University of Madras PhD thesis format

What does the University of Madras prescribe for thesis format?

In the Research Regulations, clause 13 has the title “Synopsis and Thesis Format”. It has only seven short sub-clauses. You can see in the table what they fix and what they leave open.

Cite this data: PhD Desk, “University of Madras PhD thesis format”, last reviewed 1 November 2026, https://phddesk.in/guides/thesis-format-madras-university

In actual practice, clause 13.5 is the one that matters most. As per this clause, 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”. So whatever your guide prefers becomes the rule for your thesis. Discuss about these points with your guide early. An RAC meeting is a good time for it, because the decision gets minuted there. If you leave it for later, you may come to know only at the final reading.

For the points where the university is silent, you can follow the usual Indian convention. This is Times New Roman or a similar plain serif font. The left margin is about 1.5 inches for binding, and the other sides get 1 inch. Front matter pages carry roman numbers, and arabic numbering starts from Chapter 1. Remember this is only convention. Madras has not made it a rule. How the chapters are usually planned is there in our PhD thesis structure guide, you can read it.

What must the title page show?

Clause 13.3 gives the list of things the title page must contain. There is no specimen page, so order and spacing you can decide yourself.

1. the thesis title
2. the degree and the subject. If the research is interdisciplinary, give the discipline of your PG degree and also the discipline of the department where the research was done
3. your name
4. name and designation of your supervisor, and of the co-supervisor if there is one
5. address of the institution
6. the university logo
7. month and year of submission

As per the 2023 amendment, the University logo is mandatory on the cover page. The logo of your research institution or college is optional. If you use it, it goes “inside the cover page” and not on the cover. Scholars in an affiliated college should not put the college logo beside the university logo on the cover.

Scholars easily miss the interdisciplinary rule. Say your PG is in Chemistry and your research was done in a Department of Environmental Science. Then the title page has to show both.

Which certificates and pages go before the contents?

Three items come ahead of the contents page, as clause 13.4 says.

• A certificate signed by the head of your institution or University Department. It states that you did the research there, in the stated period, under your assigned supervisor.
• Certificate from the Supervisor saying the thesis is your original work and has no plagiarism. In interdisciplinary research the co-supervisor also signs it.
• Your undertaking, where you declare that the thesis is your own original research and was not submitted for any other degree, fully or partly.

What exact words go in these certificates, the regulations don’t say anything. Usually your department will have a standard format, so use that one only. Also check that the dates of your research period match with your registration.

In 2023 two more items were added. This came after a Government of Tamil Nadu order (D.O. No. 8093/K2/2022-1, dated 22 June 2022).

• Tamil abstract (clause 13.7). All scholars must include an abstract of the thesis in Tamil, not more than ten pages, before the contents page.
• Index of key terms and the Tamil Virtual Academy certificate (clause 13.4(e)). As per a Government of Tamil Nadu order, the Tamil Virtual Academy (tamilvu.org) has to approve your abstract and a glossary of key terms (கலைச்சொற்கள்). The Academy is in Kottur, Chennai. You send both to them in Tamil and in English. When the thesis is written in Tamil itself, the English versions are not needed. The Academy’s certificate is attached when you submit, and the key-terms index comes on the first page after the contents.

Even if your thesis is in English or any other language, the Tamil abstract is compulsory. Some scholars are not comfortable writing Tamil. If that is your case, look for a translator early itself and not when the binding is almost ready. After that, ask your guide to check that the Tamil abstract and the English abstract say the same thing.

For the rest of the front matter, like acknowledgements, lists of tables and figures and abbreviations, the regulations give no order. Mostly the department has some order they always use, so go with that.

Which citation style should a Madras thesis use?

No style is named in the regulations. Clause 13.5 leaves it to your supervisor and RAC, going by the best practice in your discipline. In practice, science departments tend to use numbered styles, or the style of the main journals in that field. Commerce, management and the social sciences mostly go with APA. Language and literature departments many times use MLA. You can see how they differ in our citation styles comparison.

Examiners are not much bothered about which style you choose. What they catch is a style that keeps changing. A reference manager helps a lot here. Sit and tally each in-text citation against the reference list before the similarity check. In our experience, a reference list that does not match the text is one of the commonest corrections examiners ask for.

How do you submit a University of Madras thesis?

Publications before the synopsis

Before you submit the synopsis, clause 12.2 asks for one research paper in a UGC-CARE, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed or SCI journal. Then, before the thesis, you also have to present one paper or poster at a regional, national or international seminar or conference. If you are in a recognised research centre or college, every paper must show the university’s name in the affiliation.

The synopsis

The synopsis can be 5,000 words at most. You first present it before the RAC. Once the RAC recommends it, send the university one hard copy, soft-bound in white, along with a soft copy. Your supervisor and the head of the institution certify it. Other than this, the regulations don’t give any informations about how the synopsis should be laid out.

Similarity check

A soft copy of the thesis goes to the University Library. They run it through “authorized software” and give a certificate with the similarity level. The application and rules are available with the Librarian at the Madras University Library, Chepauk, and also at the libraries on the other campuses. No percentage is given in the regulations. They only say the thesis is accepted when the similarity is acceptable “as per the rules framed by the Syndicate from time to time”. So before you finalise, ask library for the current figure. University rules are built on the UGC 2018 bands, and our plagiarism limits guide explains those bands.

The thesis

• Give four hard copies and one soft copy. The window is from one month to six months after the synopsis.
• If the six months pass, you can apply for an extension of up to six more months, or till the end of six years from admission, whichever comes earlier. After six years, submission is not allowed.
• The panel of examiners is given by your supervisor along with the synopsis, and not later than one month after the thesis.

Evaluation and viva

From the panel, the Vice-Chancellor picks one foreign examiner, one Indian examiner and one examiner for the viva-voce. For languages, literature and some humanities subjects, an Indian examiner can be taken in place of the foreign one. Each external examiner has one month for sending the report, as the regulations request. In that report the thesis gets placed in one of six categories. The top one is “Highly Commended” and the lowest is “Not Commended”. The viva is open to public. It is announced at least 15 days before, and one copy of the thesis is kept in the institution’s library. After the viva, the corrected copy is sent to the university along with the joint report. Once the degree is awarded, the institution sends an electronic copy to INFLIBNET. For that step, read our Shodhganga submission guide.

University of Madras thesis checklist before submission

The list below covers what the regulations say. For the other things, what counts is whether your guide and RAC have approved them.

• Cover carries the University of Madras logo. If you use your college or institution logo, it comes only on the inside.
• Title page has all seven items listed in clause 13.3. For interdisciplinary research, both the disciplines are named.
• All three certificates (Head of Institution, Supervisor, your undertaking) are placed before the contents page.
• The Tamil abstract, ten pages at most, is also kept before the contents page.
• Index of key terms is on the first page after the contents. The Tamil Virtual Academy certificate is attached.
• Plain font in 12 point, 1.5 or 2.0 spacing, printed on both sides of A4 Executive Bond paper.
• Your guide and RAC have agreed the margins, headings and citation style, and you followed them the same way in every chapter.
• The University Library has given the similarity certificate for this same version of the thesis.
• You are ready with four white, soft-bound, well-stitched copies and the soft copy.
• You are submitting between one and six months after the synopsis, and still within the six-year limit.

You may want the language, references and consistency checked before your guide’s final reading. Our thesis editing and proofreading service can do that check. It looks at presentation only, not at your findings.