Dissertation Format and Style
(Most of this applies to any multi-page report) Format If you look at books, journals or other printed matter that is intended to be read continuously, you will find that certain formatting conventions are followed almost universally. For example, the text is always printed in a “serif” font (one with small lines at the end of each stroke, like this, as opposed to a sans serif font like this) and the paragraphs are distinguished by indentation rather than separated by a blank line. In non-fiction books, the text is broken by headings every page or so. There are good reasons for these conventions: they make continuous text more readable. Different conventions are used in other forms of text (posters, PowerPoints, CVs, poetry, instruction manuals etc.), but it is a mistake to use these in a dissertation or any other multi-page report. Rule One, therefore, is that your dissertation should be laid out to look, as far as possible, like a journal article or book. The text should only be in one column, however, and the margins should be wider than normal so examiners can use them for comments: 25 mm at the top, bottom and right side, 40 mm on the left to allow for binding. Whether the text is left-justified (like this) or fully justified is a matter of taste, but if you choose full justification you will probably have to edit the text in some places to avoid excessive spaces between words. Use a serif font for the main text, such as 12 point Times New Roman (this is 11 point). Line-spacing should be 1.5 throughout the main text (like this is): double-spacing wastes paper and reduces readability, while single spacing is hard on the eyes. The spacing between paragraphs should be the same as between lines, so paragraphs must be distinguished by indenting the first line, by 2-5 spaces.1 Paragraphs should be at least two sentences long – single sentences can usually be tagged on to the paragraph above or below – and no more than half a page in length, but occasional exceptions to both these rules are allowed. If you have three or more one-sentence points that do not fit in a paragraph, then use either bullet points or, if you want to refer to them later, numbered points. Headings and sub-headings must be in a consistent style throughout. Headings should normally be the same size as the text or only slightly larger (14 point). Use the same font as the text or a sans-serif font such as Arial (but never more than two fonts in the entire dissertation). Bold or italic text makes the headings stand out (typically bold for major headings and italic for minor ones), but underlining tends to look messy and writing entirely in capital letters for headings of more than 1-2 words MAKES IT LOOK AS IF YOU ARE SHOUTING, which is annoying if done too often. Use double-spacing above major headings to separate them from the paragraph above. Multiple pages of text without any headings can be
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These spacings are for final submission: your supervisor may prefer double-spacing and/or spaces between paragraphs in early drafts to leave room for major corrections. Note that footnotes like these should be used rarely or not at all!
depressing for the reader, so use appropriate subheadings to break up long sections. Numbering headings and subheadings (e.g.1, 1.5, 3.4.2) is useful for cross-referencing (e.g. see 2.1.7), but doing this well requires considerable care and self-discipline, while doing it badly causes confusion.
Style Aim for economy, precision, and clarity (all, admittedly, easier said than done). To quote Einstein, your writing should be “as simple as possible, but no simpler”. However, avoid informal or colloquial language, or slang. Also avoid exaggeration and hyperbole. Words like “very” and “extremely” are rarely necessary. Dissertations are written in the third person, to show that you are writing about “universal truth” rather than just your personal opinions. The only common exception is when describing methods of data collection that involve some degree of subjective judgment, so it is necessary to make clear who did what (e.g. “Seventeen rats were weighed….”, but “I interviewed 36 teachers….”). You should also use the first person when it is necessary to distinguish your own contribution from work done by others (e.g. “I collected data from 14 sites and used published data for 18 additional ones.”) Outside the methods section, keep first-person statements to the minimum and there should be none in your results. If you want to express a personal opinion in the introduction or final discussion, make clear that it is personal, as in: “Although opinions vary, I personally prefer the use of the first person when describing ecological field studies.” But do not do this more than once or twice or it will look as if you have done no research and are just making everything up! The word “you” is almost never used in a dissertation. The correct use of tenses is difficult, largely because the conventions vary widely between languages. Use the present tense for agreed facts (“Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of the ….”), the past tense for your methods and results, and the future tense only for things you plan to do in the future. Use the present tense also to refer to other parts of the dissertation, e.g. “results are summarized graphically in Figure 4.1”. Use standard abbreviations for units of measurement after numbers (5 mm, 7 kg, 14 ha), but not in the general text (“students must walk several kilometers to school”). Never add an “s” to the units. Except with the degree symbol (2oC or 23oN) and percentage symbol (16%), there is always a space between the number and the unit. When not followed by units, numbers are normally written out in full if they are below 10 (“he had four cats”) or are at the beginning of a sentence (“Eighty-four teachers responded to my questionnaire, but only 47 replies were complete.”). Non-standard abbreviations and acronyms should be avoided, unless they improve readability and shorten the text (e.g. KFBG for Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden; not K.F.B.G.). Only abbreviate terms that appear at least three times in the text and always give the full name the first time, with the abbreviation in brackets. If in doubt, do
not abbreviate, particularly if the abbreviation will not be familiar or obvious to your readers. Do not use the ampersand (&) or contractions, such as “don’t” or “can’t”. People in Hong Kong are relatively insensitive to sexist language, but it is easy to avoid and not worth taking the risk of causing offense. Use male or female forms only if you are referring to one sex. Do not assume that readers will interpret the male forms as including women and girls: research shows that many people do not. Avoid unnecessary pronouns (e.g. use “the teacher…” rather than “He…”), use plural forms (“their” rather than “his” or “her”), or use both (“he and she”, “hers or his”). It is also possible to alternate female and male forms, but this can get confusing! Use “people” or “humankind” or “humanity” instead of “man” or “mankind” when referring to our species in general. The aim should be to use gender-neutral language without making it conspicuous. Always use a spell-checker. Most examiners have zero tolerance of spelling mistakes because they are so easy to avoid. If a technical term or name that is not in the dictionary appears several times in the text, add it to the dictionary. Spell-check the headings for tables and figures too, and your references. Try to use British or American spellings consistently throughout. For most of the finer details of style, you should follow the preferences of any one journal or book publisher appropriate to your field. It is fine if these details differ from some of the rules suggested above, as long as you are consistent. If in doubt, state at the beginning of your dissertation what style you are following (so an engineer examiner will not assume that a psychology style is wrong, or vice versa!). Citations and references have been covered elsewhere already. The easiest way to get them consistent is to use Endnote or other bibliographic software: I strongly recommend this!
Tables and figures Tables are usually the best way to present large amounts of numeric or descriptive data, but to be useful they must make sense by themselves (i.e. without repeated reference to the text). Tables need a number, by which they are referred to in the main text, and an informative heading. Column headings must be selfexplanatory or explained in either the table heading or a footnote. Correct alignment of the column contents is important. Normally, text is aligned left, integers (8, 2764) or percentages are aligned right, and decimals (2.74) are aligned by the decimal point. Centred column contents look untidy. Use the table pull-down in Word when creating tables. Do not use tabs, which make it very difficult to get the correct alignment of columns. Graphs, maps, photographs and other illustrations are all “figures” and again need a number and informative title, and again should make sense by themselves. “A picture is worth a thousand words”, but there is no gain if you write the thousand words as well. In general, do not repeat the same information in the text and in a table or figure. However, in a dissertation (but not a journal article, where space is at a
premium), showing the same numerical information in a table (where it is easy for the reader to see precise values) and a figure (which is the best way to show trends and patterns) can sometimes be justified. The main text should then just summarize the major patterns - “air pollution has increased exponentially since 1960 (Figure 4.3)” - and any exceptions - “X is an exception to the general trend (Figure 2)”.
Table 3.2. A typical table, illustrating the correct alignment of the contents and the use of footnotes [but hide the gridlines before printing]. Text1 violet blue green yellow red
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Integers 27 123 6 18 8
Percentages 24% 98% 3% 5% 67%
Decimals 27.2 567.0 23.4 0.9 0.1
Text in the final column is sometimes aligned right.
Figure 1. Distribution of 10-minute movement distances for radio-tracked Pycnonotus sinensis, P.
jocosus, and Garrulax canorus in winter and (except P. jocosus) in summer.