Thesis submission

Entry Form for Examination

Two to six months prior to submission of your thesis you are required to complete the first section of the Entry Form for Examination. The form is available from your Postgraduate Research Administrator and, once completed, should be handed to your Principal Supervisor who will nominate an examination panel. The examination panel is scrutinised and approved at a Faculty level and then by the Research Degrees Committee.

Format of Thesis

Number of copies

Examination candidates are required to submit one softbound copy of their thesis per examiner and additional copies for the supervisor.

The title page

This will include: the approved title, the student’s name, the degree for which the candidate is registered and the year the thesis is presented.

Summary

Following the title page candidates are required include a summary of the work not exceeding 300 words.

Acknowledgements

It is good practice to include an acknowledgments page.

Fonts

The University does not prescribe a font to be used in the submission of a thesis. However, the selected font must be sensible and professional.

Margins

The margins must leave enough room for binding; 2 – 3 centimetres is recommended. This is the standard margin in Word.

Referencing

Conventions vary from discipline to discipline and there are many to choose from: Harvard, MLA, APA etc.

You should discuss which convention is best suited to your project with your supervisors and use it consistently throughout your thesis. Your supervisors will be able to help you with the referencing convention and point you in the direction of guidance.

For one-to-one help and advice on referencing styles for your particular discipline contact your academic liaison librarian.

Word limit

The University of Surrey does not enforce a minimum word limit for the doctoral thesis.  It is, however, recommended that the thesis does not exceed the maximum word limit of 100,000 words in all but the most exceptional of circumstances.  The maximum word limit is exclusive of documentary or statistical appendices, references and bibliography; and is inclusive of footnotes and all other appendices.

Some doctoral programmes specify a different maximum word limit. You should always refer to your programme handbook for information on word limits. If in doubt, ask your supervisor.

The Researcher Development Programme offer a number of workshops to help postgraduate research students plan and write their thesis.