5 Things To Know About The Psychology Dissertation Format

Writing Psychology dissertation in a proper format is one of the most intricate professional and academic endeavors. A little advance preparation on time can offer you huge round of applause.

Check out 5 major things you should know about the Psychology dissertation format -

  1. Margins, Texts and line spacing: One inch margin should be left from all four sides- left, right, top and bottom. Text should be neatly printed. It should be written in legible font so that it displays professionalism. A minimum of 12 font size should be maintained. It is considered as standard size for most of the dissertation papers. Smaller font size and style is considered appropriate for tables and footnote section only. You must get your text printed in black color only; however, figures and tables can be colorful. Maintain a line spacing of 1 ½ or double. However, there are certain exceptions like tables, quotations, lists, footnotes, endnotes, figures and tables, legends, captions and bibliographic entries which should be written with only single line spaces. Acknowledgements, Table of Contents, Chapters and Appendix should always be started from a fresh page. A two inch margin should be left at the top.
  2. Bibliographic or Reference Page: This page is written at the end of each chapter. Students can also get this page written at the very end of the entire dissertation. Based on the various preferences of different disciplines, format style is decided by the team of professors.
  3. Tables, Figures, Appendix and Illustrations: If there is more than one figure, table, appendix or illustration, you should create a separate list for each of them. Ensure that all the tables, illustrations and figures are consecutively numbered throughout.
  4. Table of Content: Chapter numbers, their titles and page numbers should be enlisted in ‘Table of Contents’. The word chapter must appear in the ‘Table of Contents’ and on the page where the chapter begins.
  5. Front matter order- Optional and mandatory sections:

    6. Frontispiece, Copyright page, Dedication page, Acknowledgement section and Preface are optional and do not have any page numbers.

    Title page, ‘Table of Contents’, list of tables and figures, list of appendices and list of abbreviations are optional to write and must have page numbers.

Apart from that, seek out various resources and try to minimize your pitfalls. Consult your professors and ask for their comments. If you get an opportunity to visit the Advising Room of the writing centre, ask them for the best writing samples. If still feeling the difficulties, do not hesitate to attend the specialized courses and workshops. Your librarian can also help you with your research and literature search strategies.

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