presentation of thesis based on british standard 4821:1990

7/21/2019 Presentation of Thesis based on BRITISH STANDARD 4821:1990

1/5

PRESENTATION OF THESIS

(PLEASE CONSULT BRITISH STANDARD 4821:1990 FOR COMPLETE INFORMATION).

These requirements are based on "Recommendations for the presentation of theses (BS4821:1990)" published by the British Standards Institution. Copies of the full text are availablein the University Library at the Main Enquiry Centre, and enquiry desks on floors 1,2,3,6.

1. Theses should be typed or printed in a permanent and legible form - normal charactersize not less than 2mm. (See appendix A on character form).

2. Good quality paper (range 70g/m2>100g/m2) or A4 size should be used. Marginsshould be not less than 15mm and 40mm at binding edge. At least one-and-a-halfspacing is desirable in typescript.

3. Pages should be numbered in a single sequence through the thesis, in single and multi-volume works.

4. The title page should give the full title of the thesis, the full name of the author, thedegree for which the thesis is submitted, the organisation to which it is submitted, theUniversity faculty or department in which the research was conducted, the month andyear of submission. The volume number should also be given if the thesis is in morethan one volume.

5. The abstract should be placed at the beginning of the thesis, following the title page, ona separate page.

6. A table of contents should be provided, plus separate lists of tables and illustrations andaccompanying material if any. End matter may include appendices, glossary, list ofreferences, bibliography, indices.

7. Citations in the text should be linked to the list of references following either the styleof the Vancouver system with numbers referring to a full list arranged in the same

order, or by the Harvard system, with references by the author's name and date in thetext and the list A-Z order.

8. Any abbreviation should be those in normal use; where necessary a key should beprovided.

9. The thesis should be firmly sewn and securely attached to its boards to ensure sufficientrigidity to support the weight of the work when standing on a shelf. The boards should

be of dark coloured cloth. The author's name and title of the thesis should appear on thefront cover; and the author's name and the title of the thesis should appear on the frontcover; and the author's name (including initials), the degree for which submitted andthe year of submission should appear on the spine, lettered from top to bottom. The

volume number (if any) should also be given on the spine.

10. Illustrations of all kinds should normally be bound in with the thesis. Any materialwhich cannot conveniently be bound should be packaged so that it can be kept with thethesis, and should be labelled in similar way.


2/5

LAYOUT OF REFERENCES

There are three commonly-used methods of citing references in the text. The Faculty ofMedicine strongly recommends the Vancouver system where journal titles are abbreviatedaccording to an agreed formula. Students may however opt for the Harvard system, in whichthe authors' names are all spelt out in the initial reference but only the first author plus "et al"in subsequent references to the same paper when there are more than two authors (but if there

are more than three authors then "et al" is used at the first citation) - the date is alwaysincluded; or the use of superscript numbers, which is certainly preferred in review articles withhundreds of references. In the latter case, there are two variations: the numbers may runseriatim through the article or be keyed to the list of references which is arranged inalphabetical order. The latter method is more difficult for the author, but sometimes is moreuseful to the reader.

The Vancouver System

If you decide to use this system, you are strongly advised to consult the paper cited below.

The following is the extract from "Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted tobiomedical journals" (British Medical Journal, 1979, Vol.1. 532-535) which deals with thelayout of references. The standard abbreviations for the names of frequently-cited Journalsmay also be found in this article.

"References"

Number references consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text.Identify references in text, tables, and legends by arabic numerals (in parentheses). Referencescited only in tables or in legends to figures should be numbered in accordance with a sequelestablished by the first identification in the text of the particular table or illustration.

Use the form of references adopted by the US National Library of Medicine and used in "IndexMedicus". Use the style of the examples cited at the end of this section, which have been

approved by the National Library of Medicine.

The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the syle used in "Index Medicus". Alist of abbreviated names of frequently-cited journals is given in Appendix 2; for others,consult the "List of Journals Indexed", printed annually in the January issue of "IndexMedicus"

Try to avoid using abstracts as references; "unpublished observations" and "personalcommunications" may not be used as references, although references to written, not verbal,communications may be inserted (in parentheses) in the text. Include among the referencesmanuscripts accepted but not yet published; designate the journal followed by "in press" (in

parentheses). Information from manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted should be cited in

the text as "unpublished observations" (in parenthesis). The references must be verified by theauthor(s) against the original documents. Examples of correct forms of references are given asfollows:


3/5

Journal

1. Standard Journal Article - (list of all authors when six or less; when seven or more, listonly first three and add et al).

Soter NA, Wasserman SI, Austen KF. Cold urticaria: release into the circulation ofhistamine and eosinophil chemotactic factor of anaphylaxis during cold challenge. N

Engl J Med 1976; 294: 687-90.

2. Corporate Author

The Committee on Enzymes of the Scandinavian Society for Clinical Chemistry andClinical Physiology. Recommended method for the determination of gamma-glutamyltransforase in blood. Scand J Clin Lab Invest 1976;36:119-25.

Anonymous. Epidemiology for primary health care. Int J Epidemiol 1976;5:224-5.

Books and other Monographs

3. Personal Author(s)

Osler AG. Complement: mechanisms and functions. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall,1976.

4. Corporate Author

American Medical Association Department of Drugs. AMA drug evaluations. 3rd ed.Littleton: Publishing Sciences Group 1977.

5. Editor, Compilor, Chairman as Author

Rhodes AJ, Van Rooyen CE, comps. Textbook of virology: for students andpractitioners of medicine and the other health sciences. 5th ed. Baltimore: Williams &Wilkins, 1968.

6. Chapter in Book

Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathogenic properties of invading micro-organisms. In:Sodeman WA Jr, Sodeman WA, editors. Pathologic physiology: mechanisms ofdisease. Philadelphia: Saunders, 1974:457-72.

7. Agency Publication

National Center for Health Statistics. Acute conditions: incidence and associateddisability, United States July 1968 - June 1969. Rockville MD: National Center forHealth Statistics, 1972 (Vital and health statistics. Series 10; Data from National HealthSurvey, No 69) (DHEW publication No HSM 72-1036).


4/5

Other Articles

8. Newspaper Articles

Shaffer RA. Advances in chemistry are starting to unlock mysteries of the brain:discoveries could help cure alcoholism and insomnia, explain mental illness. How themessengers work. Wall Steet Journal 1977 Aug 12;1(col 1), 10 col 1).

9. Magazine Article

Roueche B. Annals of Medicine: the Santa Claus culture. The New Yorker 1971 Sep4;66-81.

The Harvard System

1. The arrangement of the references should be alphabetical.

2. The order of the items in each reference should be

(a) for journal references: name(s) of author(s), year,title of paper, title of journal, volume number, pagenumber.

(b) for book references: name(s) of author(s), year, titleof book, edition, volume, chapter and/or page number,town of publication, publisher.

3. Authors' names should be in roman letters arranged thus:

Smith, A.B., Jones D.E. & Robinson, F.C.

Note the use of the ampersand and omission of comma before it. Authors' names whenrepeated in the next reference are always spelt out in full.

4. The year of publication should be surrounded by parenthesis: (1967).

5. The title of the paper should be included, without quotation marks:

Oestrogen responses in rats neonatally sterilised with steroids.

6. The journal title should be unabbreviated, written in italics (single underlining intypescript) and be followed by volume number in bold type (wavy underlining in

typescript) and page number (an increasing number of journals put first and last pagenumbers). It should read like this:

Biochemical Journal, 149, 621-646.


5/5

Examples

The rules are longwinded: the examples below are simple to follow:

Smith, A.B. & Jones, D.E. (1964) The effect of something on something else.

Biochemical Journal, 149, 621-646.

Smith, A.B. Jones, D.E. & Robinson, F.C. (1965) The response of something to something.Biochemical Journal, 151, 1049-1053.

or, for book references:

Dacie, J.V. & Worlledge, Sheila, M. (1968) in Clinical Aspects of Immunology, ed. Gell,P.G.H. & Coombs, R.R.A. Ch.29, pp 812-815. Oxford: Blackwell

Harris, G.W. (1955) Neural Control of the Pituitary Gland. London: Arnold.

Sloper, J.C. (1966) The experimental and cyto-patholgical investigation of neurosecretion inthe hypothalamus and pituitary. In The Pituitary Gland, ed. Harris, G.W. & Donovan, B.T.Vol.3. Ch.7 London: Butterworth.

c:\phd\hdregs

January 1992 (revised June 1997)

Last updated: July 2002

presentation of thesis based on british standard 4821:1990

Documents