KSI's Guidelines for Thesis Writing


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MANUSCRIPT WRITING

Format
Manuscripts should be typewritten, double-spaced on one side of 8.5 in. x 11 in. white paper with the following margins: 1.5 inches left margin (if bound, 1 inch if unbound); 1 inch top and right margins; 1 inch bottom margin (including bottom centered page number). All text should be justifed on the left and right margins.

The student may select helvetica, arial, or roman for the document's exclusive font. Under no circumstances should the student use italicized typefaces for the body of the text, nor should the student utilize multiple fonts for the body of the text. Chapter headings may use a different font. The standard size of the fonts in the body of the text should be 12 points.

Organization
Page 1 should contain the title, author, course name (for class papers), advisor's (or instructor's) name and title, name and address of the institution. Page 2 should include any necessary acknowledgements. Page 3 should contain a 100-150 word abstract. The next page is the Table of Contents. The body of the document includes an Introduction, necessary chapters, the Discussion followed by the Appendices and the Reference page. Appendices are numbered with Roman numerals.

Only objective, expository English is acceptable. Unacceptable are contractions (e.g., didn't, I'm, isn't); use of the first person, "I" (thesis documents); idioms; slang (e.g., awesome, groovy); subjective words and phrases (e.g., beautiful, tough, easy); metaphors (e.g., flash in the pan); undefined acronyms not generally recognized in the field (e.g., known: IBM, DOS, RAM; unknown: KBps, MPEG). All sentences must be complete with acceptable grammar and correct spelling.

Tables
All tables and figures must be identified by sequential numbers and titles throughout the document. For example:

Table 1. Hard disks that exceed 9 ms access time

Figure 1. Structure of a LAN

Units
The author must use the unit standards accepted by the field of the research topic. Otherwise, the metric system of quantification must be used.

Documentation
Do not plagiarize! A research paper draws on the works of other authors, so you must document their contributions. These may be text, equations, tables, figures, or other unique contributions. Documentation is required when you quote from a source, when you summarize or paraphrase a source, and when you borrow facts and ideas from a source (except for common knowledge). All quotations must be copied accurately, word for word, and they must be placed in quotation marks unless they have been formally set off from the rest of the text. All references in the Reference page must be listed alphabetically. KSI will use the APA (American Psychological Association) style of documentation. For example:

  QUOTE (book): As Davis (1978)  wrote, "The ape's ability to
                use sign language surprised both linguists and     
                animal benaviorists."
  PARAPHRASE:   When they learned of an ape's ability to use sign
                language, both linguists and animal behaviorists   
                were taken by surprise (Davis, 1978).

  REFERENCE:    Davis, F. (1978). Inside Intuition: what we know 
                about nonverbal communication. New York: McGraw-   
                Hill.

Other Reference Sources

* Book, 2 authors     1.  Patterson, F., & Linden, E. (1981).     
                          The Education of Koko. New York: Holt,   
                          Rinehart and Winston.
* Periodical, volumes 2.  Otto, M.L. (1984).  Child abuse: Group  
                          treatment.  Personnel and Guidance       
                          Journal, 62, 336-338.
* Periodical, issues  3.  Nichols, R.G. (1986).  Word processing  
                          for dummies.  Journal of Basic Writing. 
                          5(2), 81-97.
* Magazine            4.  Wang, R.M. (1993).  Talking with         
                          computers.  International         
                          Communications.  pp. 13-18.
* Computer program    5.  Programmer's Aide [Computer Program].    
                          (1993).  Los Angeles, CA: Software       
                          Creation Company.  
* From an online      6.  Twain, M.U., & Jordan, M.J. (1995,       
  Database                March).  Wireless computing: Fact or     
                          fiction? Paper presented at the annual   
                          Hacker's Conference, Chicago, Illinois. 
                          (ERIC No. 316-784)
* From Internet or    7.  Gates, B.J. (1996, January).  Talking    
 The WWW                  back to computers.  WWW: Newsource       
                          Online, http://www.newsonline.com/.