ugc guidelines for thesis writing

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Thesis and Article Writing: Format & Styles of Referencing

Thesis and Article writing: The thesis is a treatise that represents the fulfillment of the scholarly aspiration of the student. A good thesis should be clear and unambiguous and have a logical structure that should assist the reader’s understanding of the argument being presented and not obscure it. In order to achieve this objective, the layout and physical appearance of the thesis should conform to a set pattern.

Note: The following format of thesis writing is the general standard and accepted format. But, universities and institutions have their own prescribed formats with this core structure of thesis writing. Please consider the specific format suggested by your institutions, organisations, and universities.

Example: Guidelines for Thesis writing suggested by an Institution

Thesis and Article Writing

The generally accepted format of thesis or report writing tend to be produced in the following way:

• Title of the Research Project,
• Name of the researcher,
• Purpose of the research project, e.g., “A research project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology, New Delhi for the degree of PhD in Hospitality and Hotel Administration”
• Date of Publication

Table of Contents

This section consists of the contents of the report, either in chapters or in subheadings.

List of Tables

This section includes title and page number of all tables

List of Figures

This section contains the title and page number of all graphs, pie charts, etc.

Acknowledgements

Here, the researcher may acknowledge Institute Principal, Faculty Guide, both research guide and technical guide, research participants, friends etc.

Introduction

This section introduces the research setting out aims and objectives. It includes a rationale for the research.

Theoretical Framework and Review of Literature

This section is included all your background research, which may be obtained from the literature review. You must indicate where all the information has come, so remember to keep a complete record of everything you read. If you do not do this, you could be accused of plagiarism which is a form of intellectual theft. When you are referring to a particular book or journal article, use the Harvard system.

Research design

This section includes all practical details followed for research. After reading this, any interested party should be able to replicate the research study. The methods used for data collection, how many people took part, how they were chosen, what tool was used for data collection, how the data was analysed etc.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

If you have conducted a large quantitative survey, this section may contain tables, graphs, pie charts, and associated statistics. If you have conducted a qualitative piece of research, this section may be descriptive prose.

Summary and Conclusion

In this section, you sum up your findings and draw conclusions from them, perhaps in relation to other research or literature.

Recommendation

If you have conducted a piece of research for a hotel or any other client organization, this section could be the most important part of the report. A list of clear recommendations that have been developed from the research is included. Sometimes, this section is included at the beginning of the report.

Suggestion for Further Research

It is useful in both academic reports and work-related reports to include a section that shows how the research can be continued. Perhaps some results are inconclusive, or perhaps the research has thrown up many more research questions that need to be addressed. It is useful to include this section because it shows that you are aware of the wider picture and that you are not trying to cover up something which you feel may be lacking in your own work.

List of References/Bibliography

• List of references contains details only of those works cited in the text.
• A bibliography includes sources not cited in the text, but which are relevant to the subject. (larger dissertations or thesis)
• Small research projects will need only a reference section. It includes all the literature to which you have referred in your report.

List of publications: List of publications obtained by the student from the PhD work should be included in the Thesis. Students are strongly encouraged to place the accepted versions of the manuscripts (maximum two), which were an integral part of thesis work.

Curriculum vitae (optional): Provide one-page giving academic qualifications, academic achievements and list of publications.

Appendices (optional): Appendices may include the formulas, diagrams, protocols, or any similar data that are not contained in the body of the thesis. The number can be given as A-1, A-2 and listed as such in the table of contents.

FORMAT OF CITATIONS/REFERENCES

Citations or in-text citations are similar to references but occur in the body of the text with direct quotes and paraphrases to identify the author/publication for the material you have used. Citations are used:

• to show which reference supports a particular statement
• for direct quotes – when you repeat a passage from a text (or speech, video, etc.) in your assignment without changing any words
• when you paraphrase – this is when you use your own words to restate the meaning of a text in your assignment.

One of the most important things to remember is that every citation should also have a corresponding entry in your reference list.

A reference list is a list of the resources that you used when writing your assignment or doing your research.

These resources may include:

• books, including electronic books, journals (online and paper-based)
• online sources including websites, blogs, and forums
• conference papers, proceedings, and theses
• other sources of information such as film, television, video, etc.

Reference lists come at the end of an assignment and are arranged in alphabetical order, usually by author or editor. If there is not an author or an editor, the title is used.

Comparison Between Citation and Reference

(source: keydifferences.com)

Types of Citation/ References Styles (Thesis Article Writing)

The followings are a few important styles of citation or referencing during thesis and article writing:

MLA (Modern Language Associatio n) style:

It is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities.

Book – Kothari, Chakravanti Rajagopalachari. Research methodology: Methods and techniques. New Age International, 2004.

Journal – Ghosh, Madhusudan. “Micro-Finance and Rural Poverty in India SHG-Bank Linkage Programme.” Journal of Rural Development 31.3 (2012): 347-363.

APA (American Psychological Association):

It is most commonly used to cite sources within the health sciences and social sciences fields.

Book – Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research methodology: Methods and techniques. New Age International.

Journal – Ghosh, M. (2012). Micro-Finance and Rural Poverty in India SHG-Bank Linkage Programme. Journal of Rural Development, 31(3), 347-363.

Chicago Manual of Style, are quite flexible and cover both parenthetical and note citation systems.

Journal – Ghosh, Madhusudan. “Micro-Finance and Rural Poverty in India SHG-Bank Linkage Programme.” Journal of Rural Development 31, no. 3 (2012): 347-363.

Parenthetical referencing, also known as Harvard referencing:

It is a citation style in which partial citations—for example, “(Smith 2010, p. 1)”—are enclosed within parentheses and embedded in the text, either within or after a sentence.

Book – Kothari, C.R., 2004. Research methodology: Methods and techniques. New Age International.

Journal – Ghosh, M., 2012. Micro-Finance and Rural Poverty in India SHG-Bank Linkage Programme. Journal of Rural Development, 31(3), pp.347-363.

The Vancouver system:

It is also known as Vancouver reference style or the author–number system, is a citation style that uses numbers within the text that refer to numbered entries in the reference list.

Book – Kothari CR. Research methodology: Methods and techniques. New Age International; 2004.

Journal – Ghosh M. Micro-Finance and Rural Poverty in India SHG-Bank Linkage Programme. Journal of Rural Development. 2012 Sep 1;31(3):347-63.

Standard Format for Printing a report:

Note: The format of Thesis and Article writing, mentioned above, is a general and standard format. Please follow your universities or institutions guidelines for writing a thesis and articles.

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UGC Rules Regarding Plagiarism by Indian Academicians

In this article, Neitseizonuo Solo pursuing B.A.LL.B. honours from Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur discusses the UGC rules regarding plagiarism.

Introduction

Plagiarism is one of the biggest issues that educational institutions and academia are facing, not only due to the fact that it is basically stealing someone else’s work, but also because this practice is so widespread in higher education, be it Ph.D. scholars or the average undergraduate. Plagiarism is a stain upon the legitimacy of education in India, thus the UGC has recently drafted certain regulations to control and punish plagiarism.

The University Grants Commission

The University Grants Commission or the UGC was set up in 1956 by an act passed by the legislature called the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 (available here ) under the Ministry of Human Resource Development. It was created in order to regulate the higher education system of India. The UGC is thus responsible for the rules and guidelines that a college or university is supposed to follow.

Functions of the UGC

The powers and functions of the UGC have been described in Chapter II of the UGC Act, 1956 as follows:

Maintaining the standards for teaching, examination, and research. The law has further provided certain powers to ensure such standards. The UGC can;

• Inquire about the financial situation of a university.
• Allocate funding to universities established or incorporated by a central act.
• Allocate funding to any other universities as they may deem fit.
• Recommend any measure for the improvement of education of a university.
• Advise the State or Centre on the issue of allocation of grants to universities or any other matter referred to the UGC by centre or state.
• Prescribe minimum standards of qualification for both students and teachers.
• Prescribe regulations regarding the fees and course of study.
• Under Section 26 of this act, the UGC has the power to frame any rules or regulations in order to fulfill the above functions.

Procedure of Passing Rules and Regulations under Section 26 of UGC Act, 1956

Sections 26, 27 and 28 of UGC Act 1956 have provided certain conditions which must be fulfilled before a binding regulation can be made. The conditions are as follows:

• The rules and regulations must be notified in the Official Gazette.
• The permission of the Central Government must be taken before it can be made.
• Such rule or regulation has to be placed before both the houses of parliament for a total period of 30 days and if both the houses recommend modifying the rules or regulations, then it shall have effect only in the modified form or have no effect if the parliament rejects it.

UGC Rules Regarding Plagiarism

The UGC had constituted a committee to look into the issue of plagiarism and this committee framed a draft regulation known as the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2017 (available here ), which was publicly notified by the UGC on 1st September 2017. On 20th March 2018, the regulations were approved by the UGC awaiting notification after the approval of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

Objectives of the Guideline

The objectives of the guidelines have been given in Section 3 of the draft as:

• Creating awareness of responsible conduct in academia and prevention of misconduct including plagiarism.
• Establishing an institutional mechanism for the promotion of academic integrity, responsible conduct, and prevention of plagiarism.
• Setting up a system for catching plagiarism and mechanism for punishing the act of plagiarism.

Plagiarism Defined

The definition of plagiarism has been defined in Section 2 (k) of UGC Act 1956, the regulation as, “…an act of academic dishonesty and a breach of ethics. It involves using someone else’s work as one’s own. It also includes data plagiarism and self-plagiarism.”

Self-Plagiarism

The inclusion of self-plagiarism is an interesting addition as it means that using your own previous work without adequately citing it has also been brought within the ambit of the definition. This idea may appear counterintuitive to the very soul of plagiarism which is stealing someone else’s work but it is important to understand that representing old work as new work is stealing from yourself. It also defeats the purpose of research papers which is to present original work and the integrity of the work is marred. Most publishers will not allow for self-plagiarism as there is no differentiation made between your published work and other people’s published work. One of the most important facets to consider is that the copyright for published works are usually held by the journal rather than the author and plagiarizing from your own work would mean the violation of such copyright.

Scope of the Guidelines

The guidelines have been restricted to Higher Education Institutions which are as follows:

• Universities, which are the institutions that have been incorporated by a Central, Provincial or State Act or any institution that has been deemed as such.
• Any institute that has been declared by the parliament to be of national importance.
• Or any constituent unit within such institutions that provide education after 12 years of schooling and which provides degrees or diplomas after completion of said education.

Further the guidelines are applicable only on “scripts”, the definition of which has been provided in Section 2 (n) as any “…research paper, thesis, study, project report, assignment, dissertation and any other such work submitted for assessment/opinion leading to the award of degree or publication in print or electronic media by students or faculty or staff of an Institution of Higher Education;” the guidelines have also provided that exam scripts are exempt.

Duties of Higher Education Institutes (HEI) for Curbing of Plagiarism

The guidelines have provided in Section 4 and 5 that HEIs must perform certain duties in order to fulfill the objectives specified in the guidelines. HEIs must:

• They must establish a mechanism in order to spread awareness so as to promote responsible conduct, deterrence of plagiarism and academic integrity.
• The HEIs are to hold sensitization seminars for students, faculty and other members every semester for responsible conduct in pursuit of academia as well as teach academic ethics to students.
• The HEIs must put academic ethics in the coursework for Undergraduate, Postgraduate, and Masters degrees. They must also include research and publication ethics for coursework of Ph.D. and M.Phil scholars.
• The HEIs must provide training for using plagiarism detection technology.
• The institutions must establish facilities for the detection of plagiarism.

Methods for Curbing Plagiarism

Section 6 provides the various ways in which plagiarism is to be deterred by the various Higher Education Institutes. They are as follows:

• All HEIs are to implement a mechanism in order to detect plagiarism at the time the scripts are submitted to the institution.
• Every student who is submitting such scripts must also provide an undertaking which says that the work is original and no content has been plagiarised. The undertaking will also include that the work has been checked for plagiarism.
• All the members of the faculty, Ph.D. or M.Phil students are to be given access to such plagiarism detection tool.
• The institutions will come up with a plagiarism policy that has to be approved by the relevant statutory bodies.
• All supervisors will provide a certificate which states that the student or researcher under him/her has not plagiarised any content.
• All soft copies of the dissertations and theses by M.Phil and Ph.D. scholars after degree is awarded are to be submitting on the I nformation and Library Network Centre (INFLIBNET) for hosting by the HEIs.
• The institutions will set up an online repository for dissertations, theses, paper, publication and all other in-house publications.

Certain content will be exempted from the charge of plagiarism even though they are reproductions of other works. The said exemptions are as follow:

• Quoted work which is either in the public domain or has been attributed adequately or permission has been granted for its use.
• All references, table of content, preface, acknowledgement, and bibliography are exempted.
• Similar content which is minor.
• Standard equations and symbols, laws and generic terms.

Tolerance of Plagiarism

Tolerance of plagiarism has been divided into two part under Sections 8 and 9, they are:

• Zero-tolerance areas : This means that plagiarism of any degree will not be tolerated. Zero tolerance is restricted to core areas. Core areas are the hypothesis, the recommendations, the abstract, the summary, the conclusion, the results and the observations.
• Tolerance areas : Plagiarism in all areas but the core areas is tolerable to a certain extent. The various levels of plagiarism have been quantified and given below;
• Up to 10%- Excluded
• Between 10% and 40%- Level 1
• Between 40% and 60%- Level 2
• Above 60%- Level 3

Reporting of Plagiarism and Procedure to be Followed

In case plagiarism is suspected and there is proof of such, any member of the academic community may approach the relevant institution after which the institution will refer it to the Academic Misconduct Panel (AMP). The AMP is to be set up by all HEIs in order to investigate and submit a report. After the AMP has thoroughly investigated the situation, they will make a report to the Plagiarism Disciplinary Authority (PDA), preferably within a period of 45 days. The PDA is to be formed by the HEI and their job is to take appropriate decision after consideration of both the recommendations of the AMP as well as the hearing of the accused. Their decision will be final and binding.

Penalties for the Act of Plagiarism

The various penalties for plagiarism have been provided in Section 13 of the guidelines. Different penalties have been given for different tiers of plagiarism severity. Section 13 provides that penalties shall be awarded only when there is no doubt that the accused has committed the act and after all other avenues of appeal have been exhausted. The accused must also be given adequate opportunity to defend himself/herself. Further, the proceedings are to be held in camera, meaning that proceedings are to be closed to the public. The penalties given should be in proportion to the severity of plagiarism.

Penalties for Students

Penalties will be given to students according to the decision of the Plagiarism Disciplinary Authority (PDA). The punishments given to students for plagiarism for different levels of severity are given below:

• Level 1 (10%-40%) – the student will not be given any mark or credit and revised script must be resubmitted within a stipulated time period which does not exceed 6 months.
• Level 2 (40%-60%) – the student will not be given any mark or credit and the revised script is to be resubmitted between 1 year and 18 months.
• Level 3 (above 60%) – the student will not be given any mark or credit and their registration for that course will be canceled.

If a student repeats such act of plagiarism then the punishment will be for the next level to the one previously committed. In cases where the highest level of plagiarisation occurs then the punishment remains the same and the registration will be canceled.

If degree or credit has already been obtained and the accused has been proven to have plagiarized content then said degree or credit will be suspended for a stipulated time period.

Penalties for Faculty, Staff or Researcher

Penalties for faculty, staff or researcher of Higher Education Institutes will also be given according to the severity of plagiarism.

• Level 1 (10%-40%) – he/she will be asked to withdraw the manuscript submitted for publication and will not be allowed to publish any work for a minimum time period of 1 year.
• Level 2 (40%-60%) – he/she will be asked to withdraw manuscript submitted for publication and will not be allowed to publish their work for a minimum time period of 2 years. He/she will also be denied any annual increment that they have been receiving, he/she will also not be allowed to act as a supervisor for students or scholars for 2 years.
• Level 3 (above 60%) – he/she will be asked to withdraw manuscript submitted for publication and will not be allowed to publish any work for a minimum time period of 3 years. He/she will also be denied any annual increment they are receiving for 2 years, he/she will not be allowed to act as a supervisor for students or scholars for a period of 3 years.

If a person repeats the same act of plagiarisation then he/she will be subject to punishment of the next level from the level which the person was previously punished for. If Level 3 plagiarism is repeated than the person committing it will be dismissed from their job.

If a person has already attained any benefit or credit before plagiarism was proved then such benefit or credit will be suspended for a time period that is to be decided by the AMP and PDA.

Head of Higher Education Institute

If the head of an HEI is accused of plagiarising then the guidelines have provided that appropriate shall be taken by the concerned authority.

The current draft guidelines have provided a recourse for the problem of plagiarism which has been allowed to run rampant throughout institutions all across the country. These guidelines will be the first of its kind to be introduced in India and as with other regulatory legislations, its effectiveness can only be determined after it is applied. Thus the UGC must make sure that it is properly implemented by the institutions and the institutions, in turn, must comply with the guidelines before any positive result towards significant reduction of plagiarism can be seen.

• India creates unique tiered system to punish plagiarism ( https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/04/india-creates-unique-tiered-system-punish-plagiarism )
• UGC drafted strict regulations on plagiarism by teachers, students ( https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/ugc-drafted-strict-regulations-on-plagiarism-by-teachers-students-1203761-2018-04-03 )

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

Aruna ramchandra shanbaug vs. union of india & others (2011), noor aga vs. state of punjab and ors. (2008), synthetics and chemicals ltd. etc vs. state of uttar pradesh & ors. (1990).

It is well known that the problem of plagiarism is not new. In fact in the Indian Universities Ph.D award to the student had more to do with the contacts of the guide and his Examiner’s managing capacity than the merit of the research work. Many of the Seniors at the helm of affairs in University Departments and higher education bodies, possibly have this DNA. Indian Universities quality of research in the last 30 years does not make us proud. UGC guidelines of Aug 2018, are a laudable step for the promotion of quality. However, it must be understood that Guardians of the system themselves are not clean.There should be a level play field for all and present generation should not consider themselves as victims of the new system. In a self regulatory mode,as a first step all the existing faculty should be subjected to Plagairism check on their awarded Ph.D thesis and other research works that got them their present positions. The Plagairism software is not a substitute of well read independent subject expert. (The meaning of independent expert is not defined precisely in Indian context ).All degree awarded thesis should be compulsorily Placed on designated page on UGC website in non downloadable /Read only form. This will keep it open for inspection and comments ,serving the spirit of UGC notification. The thesis that are not available on this site should not be recognised for academic employment. For reported plagiarism in research papers the associated Institute / University should be authorised for taking Punitive action but for PhD the UGC must be the final authority in case of Plagiarism.

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UGC Regulations for Plagiarism

In the 530 th meeting of UGC, the University Grants Commission introducing regulations for the prevention of plagiarism, discussing the “Promotion of Academic Integrity”. As well as “Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions ( HEI )” regulations for 2018.

The main motive of UGC behind these regulations is to create awareness regarding the conduct of research, thesis, and dissertation along with the prevention of any kind of misconduct which primarily includes plagiarism. It focuses on the development of systems for the detection of Plagiarism and the prevention from plagiarism as well as setting criteria to punish students, researchers, faculty or staff for the act of plagiarism. Therefore, every HEI has to establish these regulations to create awareness for the right conduct of research and academic activities.

To instruct students, researcher, faculty or staff regarding the proper attribution, HEI have to start training and conduct awareness programs to maintain the ethics of research and publication.

Controlling Plagiarism

• To ensure plagiarism free documents during the final submission, a technology-based mechanism using proper software shall be declared by HEI.
• An undertaking by every student during the submission of a thesis or any such documents to the HEI indicates that the document originally prepared by the student as well as duly checked through a plagiarism tool approved by HEI.
• The approved policy shall be on the HEI website homepage.
• A certificate shall be submitted by each supervisor which indicates the researcher’s work done under by his/her supervision and is free from plagiarism.
• All the soft copies of Research Program’s and Masters Dissertations and thesis to submit to INFLIBNET by HEI within a month under the “Shodh Ganga-e-repository”.
• On the Institute website, HEI to create Institutional Repository which dissertation/thesis/paper/publication along with other in-house publications.

Exclusion from Plagiarism while checking

Plagiarism check shall exclude the following:

• All quoted work with the necessary permission/attribution.
• References, Bibliography, table of content, preface and acknowledgments.
• The generic terms, laws, standard symbols and equations.

Plagiarism Levels

Penalties for high plagiarism

• Minor similarities, no penalty.
• To be asked to withdraw the manuscript.
• Shall be asked to withdraw the manuscript.
• Shall be denied a right to one annual increment.
• To not be allowed to be a supervisor to any new Master’s, M.Phil., Ph.D. Students/ scholar for two years.
• Shall be denied a right to two successive annual increments.
• To not be allowed to be a supervisor to any new Master’s, M.Phil., Ph.D.  Students/ scholar for three years.

This is based on the information shared by the UGC wide Letter No. – D.O.No.F.1-18/2010 (CPP-II), Dated- 6 th August 2018 (source: www.ugc.ac.in .)

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Thesis Format Important Guidelines – Framework of Thesis Report

 Thesis and Article writing: Format and styles of referencing

(based on unit-ii research aptitude  new syllabus of ugc net exam).

UGC NET Study materiel on Research Topics for NET Exam has been covered entirely based on topics  provided in syllabus.

In the 7 Parts series which can be referred using below , the first six parts contains important short study notes useful for your paper 1 preparation while the 7th part contains solved question papers of last almost 12 years MCQ Question which are asked in previous examination. 

Please go through them in sequential fashion to understand them in better ways.  

Unit-II Research Aptitude

• Research: Meaning, Types, and Characteristics, Positivism and Post- positivistic approach to research.
• Methods of Research: Experimental, Descriptive, Historical, Qualitative and Quantitative methods.
• Steps of Research.
• Thesis and Article writing: Format and styles of referencing. [This Article]
• Application of ICT in research.[Newly added in 2019 Syllabus]
• Research ethics.
• Solved Question Paper Based on previously asked [Last 12 Year]

Introduction on Thesis format

When it is the matter of presenting your PhD thesis in the best possible form, you may not want to compromise. Your thesis is probably the most significant document created during your academic career. If its format is disturbed, it may severely affect the readability and spoil the very first impression on your readers. It may also affect the way your thesis is judged by the review committee.

This is a step-by-step guide intended for all those who are in any way involved in preparing research proposals, research reports, theses or dissertations, which are crucial components of master’s, doctoral and post doctoral programs, and which contribute substantially to the research accomplishments .

Thesis Format Guidelines

(ugc approved: april 28, 2006).

These guidelines are designed to provide the formatting requirements for all theses and project reports submitted to Indian University. It contains the basic structure, layout, form, and style are required for the purpose, however, Candidates/ Departments may use additional requirements, if needed, provide that does not conflict with the guidelines contained in this document.

• Key Study Notes on Research Aptitude NTA UG NET Exam

Research Methodology

• Steps Involved In Research Process | Research Aptitude Notes 2020
• Research Ethics Challenges & Road Ahead | Updated 2021
• Application of ICT in research,Different Tools & Role of ICT

Thesis and Project Report Arrangement

Assemble the thesis/project report in this order:

• Cover page: includes the title, author, degree (“Thesis/Project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Ph.D. of … in …”), and date.
• Cover page color: Pink
• Thesis/Project Approval Form.
• Plagiarism policy compliance statement.
• Copyright page that grants MU the right to use and reproduce fully or partially the work being presented.
• Dedication page (optional).
• Acknowledgments page (optional).
• Abstract: a concise summary of the essential information of the work being presented, namely of the study’s scope, purpose and results. The reference-free single spaced abstract should not exceed two pages.
• Table of Contents: includes all the subsections of each chapter and the list of appendices (if applicable) and page numbers.
• List of Figures: includes figure number, caption, and the page number.
• List of Tables: includes table number, caption, and the page number.
• Abbreviations page: lists all the abbreviations used in the text alongside their fully written unabbreviated form.
• Thesis/Project text; the layout is described in the next section.

The following presents a framework for a thesis. The information is offered as a general guideline. Students should always consult their advisor for additional guidelines.

In particular, the layout of project reports can be different depending on the type and scope of the project. Note that each chapter should start on a new page.

• Introduction: background; statement of the problem; definition of terms; purpose of the study; theoretical basis; contributions of the study; organization of the remainder of the study.
• Literature Review: chronological, categorical or related theoretical view points related to topic.
• Proposed Solution/Methodology: research design or approach (quantitative, qualitative or algorithmic); population and / or sample; collection and tabulation of data; and data analysis procedures.
• Solution Validation, Analysis of the Data, Results, and Discussion: presentation and discussion of the findings, including limitations.
• Conclusions, Recommendations: summarizes the entire research effort; addresses the initial purpose of the study (stated in the introduction); stresses the importance of the work accomplished; leaves a final impression on the reader. It can also include suggestions for further work.
• Bibliography/References: references should acknowledge any work done by someone other than the author. The reference should also include work performed by the author if presented or published at an earlier date. References should adopt one of the standard international styles; the American Psychological Association style for references and citation is recommended. For more information, contact the library.
• Appendices: material too detailed or lengthy for inclusion in the body of the study (e.g. questionnaires, maps). Appendices may also contain information that might clarify the thesis but is routine in nature or indirectly related to the thesis. Raw data and examples of calculation could be incorporated.

Style and Form

• Paper : Use high-quality acid-free A4-size paper, with only one side of the paper.
• Printing : A high-quality laser printer should be used for the final copy.
• Headings : In disciplines where section numbering is normally used, the following guidelines apply: Chapter title: 18 – 24 pt size, bold. Main Section Headings: can be numbered as chapter-number. Section-number (e.g., 3.2 for chapter 3, section 2) in 14 pt size, bold. Second Headings: can be numbered as x.y.z (e.g., 3.2.4 for chapter 3, section 2, and subsection 4) in 12 pt size, bold. First Subheadings: can be numbered as w.x.y.z (e.g., 3.2.4.1 for chapter 3, section 2, subsection 4, and sub-subsection 1) in 12 pt size, regular. Second Subheadings: preferably unnumbered, 12 pt, italics.
• Text Font: Acceptable fonts generated by word processing programs include, but are not restricted to: Times Roman 12, Helvetica 12, and Letter Gothic 12. The font provided through LaTex is acceptable. Bold and italics should not be used excessively in the text. Furthermore, colored text should not be used.
• Spacing : Double or one and a half spacing is required for the text. Only footnotes, long quotations, bibliography entries (double space between entries), table captions, and similar special material may be single spaced.
• Margins : Left, 4 cm; top, bottom, and right, 2.5 cm. These are necessary to allow for binding and trimming.
• Page Numbering : Preliminary pages of the thesis, that is, those preceding the text are to be numbered in Roman numerals. The first page must not show its page number. Pages of the text itself and of all items following the text should be numbered consecutively throughout in Arabic numbers, beginning with number 1 on the first page of the first chapter. Page numbers should be placed in the lower right corner or center of the page. Only the number should appear, not page 9.
• Tables and Figures : Figures and tables should be inserted at the appropriate place in the text. Figures must have numbers and captions under the figures. Tables have their titles and numbers above.
• Drawings : Any material which cannot be typed or computer generated should be drawn with permanent black ink in neat and heavy lines. Photographs of drawings are acceptable. Xerox reproductions of drawings are acceptable if they are of high contrast.
• Photographs : Mount small photographs with glue. Do not use rubber cement or tape. High-clarity Xerox copies of photographs are also acceptable. However, highquality scanned e-images can also be inserted into the thesis text.
• Footnotes : In disciplines where footnotes are normally used, they should appear at the bottom of the same page as their reference. Footnotes should be numbered in Arabic numerals. The footnote reference is superscripted and the explanation at the bottom of the page begins with the footnote reference number. Footnotes should have a smaller font size than the text (e.g. 10 pt).
• CDs and DVDs: identify with title, name of student, and date.
• Computer Software: Describe in separate section in prefatory pages (e.g., list of figures and tables). If applicable, state requirements for the use of the software (e.g., hardware, screen resolution type) and any other information necessary for proper viewing of the software.
• Oversized Material : Oversize foldout pages may be included, though ample margins for binding must be included. Leave oversize page unfolded. The bindery will fold and insert them. All pages must appropriately numbered if found in the text.
• Binding : Binding will be arranged by the library, for a fee, in order to ensure consistency. At least two copies of the thesis should be submitted to the library of the campus concerned.

The various frameworks can be used depending on the content of the report, but generally, the same rules apply. Introduction, method, results and discussion with references or bibliography at the end and an abstract at the beginning could form the framework.

But the most used and followed report structure is are as follow:

TITLE PAGE:- Title of project, Subtitle (where appropriate), Date, Author, Organization, Logo

BACKGROUND: – History(if any) behind the project

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:- Author thanks people and organization who helped during the project

SUMMARY(sometimes called abstract of the synopsis):- A condensed version of a report – outlines salient points, emphasizes main conclusions and (where appropriate) the main recommendations. N.B this is often difficult to write and it is suggested that you write it last.

LIST OF CONTENTS:- An at- a – glance list that tells the reader what is in the report and what page number(s) to find it on.

LIST OF TABLES:- As above, specifically for tables.

LIST OF APPENDICES:- As above, specifically for appendices.

INTRODUCTION:- Author sets the scene and states his/ her intentions.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES AIMS:- – general aims of the audit/ project, broad statement of intent.

OBJECTIVES:- specific things expected to do/deliver(e.g. expected outcomes)

METHOD:- Work steps; what was done – how, by whom, when?

RESULT/FINDINGS:- Honest presentation of the findings, whether these were as expected or not. Give the facts, including any inconsistencies or difficulties encountered

DISCUSSION:- Explanation of the results.( you might like to keep the SWOT analysis in mind and think about your project’s strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats, as you write)

CONCLUSIONS:- The author links the results/ findings with the points made in the introduction and strives to reach clear, simply stated and unbiased conclusions. Make sure they are fully supported by evidence and arguments of the main body of your audit/project.

RECOMMENDATIONS:- The author states what specific actions should be taken, by whom and why. They must always be linked to the future and should always be realistic. Don’t make them unless asked to.

REFERENCES:- A section of a report, which provides full details of publications mentioned in the text, or from which extracts have been quoted.

APPENDIX:- The purpose of an appendix is to supplement the information contained in the main body of the report.

Few Other Important Terms & Terminology

Overview of the framework of report.

There are at least 3 distinct report writing styles that can be applied by students of Business Studies. They are called:

• Conservative

Conservative Style

Essentially, the conservative approach takes the best structural elements from essay writing andintegrates these with appropriate report writing tools. Thus, headings are used to deliberate upon different sections of the answer. In addition, the space is well utilized by ensuring that each paragraph is distinct (perhaps separated from other paragraphs by leaving two blank lines in between).

 Key Point Style

This style utilizes all of the report writing tools and is thus more overtly ‘report-looking’. Use of headings, underlining, margins, diagrams and tables are common. Occasionally reporting might even use indentation and dot points. The important thing to remember is that the tools should be applied in a way that adds to the report. The question must be addressed and the tools applied should assist in doing that. An advantage of this style is the enormous amount of information that can be delivered relatively quickly.

Holistic Style

The most complex and unusual of the styles, holistic report writing aims to answer the question from a thematic and integrative perspective. This style of report writing requires the researcher to have a strong understanding of the course and is able to see which outcomes are being targeted by the question.

APA Citation Style

APA stands for  American Psychological Association , the scientific organisation that assembles the publishing manual of the APA format. The style was developed in 1929 by a group of scientists to standardize scientific writing.It was created in the hopes that it would provide a coherent and professional manner of citing sources

Citing a book in print

APA format structure:

Author, A. (Year of Publication).  Title of work . Publisher City, State: Publisher.

APA format example:

Finney, J. (1970).  Time and again . New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

Notes:  When citing a book in APA, keep in mind:

• Capitalize the first letter of the first word of the title and any subtitles, as well as the first letter of any proper nouns.
• The full title of the book, including any subtitles, should be stated and italicized.

Citing a general website article with an author

Author, A. (Year, Month Date of Publication). Article title. Retrieved from URL

Simmons, B. (2015, January 9). The tale of two Flaccos. Retrieved from http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-tale-of-two-flaccos/

Citing a general website article without an author

Article title. (Year, Month Date of Publication). Retrieved from URL

Teen posed as doctor at West Palm Beach hospital: police. (2015, January 16). Retrieved from http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Teen-Posed-as-Doctor-at-West-Palm-Beach-Hospital-Police-288810831.html

Shodhganga & ShodhGangotri

The Shodhganga@INFLIBNET Centre provides a platform for research students to deposit their Ph.D. theses and make it available to the entire scholarly community in open access.

The UGC Notification (Minimum Standards & Procedure for Award of M.Phil. / Ph.D Degree, Regulation, 2016) dated 5th May 2016 mandates submission of electronic version of theses and dissertations by the researchers in universities with an aim to facilitate open access to Indian theses and dissertations to the academic community world-wide.

Online availability of electronic theses through centrally-maintained digital repositories, not only ensure easy access and archiving of Indian doctoral theses but will also help in raising the standard and quality of research.

This would overcome serious problem of duplication of research and poor quality resulting from the “poor visibility” and the “unseen” factor in research output. As per the Regulation, the responsibility of hosting, maintaining and making the digital repository of Indian Electronic Theses and Dissertation (called “Shodhganga”), accessible to all institutions and universities, is assigned to the INFLIBNET Centre.

The Shodhganga@INFLIBNET is set-up using an open source digital repository software called DSpace developed by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in partnership between Hewlett- Packard (HP). 

The word “Shodh” originates from Sanskrit and stands for “research and discovery”. “Gangotri” is one of the largest glacier in the Himalayas and source of origination of Ganges, the holiest, longest and largest of rivers in India. The Ganges is the symbol of age-long culture, civilization, ever-aging, ever-flowing, ever-loving and loved by its people.

Under the initiative called “ShodhGangotri”, research scholars / research supervisors in universities are requested to deposit electronic version of approved synopsis submitted by research scholars to the universities for registering themselves for the Ph.D programme. The repository on one hand, would reveal the trends and directions of research being conducted in Indian universities, on the other hand it would avoid duplication of research.

Synopsis in “ShodhGangotri” would later be mapped to full-text theses in “ShodhGanga”. As such, once the full-text thesis is submitted for a synopsis, a link to the full-text theses would be provided from ShodhGangotri to “ShodhGanga”

References – 

• http://www.iitk.ac.in/doaaold/thesisguide.pdf 
• IISC Bangalore Template
• IIT PATNA Thesis Format

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UGC NET PAPER1 is best known resource site for NTA NET EXAM GENERAL PAPER1. You can find lot of details & easy to grasp content based on latest syllabus & tips-tricks on how to perform better in your exam. This blog is run by group of students, faculty members & content writers to provide you best quality contents.

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UGC guidelines for plagiarism in 2024

This blog post aims to provide details regarding UGC regulations for promoting academic integrity and preventing plagiarism in higher education institutions.

The rules and regulations related to Plagiarism shall apply to the students, faculty, researchers, and staff of all higher educational institutions in the country.

Page Contents

• To create awareness among students, faculty, researchers, and staff about responsible research, thesis, and dissertation conduct, academic integrity promotion, and prevention of misconduct, including plagiarism, in academic writing.
• To establish institutional mechanisms through education and training to facilitate responsible conduct of research, thesis, dissertation, promotion of academic integrity, and deterrence from plagiarism.
• To develop systems to detect plagiarism and to set up mechanisms to prevent plagiarism and punish a student, faculty, researcher, or staff of HEI committing the act of plagiarism.

Similarity checks for exclusion from Plagiarism

The similarity checks for plagiarism shall exclude the following:

• All quoted work is reproduced with all necessary permission and/or attribution.
• All references, bibliography, table of contents, preface and acknowledgements.
• All generic terms, laws, standard symbols and standards equations.

The research work carried out by the student, faculty, researcher and staff shall be based on original ideas, which shall  include abstract, summary, hypothesis, observations, results, conclusions and recommendations only and shall not have  any similarities. It shall exclude a common knowledge or coincidental terms, up to fourteen (14) consecutive words.

Levels of Plagiarism as per UGC Regulations

Plagiarism would be quantified into the following levels in ascending order of severity for its definition:

• Level 0: Similarities up to 10% – Minor similarities, no penalty
• Level 1: Similarities above 10% to 40%
• Level 2: Similarities above 40% to 60%
• Level 3: Similarities above 60%

Penalties in case of plagiarism in submission of thesis and dissertations

The Institutional Academic Integrity Panel (IAIP) shall impose a penalty considering the severity of the Plagiarism.

i. Level 0: Similarities up to 10% – Minor Similarities, no penalty.

ii. Level 1: Similarities above 10% to 40% – Such student shall be asked to submit a revised script within a stipulated time period not exceeding 6 months.

iii. Level 2: Similarities above 40% to 60% – Such a student shall be debarred from submitting a revised script for one year.

iv. Level 3: Similarities above 60% -Such student registration for that program shall be canceled .

Penalties in case of plagiarism in academic and research publications

I. Level 0: Similarities up to 10% – Minor similarities, no penalty.

II. Level 1: Similarities above 10% to 40% : Shall be asked to withdraw the manuscript.

III. Level 2: Similarities above 40% to 60%

i) Shall be asked to withdraw manuscript.

ii) Shall be denied a right to one annual increment.

iii) Shall not be allowed to be a supervisor to any new Master’s, M.Phil., Ph.D. Student/scholar for a period of two years.

IV. Level 3: Similarities above 60%

ii) Shall be denied a right to two successive annual increments.

iii) Shall not be allowed to be a supervisor to any new Master’s, M.Phil., Ph.D. Student/scholar for a period of three years.

Detection and Handling of Plagiarism | Charges of Plagiarism

If any member of the academic community suspects with appropriate proof that a case of plagiarism has happened in any document, he or she shall report it to the Departmental Academic Integrity Panel (DAIP). Upon receipt of such a complaint or allegation the DAIP shall investigate the matter and submit its recommendations to the Institutional Academic Integrity Panel (IAIP) of the HEI.

The authorities of HEI can also take suomotu notice of an act of plagiarism and initiate proceedings under these regulations. Similarly, proceedings can also be initiated by the HEI on the basis of findings of an examiner. All such cases will be investigated by the IAIP.

UGC guidelines for phd thesis format

How to  start a Ph.D. research  program in India?

UGC assistant professor eligibility/ selection criteria

Free and Paid plagiarism checkers for research papers/ thesis

Sources: UGC

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