
(a) Title Page
(b) Anti-plagiarism Declaration
(c) Authorisation to Copy (duly signed by Candidate)
(d) Certification Page (duly signed by Supervisor, Co-supervisor (where applicable)
Head of Department and Provost)
(e) Acknowledgements (maximum of 2 pages)
(f) Table of Contents
(g) List of Tables
(h) List of Figures/ Maps
(i) List of Plates (where applicable)
(j) List of Cases/Statutes should be included in the items contained in the thesis.
(This is applicable to candidates from some Faculties such as the Faculty of Law)
(k) List of Appendices (where applicable)
(l) List of Abbreviations (where applicable)
(l) Abstract
(m) Main body of the thesis which must contain introduction, literature review,
methodology, results/findings, conclusion, contribution to knowledge
(n) References/Bibliography
(o) Appendices
(p) Published article(s) from the study ( NUC Accredited Journal Only)

(a) Title Page

The first unnumbered page after the fly leaf shall bear the full title of the thesis, the full
name of the author, (surname last, first name and other names) the registration number,
the qualifications of the author at the time of submission, the degree for which the thesis
is submitted, the Faculty in which the thesis is written, the Postgraduate College to which
the thesis is submitted, and the year of submission of the thesis. Where the author is an
external candidate, the full address of the institution where the work for the degree was
done shall be given on the title page and shall be reproduced in gold on the front cover.
An example of the title page is attached at the end of this document.
(b) Anti-plagiarism Declaration
Anti-plagiarism Declaration (duly signed as shown below)
1, (surname last, first name, other name(s) (Reg. No) of the Dept of ………….,
Faculty of …………………. Understand the interpretation of plagiarism and I am well
aware of the University’s policy in this regard.

1
 I submit that this thesis is my own original work and other people’s work utilised, (either
from a printed source, internet, or any other source) has been properly acknowledged and
referenced in accordance with University’s policy.

Signature Date

(c) Authorisation to Copy (duly signed by the candidate)

“All letters of the title and name of the author shall be capitalised (surname last, first
name, other names).”

(d) Certification Page (duly signed as shown below) A sample of the certification page is as

follows:
This is to certify that the research was carried out by __________________as part of the
requirements for the award of …………in..………of the Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

(Signature)
_________________________________ ________
Supervisor (Name) Date

(Signature)
________________________________________ __________
Co-Supervisor (Name) Date
(where applicable)

(Signature)
________________________________ ________
Head of Department (Name) Date

________________________________
(Signature) ________
Provost (Name) Date

(e) Acknowledgements
These shall be the expressions of gratitude to persons, groups and/or institutions for aid or
support provided in the course of thesis writing. This page shall follow the certification page.

2
 It shall not exceed two pages. (The following order of arrangement is suggested: supervisor,
HOD, academic and non-teaching staffs, classmates, family).

(f) Table of Contents

This shall contain the contents of the thesis starting from the title page. The first page of
each of items in A (ii) above shall be stated in the front of the subheadings as listed in the
content page.

(g) List of Tables

A complete list of tables to which references have been made in the text of the thesis
shall be given.
(h) List of Figures/Maps
A complete list of the figures indicating titles and pages where they appear should be
given serially.
(i) List of Plates
A complete list of the plates to which references have been made shall be given.
(j) List of Cases /Statutes (where applicable)
(k) List of Appendices (where applicable)
(l) List of Abbreviations /Acronyms (where applicable)
(m) Abstract

Each thesis shall have an abstract of not more than 500 words. Three extra copies of the
same abstract besides those in the bound copies submitted in accordance with the
regulations shall be submitted by the candidate to the Postgraduate College. The abstract
shall be written in four paragraphs conforming to the following format:
(i) Introduction/Objective:
This shall be a brief statement of what the work is about, comprising specific
objectives and the overall purpose of the work.
(ii) Methodology:
Field work (collection of primary and secondary data)
Laboratory Work (where applicable)
Methods of Data Analysis/Analytical Techniques
Statistical Techniques (where applicable)
(iii) Findings/Results:
These shall comprise the specific findings and discussion of such findings or
results
(iv) Conclusion/ Implications:
The concluding part must include implications of findings. (Contribution to knowledge)
(n) Main Body of the Thesis

3
 The form of presentation may vary with the subject matter and the discipline. However,
this shall comprise those listed in A (ii),(m)

(o) References and Bibliography

Authors’ names should be consistently written in Alphabetical order in the ‘References’
or ‘Bibliography’ Section. The specifics on this section shall be prepared in accordance
with Section B below:

(p) Appendices (where applicable)

*(q) Published article(s) from the study (NUC Accredited Journal Only)

B. CITATION OF REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC STYLE

1. Citation in the text
The style used shall vary from one discipline to another. It is however important that the
author should maintain a consistent style throughout the thesis, which should conform to
one of the following referencing styles or any other one applicable to individual faculties.
(Latest version applicable must be used).
(a) American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style
(b) Modern Language Association (MLA) Referencing Style
(c) Chicago Referencing Style
(d) Vancouver Referencing Style
(e) Harvard Referencing Style

2. Listing of citations:
(i) In cases where citations are made in the text by using the Havard System, the
citations shall be listed alphabetically according to the authors’ names. The lines after
the authors’ names shall be indented sufficiently such that only the authors’ names
appear towards the left margin. The number of papers by the same author shall be
listed in chronological order, several papers in one year shall be given suffixes such
as a, b and c after the year. It shall not be necessary to repeat the name of the same
author in all the publications for one or more years, but long dashes opposite
subsequent references of the author arranged below the name, shall suffice. In case of
a multiple authorship, the name of the first author shall be used to determine the
alphabetical order in the list.

3. Quotations
Quotations should correspond exactly with the originals in wording, spelling,
capitalisation and punctuation. Two methods of indicating quotations are used
depending on the length of the quotations.
(i) If a quotation is less than two lines, double quotation marks are placed at the
beginning and end within the text as follows:

4
 “Life is like a fleeting shadow”.

(ii) A quotation which is (or maximum-40 words) should be indented using single
spacing as follows:
“The country remained amalgamated only on paper and
the southern and northern administrations, especially the
political departments remained separate.”

Either of these methods must indicate the appropriate source of the quotation in
one of the ways for citing references explained in B(1) and B(2) above.

4. Ellipse

Where a part, or parts of a quotation are left out, such omitted part(s) must be indicated

by three dots only (…) no matter how long, to show that something from the original
has been omitted.

C. METHOD OF CITING ACCORDING TO THE FORMAT OF GRAPHIC

COMMUNICATION FOR ALL DISCIPLINES
1. Books, Pamphlets and Reports
The following order of referencing is recommended for books, pamphlets and reports.
(a) Name(s) of author(s), editor(s) or compiler(s)
(b) Date (for scientific works only and in parenthesis)
(c) Full title, including sub-title. This shall be written exactly as the original in wording
and punctuation. There shall be no translation of titles from one language to another.
All generic names of plants and animals shall be italicised:
(d) Editions other than the first
(e) Place of publication, in the language of the publication.
(f) Name(s) of publisher(s)
(g) Date of publication: for scientific works, this is given after the author’s name, for the
humanities, this may be given after the name of publishing organisation.
(h) Number of volumes (if more than one) or number of pages if the book is in one
volume.
(i) Where applicable, the title of the series and volume number or part in the series, in
parenthesis.
Examples
Editors and Compilers
Editors and compilers are regarded as authors and their names are given in the same way
as above, except that they are followed by the appropriate abbreviation(s) ed. or eds., for
editor(s) and comp. or comps. for compiler(s).
Works by Two or More Authors
Works by two or more authors are entered in the order in which they occur in the title
page. The initials of the author mentioned are inserted (see example below). In the case

5
 of three or more authors, the word ‘and’ is inserted between the names of the last two
authors.

4. Titles of Nobility
Office, traditional rulers and members of religious orders who do not use their surname
are entered under the personal names officially adopted by them and shall be cited.
5. Anonymous Works:
An anonymous work is one in which the author’s name does not appear anywhere in the
book, e.g. The Holy Bible or The Holy Quran. When the name of an author is represented
by initials, asterisks or other typographical devices, the work shall be treated as
anonymous and entered under the title.
6. Corporate Author:
Publications of societies, institutions, governments international organisations or other
corporate bodies, which do not carry the names of personal authors, are entered under the
name of the corporate body in its official language. For international organisations having
official names in more than the language, the name shall be given in the language of the
thesis. Names of such corporate bodies shall not be cited in a language not used by
the body itself. In English and Spanish, the main words in the names of corporate bodies
shall begin with capital letters. For rules of capitalisation in French and other languages, a
handbook such as Ostermann’s Manual of Foreign languages shall be consulted.
7. Government Agency as Author:
Government publications are usually listed under the name of the official agency
responsible for their publication that is the “corporate author”

The reference shall include the following:

(a) Name of the country, state, city, town or other government districts.
(b) Name of the major division of government (Nigeria, Ministry of Finance)
(c) Further subdivisions, if necessary (Nigeria, Ministry of Finance, Permanent
Secretary’s Office).

When a personal author appears on the title page of a government publication, the work
shall be listed under the name of the author.

1. Part of Books, Pamphlets and Reports

Articles in Encyclopedia
References to articles in encyclopedia of a single volume or set, or to
single chapters in a book shall have the following order:
(a) Author(s) of the article or chapter;
(b) Title of the article or chapter
(c) Title of the whole work
(d) Imprint of the whole work
(e) Number of pages
6
 Reference to articles in encyclopedias, biographies, dictionaries, yearbooks and
almanacs shall be brief, omitting the editor, publisher and place of publication, but
including the number of the edition, the volume number and the date of the volume
cited.

2. Books in Parts
A work of single authorship in several volumes shall be published under one general title
with separate titles for the individual volumes cited, but the general titles shall also be
indicated.

3. Single Chapters of Parts of Books

If only a single chapter or passage of book is referred to, the form of reference shall be
such that the cited parts are related to the whole work. A word or phrase shall be added to
indicate the relationship of the part to the whole.

Note that the number of pages in the whole book is not given.

III. Periodicals and Newspapers

1. General References:
Periodicals, including magazines, journals, proceedings of learned conferences and
newspapers shall be listed by title if the reference is a general one, that is, if it is to the
paper as a whole and not to a specific passage in a given edition. Such a reference shall
consist of (i) the title (with the initial article, if any, omitted, and with only the first word
and proper nouns capitalised) followed by (ii) place of publication (in parentheses in the
language of the periodical), (iii) the volume and issue number if necessary and (iv) the
date or dates of the issue referred to. When exact dates are required, as for newspaper
references, they shall include the day, month (in the language of the publication) and the
year, in that order.

Specific References to Articles in Periodicals and Newspapers

In references to articles in periodicals, the following essential information shall be given
in the order shown.
(a) Author’s surname, followed by initials
(b) Date, for scientific work only and in parentheses;
(c) Title of article
(d) Name of periodical in full and underlined
(e) Place of publication in the language of the periodicals
(f) Volume number of the periodical (in Arabic numerals), and issue number, if
any. Where both are used, the issue number is in parentheses
(g) Pages of the articles
(h) Month and year of issue of the periodical, in the language of the periodical.
It will be noted that although the arrangement of elements followed in referring to articles
is essentially the same as that followed in referring to books, there are differences of
punctuation and typographic style which are important. Thus, the name of the periodical
7
 is underlined to make it stand out from the title of the article cited. For a specific
newspaper article, a reference shall be given but with the date of issue of the newspaper
supplied in place of the volume number.

The place of publication is omitted when it is apparent from the title of the newspaper.

IV Arrangement of References:
(i) In case where references are indicated in the text by names of authors with dates
of publication in parentheses, the reference shall be arranged alphabetically by
authors’ names at the end of each page, following the prescribed regulations for
indentation, punctuation and capitalisation for each form of publication.
Two or more papers by the same author shall be arranged in chronological order,
according to the dates of publication; several papers in one year shall be arranged
with the order of a, b, c, etc. It shall not be necessary to repeat the name of the
author in all the publications for one or more years, but long dashes drawn
opposite subsequent references of the same author arranged below the first
reference with names shall suffice.
(ii) In the case of a reference with multiple authorship, the name of the first author
shall be used to determine the alphabetical order.

(iii) Bibliographies
In addition to one of the two methods of citing and arranging reference
recommended above, it is necessary to collate all references at the end of the
thesis. As a rule, a section of the work may be arranged as follow:
(a) Alphabetically by author
(b) Serially as cited in the thesis or as numbered
(c) Classified by subject
(d) By form of publication

Works which have not been referred to in the text but which the author wishes to
draw attention to could be included here, published and unpublished works shall
also be arranged separately, following one or more of the arrangements
recommended above.

Legends for Plates, Figures and Tables:

(i) Plates:
All plates shall be given numbers (consistent with the chapter under
consideration) and suitable titles which shall be self-explanatory without
reference to the text. The plate numbers and legends for letter labels,
superimposed on photomicrographs etc. shall be given below the plate title.
Where necessary the magnification of the plate shall be given.

(ii)Figures:

8
 Every Figure (graphs, charts, histograms, maps etc) included in the main body
of the thesis shall be numbered (consistent with the chapter under
consideration) and suitable self-explanatory title of the Figure given below the
Figure on the same page. Labeling must be clear and accurate, scales and keys
to maps must be clearly indicated by any of their accepted methods. Graphs,
histographs and charts must be clearly divided up and suitably labeled. Units
of measurement shall be indicated. The word Figure may be abbreviated to
(Fig.) followed by the number of the figure in the text. (Title cased??)
(iii) Tables
Each table shall be numbered (consistent with the chapter under
consideration) and shall have a suitable heading which must be self
explanatory. The word “Table” capitalised and followed by an Arabic number
shall appear at the centre on top of the table. The legend, or descriptive title of
the table shall be centred above the body of the table; only the first word
and proper names shall begin with capital letters and shall be underlined.
(Heading title cased??)
Each table shall not be ruled but have top and bottom borders. Units of
measurement must be clearly indicated in the appropriate column of the table.
Explanatory footnotes to table must be indicated by means of standard
footnote reference marks (*, x, +) placed after words or the numbers to which
foot-notes refer. Footnotes may also be indicated by use of superscript letter
(a, b, c, etc), placed after words or before numbers in the table. The footnotes
must appear below the table on the same page.
(iv) References in texts to figures, tables and plates
Reference to figures, tables and plates in the text shall be made by number and
never by headings or titles. Where reference is made to a table or figure by
stating the fact shown by the figures or table, the reference shall be in
parentheses as close as possible to the first point of mention.
(v) Placement of figures, tables and plates
All figures, tables and plates prepared in landscape format should have their
headings at the top of the figure, table or plate and should go to the spine.
(vi) Equation where applicable, equation editor must be utilised.

D. HEADING AND FORMAT

1. Heading in text
(a) Chapter Heading
The main chapter heading shall be capitalised, highlighted and written centrally at
the top of the first page of the chapter. The main chapter heading shall not be
underlined. Scientific names of plants and animals if they appear in their headings
shall be italicised.

(b) Sub-heading
9
 This shall be written in title case, highlighted but shall appear towards the left
margin; however, sub-headings shall be written in sentence case and may be
underlined and flushed with the left margin.

The subheading should be numbered using Arabic numerals. Both subheadings

and sub-subheadings can be numbered using Arabic numerals.
2. Paper, typing and spacing
The paper shall be of good quality. The size of the paper for theses and
dissertations word-processed shall be A4, except for drawings and maps, on
which no restriction is placed. The margin on each sheet shall not be less than
38 mm on the left hand side, 25 mm on the right, 25 mm at the top, and 25
mm at the bottom.
The thesis shall be typed double spacing in Times New Romans 12 on one side
of the paper only. However, chapter heading shall be capitalised, highlighted
and typed in Times New Romans 14.

Binding
Three copies of the thesis shall be required. The cover of the thesis shall be black
with the surname last, the first and other names in full. Candidate’s name
with initials preceding surname, title of degree and year of award in that
order shall be on the spine of the thesis, from top to bottom.
The title page shall bear the officially approved title of the thesis or dissertation
and the candidate’s name as registered.

Photographic and other illustrations shall be securely fixed, preferably by dry-mounting.

Photograph album pockets or slits in the page are not acceptable. In no circumstance shall
cellotape or similar materials be used for any purpose in a copy of a thesis or dissertation.
Subsidiary papers and other loose materials shall be bound whenever possible. If this is
not possible, an adequately scored pocket for such materials shall be provided at the end
of the thesis or dissertation. Such loose materials (and corrigenda sheets), if not bound
shall bear the candidate’s name, initials and degree.
Other sub subheadings can also be written in sentence case. The subheading should be
numbered using Arabic numerals. Both subheadings and sub-subheadings can be used
using Arabic numerals.

The Postgraduate College

2022

10