Revised 03/02/07 1 EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY THE GRADUATE SCHOOL MANUAL OF BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR THESES AND DISSERTATIONS Introduction The East Carolina University Manual of Basic Requirements for Theses and Dissertations has been written to provide guidance in approaching the task of writing a thesis or dissertation. This publication is intended to serve several purposes in support of this endeavor: 1. To call the student's attention to the technical demands of clear and clean design and consistency in a form that is an important part of the research process. Such demands are identical to those that editors and publishers place on the writers who publish research findings in technical and professional journals. After meeting the demands of this manual, the student should find adapting to other sets of technical instructions less confusing and time consuming. 2. To facilitate construction, handling, study, and evaluation of the thesis or dissertation within the university. 3. To specify uniform size, paper, arrangement, and spacing. Standardized plans facilitate binding and storage and save time when people use the thesis or dissertation as a reference. Further, technical uniformity in particular types of research reporting makes comparison for information content easier. 4. To provide security for students and advisers. Through the use of the manual, they can be certain that a thesis or dissertation will be in an acceptable format. This guide protects the student from arbitrary modification requirements. Writers of theses or dissertations are expected to follow this Manual of Basic Requirements. However, students and directors frequently desire to introduce important modifications to improve communication or quality of expression. Desired deviations from this manual can be submitted to the Dean of the Graduate School for approval before submitting the final copy. 1
Revised 03/02/07 2 Thesis and Dissertation Form Manuals of Style The student should consult with the committee chair and members of the research committee to determine the textual arrangement and reference format of the dissertation or thesis. It may be helpful to select a journal, in which portions of your research will likely be published, to use as a style model. The selected style must be consistent throughout the document. Additional assistance in the proper use of a particular style may be provided by either Joyner Library or Laupus Library. The libraries may provide access to Bibliographic Citation software which can aid in the proper citation and documentation of research. Currently, the libraries provide access to RefWorks (by Cambridge Scientific Abstracts) or EndNote Web (by The Thomson Corporation). Either citation software is available via either library electronic resources page. Also, tutorials for RefWorks may be found on the RefWorks website. Finally, librarian assistance with citations as they appear in the thesis or dissertation can be found at either library. RefWorks URL: http://www.refworks.com/refworks/login.asp?g=rwecarolinau&wnclang=false RefWorks Tutorial URL: http://www.refworks.com/tutorial/ EndNote URL: http://portal.isiknowledge.com/portal.cgi 2 Copyright Issues Before copyrighted materials are included in the thesis or dissertation written permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. Signed copyright forms must be included in the appendix. Students should consult University Microfilms International to determine if copyrighted material was used and if permission is required to use this information in a dissertation or thesis. http://www.umi.com/umi/dissertations/copyright. A sample permission letter is shown below in Appendix B. The student may want to consult with the committee chair on this issue. Preparation of the Thesis and Dissertation The Graduate School has specific guidelines for the presentation and writing of the thesis or dissertation. All paper used for required copies of theses and dissertations to be submitted to the Graduate School should be white; of good, durable quality 100% rag content; twenty-pound bound; acid free; and 8 1/2 by 11 inches. The Graduate School also requires a specific page order and formatting of each page. Listed below is the suggested page order for the dissertation or thesis. The components to be included in any given thesis or dissertation should be determined by mutual agreement between the student and his/her advisory committee. For each component of the thesis there is a prepared format to ensure that the student complies. Below are prepared templates formatted according to Graduate school guidelines. Abstract (required) Blank Cover Sheet (required) Title Page (required)
Revised 03/02/07 3 Pagination Signature Page (required) must be signed Dedication (optional) Acknowledgement (optional) Table of Contents (required) List of Tables/Figures (as appropriate) List of Symbols/Abbreviations (as appropriate) Preface (optional) Text (body of thesis) (required) References (required) Appendix A (as appropriate) Appendix B (as appropriate) Blank Cover Sheet (required) Page numbers should be placed in the upper right-hand corner, not less than 1/2 inch from the upper edge and directly on the established right margin. Both Arabic and lowercase Roman numerals are used according to the system described below. All pages from the title page to the first page of the body of the thesis or dissertation are prefatory; therefore, they should receive lowercase Roman numeral pagination (i, ii, iii). The title page and signature page together count as the first page of the prefatory material. However, even though they count as a page, no page number appears. The acknowledgment page, if used, and the table of contents page or pages are the next prefatory pages to be counted, but these pages also will not receive pagination. Example: A thesis or dissertation having a title page and signature page, a two-page table of contents, and a four-page preface would be paginated as follows: 1. Title page - no pagination 2. Signature page - no pagination 3. Table of contents pages - no pagination 4. First page of preface - no pagination 5. Second page of preface - page number v 6. Third page of preface - page number vi 7. Fourth page of preface - page number vii Arabic numerals (1,2,3) are used to paginate the body, supplementary sections, appendices, and bibliography. The first page of the body is counted as the first page, but no number appears. The second page of the body does receive the page number 2. Thereafter, all pages to the end are counted as Arabic page numbers, and all pages receive a number except the first page of each chapter, the first page of each supplementary section, such as an appendix, and the first page of the bibliography. 3
Revised 03/02/07 4 Submission to the Library All copies of your thesis or dissertation must be submitted to the Joyner Library Circulation Desk [phone number: (252) 328-6518]. Each one must be in a separate box or brown envelope and identified as required or personal. All required copies must be on acid free paper. Payment for personal copies must be made at the time of submission. You may pay by cash, check, or Visa/MasterCard debit or credit. Theses. Three copies of the approved thesis must be prepared on acid free paper and submitted to the Joyner Library Circulation Desk. The library will bind the three required copies at no charge to the student. Two copies will be charged to the library and maintained in the library. One copy will be charged to the department and sent to the department. The copy sent to the department is not the advisor s copy. Additional copies may be bound at the student s expense. Dissertations. The number of copies of the final approved dissertation required by your school or department must be prepared on acid free paper and submitted to the Joyner Library Circulation Desk after approval by the Graduate School. Joyner Library will submit the dissertation to Proquest for digitization and inclusion in the Proquest Dissertations and Theses database after the publishing fee and any other fees have been paid. You should confer with a library representative about all fees associated with your dissertation. You must complete the Publishing Option form and the Dissertation Submission Form. These forms are available at the Graduate School, the Joyner Library Circulation Desk, and in the Proquest guide, Publishing Your Doctoral Dissertation with UMI Dissertation Publishing, which is available at: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-lib/upload/dissertation_publishing_agreement.pdf. Complete the Copyright Registration Form if you choose to have Proquest register your copyright on your behalf. The library will bind all required copies at no charge to the student. Two copies will be maintained by the library and one copy will be sent to the department. The copy sent to the department is not the advisor s copy. Additional copies may be bound at the student s expense. Students are responsible for the distribution of personal copies. Distribution of Forms The library representative will sign and date your acknowledgment form and make the required number of copies. The copies will be given to you for distribution as indicated on the form. The representative s signature indicates that you have submitted the required number of theses/dissertations. It is your responsibility to distribute the copies of this form. Remember, you will not be certified for graduation until your signed forms have been distributed. Your thesis/dissertation should be submitted to Joyner Library in the page order outline previously. If not, it will be bound as received. Checklist for Preparation and Completion of Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations 4
Revised 03/02/07 5 Listed below are procedures and requirements to be followed during the preparation and completion of your thesis: 1. Use the manual of style prescribed by your school or department for information on documenting sources. 2. Schedule your work according to the deadlines established by the Graduate School. 3. Follow the East Carolina University Manual of Basic Requirements for Theses and Dissertations. 4. Submit the required number of copies of the thesis to your thesis director at least ten days prior to the date of the final oral examination. 5. Defend your thesis during the final oral examination. 6. Make required corrections to your thesis. 7. Obtain proper signatures for your thesis. 8. Submit your thesis or dissertation to the Graduate school for review of format. 9. Deliver your properly signed thesis or dissertation to the Graduate School no later than ten days prior to the last day of classes during the semester in which you plan to graduate. This deadline applies to summer school sessions as well as to the regular semesters. 10. Prepare the required number of copies of the thesis or dissertation. 11. Deliver the required number of copies of your thesis or dissertation to Joyner Library packaged and identified. 12. Deliver to Joyner Library the "Thesis/dissertation certification form" signed by the Dean of the Graduate School. 13. Distribute signed, completed copies of "Thesis/dissertation certification form" as indicated on the form. 5 Final Review of Thesis and Dissertations Prior to Acceptance by the Graduate School The following are the major reasons that theses and dissertations are not initially approved: a. Improper format of abstract (See page 6) b. Improper margins in any part of the thesis or dissertation (See page 8). c. Improper pagination (especially in the prefatory material) (See page 8). d. Incorrect pagination listed in the Table of Contents. e. Inconsistent hierarchy of organization from section to section. The same level of organization should be treated consistently as to indention, underlining, fonts, bold lettering, alphanumeric denotations (ex. A, b, I, 1) etc. f. Inconsistent hierarchy of organization between that listed in the Table of Contents and found in the text. g. Inconsistent use of fonts. h. Prefatory material missing List of Tables, List of Figures, etc. Also table/figure titles are not included in the List of Tables, Figures etc. or they have incorrect pagination. i. Incomplete references (Text referrals are not cited in the bibliography/references section).
Revised 03/02/07 6 j. Inconsistent style in citing the references in both the text and the bibliography/references section. k. Improper grammar and/or misspelling (to a lesser extent). Although all theses and dissertations should comply with the "Manual of Basic Requirements...", the Graduate School strongly suggests that each program decide upon a particular style or format by which all of their theses or dissertations will follow beyond that described herein. This format may be either a specific style manual (i.e. APA, Turabian, MLA) or the format of a respected journal in the field. Questions about the above procedures should be addressed with the Graduate School at (252) 328-6073. Questions relative to the format of your thesis/dissertation should be addressed with an associate dean at (252) 328-6012. Congratulations. 6