X

Library Services

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES

References, citations and avoiding plagiarism

Referencing styles.

Referencing and managing information

There are many different conventions, or approaches, to effective referencing, depending on the referencing style being used, and these can be separated into three standard systems for citing sources:

There are different versions of each of these approaches, some of which are discipline-specific.  For example, APA is an author-date system that is specific to Psychology, and OSCOLA is a notes and bibliography system only used in Law. 

Be aware, there are many versions of the Harvard and Vancouver referencing styles, there is no single 'correct' style.  If you refer to more than one source for guidance on Harvard, for example, you may notice inconsistencies so always try to stick to one source for guidance. The most important thing is to remain consistent.

Which referencing style should I use?

Recognising different referencing styles.

UCL does not have a standard referencing style for use across the university, but some UCL departments, or even individual academic programmes, may have a preferred referencing style. 

Consult your programme handbook or ask your UCL department which style you should use.

If you are writing for publication, you will find the journal or publisher will have its own style and guidelines

​ Here is an example of an in-text citation in an author-date style:

In their review of the literature (Knapik et al., 2015) some themes emerge …

This style uses an approach in which an author-date are located / identified directly within the text when a source is used, which then allows the reader to find the full reference to the source at the end of the essay on a separate references list (or bibliography).

Here is an example of an in-text citation in a numeric style:

In their review of the literature (1) some themes emerge …

This style uses a numbering system, where an alpha-numeric figure identifies that a source has been used/referenced. The reader can then locate the full reference in the reference list at the end of the essay.

Here is an example of an in-text citation in a notes and bibliography style:

In their review of the literature 1  some themes emerge …

This style uses footnotes or endnotes, where the full details of the source are given in the footnote (at the bottom of the current page), or in the endnotes (at the end of the essay). If the same reference occurs again an abbreviated form is used in the footnote/endnote. All references also appear in full on a separate references list (or bibliography) at the end of the essay.

Key messages

X

Library Services

Menu

References, citations and avoiding plagiarism

This guide provides methods to refer sources in your work and the benefits this brings, ensuring you adhere to the UCL policy on plagiarism.

Go to References, citations and avoiding plagiarism

References citations and avoiding plagiarism

Upcoming sessions

Library iFrames Widget Placeholder https://library-calendars.ucl.ac.uk/embed_mini_calendar.php?mode=month&i...

UCL PhD Thesis Template

UCL PhD Thesis Template

Have you checked our knowledge base ?

Message sent! Our team will review it and reply by email.

Advice & Support

University is a big, exciting place. But life isn’t always easy. We’re here to give you support when you need us, care about the things you care about, and fight for you when need someone in your corner. Our job is to make sure you feel supported every day.

Eat, Drink & Shop

We live by four promises. Four reasons our cafes, bars, shops and gym feel different to those elsewhere: we put every penny of profit back into your community, we’re always better value than the high-street, we’re at the centre of your campus community, and we choose planet over profit. 

Make a change

Together, we can make the world around us better, on campus and beyond. UCL is yours, so shape it. We’re led by students and that means you’re in charge.

If you can imagine it, there’s probably a society for it. Wherever your curiosity takes you, whatever passion inspires you, you’ll find a home in our student-led groups.

Sport & Fitness

We’ll keep you active in a way that works for you. Sport is for everyone, and we’ll help you find your level. From a casual class to captaining a competitive club, live an active lifestyle with us.

Volunteering

This is how you make a difference during your time here, and while you’re at it, add valuable stuff to your CV, give back to the communities you’re living in and discover London in a unique way. 

Our events are designed to help you meet people, try new things and have fun. Events are for everyone, but we’ve highlighted ones that are family friendly or good for postgrads. Enjoy!

View the calendar

Lead your club, society and the whole Students' Union Nominate Now →

Academic Writing Guide

Writing process.

Structuring your Writing

Critical analysis, editing and proofreading, academic support resources.

The writing process can generally be divided into four steps. No writing project will follow these steps perfectly, and you will occasionally find yourself going back to earlier steps or jumping ahead based on what information you need at what stage. Generally speaking though, it is strongly recommended to follow the process as much as you can.

Make sure to outline what areas of research you need to cover before you start reading. Make sure you are using reputable sources, not just articles off the internet. One way to do this is to use sites approved by your tutors or finding authors that you trust and looking at their bibliography to find more sources.

Keep the topic of your work in mind, make sure that all your points are relevant to the question. It is useful to structure your paragraphs as well as the whole essay; this means planning your argument for each paragraph and how you will link each paragraph together. 

The first draft of your work should just be focused on getting your argument and plan on paper, you can re-write it and edit it to the word count later. Make sure that your argument is clear in every paragraph and that your style is appropriate for the essay. 

Make sure to leave enough time for revision and editing so that you don’t hand your work in with easily rectified errors. Take the time to read your work looking for one error at a time. For example if you know that you sometimes miss out articles, read your work through checking only your articles. Then read it through again looking only for verb conjugation. Then again for structure and clarity. Try to read your work through multiple times, looking for only one thing each time. 

Citation and Style

Preferred citation and style varies across departments and even tutors, so always check with your department’s academic guide for what you specifically need to do.

Generally UCL uses either Harvard or Chicago citation styles and guides on how to do this are available online and linked below. Citations are used to give credit to an author, help other readers find the writing that influenced your work, show how much research you’ve done and back up your argument with other works.

As a general rule to avoid plagiarism, if you’re stating something that is common knowledge e.g. that climate change is a threat or that there is a growing trend that more and more animals are becoming endangered, this does not require citation. However if you are quoting someone’s work, stating their argument or using their data, you need to use a citation.

Click here for UCL style guides .

Click here for UCL citation guides .

Introduction

The introduction of an essay should generally be about 10% of your essay, so in a 10,000 word dissertation it should be about 1000 words, in a 2,500 word essay it should be about 250 words. Of course this is not an exact number, but this is the general number you should be aiming for.

The introduction should set the scene of the essay and introduce any necessary background details for the essay. This may be outlining the current situation surrounding your essay, or the historical background to your topic. Additionally you may need to define any terms given in your essay title or explain the parameters of discussion.

Signposting

One way to help structure your essay is to use signposting. Signposting means using phrases and words to guide the reader through the content of your essay. Signposting helps make the point of your essay clear and obvious to the reader. This is done simply through using phrases that make it clear where the essay is going. Below is an example short example with signposting phrases highlighted in orange:

ucl phd thesis reference style

You can read more on signposting here.

Paragraphs help divide your essay into manageable chunks and are a fundamental part of your essay. You should aim to only include one point per paragraph, almost as if you are writing a mini essay each time. This is to make sure that each point is distinct and well-argued before moving on to the next one.

One effective way of structuring paragraphs is ‘PEEL’. Within paragraphs an effective way to structure them is using the PEEL method. PEEL stands for:

One paragraph in an essay about whether animals should be kept in zoos might look like this:

First of all, removing animals from their natural habitat is incredibly cruel. When kept captive, these beautiful creatures become bored and lonely, often leading to a condition called ‘zoochosis’. Animals suffering from zoochosis begin performing anxious, repetitive acts such as rocking back and forth, swaying, grooming themselves excessively and vomiting. Conditions such as this clearly demonstrate that wild animals belong in the wilderness and not in restrictive, prison-like enclosures. Animals must be freed from zoos now, so that this terrible suffering and mental torture ends for good.

(i) State your point (ii) Support with evidence (iii) Explain the evidence (iv) Link to the topic

The conclusion should not introduce any new points or arguments, it should be a reiteration of the argument presented in your essay. Your conclusion may summarise the points made in your argument and may reiterate why they are relevant to the discussion.

If relevant, the conclusion may also link to wider problems or debates in the field, or how your essay contributes to these discussions. You may also include areas where more research is needed or what questions still need answering in your field of research.

Critical analysis is an essential part of the essay writing process. Critical analysis shows the reader (and more importantly your tutor) that you are actively engaged with what you are reading, and you are not just accepting arguments without thinking about the. In other words, you are carefully considering an idea and weighing up the evidence supporting it to see if it is convincing. Then you need to explain why you find the evidence convincing or unconvincing. Finally you must state why you agree or disagree with a good reason.

Often you will not totally disagree with an author’s argument or you may agree with some parts but not all. This means that you have to state which parts of an author’s arguments you agree with and which parts you do not agree with. Sometimes you may even agree with an overall argument but may not agree with an author’s methodology or how they presented their data.

Here are some things to keep in mind with critical analysis:

Your argument should be clearly stated in one or two lines in the introduction and conclusion of your essay. The aim of your argument is to show that you can think critically about a topic and come to an original and independent conclusion which is backed up by research.

An argument doesn’t have to ‘come down on one side or the other’. In fact, most often, given the complexity of life, a good argument will offer a nuanced line that rejects any simplicity.

Firstly, what is the difference between editing and proofreading?

Editing: revising a text to ensure the message is clear and coherent for maximum impact. Editing focuses on tone, structure, voice, word quality and quantity.

Proofreading: revising a text to ensure grammar, spelling and formatting are all correct and consistent

The first few readings of your essay should be dedicated to clarity and coherence. Namely, does your essay make sense? Is the argument clear and understood? Are your transitions logical? The second reading should be dedicated to what you know you make errors on. This could be grammatical mistakes you know you make, or structural problems you make often. If possible you should allow time for re-writing and re-working your essay until you’re satisfied. Always make time for proofreading and editing, otherwise you risk making small mistakes which could affect your overall grade.

When editing, things to keep in mind are:

When proofreading, things to keep in mind are:

Style Guides by Department (UCL)

Check here to see what style guide your department expects students to use

UCL Academc Communication Centre

The UCL Academic Communication Centre (ACC) is a new support service to enhance UCL students’ discipline-specific writing and speaking skills. They work closely with UCL academic departments and faculties to develop tailored workshops, classes and tutorials for native and non-native English speakers.

UCL Writing Lab

The Writing Lab is a free service offered through the UCL Academic Communication Centre which runs workshops, tutorials and support sessions to enhance academic writing and research skills. The Writing Lab's services are available for undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Joint Faculties of Arts & Humanities and Social & Historical Sciences, the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, and Psychology & Language Sciences.

IOE Writing Centre

The IOE Writing Centre is one of UCL’s most complete academic writing resources for students. It provides insight into how to manage the writing process effectively as well as links to all of the style guides (e.g. Harvard, APA) available on LibGuides. It also offers straightforward instructions on how to cite effectively to avoid plagiarism

Purdue OWL Writing Lab

Purdue is one of the most complete and authoritative higher education writing resources on the web. It provides clear and detailed guidance on every stage of the writing process and includes useful information on subject specific writing. Note: Purdue OWL uses American English. Usually this is not a problem but if you have any doubt about whether a usage or spelling is appropriate for a British English context, check with our peer tutors or consult the IOE Writing Centre link above

Linguee is a web-sourced comparative usage dictionary for 25 languages. It allows students to search a word or phrase in one language to find authoritative examples of how it is used in web-published text alongside comparative examples from another language. Ask one of our peer tutors for guidance on how to use it most effectively.

UCL MB PhD Journal Club *ARCHIVE*

Post hoc ergo propter hoc, thesis writing tips.

ucl phd thesis reference style

Image taken from ucl.ac.uk

Here are some tips from current UCL MB PhD students on how to go about writing up your PhD thesis. Thanks to Ina Schim van der Loeff (PhD) for getting this section off the ground. If you would like to add more tips, please email joshua[dot]kahan at ucl, or use the reply/comment feature below.

Ina ‘s tips:

Rebecca ‘s tips:

Share this:

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. (  Log Out  /  Change  )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. (  Log Out  /  Change  )

 width=

You are commenting using your Facebook account. (  Log Out  /  Change  )

Connecting to %s

Notify me of new comments via email.

Notify me of new posts via email.

' src=

ucl phd thesis reference style

Template for EPL's UCLouvain Ph.D. Theses

UCL-INGI/thesis-template

Name already in use.

Use Git or checkout with SVN using the web URL.

Work fast with our official CLI. Learn more .

Sign In Required

Please sign in to use Codespaces.

Launching GitHub Desktop

If nothing happens, download GitHub Desktop and try again.

Launching Xcode

If nothing happens, download Xcode and try again.

Launching Visual Studio Code

Your codespace will open once ready.

There was a problem preparing your codespace, please try again.

Latest commit

This repository contains a template to write your thesis with the CIACO's requirements. Just look at either thesis_a4.tex or thesis_elec.tex and start writing :-)

NB: For the bibliography, use Biber instead of BibTex.

Thesis format

Two main files are proposed: either writing on A4 format (thesis_a4.tex) or on the CIACO specific one (thesis_elec.tex). Both formats should work for the CIACO, but make sure you mention the format you use when sending your PDF for printing!

Continuous Integration with GitHub

If you use GitHub to host your repository, you can leverage the GitHub Actions to auto-generate the thesis PDF. For this, you have a few environment variables to configure this workflow:

Then in the Actions tab of your GitHub repository, you can build the thesis.

Contributors 2

UCL Press

Publish a book

Why publish with ucl press.

UCL Press combines the benefits of traditional scholarly publishing with open access dissemination to make books free to download in digital form. We welcome proposals for monographs, short monographs, edited volumes, and textbooks across all major disciplines in the Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and Sciences. For more information on publishing a journal with UCL Press, please contact our journals team . 

All UCL Press books are free to access and download both via our own bespoke platform and via partners including JSTOR and OAPEN. As a result, readers around the world are able to access our books regardless of financial or geographical barriers. We also produce low cost hardback and paperback editions of our books.

By publishing with UCL Press, you will benefit from:

We invite submissions from non-UCL authors; however, a Book Publication Charge (BPC) is applied to cover production costs. The BPCs are as follows:

Please add £1000 to all BPCs for colour printing.

Please note that non-UCL contributors to edited volumes are not required to pay a BPC, nor are non-UCL authors writing for a book series. Please view a list of our series   here .

Please address any questions to the relevant Commissioning Editor:

Once the Commissioning Editor is confident that your proposal is complete and fits the scope of our publishing, it is reviewed by UCL Press’s Executive Editorial Board , which comprises senior academics, senior UCL Library management, and UCL Press representatives. If the project qualifies for further consideration, your proposal (or full manuscript if available) is sent to at least two reviewers. Authors are free to suggest reviewers on the proposal form, but the Commissioning Editor may not use these suggestions.

The reviews are presented to the Board. If they are positive, the Board will likely recommend proceeding to the contract stage. Publication will be subject to a further review of the full manuscript if it was not available at the time of the initial review.

If the reviews are negative, or the reviewers have conflicting opinions, the Board will discuss how to proceed. You may be invited to revise the proposal or manuscript in light of the comments, and the revised material will be reviewed again.

Your editor will pass on the readers’ comments as soon as they are available (generally within 6 to 8 weeks). You will then be invited to respond to the reports where appropriate and to amend your proposal if necessary.

If the academic criteria have been met and your proposal is accepted, you will receive a contract.

In recognition of the work that goes into reviewing a proposal or manuscript, we offer all reviewers a fee. The fee is determined by the amount of material reviewed and the required turnaround time.

Please see our author guidelines for information on the publishing process, including submission guidelines, how to prepare artwork, copyright, house style and indexing. Once your final manuscript has been submitted, the Managing Editor will be in touch with you to outline the schedule and next steps. The Managing Editor oversees the copyediting, proofreading and typesetting, as well as prepare the files for print and online publication, and will be your main contact during the production phase. Our aim is to produce titles to the highest production and editorial standards to agreed schedules, and we look forward to collaborating with you on this.

Creative Commons licences determine how open access content can be reused, and each licence permits the content to be reused in different ways. Instead of transferring rights to the publisher, an author allows the publisher to release the content under their preferred non-exclusive Creative Commons licence, which in turn grants users the right to reuse the content within the terms of that licence. It is important to remember that Creative Commons licences do not replace copyright but are in addition to it: they empower authors to decide how others may use their content beyond the fair dealing argument of copyright law. The most common licences are:

Although authors are free to combine the licences to suit their needs – CC BY-NC-SA is also available – a clear preference for the CC BY licence has emerged in recent years. In keeping with the spirit of open access, CC BY fully realises the potential of open publishing to transform content into an effective tool for education and research: the less restrictive the licence, the more widely and flexibly the content can be redistributed and reused. For this reason, CC BY is promoted as the licence of choice by funding bodies including the Wellcome Trust and RCUK.

For more information about Creative Commons licences for Humanities and Social Science authors, click here . 

Even before your book is published, the marketing team begin to work to make your book more visible and discoverable. Ways that we do this include:

Open Access All UCL Press titles are disseminated across a number of platforms to reach readers worldwide, including:

Print sales We work with a team of sales agents and distributors, Compass Academic, who help us to sell print copies of all of our books to retailers (online, independents, chains, specialist and campus bookshops), wholesalers and library suppliers in the UK. In North America, UCL Press books are distributed and marketed by Chicago University Press.

We are excited to introduce a new waiver scheme that will allow us to waive our Book Publication Charge (BPC) for five selected non-UCL authors each year. The scheme demonstrates UCL’s commitment to Open Access publishing and our awareness of the challenges faced by non-funded authors.

We will consider any books of exceptional quality – monographs, edited volumes and textbooks – that offer a distinct voice, have the potential to make an impact, and are written in an engaging and accessible tone. Authors who wish to be considered for the scheme should note their interest in an accompanying email when they submit their proposal.

How is a thesis different to a monograph?

Many of the differences between a thesis and a monograph lie in their distinct purposes. The purpose of your thesis was to learn and demonstrate what you had learnt, and it was examined according to this purpose. It was, and still is, evidence of your ability to define a topic, develop and apply methodologies, and undertake research. Your monograph, however, will be evidence of your ability to explore and connect a range of ideas in a fresh way, creating a new perspective that will aim to inform and influence a field of knowledge or discipline.

The audience of your thesis reflected its purpose. It was a predetermined audience and likely comprised your supervisor and examination panel. The audience of your monograph will be international and considerably broader, potentially consisting of undergraduate and postgraduate students, professional researchers, policymakers and other groups of readers outside the academy.

Rethinking your project

Due to their different purpose and audience, your thesis cannot easily become a monograph. A revised thesis is often still a thesis. This is because the underlying foundations – your presence as the author, your tone and argument – have remained untouched, bound in the conventions of a thesis. There may be remnants of the referencing and signposting that made your authorial presence in the thesis difficult to identify, and it may still feel overly formal, with its passive voice retained along with a predictable structure.

During the rewriting process, you will embed the purpose and intended audience of your monograph in the foundations of the work. Your presence as the author will be stronger, you will quote sparingly, and your structure will help you to explore and connect ideas in a logical and comprehensible way.

It may be necessary to put your thesis to one side and revisit your research data to decide how you can make the most important contribution to your discipline. What do people need to know? What knowledge can you offer that is most in demand? What future trends can you detect?

Seeking advice

There is a wealth of advice available to you on the thesis-to-monograph process, from books written by editors and researchers to your supervisor, examiners and peers. We encourage you to use these resources to help you grasp a clear understanding of how to approach the task.

The Online Library is a part of the University of London

University of London | International Programmes

utility links

Search form

(also called Author / Date)

This guide will look at how you would reference using the Harvard citation style.

In-Text Citing

In addition to formatted references, you need to cite the author of the source in text whenever you refer to their work, or ideas. This is known as in-text citing. 

Harvard in-text citation requires that you cite in brackets the name of the creator of the work, and the date of publication.

In-Text Example 1: when the authors name forms part of the sentence:

Brown (2013) states that the key …….

In-Text Example 2: when the source is attributed but the authors name does not form part of the sentence:

Extensive research (Brown, 2013) indicates that…..

In-Text Example 3: when citing a direct quote you must include page numbers:

The possibility has been said to be “beyond the limits of our society’s understanding” (Brown, 2013, p.23).

In-Text Example 4: when citing the same article or book as the previous citation, you can (if you want) use 'ibid.', and if the page number is different include it:

... according to Brown (ibid., p.24). 

You must provide a list of the references that you have cited, formatted in the Harvard style, and in alphabetical order by author, in a bibliography at the end of your work. We will now look at how you would format your references in the bibliography.

Formatting references in the bibliography

Format: Author surname, Initial. (Year). Title . Edition if not the 1st. Place of publication: Publisher.

• Example: Bassey, M. (1999). Case study research in educational settings . 2nd ed. London: Open University Press.

Books with two or three authors

• Example: Bloor, M., Wood, F. (2006). Keywords in Qualitative Methods: a vocabulary of research concepts . London: Sage Publications.

Books with more than three authors – give the name of the first author, followed by ‘et al.’ (which means 'and others').

• Example: Rice, R. et al. (2001). Accessing and browsing: information and communication . Cambridge: MIT Press. 

Journal Articles

Format: Author surname, Initial. (Year) Title of article. Title of journal , Vol. no. (Part no./Issue/Month), Pages, use p. or pp.

• Example: Ball, R. (2003) Libraries and distance education – a German view. Libri , 53(2), pp.71-81

Format: Author surname, Initial. (Year) Title of document [Online] Organisation responsible (optional). Available from: web address [Accessed date].

• Example: Castles, S. (2004), Confronting the Realities of Forced Migration  [Online] Migration Policy Institute. Available from: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/confronting-realities-forced-migration [18 September 2018].

Thesis or Dissertation

Format: Author surname, Initial. (Year). Title . Designation (Level, e.g. MSc, PhD.), Institution.

• Example: Rajaram, P.K. (2002). Exile and desire: Refugees, aesthetics and the territorial borders of international relations . Unpublished thesis (PhD.), London School of Economics and Political Science.

Newspaper Articles

Format: Author surname, Initial. (Year) Article title. Newspaper title , Day and Month (abbreviated), Pages, use p. or pp. (if no page number e.g. an online newspaper state the date accessed).

• Example: Crosbie, J. (2013) More refugees in 2012 than for 20 years, says UN. Irish Times , 19 June, p. 11

Variations of Harvard

There is no single definitive way to use the Harvard referencing style. If you use Summon or RefWorks to convert items into Harvard (our  reference management software page  explains how to do this), you'll notice that the format is slightly different to the guidance on this page. Remember that what is important is that:

Follow any guidance given on your VLE. If you have any concerns, contact your tutor or student relationship manager.

Student Support

Contact the Enquiry Service:

Follow us on:

Footer links.

ucl phd thesis reference style

La Neurona Errant

A neuroscientist's point of view.

ucl phd thesis reference style

A thesis template in Word

It’s been *checks calendar* over four years since I started my PhD, which means it is time for me to start writing up my thesis. Don’t get me wrong, I really like this part. I had a great time writing and putting the figures together for my MSc thesis. And one of the things I’ve enjoyed the most besides getting beautiful recordings from tiny midbrain neurons has been to write, edit, and revise abstracts and manuscripts before publication.

But here’s the thing. I am the kind of person that keeps pointing out how that figure is not * perfectly * aligned. I’m also the kind of person that takes courses on “Designing Academic Presentations” and “Writing Compelling Abstracts” and takes notes on how great and effective the slides and figures of that seminar were. So one thing I knew for sure was that I wanted my thesis to look good. To have a nice-looking typographical style. And this inevitably took me to LaTeX . So yes, I ended up taking a course on “Using LaTeX for Academic Writing” too.

The good thing about LaTeX is that there are plenty of nice templates out there (the classicthesis by André Miede is one that has been repeatedly recommended to me) and Overleaf has made it significantly easier to get started and quickly test different templates (I’ve drawn inspiration from Clean Thesis , Classic Thesis , UCL Thesis , or Basic Thesis ). However, it is still a bit of a steep learning curve and I found that, similar to any programming language, you won’t really learn it unless you absolutely need it for the project at hand. Sure, the end product looks great, but I’ve always felt it is a bit of a pain to write and proof-read long pieces of text in plain text and markup, with too many typos escaping notice for my liking. And let’s face it, I’ve been using Word all my life and quite like the “What You See Is What You Get” approach. Plus pretty much any document that goes around (be it a manuscript draft, a potential abstract, or a motivation letter for a summer school) and needs revising will most likely start as a Word file.

So instead of spending time working out how to properly use LaTeX to create a beautiful template for my thesis I spent it on reading about typographical styles, browsing fonts, and looking at a bunch of thesis from friends and University repositories. And at the end of the day I ended up learning a few tricks in Word and used them to create my own thesis template using a software I’m already familiar with. So here we are: a thesis template in Word. If you want to get straight to it and start using the template, you can download the latest version from GitHub . To have a quick look at the template, follow this link . And to learn more about the template itself and how I created it, keep on reading.

Download the Template

If you go to this GitHub repository you’ll find several documents. All of them were made using Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2008, Build 13127.21064, 64-bit). The documents are:

Sections included in the template: Cover, Preface, Acknowledgements, Dedication, Quote, Abstract, Impact Statement, Statement of Contributions, Contents, List of Figures, List of Tables, Abbreviations, Introduction, Methods, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Discussion, References, Appendix.

Anyone is free to use and share this template. If I’ve done my job right, it hopefully serves as a good starting point for your PhD or MSc thesis and you find it easy to use. If you use the template please let me know by leaving a comment here or on twitter . It’s always nice to get feedback!

The following sections contain a few useful things to bear in mind, some explanations of how the template was made, and a few tricks I learned about Word when preparing it. Similar templates can be found here and here .

University Guidelines

The first thing I did was to check my University’s regulations on thesis formatting. University College London has a section on their website with general guidelines for the formatting of your thesis, as well as a separate section with further recommendations for the preparation of word processed documents. These were very handy and gave me a sense of the things that should be in the template. Of course the specifics will vary depending on your Department and University, so make sure to check them and tweak the template before submitting!

The other really useful thing to do is to browse recent thesis from your Department and University. Most University libraries have a public repository (check here and here to browse UCL theses). I also recommend checking out the theses from friends and colleagues that graduated before you, every thesis has its own personality and you will get a ton of inspiration from each one.

Styles and Multilevel Lists

The idea of a template like this one is to hopefully help the user save a lot of the time that would otherwise be spent in formatting. One of the main things I did to give you (and myself) a head start was to create and format styles for things like the main text (e.g. “Thesis Body” and “Thesis Body Indent”), different levels of headings (e.g. “Thesis Section”, “Thesis Heading”, “Thesis Subheading”, etc.), and other things like figure captions, the footer and header, and the table of contents. The advantage of starting from such a document where most styles are already defined is that you can easily tweak them to your liking. For instance, even if you don’t like the fonts I chose or wish to customise it a bit more (by changing the indent, color, or font size of a particular style), it is pretty straight forward to do. For example, you can change the default to your preferred fonts (go to “ Design/Fonts/Customize Fonts ” and then save your changes as a new Theme on “ Design/Themes/Save Current Theme ” and apply it to the document) or modify any given style (open the Styles tab and click on “Manage Styles” or simply modify the style of your choice).

A really useful trick I learned was to define a Multilevel List so that the style of each heading level was linked to the correct list level. By doing this you ensure that the numbering of the headings automatically follows the logical order across chapters, without you having to worry about it. The way I did this was to open the “ Multilevel List ” menu and click on “ Define new Multilevel list “. Then I linked each level to a style (e.g. “Level 1” to “Thesis Section”) and formatted the numbering to my liking (font, alignment, indent, etc.). For the lower levels, I also made sure that the numbering automatically included the number of the upper levels (e.g. for Level 3 – “Thesis Subheading”, select “Include level number from: Level 1 and Level 2”, so that you are left with something like “2.3.1. Subheading” that gets automatically populated) and that the count restarted when it should by selecting “Restart list after: level X” (e.g. for Level 2 – “Thesis Heading”, set “Restart list after: Level 1”).

Finally, styles come in really handy to populate the Table of Contents. The template I made already includes a Table of Contents based on the defined styles. To create it I went to “ References/Table of Contents/Custom Table of Contents “, selected “ Formats: From template ” and “ Show levels: 4 ” and then opened the “Options” menu to link the right style to the right TOC level (e.g. “Thesis Section” to level 1, “Thesis Heading” to level 2, etc.). To tweak the formatting to my liking I went to the styles for TOC1, TOC2, TOC3, and TOC4 and modified them accordingly.

Resources : “ Understanding Styles in Microsoft Word “, “ Word Styles from the beginning “, “ How to create multilevel numbered headings in Word 2016 “, “ How to link multilevel list headings to custom styles “.

Figure Captions and Cross-references

To add a title and number for a figure or table, I went to “ References/Insert Caption “. In the menu that opens you can select “ New Label ” and type the figure or table number (e.g. “Figure 1.”). What I did was to create a different Label for each Chapter, so that the first number of the Figure/Table matches that of the Chapter. Therefore, for the first chapter (i.e. “1. Introduction”) the template has two labels: “Figure 1.” and “Table 1.”. Once the new label has been created, you are back on the “ Caption ” menu. You can now add the title of the figure in the “ Caption ” field (e.g. “Figure 1.1. A circle”). Note that the second number will now be automatically updated (“Figure 1.1”, “Figure 1.2”, etc.) and by having different labels for each chapter the first of the numbers will match the relevant chapter (“Figure 2.1”, “Figure 3.1”, etc.), whereas the second will reflect the number of figures on that chapter (“Figure 2.1”, “Figure 2.2”, etc.). You can then press “OK” to insert the caption.

Once you have your caption, you can select it and format it by applying the “Thesis Figure Caption” or the “Thesis Table Caption” style. You will notice I added a style for the caption (“Thesis Table Caption”) and a style for the legend (“Thesis Table Legend”), which will allow us to do the Table of Contents using only the Captions style. To get both the caption and legend in the same line/paragraph you will need to insert a “Style Separator”. To do that, first start a new paragraph after the inserted caption and type your legend text. Format the legend by applying the “Thesis Table Legend” style. Once done, place the cursor at the end of the caption (e.g. “Table 1.1. Stats for experiment A”) and press “Ctrl+Alt+Enter”. This will add a style separator and bring the “Thesis Table Legend” right next to the “Thesis Table Caption”.

Once you have successfully inserted a caption you should be able to insert a cross-reference in the main text to point to the right figure or table by going to “ References/Cross-reference ” and selecting the appropriate label (e.g. “Figure 1.” or “Table 2.”) from the drop-down menu in “ Reference type “. You can choose to insert the entire caption or only the label and number (i.e. “Figure 1.1”) and then select the caption you are trying to cross-reference from the options shown. Once inserted, the text will now act as an hyperlink that takes you to the right figure, and will get updated if you change the caption or shuffle around the figures and the number changes. You can quickly update all the cross-references and tables by selecting all (Ctrl+A) and pressing F9.

Finally, although the template already provides a List of Figures and a List of Tables, it is easy enough to add one yourself using our custom styles. The way to do this is to go to “ References/Insert Table of Figures ” and click on the “ Options ” menu. This allows you to build the Table of Figures from a specific Style instead of one single Label (remember we have different labels for each chapter, so this option would entail creating one Table of Contents for each label we created, and no one really wants to do that). Make sure you select “ Style ” and then select “Figure Thesis Caption” or “Thesis Table Caption” from the drop-down menu. Once you press “OK” you are back to the “Table of Figures” menu and you can further customise the format or leave it as it is by selecting “From Template” in the Formats field. Note that the drop-down menu for “Caption label” will say “(none)” – this is expected as we decided to base our table of figures on a Style instead of a Label. After clicking OK your Table of Figures/Tables should have been correctly inserted.

Resources : “ Using Cross References ” , “ Style Separators in Word “, “ Insert a Caption ” and “ Create a Cross-reference “.

Master Documents

Word is not famous for handling really large files. In fact, one of the major complaints I keep hearing about Word is how it just crashes when the document is really long (such as a thesis) or how much of a pain it is to format and move figures or tables around. So I was of course worried about this too. Until I learned about what a master document was and how you could create one in Word. I had absolutely no idea that master documents were a thing until a couple of months ago, but I have to say it makes a whole lot of sense that they exist. You should totally invest some time in reading about them and learning how to create and use a master document with sub-documents for each chapter. The good thing is that it is pretty easy to create a master document from the template I made: open the Template.DOTX file, save it as a .DOCX, and then go to “ View/Outline/Show Document “. This will take you to a view mode that will allow you to create different subdocuments based on the pre-defined styles. For instance, select “1. Introduction” and click on “Create”. If you then “Save” the file and click on “Collapse Subdocuments”, Word will automatically create a separate document for that section, and replace the text in the Master Document for a link to the directory containing the new file itself. You may need to apply the “Thesis_Style” and “Thesis_Theme” to the new subdocument once you open it, but it should then adopt the same format that the template has.

Alright! I’m leaving some more links about Master Documents below, but that’d be all from me now. I may update both the template and this post with further tips as I learn them. After all, this is work in progress and I’ve just started writing the thesis, so it is very likely I’ll be finding bugs and things I don’t like or could be better along the way (I already found a couple while writing this post!). Hope you find it useful, please leave a comment with any feedback or just to say you’ve used it, or get me a coffee as a token of gratitude via the button below. And if you have read this far, hey, thanks!

Resources : “ Working with Master Documents “, “ Create a Master Document in Word 2010 from Multiple Documents “, “ Using Multiple Documents to Create a Master Document in Word “, “ How to use a Master document in Microsoft Word “, “ The Master Document View “, “ Creating subdocuments “, “ Modifying subdocuments “, and “ Importing data for subdocuments “.

Share this!

One thought on “ A thesis template in Word ”

[…] a bit of useful procrastination, although I keep telling everyone (and mostly myself) that making a template and putting it out there is actually useful for me and perhaps other people as well. Then you move […]

Leave your comment here Cancel reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. (  Log Out  /  Change  )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. (  Log Out  /  Change  )

 width=

You are commenting using your Facebook account. (  Log Out  /  Change  )

Connecting to %s

Notify me of new comments via email.

Notify me of new posts via email.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

' src=

Example of UCL Thesis format

Recent searches

Institutions, conferences, journals gallery.

40,000+ journal templates to choose from for your next paper

Flexible pricing plans that caters to everyone’s needs

Lifetime Plan

Buy once and use forever.

Student Yearly Plan

Best for research scholars

Student Monthly Plan

Best for undergraduates

Plagiarism check

Detect plagiarism early. Powered by Turnitin.

Journal Submission

Get accepted in top journals.

For Publishers

Streamline publishing process with automated workflows

Client Stories

Read what our clients have yielded with our products and services

Convert from Word

Word file to JATS XML, PMC XML, DOAJ XML and more

Convert from PDF

PDF file to SciELO XML, CrossRef XML and more

Convert from JATS XML

JATS XML to Redalyc XML, DataCite XML and more

Adhere to standard of all global publishing bodies

Compliance for medical journals in PubMed database

Generate standardized XML for SciELO indexed journals

Example of UCL Thesis format

UCL Thesis — Template for authors

— or sign up using email —

last-updated-icon

Guideline source: View

All company, product and service names used in this website are for identification purposes only. All product names, trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Use of these names, trademarks and brands does not imply endorsement or affiliation. Disclaimer Notice

University College London

Approved by publishing and review experts on SciSpace, this template is built as per for UCL Thesis formatting guidelines as mentioned in University College London author instructions. The current version was created on and has been used by 563 authors to write and format their manuscripts to this journal.

Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities template (Springer)

SciSpace is a very innovative solution to the formatting problem and existing providers, such as Mendeley or Word did not really evolve in recent years.

- Andreas Frutiger, Researcher, ETH Zurich, Institute for Biomedical Engineering

(Before submission check for plagiarism via Turnitin)

What to expect from SciSpace?

Speed and accuracy over ms word.

With SciSpace, you do not need a word template for UCL Thesis.

It automatically formats your research paper to University College London formatting guidelines and citation style.

You can download a submission ready research paper in pdf, LaTeX and docx formats.

Time comparison

Time taken to format a paper and Compliance with guidelines

Plagiarism Reports via Turnitin

SciSpace has partnered with Turnitin, the leading provider of Plagiarism Check software.

Using this service, researchers can compare submissions against more than 170 million scholarly articles, a database of 70+ billion current and archived web pages. How Turnitin Integration works?

Turnitin Stats

Freedom from formatting guidelines

One editor, 100K journal formats – world's largest collection of journal templates

With such a huge verified library, what you need is already there.

publisher-logos

Easy support from all your favorite tools

Automatically format and order your citations and bibliography in a click.

SciSpace allows imports from all reference managers like Mendeley, Zotero, Endnote, Google Scholar etc.

Frequently asked questions

1. can i write ucl thesis in latex.

Absolutely not! Our tool has been designed to help you focus on writing. You can write your entire paper as per the UCL Thesis guidelines and auto format it.

2. Do you follow the UCL Thesis guidelines?

Yes, the template is compliant with the UCL Thesis guidelines. Our experts at SciSpace ensure that. If there are any changes to the journal's guidelines, we'll change our algorithm accordingly.

3. Can I cite my article in multiple styles in UCL Thesis?

Of course! We support all the top citation styles, such as APA style, MLA style, Vancouver style, Harvard style, and Chicago style. For example, when you write your paper and hit autoformat, our system will automatically update your article as per the UCL Thesis citation style.

4. Can I use the UCL Thesis templates for free?

Sign up for our free trial, and you'll be able to use all our features for seven days. You'll see how helpful they are and how inexpensive they are compared to other options, Especially for UCL Thesis.

5. Can I use a manuscript in UCL Thesis that I have written in MS Word?

Yes. You can choose the right template, copy-paste the contents from the word document, and click on auto-format. Once you're done, you'll have a publish-ready paper UCL Thesis that you can download at the end.

6. How long does it usually take you to format my papers in UCL Thesis?

It only takes a matter of seconds to edit your manuscript. Besides that, our intuitive editor saves you from writing and formatting it in UCL Thesis.

7. Where can I find the template for the UCL Thesis?

It is possible to find the Word template for any journal on Google. However, why use a template when you can write your entire manuscript on SciSpace , auto format it as per UCL Thesis's guidelines and download the same in Word, PDF and LaTeX formats? Give us a try!.

8. Can I reformat my paper to fit the UCL Thesis's guidelines?

Of course! You can do this using our intuitive editor. It's very easy. If you need help, our support team is always ready to assist you.

9. UCL Thesis an online tool or is there a desktop version?

SciSpace's UCL Thesis is currently available as an online tool. We're developing a desktop version, too. You can request (or upvote) any features that you think would be helpful for you and other researchers in the "feature request" section of your account once you've signed up with us.

10. I cannot find my template in your gallery. Can you create it for me like UCL Thesis?

Sure. You can request any template and we'll have it setup within a few days. You can find the request box in Journal Gallery on the right side bar under the heading, "Couldn't find the format you were looking for like UCL Thesis?”

11. What is the output that I would get after using UCL Thesis?

After writing your paper autoformatting in UCL Thesis, you can download it in multiple formats, viz., PDF, Docx, and LaTeX.

12. Is UCL Thesis's impact factor high enough that I should try publishing my article there?

To be honest, the answer is no. The impact factor is one of the many elements that determine the quality of a journal. Few of these factors include review board, rejection rates, frequency of inclusion in indexes, and Eigenfactor. You need to assess all these factors before you make your final call.

13. What is Sherpa RoMEO Archiving Policy for UCL Thesis?

SHERPA/RoMEO Database

14. What are the most common citation types In UCL Thesis?

15. how do i submit my article to the ucl thesis, 16. can i download ucl thesis in endnote format.

Yes, SciSpace provides this functionality. After signing up, you would need to import your existing references from Word or Bib file to SciSpace. Then SciSpace would allow you to download your references in UCL Thesis Endnote style according to Elsevier guidelines.

with UCL Thesis format applied

Fast and reliable, built for complaince.

Instant formatting to 100% publisher guidelines on - SciSpace.

ucl phd thesis reference style

No word template required

Typset automatically formats your research paper to UCL Thesis formatting guidelines and citation style.

ucl phd thesis reference style

Verifed journal formats

One editor, 100K journal formats. With the largest collection of verified journal formats, what you need is already there.

ucl phd thesis reference style

Trusted by academicians

ucl phd thesis reference style

I spent hours with MS word for reformatting. It was frustrating - plain and simple. With SciSpace, I can draft my manuscripts and once it is finished I can just submit. In case, I have to submit to another journal it is really just a button click instead of an afternoon of reformatting.

ucl phd thesis reference style

Stack Exchange Network

Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow , the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.

TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for users of TeX, LaTeX, ConTeXt, and related typesetting systems. It only takes a minute to sign up.

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

auto-pst-pdf and ucl thesis style

I have a problem with compiling my thesis which uses the ucl latex template style. While I've tried to reduce it to a minimal working example, I'm not sure whether it's still relevant. The error I get when trying to compile my thesis is

Trying to recreate this I came up with

Which works fine with lualatex --shell-escape --halt-on-error temp.tex however when I change the document class to ucl_thesis the image doesn't appear. Which is a different error to my previous problem, but it may help.

RATSMoelcules.eps

ucl_thesis.cls

Martin Schröder's user avatar

Know someone who can answer? Share a link to this question via email , Twitter , or Facebook .

Your answer, sign up or log in, post as a guest.

Required, but never shown

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service , privacy policy and cookie policy

Browse other questions tagged errors luatex auto-pst-pdf or ask your own question .

Hot Network Questions

ucl phd thesis reference style

Your privacy

By clicking “Accept all cookies”, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy .

IMAGES

  1. How to write a thesis (Bachelor, Master, or PhD) and which software tools to use

    ucl phd thesis reference style

  2. Ucl thesis reference style

    ucl phd thesis reference style

  3. bibliographies

    ucl phd thesis reference style

  4. Ucl submission of thesis proposal

    ucl phd thesis reference style

  5. Template for UCL Thesis Template

    ucl phd thesis reference style

  6. Template for UCL Thesis Template

    ucl phd thesis reference style

VIDEO

  1. Failure Is Temporary, Hard Work Is Permanent 🔥💯 #shorts

  2. নতুন পর্ব

  3. Dark Vektor –Lo Tengo Todo Calculado

  4. Quick tip: Select a sideline as a reference in MC1

  5. Aashvi Birthday Celebration at Taj Palace

  6. How To Create Twenty Twelve Child Theme WordPress

COMMENTS

  1. Referencing styles

    UCL does not have a standard referencing style for use across the university, but some UCL departments, or even individual academic programmes, may have a

  2. References, citations and avoiding plagiarism

    This guide provides methods to refer sources in your work and the benefits this brings, ensuring you adhere to the UCL policy on plagiarism.

  3. UCL PhD Thesis Template

    Thesis template. Written for Physics students in HEP but is applicable to all with a few tweaks of included libraries.

  4. Academic Writing Guide

    so in a 10,000 word dissertation it should be about 1000 words

  5. Thesis writing tips

    write your chapters in separate word docs, don't insert any figures or format any tables of content or references until all the docs have been merged or the

  6. Template for EPL's UCLouvain Ph.D. Theses

    Two main files are proposed: either writing on A4 format (thesis_a4.tex) or on the CIACO specific one (thesis_elec.tex). Both formats should work for the CIACO

  7. Publish a book

    We welcome proposals for monographs, short monographs, edited volumes, and textbooks across all major disciplines in the Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences

  8. Referencing Styles: Harvard

    Format: Author surname, Initial. (Year). Title. Designation (Level, e.g. MSc, PhD.), Institution. ... Example: Rajaram, P.K. (2002).

  9. A thesis template in Word

    An easy to use template to write your PhD or MSc thesis in Word. ... from Clean Thesis, Classic Thesis, UCL Thesis, or Basic Thesis).

  10. UCL Thesis Template

    Typset automatically formats your research paper to UCL Thesis formatting guidelines and citation style. Speed and accuracy over MS Word.

  11. auto-pst-pdf and ucl thesis style

    'PDF inclusion: required page does not exist <1>'. Trying to recreate this I came up with \documentclass[12pt,phd,a4paper,oneside]{book} \