Microsoft word - guidelines for msc dissertations

INSTITUTE OF BIOCHEMISTRY, MOLECULAR BIOLOGY &
BIOTECHNOLOGY
University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
Guidelines for the preparation of
MSc Dissertations
GUIDELINES FOR PREPARATION OF MSc DISSERTATIONS
1. The Dissertation should be typed on white A4 paper, on one side of the paper only, with margins of 30 mm on the left hand side and at least 20 mm on the other three sides. Double spacing should be used throughout, including, abstract, acknowledgments, text, Tables and references. Arabic numerals should be used for numbering pages beginning with the page containing abstract and for numbering Tables and Figures. 2. The first page of the Dissertation is the title page. It should contain the title of the Dissertation, the full name of the candidate, the statement: “A Dissertation submitted to the Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Colombo in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in ………………….” and the month and year of submission of the Dissertation. Format for the title page and type and size of fonts to be used are given in annex 1. 3. The page following the title page shall carry the declaration by the student as given in 4. The page following the declaration page shall carry an abstract of not more than 500 words and shall be considered as a part of the Dissertation to be examined. 5. The page following the abstract shall be the acknowledgements. This should be brief and
only key persons to be acknowledged identified by name. All funding sources should be
acknowledged.

6. The page following the acknowledgements shall be the Table of Contents. The list of Tables, Figures and Abbreviations (if any) should follow the Table of Contents. 7. Pages should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals, beginning with the page 8. The text of the Dissertation could be arranged in the following sequence. Introduction (should include literature review and justification for the study)  Discussion (last paragraph of discussion may include conclusions / recommendations / suggestions for future work if any) References Appendices 9. TABLES / FIGURES

These should be numbered sequentially within each section (eg Table 3.1, Table 3.2 etc.,
if the Tables appear in section 3) in Arabic numerals and arranged in the appropriate
place in the text. Each Table / Figure should be cited in the text using uppercase for first
letter (eg. as shown in Table 3.1). Tables should have a brief title and each column and
row a short abbreviated heading. All non-standard abbreviations used in each Table
should be explained in a footnote. Each Figure should have a legend. Any Figures or
Tables adopted from other sources should be indicated.
Statistical measures of variations such as, standard deviation, standard error of the mean
should be identified.
Note : A Table and a Figure should be confined to one page. If a Table extends to more than one page, Title of the Table and column headings should be given on each page. 10. ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

Do not use abbreviations in the title and in the abstract. The full term for which an
abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text, unless it is a standard unit of
measurement. Abbreviations used should be generally accepted ones. All abbreviations
used should be given in a list of abbreviations as indicated under item 6.
11. UNITS OF MEASUREMENT

Measurements of length, weight, and volume should be reported in metric units (metre,
kilogram, liter) or their decimal multiples. Temperatures should be given in degrees
Celsius, Blood pressures should be given in millimeters of mercury.
It is preferable if haematological and clinical chemistry measurements are reported in the
International System of Units (SI) with the equivalent conventional units in parentheses.
It is recommended that uniformity be maintained in the “system” used throughout the
Dissertation.
12. REFERENCES
The Harvard system of listing references should be used. All references should be listed in the section of references at the end of the Dissertation in alphabetical order of surname of the first author. In the Harvard system, each reference should be indicated in the text within parentheses by the name(s) of author (s) and year of publication immediately following the reference in the text eg. (Perera, 1972). If there are two authors indicate as follows (Perera and Silva, 1972) If there are more than two authors for a single publication, the name of the first author should be followed by et al to be followed by the year of publication. (eg. Perera et al,1972). When several references are written within the same parenthesis arrange them in chronological order and within each year in alphabetical order separated using semicolons. (eg: Perera, 1972; Albert et al, 1983; Smith et al 1983; Morrison and Jones, 2002). Guidelines for preparing the reference list is given in annex 3. 13. FONTS & STYLE
Throughout the Dissertation it is recommended that Times new Roman, Font size 12 regular is used, except where it is indicated to use a different size or style. Heading of each section should be in bold, Times new Roman Font size 14 and centered. Only the first letter of first word should be in upper case except for words written in uppercase eg. DNA . Subsequent headings should follow the format give in annex 4. Text should not be justified. Paragraphs should not be indented. After the heading or a subheading a) return key should be pressed twice to begin the body of the paragraph or b) alternatively use the add space before paragraph and add space after paragraph command in the Microsoft Office Word 2007 version. To begin a new subheading always press the return key thrice after the previous paragraph if a) above is followed or press the return key twice after the previous paragraph if b) above is followed. (Adopted from Guidelines for preparation of MPhil / PhD Thesis – IBMBB which was initially formulated based on similar guidelines from the Faculty of Medicine.) 14. HARD BOUND COPY
Format for the front cover, spine, and the colours to be used is given in annex 5. Annex 1 : Title page - Sample

Title of the MSc Dissertation
(Times New Roman Font Size to be between 14 and 20 depending on the length of the title, Bold, Centered and should not exceed 4 lines) Full Name of the Student
(Times New Roman Font Size between 14 and 16, Bold, Centered) A Dissertation submitted to the
Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Colombo
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
Degree of Master of Science in ……………
(First 3 lines Times New Roman size 12, bold, Last line size 14 Bold) Month and Year
(Times New Roman Font Size 14, Bold, Centered) Declaration
I declare that the work described in this Dissertation was carried out by me under the supervision of ------------------------------------------- as partial fulfillment for the Degree of MSc in ---------------------------------------of the Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Colombo. This work has not been submitted earlier or concurrently for any other degree/diploma in this University or in any other Institution. To the best of my knowledge it does not contain any material published, written or communicated by another person except where due reference is made in the text. Signature of the Candidate------------------------------------- Name of the Candidate ----------------------------------------- I/ We confirm to my/our best of knowledge that the above particulars are correct Signature of the Supervisor-------------------------------- Name and Designation of the Supervisor--------------------------------- Written Assignments, MSc Dissertations and MPhil /
PhD Theses
Revised Format for References: Modified from Uniform
Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals


The following format will be applicable to all written assignments, MSc
Dissertations and MPhil / PhD Theses submitted to IBMBB after 15th March 2010.
In the text references should be cited within parenthesis as follows.
Single author : last name of the author followed by year of publication
eg: (Smith, 2001)
Two authors : last names of both authors, followed by year of publication
eg: (Smith and John, 2001)
More than two authors : last name of the first author followed by et al and year of
publication
eg: (Smith et al, 2001)
If there are two or more publications by the same author in the same year these
should be indicated in the text and in the reference list as follows.
Text: (Smith et al, 2000a, Smith et al, 2000b etc.); Reference list: Smith JE,
Clark B, Peters MP ……………. 2000a; Smith JE, Clark B, Thomas P …………
2000b
If several references are being cited within same parenthesis these should be
arranged in chronological order and in alphabetical order within a particular year.
eg: (Smith et al, 1997; Andrews et al, 2001, Mortimer et al, 2001, Watson, 2001;
Peters et al, 2005)
Articles in Journals

1. Standard journal article

Authors, title of the article, journal name, year, volume and pages as shown in the
examples given below.
Full name of the journal should be given.

List the first six authors followed by et al.
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid – organ transplantation in HIV – infected
patients. New England Journal of Medicine. 2002;347:284-287
More than six authors:

Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al.
Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion
injury. Brain Research. 2002;935:40-46.
2. Organization as author
Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40:679-686. 3. Both personal authors and organization as author (List all as they appear in the
byline) Vallancien G, Emberton M, Harving N, van Moorselaar RJ; Alf-One Study Group. Sexual dysfunction in 1,274 European men suffering from lower urinary tract symptoms. Journal of Urology. 2003;169:2257-2261. 4. No author given

21st century heart solution may have a sting in the tail. British Medical Journal.
2002;325:184.
5. Article not in English
Ellingsen AE, Wilhelmsen I. Sykdomsangst blant medisin – og jusstudenter. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2002;122:785-787. Norwegian. 6. Volume with supplement
Geraud G, Spierings EL, Keywood C. Tolerability and safety of frovatriptan with short – and long – term use for treatment of migraine and in comparison with sumatriptan. Headache. 2002;42 Suppl 2:S93 –69 7. Pagination in roman numerals
Chadwick R, Schuklenk U. The politics of ethical consensus finding. Bioethics. 2002;16:iii-v. 8. Type of article indicated as needed

Tor M, Turker H. International approaches to the prescription of long – term oxygen
therapy [letter]. European Respiratory Journal. 2002;20:242.
Books and Other Monographs

9. Personal author(s)

Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical Microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002. 10. Editor(s), compiler(s) as author

Gilstrap LC , Cunningham FG, VanDorsten JP, editors. Operative Obstetrics. 2nd ed.
New York; McGraw – Hill; 2002
11. Author(s) and editor(s)

Breedlove GK, Schorfheide AM. Adolescent Pregnancy. 2nd ed. Wieczorek RR, editor.
White Plains (NY): March of Dimes Education Services; 2001.
12. Chapter in a book
Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The Genetic Basis of Human Cancer. 4th ed. New York: McGraw – Hill; 2002. p. 93-113. 13. Conference proceedings


Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th
Germ Cell Tumour Conference; 2001 Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.
14. Conference paper


Christensen S, Oppacher F. An analysis of Koza’s computational effort statistic for
genetic programming. In: Foster JA, Lutton E, Miller J, Ryan C, Tettamanzi AG, editors.
Genetic programming. EuroGP 2002: Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on
Genetic Programming; 2002 Apr 3-5; Kinsdale, Ireland. Berlin: Springer; 2002. p. 182-
91.
15. Scientific or technical report


Issued by funding / sponsoring agency:
Yen GG (Oklahoma State University, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Stillwater, OK). Health monitoring on vibration signatures. Final report. Arlington (VA):
Air Force Office of Scientific Research (US), Air Force Research Laboratory; 2002 Feb.
Report No.: AFRLSRBLTR020123. Contract No.:F496209810049.
Issued by performing agency:
Russell ML, Goth – Goldstein R, Apte MG, Fisk WJ. Method for measuring the size
distribution of airborne Rhinovirus. Berkeley (CA): Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory, Environmental Energy Technologies Division; 2002 Jan. Report No.:
LBNL49574. Contract No.:DEAC0376SF00098. Sponsored by the Department of
Energy.
16. Dissertation

Borkowski MM. Infant sleep and feeding : a telephone survey of Hispanic Americans
[PhD]. Mount pleasant (MI): Central Michigan University; 2002.


17. In press or forthcoming

(Note: Prefers “Forthcoming” rather then “In press” because not all items will be
printed.)
Tian D, Araki H, Stahl E, Bergelson J, Kreitman M. Signature of balancing selection in
Arabidopsis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U S A. Forthcoming
2002.
18. Journal article on the Internet
Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. American Journal of Nursing [Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12]; 102 (6):[about 1 p.]. Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htmArticle 19. Article with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI):


Zhang M, Holman CD, Price SD, Sanfilippo FM, Preen DB, Bulsara MK. Comorbidity
and repeat admission to hospital for adverse drug reactions in older adults : retrospective
cohort study. British Medical Journal. 2009 Jan 7;338:a2752.doi:10.1136/bmj.a2752.
20. Database on the Internet
Open database: Who’s Certified [Internet]. Evanston (IL): The American Board of Medical Specialists. c2000 – [cited 2001 Mar 8]. Available from : http://www.abms.org/newsearch.asp Closed database: Jablonski S. Online Multiple Congenital Anomaly/Mental Retardation (MCA/MR) Syndromes [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); c1999 [updated 2001 Nov 20; cited 2002 Aug 12]. Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/archive//20061212/mesh/jablonski/sindrome_title.html Please pay attention to above examples to find appropriate use
of punctuation mark, comma, semi colon, colon, which letters
to be written in upper case (capital), use of spacing, type of
parenthesis (square or round) etc.
Annex 4 : Fonts and Style - Please see below for an example. Font size and type indicated
against the headings. Four levels of headings are shown other than the Section heading.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
3. Results (Bold Font Size 14)
Lipid profile of patients and controls (Bold underlined font size 12)
Baseline characteristics of the patients and controls are shown in Table 3.1. All the patients had significantly higher (p<0.05) levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL cholesterol and significantly lower levels of HDL cholesterol. 3.1.1 Effect of gender on total cholesterol (Bold font size 12)
Total cholesterol levels stratified by gender is shown in Table 3.2. Women had significantly 3.1.1.1 Effect of drug A on total cholesterol by gender (underlined regular font size 12) 3.1.1.1.1 Adverse effects of drug A in women (regular font size 12) Spacing between paragraphs using “add space” command should appear as given below. Lipid profile of patients and controls
Baseline characteristics of the patients and controls are shown in Table 3.1. All the patients had significantly higher (p<0.05) levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL cholesterol and significantly lower levels of HDL cholesterol. Baseline socio-demographic characteristics are shown in Figure 1. 3.1.1 Effect of gender on total cholesterol
Total cholesterol levels stratified by gender is shown in Table 3.2.

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