The document appears to be a template for a thesis submitted for a Master's degree. It outlines the standard structure and formatting requirements for the thesis, including sections on acknowledgements, abstract, table of contents, introduction, literature review, research methods, results, conclusion, and references. The introduction chapter is to provide background on the research topic, statement of the problem, research objectives/questions, structure of the study, and definition of terms. The literature review chapter is to critically evaluate previous research on the topic and relate, identify contradictions, and gaps in the literature.
The document appears to be a template for a thesis submitted for a Master's degree. It outlines the standard structure and formatting requirements for the thesis, including sections on acknowledgements, abstract, table of contents, introduction, literature review, research methods, results, conclusion, and references. The introduction chapter is to provide background on the research topic, statement of the problem, research objectives/questions, structure of the study, and definition of terms. The literature review chapter is to critically evaluate previous research on the topic and relate, identify contradictions, and gaps in the literature.
The document appears to be a template for a thesis submitted for a Master's degree. It outlines the standard structure and formatting requirements for the thesis, including sections on acknowledgements, abstract, table of contents, introduction, literature review, research methods, results, conclusion, and references. The introduction chapter is to provide background on the research topic, statement of the problem, research objectives/questions, structure of the study, and definition of terms. The literature review chapter is to critically evaluate previous research on the topic and relate, identify contradictions, and gaps in the literature.
The document appears to be a template for a thesis submitted for a Master's degree. It outlines the standard structure and formatting requirements for the thesis, including sections on acknowledgements, abstract, table of contents, introduction, literature review, research methods, results, conclusion, and references. The introduction chapter is to provide background on the research topic, statement of the problem, research objectives/questions, structure of the study, and definition of terms. The literature review chapter is to critically evaluate previous research on the topic and relate, identify contradictions, and gaps in the literature.
of the requirements for the degree of Master in Business Administration at Research Centre in Iqra University North Nazimabad, Karachi
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Acknowledgements are optional to mention in the thesis document. Here all those who have supported you in this research work are acknowledged.
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ABSTRACT The Abstract is a short summary of your research. It should cover the problem statement, hypotheses, research methods, results and conclusion. The Abstract writing should range from 150-250 words, in a single paragraph. It is best to write the Abstract at the completion of all the chapters and compilation of the research results with the conclusion.
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CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1 1.1
Background of the Study ................................................................................. 1
1.2
Statement of the Problem ................................................................................ 1
1.3
Research Objectives and/or Questions ............................................................ 1
1.4
Structure of the Study...................................................................................... 1
1.5
Definition of Terms (If required) .................................................................... 1
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................... 3
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHOD.......................................................................... 6 3.1
Thesis submitted by the graduate students must conform to established format
and style. The approved style thesis writing is the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition), referred as APA. The APA style guidelines presented here are a subset of the full guidelines. For full guidelines see: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2010, 6th ed.). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. Additional information concerning APA style can be found at http://www.apastyle.org/. Though Iqra University Northnazimabad Campus Research Centre-IUNCRC follows most of these guidelines, some exceptions are noted in this document. Pointers stated below frequently pose difficulties for final acceptance of thesis. This chapter should comprise on at least 4 pages. The Introduction chapter focuses on the introduction of the research title chosen. It should cover the problem statement and the research questions designed for the research. Chapter 1: Introduction should include the following components: 1.1
Background of the Study
1.2
Statement of the Problem
1.3
Research Objectives and/or Questions
1.4
Structure of the Study
1.5
Definition of Terms (If required)
IUNCRC prefers capitalized chapter headings at the beginning of chapters. New
chapters should start on new pages with the first line of the paragraph indented. After the sub-headings, the first line of the paragraph is also indented.
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Margins Set margins to 1 inches at the left side and 1 inch at the top, bottom, and right side. Do not justify the right margins. Spacing Double-space everything including subsections. Tables, figures, and appendixes may be the exceptions when necessary for clarity or visual effectiveness. Acceptable Fonts for Printing Thesis The only font recommended when printing a thesis is Times New Roman. The font size must be 12-point all along the document. Typefaces that are either compressed or sans serif are highly discouraged and should not be used. Headings Headings within a manuscript identify different sections and subsections. In an APA-style manuscript, you can have anywhere from one to five levels of headings. When setting up your paper, if there is no room at the end of a page to include text under a heading, put the new heading on the next page. The structure for these five levels is as follows (APA, 2010, p. 62): Heading (Level 1) Heading (Level 2) Heading (Level 3) Heading (Level 4) Heading (Level 5)
Centered, boldface, upper and lowercase
Flush left, boldface, upper and lowercase Indented, boldface lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. Indented, boldface italicized, lowercase ending with a period. Indented, italicized, lowercase ending with a period.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter entails essence of research studies confined from various
research resources. It is compulsory to state the in-text citations here and its complete reference (in the chapter of references) of the extracted research studies here to avoid plagiarism. It is important to maintain at least 20 different references for the thesis study. The chapter should be comprised of at least 8-10 pages. What is a Literature Review? A literature review is a critical evaluation of published research on a particular topic. Information from the research literature is organized, integrated, and evaluated to show progress in scientific understanding of the topic. A literature review should contain the following: Definition and clarification of the problem Summary of previous investigations to show the state of current knowledge Identification of relations, contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies in the literature Selecting Your Sources Source articles should be chosen so that they all relate to a focused topic. First read the abstract of a potential source; if it appears to be relevant, go on to read the entire article. Evaluate articles on the following: Are they scholarly sources, with references cited in the text and also listed at the end of the article? Are they primary sources, i.e., first-hand reports of research studies conducted by the author(s) of the article? Look for sections of the article labeled Method, Results, and Discussion. (Note: Secondary sources are sometimes allowed in
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addition to primary sources; check with your supervisor.)
Do they complement each other in terms of topic? Do any of the articles suggest competing theories? Citing Sources in Body of Paper It is extremely important that you credit the authors of ideas that are not your own. Citation should appear in the very first sentence in which you present another persons ideas; not at the end of the paragraph! If you continue to describe the ideas of the same author in the same paragraph, do not keep repeating the citation in that paragraph. If you refer to that author's work later in the paper, you should repeat the citation. Citation includes authors last names and year of publication. The title of the source is NOT given as part of the citation. Authors and year may either be incorporated into the first sentence or given in parentheses at the end of that sentence: o Smith and Jones (1976) have argued that learning is essential to survival. o Research has shown that learning is essential to survival (Smith & Jones, 1976). o Use and when citing multiple authors as part of a sentence; use & when authors names are given in parentheses, as shown above. If source has three or more authors, give names of all authors the first time you cite the source; after that, use "et al." (Doe et al., 1985). If source has more than six authors, use et al. each time you cite the source, including the first time.
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If citing two or more sources together, place in alphabetical order by first
authors last name. The multiple sources are separated by semicolons. For example: (Smith, 2009; Smith & Jones, 2006). Avoid Using Quoted Material Direct quotations are rarely used in scientific writing; instead paraphrase the idea using your own words, and make sure you give the author credit in a citation. In the very rare event that you use a quotation, enclose the quoted material with quotation marks, followed by the author, year, and page number in parentheses. Plagiarism Plagiarism is when you present the ideas of another author as if it were your own work, without giving proper credit to the author. Each time you paraphrase another author, you must credit the author in your text. Quotation marks are used when you are quoting the exact words of another author within the limit of 40 words. If quoted material is more than 40 words, indent the whole paragraph followed by the author, year, and page number in parentheses. Plagiarism is unethical and unacceptable. IUNCRC expects you to maintain zero percent plagiarism in the content of the document.
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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHOD
Type Research Method (note, here and below, do NOT enclose headings in the quotation marks) as a level 1 heading immediately after the literature review chapter on a new page. This chapter is called Research Method and NOT Research Methods. This chapter should be at least 4 pages. This chapter include the following components: 3.1
Theoretical Framework
3.2
Hypotheses
3.3
Research Design
3.3.1
Type and Nature of Study
3.3.2
Sampling Design
3.3.3
Instrument
Validity and Reliability Test
3.3.4
Procedure of Data Collection
3.3.5
Statistical Technique
For the Research Design subsection type Research Design as a level 2
heading immediately after the Hypotheses heading. In this section describe the type (qualitative, quantative or mix-methods) and nature (descriptive, correlational, causal etc.) of study, sampling design, instrument, procedure and statistical technique. In the description of sampling design, define population, sample size and sampling technique. In particular, pronounce all relevant characteristics of your sample (e.g., number of participants, mean age, gender breakdown, etc.). Do NOT provide information that might identify the participants, such as the name of their university of place of work, should not be given. Rather, give information about the participants only in general terms, such as "students at regional public university in Karachi."
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For the Instrument subsection type Instrument as a level 3 heading
immediately after the participants section. In this section describe all of the materials you used in your study (e.g., questionnaires, rating scales, etc.). Give enough detail so that someone could replicate your study. For the Procedure subsection type Procedure as a level 3 heading immediately after the Materials section. In this section provide a description of exactly how you ran your participants in your study. Again, you should provide enough detail so that someone could replicate your study.
Note: Discuss statistical technique(s) in context of previous studies
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CHAPTER 4: RESULTS
Start your Results chapter immediately after the end of your Method chapter on a new page. Type the heading Results as a level 1 heading. In your results section provide a verbal description of what you found supported by reports of all relevant descriptive statistics (e.g., Means and standard deviations and correlations) and inferential statistics (e.g., t-test, Analyses of variance). The results are identified in this chapter along with its interpretations and findings in relevance to the hypotheses tested. This chapter should also include the Hypotheses Assessment Summary (Table form). This chapter should be at least 4 pages. Chapter 4: Results should include the following components: 4.1
Descriptive Profile of the data
4.2
Hypotheses Testing
4.3
Hypotheses Assessment Summary
When reporting inferential statistics report the following information: The
observed value of the statistic, the degrees of freedom, p-value and any effect size statistics. The general format to follow is: F(2, 39) = 9.67, p = .014, l)2 = .06. When reporting descriptive statistics, report group means, standard deviations, and confidence intervals. You should report 95% or 99% confidence intervals. For example: (M = 5.31, SD = 1.18, 95% CI [5.08, 5.54]). For more complex analyses, you may report the results in tables.
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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
Start the Conclusion chapter immediately after the end of the results section on a new page. Type the heading Conclusion as a level 1 heading. The structure of your discussion should be from specific to general. Start off with a restatement of your hypotheses and indicate whether the hypotheses were supported. Provide links between your results and previous research and theory (with citations) that you reviewed in your introduction. End your conclusion chapter with an assessment of limitations in your research. Draw overall conclusions about the current state of knowledge given your findings and previous findings. State why it is important to continue to pursue this line of research and include ideas for future research. This chapter should be at least 2-3 pages. Chapter 5: Conclusion should include the following components: 5.1
Conclusion
5.2
Discussions
5.3
Limitations
5.4
Future Research Recommendations
Note: Do NOT give personal reactions such as, I was shocked/surprised/disappointed
to find...
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REFERENCES
At least 20 references to be listed here in context to the in-text citations used
in the chapter of literature review. Bullets and any form of numbering should not be used. The references should be in alphabetical order as per the APA format with hanging indent.
Book Example: Newell, A. (1972). Human problem solving. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. (for one author) Example: Newell, A., & Simon, H. A. (1972). Human problem solving. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. (for two authors)
Journal article Example: Carlson, J. G. (1985). Recent assessments of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 356-365.
Magazine article Example: Adams, M. T. (1998, January 17). Seeing the elderly mind deteriorate. Omni, 68, 62-74.
Newspaper article Example: Cancer therapy brings new hope. (1996, August 17). The Salt Lake Tribune, p. A6.
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Article or chapter in an edited book
Example: Mendelowitz, E., & Schneider, K. (1989). Existential psychotherapy. In R. J. Corsini & D. Wedding (Eds.), Current psychotherapies (8th ed., pp. 295927). Belmont, CA: Brooks Cole.
Web Site/Page - Informally Published or Self-archived Work
When discussing an entire web site (as opposed to a specific page on the web site), an entry does not appear in the reference list, but is cited within text as shown in the following sample sentence: The International Council of Museums web site provides many links to museums, codes of ethics, and the museum profession (http://www.icom.org/). Landis, B. (1996). Carlisle Indian Industrial School history. Retrieved September 10, 2009, from http://home.epix.net/~landis/histry.html
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APPENDIX
This chapter should include the supplementary material for the research carried out, as follows: -
Cover Letter
Questionnaires (one unfilled)
Elaborative SPSS outputs other than the immediate findings.
