WRITING THE THESIS
Format. Typing can be on both sides of the page (let's try to save trees). Lines are double spaced throughout the thesis, except for tables, titles of tables and figures, references. Font style is a personal choice, as long as it is a style that is easy to read. Font size is 12 pt. Margins are 2.5cm (1") top, bottom, and outside, 3.8cm (1.5") binding edge. Pages are numbered at top right corner with Arabic (1,2,3,..) numbers. The first pages prior to the Introduction are labeled at the bottom center in small Roman numbers, starting on the page after the title page (which is page "ii") and to the end of the List of Appendices. Maximum thesis length is 40 pages from the start of the Introduction to the last page of the Discussion (or Conclusions). If you exceed this limit you will just be asked to cut back to the 40, so save yourself the bother.
Sections. Title page, Abstract, Acknowledgments, Table of Contents, List of Tables, List of Figures, List of Appendices, Introduction, Methods (or Procedures), Results, Discussion, Conclusions, References, Appendices. All of these sections should be included (unless there are no figures, tables or appendices.) Each section should start on a new page, with the title in bold font at the top and center.
Title page. "Full title" followed by your "name" followed by "Supervisor: J. Doe" followed by " A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the Honours Thesis (05.4111/6) Course Department of Biology The University of Winnipeg 200_" (Omit the ""). It will look nicer if you center each "..." on separate lines and spread them out on the page.
Abstract. Two hundred words or less, double spaced. A summary which includes the original hypothesis, brief outline of methods, main findings and meaning (value) of the work. Reference to tables, figures, or references is usually inappropriate. Remember most readers only read the abstract, so it must be well written!
Acknowledgments. Restrict this to people who really did help and don't forget to include anyone that deserves recognition. Do not use it to flatter your friends nor slag your enemies.
Table of Contents. List all sections and subsections with page numbers (including "Table of Contents"). Use the exact titles that are used for the sections.
List of Figures, List of Tables, List of Appendices. List all Figure and Table titles in full, exactly as they are used.
Introduction. This is one of the most important parts of your thesis because it helps the reader decide whether or not to bother reading the rest of your thesis. It is therefore crucial to give the reason for doing the work ie. how your study contributes to science, your hypothesis, and review of previous research in the subject.
Methods. Present all stages of the methodology in sufficient detail that the reader could repeat the work. Equipment and instruments that are used should be mentioned, however there is no need to describe them in detail unless they are new or unusual. It may also include descriptive subsections, such as "The study site", "Study species", "Media used", etc.
Results. This includes a summarization of the data and its statistical treatment, and a written description of the important findings. All (there could be rare exceptions) figures and tables go in this section.
Discussion. This is the section in which you interpret your results with reference to the research of others. Do not summarize your data nor refer to tables or figures in the "Results" (doing so probably means that you are repeating material in the "Results" section, or doing something that should have been done in the Results section, or just plain "padding" the thesis to make it look like you did more than you really did). Make sure that you discuss your original question(s), or hypothesis and indicate whether you confirmed, refuted, or revised or reformulated it for a future investigator.
Conclusions. This is a numbered list of your findings. Each finding should be described by the use of a single sentence.
References. You may want to use RefWorks http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/mycybrary/public/manage/refworks/index.cfm If that is your choice, select the "Name Year Sequence" of the Council of Biology Editors, CBE 6th Edition. If you don't use RefWorks, do as follows: List references in alphabetical order by the author's last name. Do not use the number system. If you refer to more than one paper by the same author, then list them chronologically from the most recent to the earliest. If you use references that are two-authored (or multi-authored), then list them alphabetically using the senior (the first) author first, and then alphabetically by the second author, etc. Where you have referred to papers that have the same single author and the same senior author of a two- or multi-authored paper, then you list the single authored paper first, even though it may be out of chronological sequence. In the text of your thesis, two-authored papers are cited as "Jones and Thomas (1988)" or as "(Jones and Thomas 1988)", multi-authored references are written as "Jones et al. (1999)" or "(Jones et al., 1999)". Note the use of italics. Also, in the text of your thesis, you may wish to quote several citations at one location, again these are in chronological sequence with some recognition of alphabetical order, but this time from the earliest to the most recent, e.g. "(Jones, 1988; Jones and Thomas, 1988; Yamamoto, 1989; Jones et al. 1999).
Include the author's (or authors') initials, e.g. "Jones. J. and P.T. Thomas.", or "Jones, J., Thomas, P.T., and F.D.R. Davies." Next comes the year of publication (no parentheses). The title of the article (no underline, bold, or capitalization - except for the first letter). The name of the journal follows. This may be written in full, or abbreviated. However, if it is abbreviated then you must use the standard abbreviation for that journal title, and you must be consistent and abbreviate all of the journal names used in your entire reference list (its usually safer to use full journal titles!). After the journal name you include the volume number, and edition number if there is one - the latter is placed in parentheses. The page numbers are the last entry in your citation. A hypothetical example follows:
Jones, J., Thomas. P.T., and F.D.R. Davies. 1999. Flowering success in the Prairie crocus (Anemone patens L.) and availability of insect pollinators. Can. J. Bot. 66 (2): 1226-1229.
For guidance in citing Internet sources see: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_docelectric.html
Symbols, numbers and terms. Use standardized symbols and standardized abbreviations according to style manuals or "Instructions to Authors" which you can find in the primary scientific journals. Numbers are written in full if twelve or less, but as numbers if 13 or more. Sentences should not begin with a number (unless written out) or an abbreviation. Use of the International System of Units is described at http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/
Scientific names. Common names can be used throughout the text as long as the scientific name is given when the name is first used. Scientific names should be written out in full the first time that they are used together with the authority. It is a good idea to give the usual common name, if there is one, at least on the first time that the scientific name is given eg. Gasterosteus aculeatus L. (Three spined stickleback). Afterwards, the generic name can be initialized (eg. G. aculeatus) unless this would cause confusion with another taxon with the same initial.
Tables. Tables should usually be placed only in the Results section and should include some degree of summarization of the data. "Raw", unanalyzed data should be placed in an Appendix at the back of the thesis. Each table should be numbered consecutively; (e.g. Table 1) according to the sequence of use. A table should have a complete title and explanatory caption associated with it on the same page. The caption should be fully comprehensive, i.e. should be understandable without needing to read the text. Tables should be placed on the page following that on which they are first mentioned in the text. Large tables should be placed on a separate page. Smaller tables can be grouped on the same page or even embedded in the text if it is less than about one third of a page in size). Table pages are numbered as ordinary text pages. Tables should not contain internal horizontal and vertical lines.
Figures. Figures include graphs, histograms, drawings, photographs, plates. Include only figures which are essential. This means you should not include general pictures of the lab you worked in nor pictures of standard equipment. You should also omit general interest or vanity illustrations showing yourself up to your neck in a swamp or in your lab coat beside a million dollar piece of apparatus. You can include an illustration of a mini-lab you designed to fit on the back of a bicycle or a specialized piece of equipment you created to extract nectar from flowers. What was said about tables also applies to figures (see above). Figure titles are traditionally placed at the foot of the page. The same data should not be illustrated, more than once (i.e. as a table AND as a figure or in more than one figure).
Inappropriate & unnecessary material. There are very few, if any, documents associated with your thesis which need to be included with it. Readers will be looking for scientific content and will take your word as stated in the Methods section that you had a Provincial Collecting Permit to capture polar bears etc. or that you were granted permission to conduct experiments by the Experimental Ethics Committee. You therefore do not need to include copies of documents such as these, maps, weather office records, examples of data records and field notes etc. in the thesis (it just ends up being seen as "padding" and an annoyance to readers).
Cover title. The full title of the thesis is written in upper case at the front of the thesis. Bear in mind the book binders tend not to have Greek, Latin, or sub/superscript fonts. Here is an example of a nice title page http://io.uwinnipeg.ca/~moodie/Theses/Au2006.pdf
WARNING. Your best source of help in writing the thesis will be what you get from your Supervisor as a result of giving him or her one or more rough drafts to review prior to passing in the final version. If you fail to do this by the March deadline there is a good chance the thesis you produce by yourself will contain avoidable weaknesses that result in an unhappy experience at your thesis defense and a lower grade than you might have otherwise ended up with!
Chronicle of Higher Education