Parts of a Thesis

Prelims

Main body of thesis

End matter

The diagram above shows the basic layout of a thesis.

The thesis is made up of three major elements:

Prelims: Everything that comes before the first page of the Introduction.

Main body of the thesis: Begins with the first page of the Introduction and continues
to the last page of the Conclusions/Recommendations.

End matter: The reference list and the appendices.

(Note that these titles— Prelims, Main Body and End matter— are used here for
convenience only. You are not to use them as labels for these parts of your thesis.)

You can see from the diagram that the parts get progressively bigger. The prelims
are just a few pages. There is a lot of built-in repetition in the way a thesis or report
is set out, particularly in the prelims. They provide an outline or road-map of the
thesis, and explain to the reader how it is structured.

The Prelims include:

Title page
Abstract
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
Glossary (if needed)
List of Abbreviations (if needed)

The main body of the thesis is made up of the thesis chapters.

For theses based on primary research, the chapter titles are as follows:
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Methodology
Chapter 4: Results and Discussion
Chapter 5: Conclusions (and Recommendations if required)

Theses based on desk research will include:

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Suitable title to reflect its contents
Chapter 3: Suitable title to reflect its contents
Chapter 4: Suitable title to reflect its contents
Additional chapters as required
Chapter ? Conclusions
The end matter of the thesis includes:
List of Works Cited
Appendices (if required)

Numbering the Pages

The title page gets no number. Give the Prelims small Roman numerals, beginning
with the number ii on the page after the title page. (For example, place ii on the
Abstract if your Abstract comes right after the title page.) Continue numbering all the
Prelim pages with small Roman numerals.

The best place to put the page number is at the bottom of the page, centred or to the
right. Do not give page ranges on the Table of Contents. Just list the page each
element starts on.

page

Correct: 3
Incorrect: 3-5

The first page of the Introduction gets the Arabic number 1. Follow on with Arabic
numbers for all the pages that come after that, right through to the end of the
Appendices.

How to Treat Headings

You will probably have at least three levels of headings in the thesis.

Level 1 headings will include:

Abstract
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
Glossary (if needed)
List of Abbreviations (if needed)
All the Chapter titles
List of Works Cited
Appendices

You need to differentiate clearly in size and placement between the different levels of
headings.

For example, Level 1 headings: Times Roman 14, bold, centred, all main words
capitalised.

Like this:

Chapter 1: Introduction
You can set up the heading style for the different levels of headings on the style
sheet for the thesis in Word. Then when you choose Heading 1, or Heading 2, Word
will automatically apply the correct heading style for this level of heading. Or if you do
not know how to set up a style sheet, you can just do the headings manually.

For Level 2 headings, you will need both a decimal numbering system and a heading
style.
For example, say you decided to include subtitles in your Introduction, these would
be level 2 headings, as follows:

1.1 Subject
1.2 Purpose
1.3 Scope and Limitations
1.4 Plan of Development
Within the text of the thesis, you could use Times Roman 12 point font, bold, aligned
left for the Level 2 subheadings, like this:

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Subject

This thesis examines the reasons for different growth patterns and rate of
growth of native varieties of deciduous trees in state forests compared to
privately-owned commercial forests in County Roscommon.

You can set a tab to regulate the space between the decimal number and the first
letter in the subsection title. Make sure to keep to a consistent tab for all this
spacing. This gives a neat, professional appearance to the finished document. If
your spaces vary in size, the result will be a disorganised-looking mess.

When you get to double numbers for the page numbers on the Table of Contents,
you must align the units with units and tens with tens.

Incorrect: page
9
12

Correct: 9
12

You do not have to bother with aligning like this at the left side of the Table of
Contents. It is OK to have something like this:

Chapter 9
Chapter 10

Level 3 subheadings appear on the Table of Contents. You need to align the
decimal number for Level 3 headings with the first letter of the title of the Level 2
heading. For example, say you needed Level 3 headings in Subsection 3.1, your
Table of Contents would look like this:
page
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Subject
1.2 Purpose
1.3 Scope and Limitations
1.4 Plan of Development

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Chapter 3: Population Change in Connacht 2000 – 2004
3.1 Galway
3.1.1 Galway East
3.1.2 Galway West
3.2 Sligo

Choice of Font
Fonts are divided into two main groups: serif and non-serif.

The most commonly used fonts are:

Serif: Times Roman T

Non-serif: Arial T
Notice the little “tip” hanging down from the ends of the Times Roman crossbar at the
top, and also at the two ends of the bottom of the T. These are the serifs.

Serif fonts are considered more formal. So you should use a serif font for formal
documents: Theses, Reports, Proposals, Essays.
Times Roman and Arial are the default fonts loaded on every PC and printer, so you
can be sure that they will print out correctly, looking just as they do on your computer
screen. That is why they are the best choice for student work, where you have
limited control over the output devices (printers). If you choose a different font, you
are taking a chance, because it may not print out correctly.

Non-serif fonts are better for anything that is transmitted electronically or viewed on
screen. So use a non-serif font for presentation slides (Powerpoint), for web pages
or faxed documents.

Verdana is a non-serif font developed especially for websites. So it is the best

choice for any website you make.