Guidelines for Preparation of

Thesis / Dissertation/Reports

FOR

Ph.D./M.Tech./ M.S./M.Sc/DUAL DEGREE(B.Tech. + M .Tech.)

Students

by

Academic Section

THESIS PROCESSING OFFICE

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROPAR
2022
 Table of Contents

1. Introduction 1
1.1 Thesis Processing and Submission 2
1.2 General Guidelines 2
1.3 Components of Academic Thesis 2
2. Organization of Thesis/Dissertation 3
2.1. Cover Page 4
2.2. Title Page 4
2.3. Copyright 4
2.4. Dedication/Quotation 4
2.5. Declaration 4
2.6. Certificate 5
2.7. Acknowledgement 5
2.8. Lay Summary 5
2.9. Abstract 5
2.10. List of Publications Out of Thesis 6
2.11.Table of Contents 6
2.12.Text of Thesis 6
2.13.References/Bibliography 7
3. Specifications for Thesis Format 9
3.1. Thesis Size 9
3.2. Paper Quality 9
3.3. Paper Size 9
3.4. Double Sided Printing 10
3.5. Non Paper Material 10
3.6. Page Numbering 10
3.7. Binding 10
3.8. Font 11
3.9. Margins 11
3.10. Line Spacing 11
3.11.Equations 11
 3.12.Figures and Tables 12
3.13.Headers and Footers 12
3.14.Chapter and Section Format 12
3.15.Paragraph Format 13
3.16.The Appendix or Appendices 13
4. Technical Issue of Writing 14
4.1. Style of Writing 14
4.2. Citing References 15
4.3. List of References 15
4.4. Paraphrasing 15
4.5. Illustrating the Text 16
4.6. Tips for Good Writing 16
5. Summary 21
Bibliography 22
Appendix 23
Template for Cover Page 24
Template for Title Page 25
Template for Declaration 26
Template for Certificate 27
 Chapter 1
Introduction

1. Introduction
The purpose of a thesis is to demonstrate your proficiency in academic research and appropriate
academic communication, both written and oral. A thesis demonstrates your mastery of a particular
subject area and your ability to independently create new scientific knowledge. It presents the results
and an analysis of the student's original research and should be significant enough to be publishable in
the refereed literature. When writing your thesis, your information retrieval skills are developed, and
your faculty for critical and analytical thinking, problem-solving, and argumentation is strengthened -
all of which are skills required for success in your future working life.

The dissertation must have a coherent structure that provides a complete and systematic account of the
student's scholarly work. It may incorporate work from submitted, accepted, or published journal
articles, which may or may not have co-authors. It may also include other scholarly artifacts such as
film and other audio, visual, and graphic representations, and application-oriented documents such as
policy briefs, curricula, business plans, computer and web tools, pages, and applications, etc., so long
as they are also described and analyzed in a scholarly context.

Academic writing has its own particular style, with the emphasis on the subject matter along with the
precision of expression and the use of grammatically correct language. In addition, academic texts
follow the rules and conventions that have been generally agreed upon. This manual presents the
principles of academic writing as well as the formal writing requirements for theses IIT Ropar. This
document, hereinafter referred to as the Thesis Guide, lists the general and specific requirements
governing thesis preparation, including guidelines for structuring the contents. For style, structure, and
presentation of the thesis, students may refer to other manuals or reference guides (some of which are
listed below) and to the published literature in their respective field of study.

Reference Guides

Murray, R. (2017). EBOOK: How to Write a Thesis. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

Eco, U. (2015). How to write a thesis. MIT Press.

Neville, C. (2016). EBOOK: The Complete Guide to Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism. McGraw-
Hill Education (UK).

Dunleavy, P. (2003). Authoring a PhD: How to plan, draft, write and finish a doctoral thesis or
dissertation. Macmillan International Higher Education.

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Bailey, S. (2003). Academic writing: A practical guide for students. Psychology Press.

Parija, S. C., & Kate, V. (Eds.). (2018). Thesis Writing for Master's and Ph. D. Program. Springer.

1.1. Thesis Processing and Submission

The thesis processing office will facilitate the process of thesis submission. The thesis processing office
will take the manuscript well before the submission for plagiarism and format check. This office will
generate the similarity report for your thesis and write it on the submission form along with the
comments (if any). The final draft of the thesis will be submitted along with the completed submission
form. For more details, refer thesis processing office document or contact the office.

1.2. General Guidelines

The following guidelines may be followed during the preparation of the thesis.

 One should go through the guidelines of thesis preparation before beginning.

 The thesis should be prepared using standard text processing software such as MS
Word, Latex.
 The thesis should be free from typographical errors.
 Theses must be written in the English Language.
 One should ensure uniformity in fonts, text, spacing, margins, figures, tables, etc.
 Please ensure that you remove all personal information from your thesis, e.g., email
address, mailing or home address, etc. You must remove or black/white out all
signatures in your thesis.
1.3. Components of Academic Thesis

 Conceptualization - formulation of the research question(s); aims and objectives, development

of theoretical framework to conceptualize the problems or issues
 Review of literature - articulation of the state of the questions and identification of appropriate
theoretical perspectives from a detailed review of the literature
 Explanation of research methods - discussion of possible research procedures and a rationale
for the methods chosen data collection - clear description of the research process undertaken to
implement the research design, description, analysis and evaluation of findings
 Reporting of results – linked to research objectives, and referring to key methodological issues
outlined earlier
 Analysis/discussion - effective presentation, discussion and synthesis of results
 Conclusion - recommendations for future research

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  Presentation, layout - physical format of your work, clarity of writing style, effective use of
images, tables, figures, charts diagrams etc., coherent use of argument, and critical analysis of
evidence, in support of one's investigation

The next chapter of this manual includes a brief account of the organization of the thesis and the typical
content and purpose of each chapter. The third chapter describes the typical structure of a thesis. The
fourth chapter contains guidance on matters like the style of writing, referencing and paraphrasing
techniques, lists of references, illustrating the text, and tips for good writing. Chapter 5 is a short
summary of the aims of this manual.

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 Chapter 2
Organization of the Thesis / Dissertation

The general structure of the thesis is always the same, regardless of the research topic or the research
orientation. A thesis includes the following ingredients in the given order: the cover page, abstract,
table of contents, introduction, body, summary, list of references, and possible appendices.

The thesis shall be presented in a number of chapters, starting with introduction and ending with
summary and conclusions. Each of the other chapters will have a precise title reflecting the contents of
the chapter. A chapter can be subdivided into sections, sub-sections and sub-sub-section so as to present
the content discretely and with due emphasis.

When the work comprises two or more mutually independent investigations, the thesis may be divided
into two or more parts, each with an appropriate title. However, the numbering of chapters will be
continuous right through, for example Part 1 may comprise Chapters 2-5, Part Two, Chapters 6-9. The
following table shows the typical organization of the thesis and recommended for use at IIT Ropar.

Sr. No Sequence Requirement Pages Pagination

1 Title page Mandatory Single Unnumbered
2 Copyright page Mandatory Single Roman numeric
3 Dedication Optional Single Roman numeric
4 Declaration Mandatory Single Roman numeric
5 Certificate Mandatory Single Roman numeric
6 Acknowledgment Optional Single Roman numeric
7 Lay Summary Mandatory Multiple Roman numeric
8 Abstract Mandatory Single Roman numeric
9 List of publications Mandatory* Multiple Roman numeric
10 Table of contents Mandatory Multiple Roman numeric
11 Text/Body of thesis Mandatory Multiple Arabic
References/
12 Mandatory Multiple Arabic
Bibliography
13 Appendix If required Multiple Arabic
* List of publication may also be placed at the end of the thesis, after appendix.

The initial few pages should contain the following in that order:
Page 1 : Title page
Page 2 (backside of page 1) : Copyright Information
Page 3 : Dedications (if any)

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Page 4 : Blank (not required if dedications are not present).
Page 3 : Certificate from supervisor(s) in the prescribed format.
Page 4 : Blank
Page 5 : Declaration of originality by the student in the prescribed format
Page 6 : Blank
Page7: Certificate from supervisor(s) in the prescribed format.
Page 8 : Blank
Page 9 : Lay Summary
Each new part or chapter should start on an odd-numbered page, so that it looks good on print. The
following structure description is for theses with both a theoretical and an empirical section to be
submitted at IIT Ropar.

2.1. Cover Page

The contents and the page settings of the cover page of a thesis have been defined in the following
template [Link] as well as provided in the Appendix.

2.2. Title Page

The title page includes the title of the thesis, the degree for which the thesis was written, name of the
candidate, department, the name of the institute and passing month and year. The sample of the title
page is shown in appendix A. The format used for the title page are given in the template [Link] as well
as provided in the Appendix.

2.3. Copyright

The following guideline would be helpful concerning copyright ownership:

 The institute keeps ownership of the copyright in the following cases:
(1) The research is performed (whole or partial) using the institute fellowship, stipend, and research
grant taken from the institute.
(2) The research is performed using the components/equipments, research facility of the institute.
(3) If the research is carried out in two different universities or in collaboration with another
university,
(4) If the intellectual property is developed by institute faculty/staff/assistant/associate or other
visitor who have used the institute fund
 The student keeps ownership of the copyright in the following cases:
(1) The research is performed without taking the fund of the institute and without using any
facility/equipment/component of the institute.
(2) Only a minimal amount of unrestricted funds is used

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 (3) An intellectual property has been developed outside the institute area under any assistance ship
or sponsored project.
(4) Use of office, shop floor machine tools, desktop/computers, library, are not considered in the
institute funds.
2.4. Dedication / Quotation

This page / section is optional.

2.5. Declaration of originality

The declaration includes the following information:

 The thesis is written by student and the research work is independently conducted at IIT the institute
under the supervision of a IIT Ropar faculty
 The work has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification.
 Any publications from the research work are from student’s own work
 The thesis has been prepared as per the institute ethical guidelines.
 All collaborations and funding that have contributed to giving the thesis its final shape is duly
acknowledged and credited. Students must ensure they have signed and dated the declaration page.
 If accepted, consent for thesis to be available online in the Institute’s Open Access repository.
 In case of unethical practice, Institute reserves the rights to take suitable action.
The declaration page format is given in the template as well as the appendix in this document.

2.6. Certificate
The standard format of the certificate is given at the end of the document as well as in the template.
Certificate should be signed and dated by supervisor (and co-supervisor in case of two supervisor).

2.7. Acknowledgement

Acknowledgment might include funding bodies, supervisors, professors, lab assistance, librarians,
colleagues, classmates, family members, individual who inspired you during your research work etc.
Among other acknowledgements, the student is required to declare the extent to which assistance (paid
or unpaid) has been given by members of staff, fellow students, research assistants, technicians, or
others in the collection of materials and data, the design and construction of apparatus, the performance
of experiments, the analysis of data, and the preparation of the thesis (including editorial help). In
addition, it is appropriate to recognize the supervision and advice given by the thesis supervisor(s) and
advisors. Please note that the acknowledgment should not be more than 1 page.

2.8. Lay Summary

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The lay or public summary is a simplified version of the abstract that explains the key goals and
contributions of the research/scholarly work in terms that can be understood by the general public. It
does not use technical terms and discipline-specific language. It should be written for the general
audience/non-expert rather than researchers/scientist/professionals/specialists. Researchers are
increasingly tasked by their institutions and funders to outline the impact of their research for the general
public and beyond their specific area of interest. If you can transform your thesis into something that
the wider public can understand, you’ve got yourself another readership -and one who is more likely to
share what it is that you’ve discovered/hypothesized/confirmed further. A lay summary, or impact
statement, is a very efficient way of conveying the essence of your article briefly and clearly.

The key elements of a lay summary include (i) Put your research in context—how does it fit into the
bigger picture, (ii) Explain your study’s relevance and impact—what do you hope to achieve, and (iii)
Describe the approach of your project—how will you do the research. A Lay Summary helps connect
you with

 Researchers in your field interested in collaborating on upcoming projects

 Researchers from interdisciplinary fields who would benefit from your research
 Policymakers and influencers interested in science-based change
 Funders considering applications for future grants

Lay summary should be written in an easily readable style, avoiding complex technical and grammatical
terms, and it should not be more than 450 words. Lay summary can be written in English or National
language (Hindi)/mother tongue. English translation may be provided, in case lay summary written in
other than English.

2.9. Abstract
The abstract is a critical part of a scientific paper; in fact, it may be the only part people read. An abstract
is a short summary of a longer work (such as a dissertation or thesis) usually about a paragraph (~350
words) long. The abstract concisely reports the aims and outcomes of your research so that readers
know exactly what the thesis is about. A well-written abstract serves multiple purposes: (i) an abstract
lets readers get the gist or essence of your thesis or article quickly, in order to decide whether to read
the full paper; (ii) an abstract prepares readers to follow the detailed information, analyses, and
arguments in your full thesis; and (iii) later, an abstract helps readers remember key points from your
thesis/paper.

It’s also worth remembering that search engines and bibliographic databases use abstracts, as well as
the title, to identify key terms for indexing your research work. So what you include in your abstract
and in your title are crucial for helping other researchers find your work.

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There are two general types of abstracts.

 Descriptive abstracts: Descriptive abstracts include a short synopsis of the scope of a paper
and provide background information on it without revealing the results of a specific research
project. Descriptive abstracts are fairly short—typically around 100 words in length within a
single paragraph.
 Informative abstracts: Informative abstracts are more comprehensive than descriptive
abstracts. Informative abstracts summarize all of the main points of a scientific paper, including
its methodology, purpose, results, and conclusions.

Here are the typical kinds of information found in most abstracts:

1. the context or background information for your research; the general topic under study; the
specific topic of your research
2. the central questions or statement of the problem your research addresses
3. what’s already known about this question, what previous research has done or shown
4. the main reason(s), the exigency, the rationale, the goals for your research—Why is it
important to address these questions? Are you, for example, examining a new topic? Why is
that topic worth examining? Are you filling a gap in previous research? Applying new methods
to take a fresh look at existing ideas or data? Resolving a dispute within the literature in your
field? . . .
5. your research and/or analytical methods
6. your main findings, results, or arguments
7. the significance or implications of your findings or arguments.
General guideline for writing the abstract in your thesis is as follows.

 Your abstract should be intelligible on its own, without a reader’s having to read your entire
paper.
 You usually do not cite references—most of your abstract will describe what you have studied
in your research and what you have found and what you argue in your paper.
 It should not contain abbreviation and acronyms, figures or extensive tables.
 The abstract should be 300 - 500 words.
 Keywords should be included after the last line of abstract.

2.10. List of Publications Out of Thesis

Journal articles, conference paper, book chapters, patents, technical notes on the topic of the thesis
published by the candidate may be separately listed in this section. List of publications is anticipated

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to cover both published manuscripts (articles) and unpublished ones (about to submit/ under
review/accepted manuscript).

2.11. Table of contents

The content should be arranged in the following sequence

 The table of contents has the short title CONTENTS and like all the other main
chapter headings it is printed in bold.
 The table of contents presents the structure of the thesis, that is, the headings
and the subheadings along with their page numbers.
 The indentation (see the table of contents of this manual as an example)
illustrates the hierarchy of chapters and subchapters.
 There must be at least two subchapters at each chapter level (e.g. 2.1 and 2.2).
 Chapter levels should not exceed three (e.g. main chapter 2 and subchapters 2.1
and 2.1.1).
 Chapter titles REFERENCES and APPENDICES are not numbered.

Figures and tables have their own tables of contents.

2.12. Text of thesis

The thesis is organized in several chapters, starting from Introduction, and ending at Summary and
Conclusions. Each of the other chapters have an adequate title relevant to the contents of the chapter. A
chapter can be categorized into sections, subsections, parts, etc. to present the content discretely and
with due emphasis. You are free to decide Body/text of the thesis and structuring on number of chapters
and chapter names as per the demand of the nature of thesis and typical practice in the research
area/Department. However, typical formatting of chapters is provided in the template.
Mostly the flow of information in a thesis is Introduction/Background Literature Review  Research
Design/methodology  Results and Discussion Summary and Conclusion. Considering this flow of
information, individual chapters are presented in the template and typical points to be considered by
student while writing the chapter is also provided. This is also typical story line for research paper on
a smaller scale. Students can present this information in any combination and number of chapters.
Students are advised to see the contents in the template.

2.13. References/Bibliography
The bibliography or list of references appears after the main document. It contains a list of all the cited
and recommended resources used to prepare the thesis report. This section should provide enough
information on the source that can be checked independently. The references could be journal papers,

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conference papers, book chapters, thesis, books, websites, etc. It is noted that the reference cited should
be consistent in a particular format.

The references can be in the ACS, APS, APA or Harvard format. You may choose the referencing
format, however be consistent with your format. The following could be examples for the citation in
ACS format.

Journal
Foster, J. C.; Varlas, S.; Couturaud, B.; Coe, J.; O’Reilly, R. K. Getting into Shape: Reflections on a
New Generation of Cylindrical Nanostructures’ Self-Assembly Using Polymer Building Block. J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 2019, 141 (7), 2742−2753.

Book
Young, G. O. Synthetic structure of industrial plastics in Plastics, 2nd ed., vol. 3, J. Peters, Ed. New
York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill, 1967.

Edited book
Hammond, C. The Basics of Crystallography and Diffraction, 4th ed.; International Union of
Crystallography Texts on Crystallography, Vol. 21; Oxford University Press, 2015.

Book chapter
Hammond, C. Crystal Symmetry. In The Basics of Crystallography and Diffraction, 4th ed.;
International Union of Crystallography Texts on Crystallography, Vol. 21; Oxford University Press,
2015; pp 99−134.
Thesis or dissertation
Cable, M. L. Life in Extreme Environments: Lanthanide-Based Detection of Bacterial Spores and Other
Sensor Design Pursuits. Ph.D. Dissertation, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 2010.
Conference proceedings
Nilsson, A.; Petersson, F.; Persson, H. W.; Jönsson, H.; Laurell, T. Manipulation of Suspended Particles
in a Laminar Flow. In Micro Total Analysis Systems 2002, Proceedings of the μTAS 2002 Symposium,
Nara, Japan, November 3−7, 2002; Baba, Y., Shoji, S., van den Berg, A., Eds.; Kluwer Academic
Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2002; Vol. 2, pp 751−753.
Patent
Lois-Caballe, C.; Baltimore, D.; Qin, X.-F. Method for Expression of Small RNA Molecules within a
Cell. US 7 732 193 B2, 2010.
Technical report
Hung, C.-C.; Hurst, J.; Santiago, D. Boron Nitride Nanoribbons from Exfoliation of Boron Nitride
Nanotubes; NASA/TM-2017-219455; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Glenn Research
Center: Cleveland, OH, 2017. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=2017000388

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 Chapter 3
Specifications for Thesis Format

Proper organization of the thesis is extremely important that enable the readers to view and understand
the contents of the thesis. The thesis should be prepared using standard text processing software and
free from typological errors. All the font sizes, spacing, and margins should be uniform throughout the
text.

In this chapter, each component of the manuscript is listed to help the students in organizing their thesis
properly.

3.1. Thesis size

Candidates should write as concisely as is possible, with clear and adequate exposition. A thesis should
normally not exceed 100000 words (excluding prefacing materials of the thesis). Some tips to reduce
the size of a thesis are given below.

a. Do not unnecessarily repeat definitions and texts.

b. Proper referencing may save writing details of literature surveyed.

c. Be precise in your description, conclusions and interpretations.

d. Do not leave blank space on a page after a table or a figure.

e. Students might consider including a CD for details computer program listing and just include the
flow of the logic and its other distinguishing features in the text of the thesis.

3.2. Paper Quality

The copy of the thesis to be submitted to the central library should be durable. To ensure durability,
paper should be acid neutral or acid-free as mentioned in the packet. Thesis-quality paper is available
in the market and typically weighs 80-85 GSM (gram per square meter) or more.

3.3. Paper size

The standard size of paper of a thesis is 21.5 cm (8.5 inches) wide and 28 (11 inches) long, commonly
known as A4 sized paper.

Oversized figures and tables if any should be reduced appropriately to fit with the size of the paper.
Care should be taken not to compromise the clarity of the contents while reducing. If required, you may
consider folding oversized papers to fit with the thesis size.

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3.4. Double-sided printing
The copies of the thesis at the time of initial submission should be printed double sided. The final copy
of the thesis to be submitted to the central library only may be either single sided or double sided. In
case of double sided printing, care must be taken to choose paper quality so as to ensure opaqueness of
the paper and good readability under normal lighting conditions.

In a double sided thesis, new chapters always starts on an odd numbered page. If a chapter ends on an
odd numbered page, the next even numbered page is to be kept blank to ensure start of the next chapter
on an odd numbered page.

3.5. Non paper material

Digital or magnetic materials, such as CDs and DVDs, may be included in the thesis as a supporting
material. They have to be given in closed packet in the back cover page of the thesis. Proper label should
be given to non paper material that should include name of student, date of submission and copyright
notice. However, preservation and use of such material is not guaranteed from the central Library, since
rapid technology changes may render the format obsolete.

Students can also include important samples they have produced, e.g., Polymer films and others
provided they are non toxic and clearly labelled and packeted at the back cover page.

3.6. Page numbering

Page numbers for the prefacing materials of the thesis should be in Roman numerals and should be
centered or right cornered at the bottom of the pages.

Page numbers of the body of the thesis should be in Arabic numerals and start with the page of Chapter
1. It should continue throughout the thesis and same trend of centering or right cornering the numbers
as the Roman numerals be followed.

In double sided thesis, the odd numbered pages are always on the right and even numbered pages are
on the left.

3.7. Binding
Initial copies of the thesis submitted for examination have to be softbound and printed on both sides.
Final copies of the thesis, after incorporating the changes, corrections and modifications suggested
by the doctoral committee members, have to be hardbound and preferably printed on one side.
These hardbound copies should include name of student, abbreviated title and year of submission
on the binding side. The evaluation of the thesis may be soft or spiral bound. The final hard-bounded
to be submitted after the viva-voce seminar using the following specifications:

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  All the lettering on the title page should be embossed in gold.
 One white sheet should be put at the beginning and end of the thesis.
 One white sheets should be put at the beginning and end of the thesis.

Ph.D. Thesis Maroon

M.Tech./Msc. Thesis Brown

B.Tech. Black

3.8. Font
Preferred font size of normal text in the thesis is 12 point, but in no case should be less than 11
point. However, minimum acceptable font size of material within a table/figure/pictorial
representation is 8 point. The font type should be Times New Roman. The main heading should be
on the right side of the page with a font size of 16, and the text is in Bold. The subsection is in bold
text with a font size of 12.

3.9. Margins
A margin of 3.75 cm (1.5 inch) is to be given on the binding edge while on the other side it is to be
2.5 cm (1inch). The text of the thesis, including headings, figures, tables, and notes, but excluding
page numbers, must be accommodated within the page area.

3.10. Line Spacing

The line spacing in the main text should be one and a half (1.5). Single line spacing should be given
for abstract, declaration, thesis approval, figure captions, table titles, figure legends, foot notes and
references.

Two consecutive paragraphs should either be separated by spacing larger than the line spacing adopted
for the text or the paragraph is started with an initial tab space. Each heading or title, subtitle, sub-
subtitle should be written with double spacing, whereas the main text should be written in the spacing
of 1.5

3.11. Equations
Format of equations is dictated by the style guide the student is following. Short equations are centered
within the thesis margins. All equations are set off from preceding and following text by a triple space.
Spacing must be uniform and consistent. In general, equations should be numbered at the right margin
of the manuscript with the number either in brackets or parentheses. Equations may be numbered
consecutively or locally. If figures and tables are numbered locally, equations also must be numbered
locally. If they are locally numbered, the main divisions of the manuscript must be numbered with

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Arabic numerals. Local numbering of equations never exceeds one decimal place (i.e., equations are
never numbered according to the number assigned to a subheading). Equation numbers must be aligned
with each other throughout the manuscript.

3.12. Figures and Tables

Figures and tables should be presented following their first mention in the text. Short tables and figures
should be presented within the text, while large table and figures may be presented on separate pages.
Good quality figures must be prepared using standard software in vector graphics format and must be
scalable. The resolution of the images, photographs, etc must exceed 200dpi with 256 grayscales for
monochrome images and 24 bit per pixel for colored images.

3.13. Headers and Footers

Headers and footers may be used to provide chapter name/number or any other relevant information.
However, author should be consistent in the use of header/footers throughout the entire thesis. Header
should be added in each page of the main text. It contains front matter, main text, references, appendix
etc. The header should be placed 10 mm below the top edge of the page. The header on the odd number
pages includes the chapter no and title at the right corner. The header on the even number pages includes
a number and title of the section which is being written on that particular page, and at a left corner.
(Example is given in the template). The page should be numbered consistently. Page number prior to
chapter 1 should be given in lower case roman numerals considering the title page.

3.14. Chapter and Section Format

3.14.1. Chapter
Each chapter should begin on a fresh page (odd number page in case of double sided
printing). Chapter number (in HinduArabic) and title shall be printed at the right of the line
in 16pt font size in bold face using both upper and lower case (all capitals or small capitals
shall not be used).
3.14.2. Sections and Subsections
A chapter can be divided into Sections, Subsections and SubsubSections so as to present
different concepts separately. Sections and subsections can be numbered using decimal
points, e.g. 2.2 for the second section in Chapter 2 and 2.3.4 for the fourth Subsection in
third Section of Chapter 2. The Section and SubSection titles along with their numbers in
14 and 12 pt fonts, respectively, in bold face shall be flushed to the left (not centered) with
15 mm space above and below these lines.

3.15. Paragraph format

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 Vertical space between paragraphs shall be about 2.5 line spacing. The first line of each
paragraph should normally be indented by five characters or 12mm. A paragraph should
normally comprise more than one line. A single line of a paragraph shall not be left at the top
or bottom of a page (that is, no windows or orphans should be left). The word at the right end
of the first line of a page or paragraph should, as far as possible, not be hyphenated.

3.16. The Appendix or Appendices

If used, an appendix follows the text but precedes the references or bibliography. The pages of the
appendix are numbered consecutively with the rest of the text. There is considerable flexibility in the
kind of material that may be placed in appendices: computer programs, tables of raw data,
questionnaires, letters, original historical source material, etc. Each appendix should be sequenced with
upper-case letters of the alphabet (APPENDIX A, APPENDIX B). If there is only one appendix, no
letter is used; one appendix may or may not have an explanatory title. If there is more than one appendix,
each has an explanatory title. The appendix title(s) must be listed in the table of contents in all upper-
case letters. Subheadings in an appendix, however, are not listed in the table of contents. Subheads in
an appendix follow the same subhead scheme selected for the text.

15
 Chapter 4
Technical Issues of Writing

It is said that you learn to write by writing. Although that is true about academic writing
as well, we have a style of our own characterized by keeping to agreed formal writing
techniques. The writer of a thesis is supposed to know the basics of academic literary
conventions. This chapter describes the typical features of an academic text along with
the requirements for the language and the layout of theses at IIT Ropar.

4.1 Style of writing

Scientific writing requires a good knowledge of standard language and the command of
a formal style of writing. The grammatical and the orthographical rules of the language
must be followed. Scientific language is unambiguous and precise and discards vague
expressions like "several studies show that...", with no valid reference to an example.
An English text does not use contracted forms like "doesn't" or "can't". All
standardised forms of English are accepted but they must not be mixed. A characteristic
feature of the scientific style is the use of special concepts and terms, which must be
defined when they first occur in the text.
In the academic community, the use of the first person pronouns "I" or "we" is a source
of some disagreement. Academic writing tends to be neutral and objectivity is the goal,
so, the passive voice or the third person are typically used. The first person plural is the
correct choice if you want to emphasise the choices that you, as a researcher, have made.
Notice that academic texts use the pronoun "we" even if the talk is about one person
only. The tense is normally the present, also when referring to earlier research.
Academic texts are a way of conveying information. To avoid misunderstandings,
expression must be exact and precise. This is achieved by logical organisation of the
text, by writing carefully considered sentences and by the astute division of your text
into paragraphs, subchapters and chapters, which then form a solid whole. You can
contribute to the clarity of your text by stepping into the shoes of your reader and examining the text
from an outsider's point of view. Other important aspects are fluency
and coherence of expression. Do individual sentences and paragraphs fit their
environment and are the chapters mutually connected? Fluency benefits from letting the
reader know, between chapters, what will be dealt with next. This is how the reader will
keep pace with your thoughts. This can be done either at the beginning of a new chapter

16
before the first subheading or at the end of the previous chapter. The chosen practice
must be followed consistently through the whole work.

4.2 Citing References

Academic texts contain references to previous research, which are indicated by in-text citations. In your
thesis, each piece of text that is not based on your own reasoning must be accompanied by an appropriate
reference to the original source(s). It is only the facts that may be regarded as general knowledge that
do not require a citation. If, however, your text is based on some source, even if it is general knowledge,
the source must be indicated. A person who uses someone else's text without giving credit to the original
author is guilty of academic theft called plagiarism, which is considered a serious academic offence at
IIT Ropar.

References can be cited in many different ways. Different disciplines have different practices and even
in one discipline there is variation within different scientific journals. You use the citation format
according to your decipline.

4.3 List of References

The list of references must contain all the sources that have been referred to in the text. Its purpose is
to give the reader the possibility to check the information referred to from its original source. There is
no one correct way of compiling the list of references; for instance, every scientific journal has its own
practice. You can use as per your decipline as aphabatical order or numbering scheme.

4.4 Paraphrasing

Plagiarizing another author's text without correct reference to the original source is a serious offence,
so the referencing technique should be adopted right at the beginning of the thesis writing process. In
addition, it is of vital importance to realize that the original texts must not be used unprocessed; they
need to be paraphrased. Paraphrasing is restating what someone else has said in your own words. You
should introduce the essential issues for your own thesis in adequate extent and correctly. The aim is
to crystallize the central issues of the original text, however, at the same time, you should present your
own observations, opinions and conclusions.

The most common failures in paraphrases are, firstly, the writer's following too closely the original
passage and, secondly, the fact that the writer does not present all essential information (or sometimes
does the opposite by emphasizing unessential information). What best explains the defects of
paraphrases is the writer's failure to understand the original text properly, that is, the writer's inability
to put into his/her own words the poorly understood information. A deep comprehension of the original
text calls for a careful scrutiny of the source material. It is worthwhile to start with the big picture -

17
picking up the main thread and identifying the essentials - and then relating details to the whole. A
good aid is making notes and mind maps while reading. At its best, a paraphrase is a synthesis of the
source material and of the writer's own argumentation and reasoning.

4.5 Illustrating the text

A thesis often comprises elements supporting and illustrating the text, such as tables,
figures and mathematical formulas. All illustrative material is closely linked to the text,
however, all tables and figures should be composed in such a way that the reader is able
to understand them without reading the text. The text presents the essential observations
and conclusions based on the tables and figures, not repeating the individual numerical
information (i.e. single figures) reported in them. Tables, figures and mathematical
formulas are numbered consecutively, each as an independent series. They are placed as
near as possible to the section of text where they are first referred to.

4.6 Tips for Good Writing

4.6.1 Continuity of Ideas

It is very important that there is a continuity of idea in your synopsis/ manuscript. Few suggestions in
this regard are mentioned below:

A particular paragraph should elaborate only one theme/idea. If there is a need to emphasize multiple
themes, then it is suggested to name them in a single paragraph and subsequently discuss them in
separate paragraphs.

There should be a smooth transition from one paragraph to the next paragraph. In order to do so, the
first paragraph mentions the theme of the next paragraph.

4.6.2 Proper Usage of Verbs and Tenses

In order to have continuity, it is essential to use verb tenses judiciously and properly. Following
suggestions may be useful in this context:

a. Past tense (e.g., “Bergman showed … “) or present tense (e.g., “Newton has shown . . .”) is
appropriate for the literature review. This usage of verb tense may be applied for discussion on
the past events.
b. Results are best described by using past tense. E.g., “Expenditure increased at the rate of 10%
per year.”).

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 c. Inorder to discuss results and draw conclusions, it is apt to use present tense. E.g., “The results
of the experiment indicate …”

4.6.3 Mathematical Symbols

Mathematical expressions must italicize all symbols used in them. A distinct look (to the mathematical
expression) may be imparted by separating them from the text (both preceding and following it) by
larger line spacing and an indentation should be given. Each equation must appear only after it has been
referenced in the text.

4.6.4 Units of Measurement

Always use International System of Units (SI) units. Follow the guidelines given below while using the
SI units

 Symbols for units do not have an appended period/full stop (.) unless they appear at the end of
a sentence. E.g., The length of the cube is 500 m and the breadth is only 0.01 m.
 Symbols for units are written in upright Roman type (m for meter, g for gram), so as to
differentiate them from the italic type used for mathematical variables (m for mass, g for
acceleration due to gravity).
 Symbols for units are generally written in lower case, except for symbols derived from the
name of a person. E.g., the SI unit of frequency is named after Heinrich Hertz, so its symbol is
“Hz” whereas its unit is “Hertz”. Another common example is SI unit of measurement for
temperature – Kelvin named after Lord Kelvin. It is denoted by unit symbol K. Other exceptions
include petametre (1015 m; symbol = Pm) where the symbol has the first alphabet in upper case
to differentiate it from picometre (10−12 m; symbol = pm).
 The SI rule for pluralizing units is that symbols of units are not pluralized, for example “600
kg” (not “600 kgs”).
 The number and the symbol of the SI unit are separated by a space (e.g., “32.451 kg”, “9.3x104
m3”, “22 K”). Some notable exceptions are the symbols for plane angular degrees, minutes and
seconds (o, ‘, and “), which are placed immediately after the number with no intervening space.
 Spaces (or commas) may be used as a thousands separator (1 000 000 or 1,000,000). Spaces
are preferred to avoid confusion resulting from the different convention used in different
countries.
 Symbols for derived units that are obtained from multiple units by multiplication are joined
with a space or center dot (·) (e.g. “N m” or “N·m “).
 Symbols for derived units obtained by division of two units are joined with a solidus (/), or
given as a negative exponent. For example, the “meter per second” can be written “m/s”, “m s-

19
 1
”, or “m·s-1”. A solidus should not be used if the result is ambiguous, i.e. “kg·m-1·s-2” is
preferred to “kg/m·s2” to avoid misinterpretation.

Many units in everyday and scientific use are not derived from the seven SI base units (meter, kilogram,
second, ampere, Kelvin, mole, and candela). Some examples which can be used are as follows:

 Many units of time ― minute (min), hour (h), day (d) ― in use, besides the SI unit “second”
are specifically accepted for usage.
 The “year” is specifically not included in SI units, but its use is accepted.
 Electrical energy is often billed in kilowatt-hours instead of megajoules.
 The nautical mile and knot (nautical mile per hour) are used to measure travel distance and
speed of ships and aircraft. In addition to these, convention on International Civil Aviation
permits the “temporary use” of foot for altitude.
 Astronomical distances are measured in astronomical units, parsecs (an abbreviated form of a
parallax of one second; symbol: pc), and light-years (symbol: ly) instead of, say, petametres (1
petametre = 1015 m; symbol = Pm).
 Atomic scale units used in Science and Engineering are: ångström, electronvolt, atomic mass
unit, and barn.
 A sphygmomanometer measures and reports blood pressure in in mmHg instead of Pa.

See the following website for details of Rules and style conventions, as far as SI Units are
concerned.

http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/rules.html
Indian Units of Measurement

“Lakh or Lac” is not understood by many non-Indian examiners. There are two ways to deal with this
problem. Avoid using it; instead express it as 1 00 000.

Example: The sentence “The car was sold to 5 lakh persons last year” could be written instead as “The
car was sold to 5 00 000 persons last year”.

Alternatively, when “Lakh/Lac” is used for the first time, explain its equivalence to “1 00 000” in a
footnote.

4.6.5 A Sample of Common Mistakes

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Some words and expressions, commonly misspelled by the scholars, are the following:

Correct Incorrect
et al. etal, et. al, et al (The word is "et alia")
whereas where as
Literature Literatures
Equipment Equipments
kWh KWH, KWh (K stands for Kelvin.)
million tons (106) MT (M stands for Mega.)
10 kg 10kg (A space separates the value from the unit of
measurement.)

4.6.6 Common Errors in Writing

Writing a dissertation could be tiring process. This may lead to loss of attention that may lead you to
common errors in writing. The following write up gives you an idea about some of these common
errors. Keeping them in mind will make your work impressive.

In most writing, common mistakes include:

(1) Incorrect use of punctuation, including commas, semicolons, colons, and dashes, etc.
(2) Misusing articles and prepositions
(3) Mistaking one word for another (envelope and envelop, stationary and stationery, affect and
effect, complement and compliment). The spell-checker won't detect these errors.
(4) You may want to keep your sentences small.
(5) Confusing "then" and "than," "its" and "it's," "affect" and "effect," and "lay" and "lie"
(6) Advice versus Advise:
Advice is a noun, something that you give. It is a thing. Say, "Please give me some advice."

Advise is a verb, something that you do. It is some action. Say, "Please advise me."

(7) Affect and Effect:

(8) As verbs, they differ. To affect some thing is to have some influence upon it. To effect some
action is to cause it to happen. As nouns, they also differ. Affect is like affection, related to
emotion. Effect is a result.
(9) Apart and a Part:
One is a single word; the other includes two words. "Apart" means two things are separate or
away from each other. A "part" means one thing is a portion or an element of another.

A wall is usually seen as a "part" of a house, for example, while a fence is seen as "apart" from
the house.

(10) Complement and Compliment:

21
 The change from an "e" to an "i" makes a big difference in these two words. The word
"complement" is related to the word "complete." If one thing complements another, then the
two together make a whole.

In contrast, the word "compliment" is an observation of some good quality in a person. It is

considered more sincere than flattery.

(11) In Spite: There is no such word as "inspite." Make sure you use the two words separately, "in"
and "spite."
(12) Isn't it?
When you make a statement, then immediately ask if it is not true, you can use "isn't it" only if
the question used the verb "to be" (ie "is" or one of its forms), the original question was
positive, and if the subject of the sentence is third person singular (it). It is correct to say, for
example, "It is coming, isn't it?"

(13) Loose and Lose: The two words, "loose" and "lose," look similar, especially to those who speak
English as a second language. It is easy to mix them up. The word, "loose," means something is
not tight or securely fastened down. It might easily fall apart or fall off. The word "lose," in
contrast, means to have something go away and become lost.
(14) Passive Voice: Using the passive voice is a common way to say less than people want to read
or hear. In the passive voice you say, "The orange was eaten." That way you hide the subject and
so do not reveal who ate the orange. If you use the active voice, you must reveal the subject.
"Aziz ate the orange." The active voice is simpler, and it always identifies the subject, i.e. who
did the action. Nothing is hidden.
Always use the active voice in writing an academic paper or dissertation.

(This is compiled from various sources).

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 Chapter 5
Summary

Writing a thesis requires knowledge of the conventions of academic writing. This manual
presents the principles of academic writing and the technical formalities that must be adhered
to when writing a thesis in OBS. This manual is intended to be used as a self-study material.
The instructions will guide you, on your own, to compose a thesis, which is refined in language
and lay-out and which is in accordance with the formal requirements set for theses. When the
responsibility for the formalities is your own, during your supervisory meetings you and your
supervisor are able to concentrate on the essentials, that is, on the contents of your work.

After reading this manual, particularly if you are writing your first thesis, you may get the
impression that the task before you demands the command and memorizing of an enormous
amount of information. In a way it is true, as the list of matters to be considered is very long
indeed and, ultimately, commas seem to become your best friends. Luckily, there is no need to
learn these detailed rules by heart - they can always be checked from this manual. One has to
bear in mind, though, that any manual like this cannot be a perfect guide. In the course of
writing the thesis, questions certainly arise which cannot be anticipated, but in regard to all
problems and uncertainties, you are always able to turn to your supervisor. In the end, one has
to point out that just reading these instructions will not get your thesis finished. Your own
power of thinking, your thirst for knowledge and your own determination are the necessary
tools to get the job done.

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 Bibliography

 Murray, R. (2017). EBOOK: How to Write a Thesis. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

 Evans, D., Gruba, P., & Zobel, J. (2011). How to write a better thesis. Melbourne Univ.
Publishing.
 Chardrashekhar, R. (2008) How to Write a thesis: A Working Guide, The University of
Western Australia.
 Guidelines for preparation of theses/dissertations/reports. IIT Bombay, 2009.
 Guidelines for thesis preparation, IIT Kanpur.
 IEEE transactions authors guide, http://ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/wp-
content/uploads/Transactions-instructions-only.pdf
 https://libraries.mit.edu/distinctive-collections/thesis-specs/
 https://otago.libguides.com/thesisinformation
 https://www.grad.ubc.ca/current-students/dissertation-thesis-preparation
 https://www.oulu.fi/en/for-students/thesis-and-graduation

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 Appendix

Appendix provides a space for the materials that help to clarify the research but do not belong in the
main text. The information in the main body would be short and concise. An additional information,
that is be not be directly related to the main arguments, should be placed in appendix. Appendix section
is put at the end of the dissertation, containing supplementary information. It includes raw files,
derivations, figures, tables, illustrations, some less significant findings etc.

25
 Avoid using symbol or Greek letters in title.
The title should be placed 20mm below the top edge
The title should be written in a given font and font size of 24

Type The Complete Title of Your Thesis /

Dissertation Here, (Capitalize each word)
Write the degree n the
given text with a font size
of 24
About 60 mm below the
top edge
Doctoral Thesis
It should remain same
by
“Name of the Student”
(Roll Number)
The name of student and roll
number are written with a
font size of 20.
A logo of institute is placed About 90 mm below the top
about 130-135 mm below edge
the top edge. Don’t change
the size of logo

Name of department and

institute in capital using font
size of 20. About 210-215
mm below the top edge

DEPARTMENT OF XYZ
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROPAR
Month, Year

26
 Avoid using symbol or Greek letters in title.
The title should be placed 20mm below the top edge
The title should be written in a given font and font size of 24

Type The Complete Title of Your Thesis /

Dissertation Here, (Capitalize each word)
This must remain same
for all, and about 55-60
mm below the top edge.
The font size used is 16

A Thesis Submitted
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
Write the degree in full
for the Degree of form in the given text
with a font size of 20
About 100mm below
the top edge
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
It should remain same by
“Name of the Student”
The name of student and roll (Roll Number)
number(in breaket) is written in a
capital, with a font size of 18.
About 120 mm below the top edge

A logo of institute is placed Name of department and

about 140 mm below the institute in capital using font
top edge. Don’t change the size of 20. About 210-215
size of logo mm below the top edge

DEPARTMENT OF XYZ
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROPAR
Month, Year

27
 Declaration of Originality

I hereby declare that the work which is being presented in the thesis entitled <TITLE OF
THESIS> has been authored by me. It presents the result of my own independent
investigation/research conducted during the time period from <Month and year of joining the
Ph.D. program> to < Month and year of Ph.D. Thesis submission> under the supervision of
<Name of the Ph.D. Thesis Supervisor #1, Designation, and Affiliation> and <Name of the
Ph.D. Thesis Supervisor #2, Designation, and Affiliation>. To the best of my knowledge, it is
an original work, both in terms of research content and narrative, and has not been submitted
or accepted elsewhere, in part or in full, for the award of any degree, diploma, fellowship,
associateship, or similar title of any university or institution. Further, due credit has been
attributed to the relevant state-of-the-art and collaborations (if any) with appropriate citations
and acknowledgments, in line with established ethical norms and practices. I also declare that
any idea/data/fact/source stated in my thesis has not been fabricated/ falsified/ misrepresented.
All the principles of academic honesty and integrity have been followed. I fully understand that
if the thesis is found to be unoriginal, fabricated, or plagiarized, the Institute reserves the right
to withdraw the thesis from its archive and revoke the associated Degree conferred.
Additionally, the Institute also reserves the right to appraise all concerned sections of society
of the matter for their information and necessary action (if any). If accepted, I hereby consent
for my thesis to be available online in the Institute’s Open Access repository, inter-library loan,
and the title & abstract to be made available to outside organizations.

Signature

Name:
Entry Number:
Program: PhD/M.Tech/M.Sc.
Department:
Indian Institute of Technology Ropar
Rupnagar, Punjab 140001

Date:

Certificate

28
This is to certify that the thesis entitled <The Title of The Thesis>, submitted by <Full Name
Of The Student (Entry Number)> for the award of the degree of <Doctor of Philosophy>
of Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, is a record of bonafide research work carried out under
my (our) guidance and supervision. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the work presented
in this thesis is original and has not been submitted, either in part or full, for the award of any
other degree, diploma, fellowship, associateship or similar title of any university or institution.
In my (our) opinion, the thesis has reached the standard fulfilling the requirements of the
regulations relating to the Degree.

Signature of the Supervisor(s)

Name(s)
Department(s)
Indian Institute of Technology Ropar
Rupnagar, Punjab 140001
Date:

29