Article Format Thesis Guidelines 1

7/30/2019 Article Format Thesis Guidelines 1

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Guidelines for the Article-Format Thesis

1. Background

As an alternative to the traditional format for a thesis, it is permissible for DTech candidates to submit athesis in the form of a series of published, co-published or ready-for-publication articles prepared duringcandidature. With regard to MTech candidates, HDC approval is first required, based upon an applicationfrom the supervisor/candidate on the merit of submitting an article-format thesis. Furthermore, the article-format thesis only applies to 100% master's or doctoral theses and excludes case study types of theses.

There are numerous advantages of incorporating publications into a thesis, namely:

1. Research students are increasingly advantaged in postdoctoral, academic and other professionalemployment applications if they have published or have prepared to publish during candidature.

2. Candidates write up their work only once, instead of once as a traditional thesis and later again as apublishable article.

3. In conjunction with proactive and appropriately planning, the envisioned articles set clear milestones forthe candidates research.

4. The acceptance of articles for publication during candidature, gives candidates the confidence that theirresearch is of an international standard.

5. If much of the thesis has already been accepted as refereed publications, an examiner is less likely to beover-critical.

6. Where articles that have been submitted at the time of thesis submission are subsequently accepted forpublication, the candidate is in a much stronger position to rebut an examiners criticisms.

7. Having publications accepted at the time of submission significantly enhances the prospects of thecandidates securing employment or a postdoctoral position.

2. General Guidelines

1. The overriding principle is that the thesis should remain an original contribution to the discipline orfield by the candidate, irrespective of the format of the thesis.

2. Chapters containing the journal articles should form a coherent and integrated body of work, whichcould be focused on a single project or set of related questions or propositions. It is important that alljournal articles form part of a sustained thesis with a coherent theme. It is not sufficient to merelyreproduce a series of unrelated works, whether published or unpublished.

3. Inclusion of work published priorto commencement of candidature is not permissible.

4. The number of articles to be included depends on the content and length of each article and shouldtake full account of the Universitys requirements for the degree as well as the amount of researchexpected for the degree in that discipline.

Recommendations:

a. For a DTech thesis, the norm is that at least THREE journal articles, with the candidate as majorcontributor and of which at least two are already published, must be included. A third articleready-for-publication should also be included if not yet published.

b. For an MTech thesis, the norm is that at least ONE journal article, with the candidate as majorcontributor, must be included already published or ready-for-publication.

5. The thesis will be examined in the normal way and according to the normal requirements as set out

by the Guidelines for Examiners of Dissertations and Theses (form HDC 1.7).

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3. Proposed Outline of Theses in Article Format

MASTER S THESIS: Chapter division

Title page (page 1)

Declaration (page 2)

Summary/Abstract (no longer than 2 pages)

Acknowledgements (no longer than 1 page)

(Optional) Dedication

(Optional) Biographical sketch(no longer than 1 page)

Preface (an explanation of the chapter division and that certain chapters are written inarticle form according to a specific writing style)

Table of contents(complete)

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Literature review

Chapter 3*: Research results(written according to the style of the journal in which it willbe published)

Specific Article Format

Proposed subheadings/sections e.g., Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion, Conclusions,Reference List

Chapter 4:General discussion and conclusions (stating the integrated conclusions forthe manuscript as a whole)

(Optional) Chapter 5: Recommendations

References/Bibliography

*Chapter 3 is prepared in the form of an article and should be publishable in a reputable international/DoE-accredited journal. The norm is that a masters thesis should produce at leastone (or more) journal article(s)with the candidate as major contributor.

If there is any information (methods, material and results) that is normally not included in journalarticles, but which is relevant to the thesis, this may be added after the final chapter as an Appendix.

DOCTORAL THESIS: Chapter division

Title page(page 1)

Declaration (page 2)

Summary/Abstract (no longer than 2 pages)

Acknowledgements(no longer than 1 page)

(Optional) Biographical sketch(no longer than 1 page)

(Optional) Dedication

Preface (an explanation of the chapter division and that certain chapters are written inarticle form according to a specific writing style)

Table of contents(complete)

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Literature review

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Chapters 3-5*: Research results(written according to the style of the journal in which itwill be published)

Specific Article Format

First ArticleProposed subheadings/sections e.g., Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion, Conclusions.Reference List (for article 1)

Second ArticleProposed subheadings/sections e.g., Introduction, Review of Literature, Method, Results,Conclusions. Reference List (for article 2)

Third ArticleProposed subheadings/sections e.g., Introduction, Review of Literature, Method, Results,Conclusions. Reference List (for article 3)

Chapter 6: General discussion and conclusions (stating the conclusions for themanuscript as a whole)

(Optional) Chapter 7: Recommendations

Bibliography/References

*Chapters 3-5 are prepared in the form of articles and should be published/publishable in a reputableinternational/DoE-accredited journal. The norm is that a Doctoral thesis should produce at least three journalarticles, with the candidate as major contributor.

If there is any information (methods, material and results) that is normally not included in journalarticles, but which is relevant to the thesis, this may be added after the final chapter as an Appendix.

4. Specific Formatting Guidelines

1. Technical presentation of the thesis must still follow the guidelines as stipulated by the CPUT Guide to

postgraduate studies.2. The article format thesis requires that the text of the articles must be retyped for inclusion in the thesis

according to CPUT standards. It is not acceptable to insert copies or offprints of published articlesdirectly into the thesis.

3. Continuous pagination is required throughout the thesis manuscript.4. References should follow the style of the journal to which the article was/will be submitted.

5. Co-authorship Guidelines

Journal articles may often have multiple authors. Nonetheless, a candidate signs off on the ThesisDeclaration as follows:

I, type your full first names and surname here, declare that the contents of this thesis represent my own unaided work,and that the thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore,it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

Recommendations:

1. Any articles included in the candidates thesis that mainly describe work of other people in a team, wouldbe inappropriate to include in the thesis.

2. With respect to joint authorship the candidate is expected to have made a significant and leadingcontribution to the work reported, equivalent to that expected for a traditional thesis.

3. Depending on the discipline, the position of the main authormay differ, but it is recommended that theposition of the main contributor be negotiated in the author list between the candidate and supervisorprior to the completion of the thesis.

4. The candidate must be in the first/main author position on the majority of articles submitted in thefinal thesis manuscript.

5. In cases where the candidate is not the first/main author of an article, it is essential to state explicitly whoelse contributed to the work and the nature and extent of their contribution in the Preface section of thethesis. The exact contributionof each co-authored article should be addressed in terms of:

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Conception of the study, Design of the study, Collection of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation ofdata, Conclusions, Writing up of paper

The contribution of co-authors could also be specified in the thesis Acknowledgments and/or inrelevant footnotes/endnotes.

6. If deemed necessary, the HDC could request additional evidence from the candidate where the thesisincluded journal articles with joint authorship. An example of such additional proof, could be a signed

statement from the co-authors

Co-author statement in respect of the MTech or DTech thesis made by:

Paper/manuscript (authors, title, journal):

The undersigned who is:

corresponding author co-author

on the paper/manuscript above, hereby confirms that _____________________has contributed to the workas stated below:

1. Intellectual input:

less than 25% 25 - 50 % 50 - 75% 75 - 100%

Comments: ____________________________________________________________________________

2. Experimental results (indicate contribution to individual figures, tables and supplementary data):

less than 25% 25 - 50 % 50 - 75% 75 - 100%

Comments: ____________________________________________________________________________

3. Writing process:

less than 25% 25 - 50 % 50 - 75% 75 - 100%

Comments: ____________________________________________________________________________

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_______________________________________________ ___________________________

Written Name Date

_______________________________________________

Signature

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Article Format Thesis Guidelines 1