All this must be presented in an integrated, coherent form that displays the competence of the candidate and demonstrates that a substantial and original contribution to knowledge has been made. The time to start writing your thesis is early in your candidature. This gives you an opportunity to discuss the appropriate style, structure, format and content with your supervisor. You should discuss the length, composition and format with your supervisor, but you are responsible for its production and for ensuring that it conforms with the specifications. If there are special reasons for a different format, these should be discussed with your supervisor at an early stage and approval obtained from the Research Higher Degrees Committee.
Examiners object when a thesis is too long.
It is written for experts and should be as short as is consistent with the proper development of the subject for such readers. You are strongly encouraged to use a good computer-based text processing system, such as a word processing or desktop publishing package. The final copy must be free of errors - typographical and spelling errors in particular are a source of irritation to examiners and suggest a lack of care and attention. Use the spelling checker, but remember that many typing errors lead to incorrect but valid words which will not be found by the checker. The spelling checker is no substitute for careful proofreading of the text.