Common mistakes

See a list of errors to avoid on the presentation of a research programme thesis.

• Title page errors including:
  
  • Incorrect Faculty name – your Faculty is Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health
  • Incorrect or missing School name* – approved names are School of Biological Sciences, School of Medical Sciences and School of Health Sciences. You may also enter your Division, NHS Trust or Trust Department but only underneath the name of one of the above Schools. Students from CRUK MI should add CRUK MI rather than a School name.
  • Wrong year (particularly for resubmitted theses).
    
    
• Incorrect font size.
  
  
• Incorrect margin size.
  
  
• The following preliminary pages must be included in this order:
  
  • title page
  • list of contents
  • list of tables, figures, abbreviations
  • abstract
  • declaration
  • copyright statement

• In addition, the following pages can follow on after the above but are not compulsory:
  
  • dedication
  • acknowledgment
  • the author or preface

• Errors in page numbering. There should be no page number on the title page. The next page should be number 2.
  
  
• Missing information (no word count, missing details on list of contents, e.g. list of tables, abbreviations, etc).

• Any supplementary materials for the examination, should be provided as an active web link within the thesis.
  
  
• Incorrect copyright statement. The following four notes on copyright and the ownership of intellectual property rights must be included as written below:

i.    The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and they have given the University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes.

ii.    Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made.

iii.    The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trade marks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions.

iv.    Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy, in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, the University Library’s regulations and in the University’s policy on the Presentation of Theses.