GUIDELINES FOR

PREPARATION OF THESIS
FOR AWARD OF PhD DEGREE

BIKANER TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, BIKANER

2023

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 Guidelines for preparation of Thesis

Preamble

While utmost attention must be taken to the content of the thesis, which is being submitted
in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Ph.D. degree, it is imperative that a standard format
be prescribed. The same format shall also be followed in preparation of the soft copy (word and
pdf format in chapter wise and complete thesis form) which shall be submitted to the University
Library. A candidate initially needs to submit five hard copies of the thesis in soft binding form
for evaluation of the thesis, along with its soft copy (word and pdf format in chapter wise and
complete thesis form) if research work was conducted under supervision of a single Supervisor.

1. Organization of the Thesis

This thesis shall be presented in a number of chapters, starting with Introduction and
ending with Summary and Conclusions followed by Reference Section. Each of the other chapters
will have a precise title reflecting the contents of the chapter. A chapter can be subdivided into
sections, subsections and subsubsection 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 becontinuous right through, for example Part 1 may comprise Chapters 2 to 5, Part
Two, Chapters 6 to 9.

Introduction

The title of Chapter 1 shall be Introduction. It shall justify highlighting the problem
statement, hypothesis description, rationale of the study, identify define the topic and deduce the
aim, subobjectives and scope of the work presented in the thesis. It may also highlight the
significant contributions from the earlier investigations in the field chosen.

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 Review of Literature

This shall normally form Chapter 2 and shall present a critical appraisal of the previous
work published in the literature pertaining to the topic of the investigation. The extent and
emphasis of the chapter shall depend on the nature of the investigation. The reporting on the
investigation shall be presented in one or more chapters with appropriate chapter titles.

Materials and Methods

This chapter shall present the materials used in the study both in physical (physical,
Chemical, biological, animal and plants etc.) or in virtual (software, algorithms, statistical tools,
case study reports) forms with source declaration Due importance shall also be given to
experimental setups, procedures adopted and the model used. All the methods shall be
documented to plan the study, conducting the experiments, developed standard techniques
adopted to conduct the studies.
While important derivations/formulae should normally be presented in the text of these
chapters, extensive and long treatments, copious details and tedious information, detailed results
in tabular and graphical forms may be presented in Appendices. Representative data in table and
figures may, however, be included in appropriate chapters. Equations should form separate lines
with appropriate paragraph separation above andbelow the equation line, with equation numbers
flushed to the right.

Results and Discussions

This shall form the penultimate chapter of the thesis and shall include a thorough
evaluation of the investigation carried out and bring out the contributions from the study. The
discussion shall logically lead to inferences and conclusions as well as scope for possible further
future work.
Figures and tables should be presented immediately following their first mention in
the text. Short tables and figures (say, less than half the writing area of the page) should be
presented within the text, while large table and figures may be presented on separate pages.
Summary/conclusion of each chapter may be provided at the end of the chapter.

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 Summary and Conclusions

This will be the final chapter of the thesis. A brief report of the work carried out shall form
the first part of the Chapter. Conclusions derived from the logical analysis presented in the Results
and Discussions Chapter shall be presented and clearly enumerated, each point stated separately.
Scope for future work should be stated lucidly in the last part of the chapter.

Appendix

Detailed information, lengthy derivations, raw experimental observations etc. are to be

presented in the separate appendices, which shall be numbered in Roman Capitals (e.g. “Appendix
IV”). Since reference can be drawn to published/unpublished literature in the appendices, these
should precede the Reference/ Bibliography section.

References/ Bibliography

This should follow the Appendices, if any, otherwise the Summary and Conclusions
chapter. The candidates shall follow the APA style of citation and style of listing in one of the
standard journals in the subject area consistently throughout his/her thesis, for example as shown
in Table below:
book (Sapolsky, 2017) Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at
our best and worst. Penguin Books., (4th ed., pp. 115–129).
Chapter in an edited book (Dillard, 2020) Dillard, J. P. (2020). Currents in the study of persuasion. In
M. B. Oliver, A. A. Raney, & J. Bryant (Eds.), Media effects:
(If the chapter is from an Advances in theory and research (4th ed., pp. 115–129).
authored book, use the Routledge.
book citation)
An article in a print journal (Weinstein, 2009) Weinstein, J. (2009). The market in Plato’s Republic.
Classical Philology, 104(4), 439-458.
An article in an electronic (Grady et al., 2019) Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., and Yelinek, J.
journal (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of
storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the
United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3),
207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185
A website (Bologna, 2019) Bologna, C. (2019). Why some people with anxiety love
watching horror movies. HuffPost.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anxiety- love-watching-horror-
movies_l_5d277587e4b02a5a5d57b59e
(website visited on October 31, 2019).
Report/ Bulletins published (Anonymous, 2023) Anonymous (2023). Guidelines for International Arrivals (in
by an organisation supersession of guidelines issued on the subject on 29th
December 2022). Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,
Government of India, February 10, 2023.
https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/GuidelinesforInternationalArri
vals10thFebruary2023.pdf
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 Publications by the candidate

Articles, technical notes etc. on the topic of the thesis published and presented articles in
conferences/seminar proceedings by the candidate must listed after the references/bibliography
section. Entry of this section must also be included in the table of contents. Here the candidates
should also include reprints of his/her publications to fulfill the requirements of PhD ordinance
O.14.1.

Candidate’s Profile

Brief profile of the candidate may be given on the last page of thesis.

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2 Thesis Format

Paper

Quality

The thesis shall be printed/xeroxed on both side of white bond paper, whiteness 95% or
above, weight 90 gram or more per square meter.

Size

The size of the paper shall be standard A 4; height 297 mm, width 210 mm.

Type Setting, Text Processing and Printing

The text shall be printed employing laser printer, the text having been processed using
a standard text processor. The standard font shall be Times New Roman of 12 pts with 1.5-line
spacing.

Page Format

The Printed Sheets shall have the following written area and margins:

− Top Margin 30 mm
− Bottom Margin 22 mm

− Footer 3 mm

− Foot Separation 10 mm

− Text Height 245 mm

− Text Width 160 mm

Left and Right Margins

• Single sided/odd number page (in double sided printing)

− Left Margin 30 mm

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 − Right Margin 20 mm

• Double sided even numbered page

− Left Margin 20 mm

− Right Margin 30 mm

Pagination

Page numbering in the text of the thesis shall be Hindu-Arabic numerals at the center of
the footer. But when the candidate opts for header style the page number shall appear at the right
and left top corner for the odd and even number pages, respectively.

Page number “1” for the first page of the Introduction chapter shall not appear in print,
only the second page will bear the number “2”.

The subsequent chapters shall begin on a fresh page (fresh odd number page in case of
double sided printing). When header style is chosen the first page of each chapter will not have
the header and the page number shall be printed at the center of the footer.

Pagination for pages before the Introduction chapter shall be in lower case Roman
numerals, e.g., “iv”.

Paragraph format

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 12 mm.
A candidate may, however, choose not to indent if he/ she has provided sufficient paragraph
separation.

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.

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 Chapter and Section Format

Chapter

Each chapter shall begin on a fresh page odd number page with an additional top margin
of about 75mm. Chapter number (in Hindu-Arabic) and title shall be printed at the center of the
line in 6mm font size (18pt) in bold face using both upper and lower case (all capitals or small
capitals shall not be used). A vertical gap of about 25mm shall be left between the Chapter number
and Chapter title lines and between chapter title line and the first paragraph.

Sections and Subsections

A chapter can be divided into Sections, Subsections and Sub-subsections 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. Chapters, Sections and Subsections shall be included in the contents with page
numbers flushed to the right. Further subsections need not be numbered or included in the
contents.

The Section and Subsection titles along with their numbers in 5 and 4mm (16 and 14pt)
fonts, respectively, in bold face shall be flushed to the left (not centered) with 15 mm space above
and below these lines.

In further subdivisions character size of 3 and 3.5 with bold face, small caps, all caps and
italics may be used for the titles flushed left or centered. These shall not feature in the contents.

Table / Figure Format

As far as possible tables and figures should be presented in portrait style. Small size table
and figures (less than half of writing area of a page) should be incorporated within the text,
while larger ones may be presented on separate pages. Table and figures shall be numbered chapter
wise. For example, the fourth figure in chapter 5 will bear the number Figure 5.4 or Fig 5.4

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 Table number and title will be placed above the table while the figure number and caption
will be located below the figure. Reference for Table and Figures reproduced from elsewhere shall
be cited in the last and separate line in the table and figure caption, e.g. (after McGregor [12]).

Coloured graph/figure/photo/tables, if any, should not be photocopied in black and

White.

3 Auxiliary Format

Binding

The evaluation copies of the thesis may be spiral bound or soft bound. The final hard
bound copies to be submitted after the viva-voice examination will be accepted during the
submission of thesis with the following colour specification:

Ph.D. Thesis maroon with golden embossing of letters

Front Covers

The front covers shall contain the following details:

− Full title of thesis in 6 mm 22 point's size font properly centered and positioned
at the top.
− Full name of the candidate in 4.5 mm 15 point's size font properly centered at the
middle of the page.

− A 40 mm dia replica of the University emblem followed by the Name of the

University Department/University Center/Research Center, name of the
University and the year of submission, each in a separate line and properly centered
and located at the bottom of page.

Lettering

All lettering shall be embossed in gold.

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 Bound back

The degree, the name of the candidate and the year of submission shall also be embossed
on the bound (side) in gold.

Blank Sheets

In addition to the white sheets (binding requirement) two white sheets shall be put at
the beginning and the end of the thesis.

Title Sheet

This shall be the first printed page of the thesis and shall contain the submission statement:
The Thesis/Dissertation/project Report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the
Degree Ph.D., the name and Roll No. of the candidate, name(s) of the Supervisor and Co-
supervisor(s) (if any), (Name of the University Department/University Center/Research Center),
name of the university and year of submission.

Sample copy of the 'Title Sheet' is appended (Specimen 'A')

Copyright notice

The Ph.D. thesis must contain the following copyright certificate in the beginning of the
thesis, on backside of the title sheet on the left side:

BIKANER TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BIKANER, 20.. (Year)

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Dedication Sheet

If the candidate so desires he/ she may dedicate his/her thesis, which statement shall follow
the title page. If included, this shall form the page 1 of the auxiliary sheets but shall not have a
page number.

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 Approval Sheet

In the absence of a dedication sheet this will form the first page and in that case shall
not have a page number. Otherwise, this will bear the number three in Roman lower case “iii”
at the center of the footer. The top line shall be:

1. Thesis Approval for Ph.D.

The Approval Sheets are to be included only in the hard bound copies which are
submitted after the successful Ph.D. viva voce examination.

A sample copy of the Approval Sheet is appended (Specimen `B').

The soft copy of the thesis needed for University library should have scanned image
duly signed approval sheet.

A Declaration of Academic Honesty and Integrity

A declaration of Academic honesty and integrity is required to be included along with

every thesis/dissertation/report after the approval sheet. The format of this declaration is given
in Specimen `C' attached.

The soft copy of the thesis needed for University library should have scanned image
duly signed candidate’s declaration.

Acknowledgements

The acknowledgments by the candidate, signed by him/her with date, should be given
before abstract.

Abstract

For University Library

The 500-word abstract shall highlight the important features of the thesis. Abstract along
with the key words for search purpose shall be given in the electronic version to be submitted to
the Library for inclusion in the website.

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 For thesis

The abstract shall highlight the important features of the thesis, the layout of the thesis
giving a brief chapter wise description of the work and the key words.

Contents

The contents shall follow the Abstract and shall enlist the titles of the chapters, section and
subsection using decimal notation, as in the text, with corresponding page number against them,
flushed to the right.

List of Figures and Tables

Two separate lists of Figure captions and Table titles along with their numbers and
corresponding page numbers against them shall follow the Contents.

Abbreviation Notation and Nomenclature

A complete and comprehensive list of all abbreviations, notations and nomenclature

including Greek alphabets with subscripts and superscripts shall be provided after the list of tables
and figures. (As far as possible, generally accepted symbols and notation should be used).

Auxiliary page from dedication (if any) to abbreviations shall be numbered using Roman
numerals in lower case, while the text starting from the Introduction shall be in Hindu-Arabic.
(The first pages in the both the cases shall not bear a page number).

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4. Overall order of thesis

Title page
Copyright notice (back of title page)
Dedication Sheet (optional)
Candidate’s Declaration
Approval Sheet
Acknowledgements
Abstract
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Abbreviation Notation and Nomenclature
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2:
--
--
--
Chapter _: Summary and Conclusions
Appendix
References/ Bibliography
Publications by the candidate
Candidate’s Profile

*****************************

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SAMPLE COPY of
HARD COVER
<THESIS TITLE XXXXXXX 20 + Bold &
Single Space

XXXXX THESIS TITLE>

A THESIS 16 + Bold

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the 14 Italic + Bold &

Both line Single space
requirements for the award of the degree

of 14 Italic

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 16 + Bold

In 14 Italic

<BRANCH NAME> 16 + Bold

By 14 Italic

<STUDENT NAME> 16 + Bold

Seal size
1.75” by 1.75”
New Seal

18 + Bold
< DEPARTMENT/ RESEARCH CENTRE > and
BIKANER TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY Single
Space
BIKANER– 334004 (INDIA)
16 + Bold
FEBRUARY, 2023
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SAMPLE COPY of
INSIDE COVER
PAGE
<THESISTITLE XXXXXXX 20 + Bold &
Single Space

XXXXX THESIS TITLE>

A THESIS 16 + Bold

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the 14 Italic + Bold &

Both line Single space
requirements for the award of the degree

of 14 Italic

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
16 + Bold

In 14 Italic

<BRANCH NAME> 16 + Bold

By 14 Italic

<STUDENT NAME> 16 + Bold

Seal size
1.75” by 1.75”
New Seal

18 + Bold
< DEPARTMENT/
RESEARCH CENTRE > and
BIKANER TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY Single
Space
BIKANER– 334004 (INDIA)
16 + Bold
FEBRUARY, 2023
16
 12 + Bold &
BIKANER TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, BIKANER-2023 Both line
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Single space

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 BIKANER TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, BIKANER 16 + Bold &
Single
Space

Seal size .75” by .75”

New Seal CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION 14 + Bold underline

I hereby certify that the work which is being presented in the thesis
entitled "Thesis Title" in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy and submitted in the
Department/ Centre of ………of the Bikaner Technical University,
Bikaner is an authentic record of my own work carried out during a period
from <date> to <Date> under the supervision of Dr……., …….,
Department of ………, of <Name of Research center>.
The matter presented in this thesis has not been submitted by me
for the award of any other degree of this or any other Institution. 12 + Line space 1.5

12 +
(Student Name)

This is to certify that the above statement made by the candidate is

correct to the best of my knowledge. 12 + Line space 1.5

12 + Unbold (Name)
& both line Supervisor
Single space
Date
12 Date:
+ Bold

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 Thesis Approval for Doctor of Philosophy

This thesis entitled (Title............... ) by (Candidate Name……) (Enrolment No.…)

submitted to the (University Department of .......... /University Center/Research Center), Bikaner
Technical University, Bikaner is approved for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Examiners

Supervisor (s)

Date:

Place :

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