FORMATTING GUIDES FOR AUTHORS OF

RESEARCH PAPERS

Isabelle Lim, Alvin Tan, Christopher Lee and your tutors name

Faculty of Applied Sciences and Computing, Tunku Abdul Rahman University College,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
limisabelle@stud.tarc.edu.my, tanalvin@stud.tarc.edu.my,
leechristopher@stud.tarc.edu.my, your tutors email

ABSTRACT
This paper gives complete guidelines for authors submitting papers for the course.

KEYWORDS
Network Protocols, Wireless Network, Mobile Network, Virus, Worms &Trojon

1. INTRODUCTION
This document describes, and is written to conform to, author guidelines for the course
Research Methods. It is prepared in Microsoft Word as a .doc document. Other means of
preparation are acceptable (e.g. .docx or LaTex), and the final version must conform to this
defined layout. You are advised to read the formatting instructions. The simplest approach is to
use this template and insert content into it as appropriate.

2. FORMAT GUIDE
The following formatting rules must be followed strictly. This (.doc) document may be used as
a template for papers prepared using Microsoft Word. Papers not conforming to these layout
requirements may not be accepted.

2.1. General Format, Page Layout and Margins

Standard A4 (210mm x 297mm) portrait page set-up should be used. The left, right, top and
bottom margins should be 30mm. Do not use any headers, footers or footnotes. No page
numbers. Single column. All main text paragraphs, including the abstract, must be fully (left
and right) justified. All text, including title, authors, headings, captions and body, will be Times
New Roman font. Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections
should be numbered1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section
numbering).
2.2. Title
The title is to be written in 20 pt. Times New Roman font, centred and using the bold and
Small Caps formats. There should be 24 pt. (paragraph) spacing after the last line.

2.3. Authors
Place the name of the main author as the first author. The main author usually is the one who
contributes the most to the research. The other members of the group would be the second and
third author. Place the lecturer/tutor who has guided you in the research as the last author.

Author names are to be written in 13 pt. Times New Roman format, centred and followed by a
12pt. paragraph spacing. If necessary, use superscripts to link individual authors with
institutions as shown above. Author affiliations are to be written in 12 pt. Times New Roman,
centred, with email addresses, in 10 pt. Times New Roman, on the line following. The last
email address will have an 18 pt. (paragraph) spacing following.

2.4. Abstract
The Abstract section begins with the word, Abstract in 13 pt. Times New Roman, bold italics,
Small Caps font with a 6pt. spacing following. The abstract must not exceed 150 words in
length in 10 pt. Times New Roman italics. The text must be fully justified, with a 12 pt.
paragraph spacing following the last line.

2.5. Keywords
The Keywords section begins with the word, Keywords in 13 pt. Times New Roman, bold
italics, Small Caps font with a 6pt. spacing following. There may be up to five (5) keywords
(or short phrases) separated by commas and six spaces, in 10 pt. Times New Roman italics. An
18 pt. line spacing follows.

2.6. Section and sub-section headings

Section headings are numbered 1. Xxx, 2. Yyy, etc. in 14 pt. bold Small Caps Times New
Roman font with a 6 pt. line spacing following.
Subsection headings are numbered 1.1. Aaa, 1.2. Bbb, etc. in 12 pt. bold Times New Roman
font with a 6pt line spacing following.

2.6.1. Further Subsections

Further sub-sectioning, if required, is indicated using 1.1.1. Qqq, etc. headings with 11 pt. bold
Times New Roman font with a 6pt line spacing following.

2.7. Text
Main-body text is to written in fully (left and right) justified 11 pt. Times New Roman font with
a 6pt. (paragraph) line spacing following the last line of each paragraph, but a 12pt. (paragraph)
line spacing following the last paragraph. Do not indent paragraphs.

2.7.1. Article Structure

Introduction
State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background (literature review),
avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
Material and methods
Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced (so that other people can refer to
your method). Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant
modifications should be described.

Results
Results should be clear and concise.

Discussion
This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined
Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of
published literature.

Conclusions
The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may
stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.

Appendices
If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and
equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a
subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1,
etc.

Acknowledgements
An (unnumbered) acknowledgements section may be inserted if required. Collate
acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do
not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here
those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing
assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).

An (unnumbered) acknowledgements section may be inserted if required.

References
References should be cited in the main text using Author-Year system. The full references
should be given as below (essentially Harvard Referencing format), in the alphabetical order in
10 pt. Times New Roman, with a 6pt spacing between each. References should be arranged first
alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference
from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc.,
placed after the year of publication.

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice
versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full.

Web references used as a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the
reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates,
reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed
separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included
in the reference list (Elsevier, 2013).
2.8. Figures and Tables
All inserts, figures, diagrams, photographs and tables must be centre-aligned, clear and
appropriate for black/white or greyscale reproduction.

Figures (eg, Figure 1) must be numbered consecutively, 1, 2, etc., from start to finish of the
paper, ignoring sections and subsections. Tables (eg, Table 1) are also numbered consecutively,
1, 2, etc., from start to finish of the paper, ignoring sections and subsections, and independently
from figures.
Table 1: Heading and text fonts.

Text Alignment Font Followed by:

Title Centre 20 pt. TNR, bold, small-caps 24 pt. line sp.
Authors Centre 13 pt. TNR 12 pt. line sp.
Addresses Centre 12 pt. TNR
emails Centre 10 pt. TNR 18 pt. line sp. (last)
Abstract heading Left 13 pt. bold italic TNR, small caps 6 pt. line sp.
Abstract text Justify 10 pt. italic TNR 12 pt. line sp.
Keywords heading Left 13 pt. bold italic TNR, small caps 6 pt. line sp.
Keywords Left 10 pt. italic TNR 18 pt line sp.
Section headings Left 14 pt. bold TNR, small caps 6 pt. line sp.
Sub-section heads Left 12 pt. bold TNR 6 pt. line sp.
Sub-sub-sections Left 11 pt. bold TNR 6 pt. line sp.
Body text Justify 11 pt. TNR 12 pt line sp. (last)
Figures Centre 6 pt. line sp.
Figure captions Centre 11 pt. TNR 12 pt. line sp.
References Justify 10 pt. TNR (as shown) 6 pt. line sp

Figure 1: Spam traffic sample (AIRCC, 2013)

All figures, tables, etc. must have a caption, centre-justified in 11 pt. Times New Roman.
Captions precede tables but follow figures. Tables and figures must appear as close to their
point of reference as satisfactory formatting of the final document permits.
3. SUBMISSION DEADLINES
Papers in this format must not exceed twenty (20) pages in length. Papers should be submitted
to your respective tutor. Papers for initial consideration may be submitted in either .doc, .docx
or .txt to SafeAssign in the TAR UC CeL system from 7 August 2017 (Monday) to 18 August
2017 (Friday). Final version to be submitted must be printed out and the softcopy can be in
either .doc, .docx, pdf, or LaTex (.tex and .bib), and handed to your tutor by week 12 to week
14.

REFERENCES
AIRCC, P. C., 2013. International Journal of Software Engineering and Application. Viewed 20 June
2014. Available at: http://airccse.org/journal/aircc_template.doc
Elsevier, 2013. Author Information Pack. Viewed 20 June 2014. Available at:
http://www.elsevier.com/journals/computers-and-education/0360-1315?generatepdf=true
BACS2042 Research Methods

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: To be filled by tutor

ON TIME LATE

SUBMISSION CHECKLIST
The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to submission.
Ensure that the following items are present. Attach this checklist to the research paper upon
submission.
check if Item
applicabl
e
The corresponding author(s) with address and e-mail address
Maximum 5 keywords
All figures are provided captions with numbering (captions are placed below the
figures)
All tables are provided captions with numbering (captions are placed above the
tables)
Text has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked'
References are in the correct format. Only those cited in the text are included
Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources
(including the Web)
The softcopy has been uploaded to SafeAssign, CeL.

DECLARATION
We declare that this coursework is done by us and conformed to the regulations of the
College. We are aware of the regulations and shall be penalized if there is any
evidence of academic impropriety or plagiarism revealed.

___________________ [Signature] ___________________ [Signature]

( ) [Name] ( ) [Name]
Team Member 1 Team Member 2

__________________ [Signature]
( ) [Name]
Team Member 3
BACS2042 Research Methods