University of Madras PhD thesis format

What does the University of Madras prescribe for thesis format?

Clause 13 of the Research Regulations is titled “Synopsis and Thesis Format”. It runs to seven short sub-clauses. The table shows what they fix and what they leave open.

Clause 13.5 matters most in practice. It says the style of presentation “shall be decided by the Supervisor in consultation with the RAC and in accordance with the best practices in the specific discipline”. That means your supervisor’s preferences are, in effect, the rules. Settle them early, ideally at an RAC meeting where they can be minuted, rather than finding out at the final reading.

Where the university says nothing, the usual Indian convention is Times New Roman or a similar plain serif font, a left margin of about 1.5 inches for binding, 1 inch on the other sides, roman page numbers for the front matter and arabic from Chapter 1. Treat that as convention, not a Madras rule. Our PhD thesis structure guide covers the usual chapter plan.

What must the title page show?

Clause 13.3 lists what the title page must contain. It gives no specimen layout, so the order and spacing are yours to decide:

1. the title of the thesis
2. the degree and subject. For interdisciplinary research, name both the discipline of your PG degree and the discipline of the department where you did the research
3. your name
4. your supervisor’s name and designation, and your co-supervisor’s if you have one
5. the address of the institution
6. the university logo
7. the month and year of submission

The 2023 amendment says the University logo is mandatory on the cover page. Your research institution’s or college’s logo is optional and goes “inside the cover page”, not on the cover. If you are at an affiliated college, don’t put the college logo next to the university logo on the cover.

The interdisciplinary rule is easy to miss. If your PG is in Chemistry and you worked in a Department of Environmental Science, the title page should say so.

Which certificates and pages go before the contents?

Clause 13.4 requires these before the contents page:

• A certificate signed by the head of your institution or University Department stating that you did the research there, during the stated period, under your assigned supervisor.
• Certificate from the Supervisor that the thesis is your original work and free of plagiarism. For interdisciplinary research, the co-supervisor signs this too.
• Your undertaking that the thesis is your original research and has not been submitted for any other degree, in full or in part.

The regulations give no wording for these. Your department will usually have a standard format. Use it, and check that the dates of your research period match your registration.

Two further items were added in 2023, following a Government of Tamil Nadu order (D.O. No. 8093/K2/2022-1, dated 22 June 2022):

• Tamil abstract (clause 13.7). Every scholar includes an abstract of the thesis in Tamil, of not more than ten pages, before the contents page.
• Index of key terms and the Tamil Virtual Academy certificate (clause 13.4(e)). Under a Government of Tamil Nadu order, the Tamil Virtual Academy (tamilvu.org), based in Kottur, Chennai, must approve your abstract and a glossary of key terms (கலைச்சொற்கள்) in both Tamil and English; if the thesis itself is in Tamil, the English versions are not needed. Its certificate is attached at submission, and the key-terms index sits on the first page after the contents.

The Tamil abstract is compulsory whatever language your thesis is in. If you don’t write Tamil comfortably, arrange help with the translation well before submission, and have your supervisor check that the translation says what your English abstract says.

The regulations don’t set an order for the rest of the front matter (acknowledgements, lists of tables and figures, abbreviations). Follow your department’s usual order.

Which citation style should a Madras thesis use?

The regulations don’t name one. Under clause 13.5 it is decided by your supervisor and RAC according to the best practice in your discipline. In practice, science departments tend to use numbered styles or the style of the main journals in the field. Commerce, management and the social sciences mostly use APA. Language and literature departments often use MLA. Our citation styles comparison shows how they differ.

Whichever you use, examiners notice inconsistency more than the choice of style. Use a reference manager, and check every in-text citation against the list before the similarity check. In our experience, a reference list that is out of step with the text is one of the commonest corrections examiners ask for.

How do you submit a University of Madras thesis?

Publications before the synopsis

Clause 12.2 requires one research paper in a UGC-CARE, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed or SCI journal before you submit the synopsis. You must also present one paper or poster at a regional, national or international seminar or conference before you submit the thesis. The university’s name must appear in the affiliation of every paper from a recognised research centre or college.

The synopsis

The synopsis may not exceed 5,000 words. You present it before the RAC. On its recommendation, send one hard copy (soft-bound in white) and a soft copy to the university, certified by your supervisor and the head of the institution. The regulations say nothing more about the synopsis layout.

Similarity check

You submit a soft copy of the thesis to the University Library, which issues a certificate of the similarity level found by “authorized software”. Get the application and rules from the Librarian at the Madras University Library, Chepauk, or at the libraries on the other campuses. The regulations don’t give a percentage. They say the thesis is accepted if the similarity is acceptable “as per the rules framed by the Syndicate from time to time”. Get the library to tell you the current figure before you finalise. The UGC 2018 bands that university rules are built on are explained in our plagiarism limits guide.

The thesis

• Submit four hard copies and one soft copy, in the window from one month to six months after the synopsis.
• If you miss six months, apply for an extension of up to six more months, or up to the end of six years from admission, whichever is earlier. Submission after six years is not allowed.
• Your supervisor submits the panel of examiners with the synopsis, and no later than one month after the thesis.

Evaluation and viva

The Vice-Chancellor chooses one foreign examiner, one Indian examiner and one viva-voce examiner from the panel. In languages, literature and some humanities subjects, an Indian examiner may replace the foreign one. Each external examiner is asked to report within a month and places the thesis in one of six categories, from “Highly Commended” to “Not Commended”. The viva is public and is announced at least 15 days ahead, with a copy of the thesis placed in the institution’s library. After the viva, a corrected copy goes to the university with the joint report. After the award, the institution sends an electronic copy to INFLIBNET. See our Shodhganga submission guide for that step.

University of Madras thesis checklist before submission

This covers the rules in the regulations. For everything else, the test is whether your supervisor and RAC have approved it.

• The cover has the University of Madras logo. Your college or institution logo, if you use one, is only on the inside.
• The title page has all seven items in clause 13.3, including both disciplines if your research is interdisciplinary.
• The three certificates (Head of Institution, Supervisor, your undertaking) come before the contents page.
• The Tamil abstract (up to ten pages) is placed before the contents page.
• The index of key terms is on the first page after the contents, and the Tamil Virtual Academy certificate is attached.
• Text is 12 point at 1.5 or 2.0 spacing in a plain font, printed on both sides of A4 Executive Bond paper.
• The margins, headings and citation style have been agreed with your supervisor and RAC, and are consistent throughout.
• The University Library has issued the similarity certificate for this version of the thesis.
• You have four white, soft-bound, well-stitched copies and one soft copy.
• You are between one and six months after synopsis submission, and inside the six-year limit.

If you want the language, references and consistency checked before your supervisor’s final reading, our thesis editing and proofreading service does that. It works on presentation, not on your findings.