Guidelines to Composing Your Bachelor’s/Master’s Thesis in English (2024)
1.

Format of Thesis(1)Your thesis should be submitted as a clean copy, typed or printed from a word
processing program. It must not be handwritten.
• Any word processing program is acceptable, as long as it is capable ofconversion to text format.

(2)Your thesis should be on size A4 paper (297 mm x 210 mm).
• No specific paper will be provided. Please use ordinary copy paper. The paper
must not be unusually thin or thick. The text size should be approximately 12point, or 12 pitch half-space characters (or an equivalent text size in a
proportional-pitch font, with single-byte or hankaku characters in a wordprocessing program). There should be 32 lines per page. The number of lines
per page can vary within a range of ±10%.
• Figures, tables, etc., should be included as part of the file; please avoid pastingthem onto the document. If you need to paste a figure or table onto thedocument, please take care to prevent shadows when photocopying.
• On size A4 paper, leave margins of 20 mm on the top, 25 mm on the bottom(including the page number within this space), and 25 mm on the left and rightsides.
• Figures and tables should be fairly large. Take particular care to ensure that text
within figures and tables is large and readable.

(3)

As a general rule, a bachelor’s thesis should be up to 30 pages for the main text,and up to 50 pages including attachments.

(4)

As a general rule, a master’s thesis should be up to 50 pages for the main text, andup to 90 pages including attachments.

(5)

When submitting your thesis, follow the instructions below.
• Both the thesis for the first dead line and the revised thesis for final review
should be PDF file. Submission method will be informed at least 2 weeks before
those deadlines.
• After the review conference (deadline for submission to be determined
separately), a PDF file of your final manuscript should be submitted by way of
your academic advisor’s office. All fonts used in the text must be embedded in
the PDF file.

2.

Format of the First Page
(1)

Write “Bachelor’s Thesis” or “Master’s Thesis” and the academic year on the firstline, aligned left, in approximately the same font size as the main text of yourthesis.
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(2)

The English title and the Japanese title should be centered on the page in boldprint, approximately 14–18 point.

(3)

The date of first submission (not final submission) (in English and Japanese)should be centered on the page, approximately 12 point.

(4)Your affiliation (in English and Japanese) should be centered on the page,approximately 14 point.

(5)Your name (in English and Japanese) should be centered on the page,approximately 14 point. When writing your name in English, write your given
name first (capitalizing the first letter only) and then your surname (all caps).

(6)

English abstract: Summarize your thesis in English in about 100–150 words. This
text should be approximately 10 point. Leave margins of approximately 20 mm on
both sides.

(7)Japanese abstract: Under the English abstract, summarize your thesis in Japanesein about 300–350 characters. The format is the same as the English abstract.

(8)

The above elements should be arranged on the cover page in a well-balancedmanner.

Second Page
Place the table of contents on the second page. The table of contents should include
chapter titles and section titles.

4.

Main Text Starting on the Third Page
(1)

Format: All text, including figures and tables, should be contained within theprescribed margins on size A4 paper.

(2)

Page numbers: Center the page numbers on the bottom of the page. (Do not write
any page number on the cover page or the table of contents. Start with page
number 1 on the bottom of the first page of the main text.)(3)

Organization: Introduction (preface, foreword, preliminary remarks, etc.), main
text, conclusion (closing, wrapping up, concluding remarks, etc.),
acknowledgments and afterword, references, and attachments, in that order.

(4)

Chapters: Chapter 1 is the introduction, and the final chapter is the conclusion.
Each chapter is given a title.
• Leave two blank lines before a chapter title and one blank line after it.
• After the chapter number, leave one blank space, and then write the chapter title.

(5)

Sections: It is desirable to divide each chapter into sections as needed. Eachsection is given a title.
-2-• Leave one blank line before a section title.
• Write the chapter number, a period, then the section number, and leave one
blank space before writing the section title. Do not underline.
(6)

Section subheadings: Sections may be further subdivided as needed. Thesesubheadings should be numbered according to the system indicated in (5) above.
• Example: Subheading titles should have numbers such as 2.1.2 and 2.1.2.2.

(7)

The first line of each paragraph is indented 12.7 mm (0.5 inch).

(8)

Itemized lists: Itemized lists should be used to make the content easier tounderstand.
• Numbers should be followed by a single closing parenthesis mark and then asingle blank space, e.g. 1). If there are two or more lines, the second line should
begin directly under the first character of the first line for clarity.
• Each item of an itemized list should end with a semicolon instead of a period,
except that only the last item should end with a period.

(9)Sentences: Keep your sentences concise and avoid excessively long sentences.
Insert a line return when the content changes.

(10) Mathematical equations: Use equation numbers for important equations andequations referred to within the text.
• A one-line equation should occupy two lines. That is, half of one line is left
blank both above and below the equation. The same applies if an equation ismore than one line in length.
• Equations should be indented 12.7 mm (0.5 inch) instead of being aligned withthe left margin.
• The equation number should be enclosed in parentheses, aligned with the rightmargin of the same line.
• The equations should be numbered in series by chapter, such as (2.1).
• If you wish to use a single equation number for multiple equations, please add alower-case letter immediately following the equation number, such as (2.1a).
• When referring to an equation within the text, it should be indicated by its
number such as “Eq. (2.1)”.
(11) Figures: As a general rule, figures are incorporated in the main text as electronic
data. The standard size, including explanations of a figure, is one sixth of one
page. It is acceptable to paste a figure on a thesis submitted for review, but
because the final manuscript is submitted as a PDF file, everything must beincorporated into the main text as electronic data.
• If you will include text next to a figure or table, the figure or table should bealigned with the right margin, staying inside the margins on size A4 paper.
• At least 8 mm of blank space should be left between the text and the top,bottom, and both sides of a figure.
-3-• The number of figures should be kept to a minimum (combining data into asingle figure), and care should be taken to maintain a concise style.
• The number and title of a figure should be written below the figure. One blankspace is left between the number and the title.
• Figures are numbered in the same way as equations (e.g. Fig. 2.1, Fig. 2.3(b)).
• The same denotations are used when referring to a figure within the text.
(12) Tables: Same as figures (e.g. Table 2.1).
• The number and title of a table should be written above the table.
(13) Photographs: Same as figures (e.g. Photo 3.1).
(14) References: When citing a reference within the text, the author’s name and the yearof publication should be stated. If the author’s name is stated within the text, theyear of publication is given in parentheses, e.g. “Wiegel and Miche (1966)
discussed that…”. If the author’s name is not stated, both the author’s name andthe year of publication should be given in parentheses. Multiple references areseparated by semicolons, e.g. “…have presented some empirical results (Bunch etal., 1985; Beggs and Cardell, 1983).” If there are three or more authors, the namesof the second and subsequent authors can be omitted, e.g. “Smith et al.” A list ofcited references is given at the end, as follows.
• Two lines are left blank before the title “References,” and one line is left blankafter it.
• References should be typed at 12 pitch or a corresponding pitch and single
spaced.
• Works in Japanese should be identified by the words “(in Japanese)” at the end.
• When citing an article, the beginning and ending page numbers should beincluded.
• The first line of a reference is aligned with the left margin, and if it is more than
one line long, the second and subsequent lines should be indented by twocharacters.
• Authors’ names are given as the last name and the first and middle initials. For
multiple works by the same author, the newest work is listed first.
Citing articles:
Miles, J.W. (1957): On the Generation of Surface Waves by Shear Flows, J.
Fluid Mech., Vol. 3, pp. 185-204.
Wiegel, R.L. and Miche, M. (1966): Generation of Wind Waves, Proc. ofASCE, Vol. 92, No. WW2, pp. 1-26.
Citing a book:Lamb, H. (1964): Hydrodynamics, Cambridge Univ. Press, p. 256.
Citing conference proceedings:
Takatani, T., Kitamura, Y. and Sakurai, S. (1884): Vibrations of a Semi-Infinite
Elastic Medium due to Buried Sources, Proc. of 8th World Conference on
Earthquake Engineering, San Francisco, pp. 56-70.

-4-(15) Attachment: Multiple attachments may be included. Each attachment is formatted
in the same manner as a chapter.
• Numbers assigned to equations, figures, tables, and photographs are precededby a capital letter “A,” e.g. Fig. A1.5.
5.

Ethical Standards in Preparing Bachelor’s/Master’s Thesis
(1)

(2)

Undergraduate students and master course students are required to maintain highethical standards in preparing a bachelor’s/master’s thesis. The thesis, which is
required to be written as an academic paper, should have original contributions to
the relevant field and should be based on a study first reported. Moreover, thethesis should not contain materials plagiarized from research papers including
previous bachelor’s/master’s theses or falsified research data. The student should
keep a research log that can be a proof of originality and priority of his/her researchfindings. The student is not allowed to copy and paste from previous
bachelor’s/master’s theses. Furthermore, when the student quotes other papers or
newspapers, consult with your advisor as there are strict rules and restrictions forquotations.
It is mandatory that a student obtain permission from his/her advisor whensubmitting a research paper to a journal or international conference.

Note:• Any questions concerning this guideline should be referred to the person in charge ofdocuments for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the 2024
academic year (Koji NISHIGUCHI, kojinishiguchi@civil.nagoya-u.ac.jp).

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