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Appendix C - Guidelines for Honours Theses

1. Format of Thesis

A thesis may take the form of a manuscript (traditional style thesis) or be in a format which incorporates a component for a refereed journal publication1, 2. The length of the thesis for both formats should be in accordance with Section 8.1 of the Policy on Honours Programs.

2. Contents of Thesis

2.1 Typical structure a thesis manuscript (traditional style thesis) will normally be structured as follows:
  1. Preliminary information
    1. Title page
    2. Author declaration
    3. Abstract of no more than 500 words
    4. Table of contents
    5. List of all illustrations and diagrams
  2. Body of the thesis
    1. Review of the literature: systematic or narrative review, depending on the nature of the thesis
    2. Main text
  3. Appendices

2.2 Typical structure a thesis which incorporates a component for a refereed journal publication will normally be presented in three major parts as follows:3

  1. Preliminary information
    1. Title page
    2. Author declaration
    3. Acknowledgements
    4. Abstract of 150-250 words
    5. Table of contents
    6. List of all illustrations and diagrams
  2. Body of the thesis
    1. Review of the literature: systematic or narrative review, depending on the nature of the thesis
    2. Main text (in the case of a journal article, the style may be influenced by the guidelines of the intended journal)
    3. If in journal submission format under 9.5.2 (a) (iii), an expanded methods section or discussion of methodology
  3. Appendices

1 The adoption of a format where the completed project is written as a journal article is in line with the philosophy that research is not complete until the results have been published.
2 It is recognised that the journal article may be jointly authored; in such cases, the Honours candidate would be required to be a significant contributor to the article. Names of any co-author(s) are not required within the thesis, except as part of the acknowledgements [see Section 2.2 (a) (ii)].
3 The length of the journal article will depend on the requirements of the specific journal but may be of the order of 2,500-4,000 words. A literature review will normally be 3,000-4,000 words. [Adapted from Research methods in physical activity (Thomas and Nelson, 2001).] The default guide for referencing and style will be that of the journal to which the paper will be submitted.