Regulations for Preparation and Submission of Thesis-Project for Higher Degree of the Meru University of Science and Technology

  1. These regulations are supplementary to the University regulations for individual higher degree; the latter, in each case, provides that the thesis/project shall be submitted, after due notice, to the Director, BPS (four copies) and that, if the degree is awarded, each copy shall remain the property of the University. The custody of the copies submitted shall be; Director BPS, University Librarian, Dean of the School and Chairman of the Department. Each copy of the thesis/project to be bound in maroon (PhD), jungle green for masters and black for postgraduate Diploma. Advice might be sought from the University Librarian in this matter.
  1. Typing and Pagination
    1. Typing
    • (i) Font 12 (times new roman) on A4 size(210x297mm) paper, double spacing, one sided paper of 80 gm white in colour;
    • (ii) A 50 mm margin to be left on the left side of the paper and a 25 mm on the right side of the margin paper;
    • (iii) Typing should begin 40 mm from the top of the page and should not go beyond 25mm from the bottom of the page;
    1. Pagination
    • (i) Preliminary pages (title page to abstract should be numbered consecutively in roman numbers lower case e.g. i, ii, iii, the page number should appear in the centre of the lower margin of the page.
    • (ii) The text pages (from chapter one to appendices) shall be numbered consecutively in Arabic numbers e.g. 1, 2, 3, The page number should appear in the centre of the lower margin of the page;
    • (iii) The number of words, excluding references and appendices should be as following:
      1. Post Graduate Diploma Project (10,000– 15,000 words)
      2. Master’s Thesis/Project (20,000 words )
      3. Thesis (50,000 words )
  2. Cover page

The cover page must be arranged as follows;

(i) Title of thesis/project –uppercase centred, bold, font 16, font type Times New Roman, gold coloured.

(ii) Name of candidate- Full name, uppercase Centred, bold, font 14, font type Times New Roman, gold coloured.

(iii) Submission Statement– “A thesis/project submitted in partial fulfilment of requirements for award of the Degree of (insert name of                               degree) in the Meru University of Science and Technology. This statement should appear at the middle of the page (Capitalize each word).

(iv) The year – Centred, bold, font 16, font type Times New Roman, gold coloured.

(v) The Spine– the writing must be from top to bottom (Surname, then other names as initials, The name of the degree, the year of                                      completion), Bold, font 18, font type Times New Roman, gold-coloured.

Note: The Cover page should be followed by a blank page.

  1. The front (title) page

This page must be arranged as follows:

    1. The title of the thesis/project– uppercase centred, bold, font 14 , font type Times New Roman,
    2. Name- Full name of the candidate, uppercase, bold, font 12, font type Times New Roman,
    3. Degree- Full name of the degree, upper case, bold, centred, font 12, font type Times New Roman
    4. Submission Statement-“A thesis/project submitted in partial fulfilment of requirements for award of the Degree of (insert name of degree) in the Meru University of Science and Technology. This statement should appear at the middle of the page (Capitalize each word).
    5. The Year-the year of completion, bold, centred, font 14, font type Times New Roman.
  1. Declaration page

The declaration page must contain the order indicated below:

  1. a signed declaration by the candidate with the following statement: “This thesis/project is my original work and has not been presented for a degree in any other Institution”.
  2. a signed declaration by each of the University supervisor(s) with the following statement: “This thesis/project has been submitted for examination with my (our) approval as University Supervisor(s)”.
  1. Dedication (optional)-The third page of the thesis/project contains dedication statement not exceeding one third of a page.

 

  1. Acknowledgement

Candidate may give credit to individuals, groups, organizations or institutions who have made some contribution towards the completion of the thesis/project.

This should not exceed a page.

 

  1. Table of Contents

This should be organized to match the headings and subheadings as well as the page numbers up to a maximum of three levels.

 

  1. List of tables (where applicable)

Should start from a separate page, must be numbered in sequences according to the chapter numbers and pages.

 

  1. List of figures (where applicable)

Should start from a separate page, must be numbered in sequences according to the chapter numbers and pages.

 

  1. Abbreviations, Symbols and Acronyms

To start on a fresh page and be arranged alphabetically.

  1.  Abstract

Should be the summary of thesis/project, must contain the problem statement, purpose, the objectives, the research design and methodology, research findings recommendations and conclusion and should not exceed a page. Be written in font 12, font type Times New Roman and single space (not in point form).

 

  1. Chapter Presentation

The thesis/project chapter presentation should be either one of the following;

Style One

  • Chapter One-Introduction and literature review
  • Chapter Two– Materials and methods/methodology
  • Chapter Three-Data Analysis and findings
  • Chapter Four– Results and Discussions
  • Chapter Five-Conclusion, recommendations and publications

 

Style Two

  • Chapter One-Introduction and literature review
  • Chapter Two to Four– Each chapter presents a separate study with its own introduction, materials and methods/methodology, Data Analysis and findings, Results, Discussions and chapter conclusion.
  • Chapter five-Conclusion ,recommendations and publications

 

Style Three

  • Chapter One-Introduction and literature review
  • Chapter Two– Research Methodology
  • Chapter Three-Presentation, Data Analysis and Results
  • Chapter Four– Discussions
  • Chapter Five-Conclusion, recommendations and publications (Title of Publications)

 

Style Four

  • Chapter One-Introduction
  • Chapter Two- literature review
  • Chapter Three- Research Methodology
  • Chapter Four-Research results
  • Chapter five- Discussions
  • Chapter six- Conclusion, recommendations and publications (Title of Publications)
  1. Citation and References

In text citation should be presented using APA system except in special cases where the school’s format shall apply.

A list of references must appear alphabetically at the end of the thesis/project (APA system) or otherwise.

 

  1.  Appendices

Information or data that are too detailed for inclusion in the main body of the thesis/project may be included as appendices, and these are placed after the reference list. Appendices include full publications, original data, summary, side-line or preliminary tests, tabulations, tables that contain data of lesser importance, very lengthy quotations, supporting decisions, forms and documents, computer printouts, detailed engineering drawings and other pertinent documents. Appendix materials should be grouped by type, e.g. Appendix A: Questionnaire; Appendix B: Original data; Appendix C: Tables of results. Appendices must be paginated consecutively with the main text. If there are three or less appendices, their details such as number and titles should be listed as items in the Table of Contents. If there are more than three, then the Table of Contents should include a List of Appendices with its page number. The list itself should come immediately after the List of Figures.

 

  1. Submission Requirement
      1. It is a requirement of the University that candidates for all Masters and doctoral degrees produce a thesis/project or project which embodies their research for examination at the end of the degree.
      2. Candidates must satisfactorily complete all requirements for all elements of the programme including the taught component of masters and doctoral programme to the required standard to have their thesis/project examined.
      3. Each theses/project shall be subjected to a plagiarism check before being presented for examination.
      4.  A soft copy in the form of a flash disk or email containing the content of the thesis/project shall be included as part of a candidate’s final electronic submission.
      5. Submission of the final electronic thesis/project must be identical in content (apart from any corrections required by the Examiners) to the thesis/project previously submitted for examination.
      6. The submitted thesis/project must make a significant contribution to original knowledge and understanding of the field and the candidate must demonstrate a critical knowledge of the research methods appropriate to the discipline.
      7. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure that the thesis/project is checked for typographical errors. (Any person involved with professionally proofreading a thesis/project should solely be checking for grammatical/spelling errors, and should not comment on the content of the thesis/project).
      8. Candidates are advised that Examiners may refer a thesis/project for re-examination or reject the thesis/project if the quantity of typographical errors indicates careless proof-reading.
      9. Candidates must ensure that material that is authored by a third-party that is used in their thesis/project is free of any copyright restrictions and/or they have obtained a licence or permission to use these materials. Candidates should ensure that any such licence/permission extends to the use of the materials by The University for administrative purposes, including examination and preservation of their work.
      10. Examination of Masters degree project shall be processed through the department and Institute/School concerned and results submitted to Senate for approval. In this case the minutes of the oral examination at the School/ Institute and the certificate of corrections as well as the corrected soft copy of the project shall be presented to the directorate of post graduate studies before the candidate is allowed to bind the final copy of the project.
      11. The examination of a Masters or Doctoral degree thesis/project normally involves two parts: firstly, the submission and preliminary assessment of the thesis/project, normally by internal and external examiner(s); and secondly, the defence of the thesis/project by the candidate at an oral examination with the Board of examiners.
      12. There shall be an oral examination for each candidate and the purposes of the oral examination are:
        1. To enable the examiners to assure themselves that the thesis/project and the research it reports are the candidate’s own work.
        2. To give the candidate an opportunity to defend the thesis/project, clarify any obscurities that the examiners have identified and discuss the subject of the thesis/project in its disciplinary and/or interdisciplinary context.
        3. To enable the candidate to demonstrate a firm understanding of the field of research and thus give the examiners an opportunity to assess the candidate’s broader knowledge of the field or discipline within which the thesis/project falls.
      13. Candidates submitting a thesis/project are expected to have published in refereed journals as follows; Masters degree at least one paper and PhD degree at least two papers before graduation.