Presentation

If you are writing a doctoral (PhD, EngD, EdD and DBA) or an MPhil/MTh thesis at
Brunel University, you should consult the document “Theses: notes for guidance”,
which is included as an appendix in the “Research student handbook” and available
on the web:
http://intranet.brunel.ac.uk/registry/hbook.shtml

If you are writing a final year or Masters dissertation, you should consult your course
handbook for presentation information.

The British standard regarding the “Presentation of theses and dissertations” has
been withdrawn but it remains good practice (British Standard Institution 1990).
Often acknowledging this British standard, the following aspects of presentation will
be considered in this section:

• Binding
• Fonts
• Page numbering
• Paper and margins
• Quotations
• Sections and subsections
• Spacing
• Tables and figures

Binding
The document “Theses: notes for guidance” specifies that your thesis should be in
“perfect binding”. The Library will arrange binding for three copies of your doctoral
thesis or two copies of your MPhil/ MTh thesis. If it is a doctoral thesis, the three
copies are destined for the Library (as part of the library stock), the British Library
and your supervisor. The two copies of an MPhil/ MTh thesis are destined for the
Library and your supervisor. When your thesis has been accepted, please ask at any
library enquiry point and you will be directed to the appropriate member of staff
(telephone extensions: Osterley 68718 and Uxbridge 66154). The library staff will
require documentation as specified in the “Theses: notes for guidance”. If you
require extra personal copies of your thesis, you should make your own
arrangements. A list of local binding services is available on the web:
http://intranet.brunel.ac.uk/library/brio/binders.html

Two copies of final year and Masters dissertations are required to be submitted. The
former should be spiral bound whilst the latter are hard bound.

Fonts
A font is a set of letters, with similar shape and size characteristics, which is used for
printing and word processing. The standard word processor Word offers a wide
choice of fonts, including Arial and Times New Roman. The Arial font is used in this
book and throughout the Library’s guides and web pages. The Times New Roman
font was developed for “The Times” newspaper during the 1920s, and is still used by
several British newspapers. Letters in the Times New Roman font have serifs or
cross lines finishing each stroke of the letter. By contrast, Arial is a sans-serif font,
with rounded letters and no cross lines.

Although Word offers a wide choice of fonts, many of these fonts are for notices or
headings, where impact value is important. The number of easy to read fonts is
actually surprisingly small.

Page numbering
Page numbering is sometimes called pagination. The British Standards Institution
(1990) recommends that a thesis should be numbered in the top outer corner of
each page. The withdrawn British standard regarding the “Presentation of theses
and dissertations” continues to be recommended in the University’s “Theses: notes
for guidance”. It states that the pages of a thesis should be numbered in a single
sequence, starting from the title page. The title page should be considered as the
first page in the sequence but is, itself, not numbered.

Word offers an automatic page numbering feature, which enables you to vary the
style of the numbering and also the position of the numbers on a page. Using Word
you can arrange your page numbering as recommended by British standard 4821.
Unfortunately this standard has been withdrawn and is no longer freely available to
Brunel University members through the British Standards Online database.

Paper and margins

For dissertations and theses, use one side only of A4 white paper. For a thesis it
should be A4 white, acid free, paper weighing 70-100 grams per square metre.

Word’s standard margin settings are fine for unbound documents such as essays
and reports. For dissertations and theses, a wider binding margin of 40 millimetres
should be used. Other margins should not be less than 15 millimetres. Page
numbers should be in the text area, not in the margins.

Quotations

Quotations should be totally accurate. A long quotation, exceeding three lines,

should be separated from the main body of text and single-spaced. It should be
indented on both sides by half-an-inch, enclosed within double quotation marks, and
followed by a direct citation, as below.

“Writing is a skill; like other skills, it can be learnt, and like most skills it
is not inborn. For example, few people lack the basic equipment to
learn to ride a bicycle (balance, strength, sight), but most become
skilled cyclists only after much practice. Confidence is the main
necessity, and having the courage to get on and try. The same is true
of writing.” (Turk 1989:1)
It is usually better to express ideas in your own words rather than have a string of
quotations by other authors, because quotations do not show your views and they
break the flow of reading. On the other hand, Allison (1993;41) observed that
"occasionally it happens that only an author's exact words will illustrate the point
being made". The previous sentence includes a short quotation, which is kept within
the main body of text and enclosed within double quotation marks.

Abbreviated quotations should have three dots inserted, as if they were one word, at
the point where text has been omitted. If you are quoting a passage, which has itself
been quoted by an author you have read, you should make a direct citation as
below.

If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what
is said is not what is meant, then what ought to be done remains
undone. (Confucius in Gowers 1973:111)

Sections and subsections

This guide uses headings, subheadings and small headings. They are distinguished
as follows:

• Headings: title case, boldfaced and 18 points Arial font

• Subheadings: lower case with initial capital letter, boldfaced and 14 points
Arial font
• Small headings: lower case with initial capital letter, boldfaced and 12 points
Arial font

A more sophisticated way to differentiate sections and subsections might be to use a

decimal notation, such as:

1 Main Heading
1.1 Subheading
1.1.1 Small heading

Boldfacing is superior to underlining for highlighting headings, because it looks

better. Underlining should be avoided.

Spacing
The University’s “Theses: notes for guidance” document suggests 12 points (or 1.2
line spacing) for text in theses; the British Standards Institution (1990) recommends
15 points (or one-and-a-half line spacing) for text in theses and dissertations. You
should use single spacing for special areas of dissertations and theses, such as the
bibliography, abstract, table headings and indented long quotes. The spacing in this
book is single spacing throughout.

Using Word you can change the spacing with the “Format/ Paragraph” feature. For
word-processed documents, you should leave a single space after full stops, colons
and semicolons. This gives your text a balanced look and avoids vertical ‘rivers’
through the text.

Tables and figures

A table is an arrangement of data (numbers or words) in columns. Tables can be
positioned either within the text or at the end of the text in an appendix. If there are
only a few tables, then they should be included in the text, where they will be in
context and easier for the reader. On the other hand, you may have many similar
tables to support your argument. In this case, you should pick out one or two key
tables for insertion in the text and refer the reader to an appendix containing all the
tables. Do consider, however, whether you really need so many tables.

Figures include: graphs, diagrams, histograms, art work, plans, maps and
photographs. The axes of graphs should usually start at zero. They should be
labelled, preferably on the horizontal, to make it easier for the reader. If you have
many figures, they may be better placed in an appendix, leaving only key figures in
the text.

Both tables and figures should always have headings so that they are able to stand
alone, separate from the text. Normally a table heading is positioned above the table,
whilst a figure heading is positioned below the figure. Tables and figures should be
numbered separately and lists of tables and figures should be included in the
preliminary information at the beginning of a dissertation or thesis.