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This document is intended to provide guidance for the

submission and presentation of taught theses at
Cranfield University. Mandatory thesis requirements are
given in the Prescribed Form below, and these must be
observed by all students. If your thesis does not comply
with these requirements, you will be informed by your
supervisor of the amendments required before you
submit.
Staff candidates only:
Please note that staff candidates submitting a body of
published work as their final submission must still comply
with the regulations. Published articles, papers
presented at conferences etc., should be retyped in the
appropriate point size, and with the correct margins as
specified in the prescribed form.
Prescribed Form
Points 1-6 listed below constitute the Prescribed Form for
the presentation of theses at Cranfield University, and are
mandatory for all theses.
1. Each student must submit their thesis as directed
by their Course Director. Final submission of your
thesis must include a thesis cover sheet which is
generated through a task on the EVE portal.
Students at CDS are not required to complete the
task on the EVE Portal.
When you have passed your MSc a final clean
version of your thesis must be submitted
electronically to the Course Director and/or Course
Administrator who will arrange for it to be
submitted electronically to the Library. CDS
students must resubmit on the VLE.
Library & Information Services
The Prescribed
Form for the
Presentation of
Taught Theses
2. Hard copy submission of a thesis must be
prepared on A4 size white paper of a minimum
weight of 80g/m2 (usual printer or photocopy
paper) and be identical to the electronic PDF
version that has been submitted, in accordance
with the following specification (CDS students are
only required to submit on the VLE. No hard copy
submission is required):
a. The text must be typed, including titles and
captions of illustrations, with margins of not
less than 3cm on all four sides.
b. Pages of text, including inserted illustrations
and appendices, must be numbered
consecutively.
c. Photographs, drawings, graphs and other
illustrations which are not incorporated in
the text should be digitally inserted into the
document..
d. The size of print for the main body of text
should be not less than 12 point and in a
clear and legible font. Students are
encouraged to print on both sides of the
page.
e. Unless there are reasoned arguments to the
contrary, SI units should be used in the
presentation of all work.
3. The cover (or title page if the thesis is hard bound)
must contain, in this order:
the name of the University, i.e. Cranfield
University
the name of the author
the title of the work
the author's School
the course title
the award for which the thesis is submitted,
(e.g. MSc, PhD)
the academic year of original submission
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the name of the supervisor
the date of presentation (e.g. month and
year of submission)
At the foot of the page the following copyright
notice shall be included. In accordance with the
provisions of Senate Regulation 23 this notice
shall indicate that copyright is assigned to
Cranfield University, except in any case where a
contrary arrangement has been specifically
agreed in writing. The notice shall normally
therefore read:
Cranfield University, date (year only). All rights
reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced without the written permission of the
copyright holder.
However, if you are a MOD Contract UK MOD
student, it should read:
Crown Copyright, date (year only). All rights
reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced without the written permission of the
copyright holder.
For all theses, an additional statement shall also
be included at the foot of the title page
immediately above the copyright notice as
follows, except where the award of the Degree
sought is based solely on examination of the
thesis:
"This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the Degree of ..."
4. The page immediately following the title page must
contain an abstract of not more than 300 words.
5. If the thesis covers work sponsored by an external
body, the name of the sponsor / funding body and
the grant number / funding code should be
included directly after the abstract.
6. A list of references and/or bibliography must be
included in the thesis. Sufficient information must
be given to allow references to be easily traced.
The style of referencing must be consistent and in
line with any School policy.
Guidelines for the length of theses
The following are intended to be guidelines for the
maximum length of theses, but are not mandatory and
guidance should be sought from your supervisor.
SAS:
MSc (taught): 8,000 words plus appendices
NOTE: This is mandatory for taught master students
in the School of Applied Sciences.
Further guidelines for students in the School of
Applied Sciences:
While this document describes good practice,
taught masters students in the School of Applied
Sciences should also refer to the Faculty-approved
guidelines published in the Schools own prescribed
format for submission of MSc (taught) theses. This
document is available to all SAS students in the
thesis area on Blackboard.
SOE:
MSc/MPhil: Normally 20,000 words plus
appendices, and a maximum of 150 pages
including appendices. However, candidates should
seek advice from their supervisor as to guidance on
theses length as this varies within the School.
SoM:
MSc: 15,000-20,000 words plus appendices.
CDS:
Candidates should seek advice from their supervisor
as to guidance on length as this varies within the
School.
Version 2.3, June 2014
This leaflet is available in other formats on request