Thesis and article writing
A thesis runs from preliminary pages through chapters to references and appendices. Articles often follow IMRaD. Common referencing styles are APA, MLA and Chicago.
Structure of a thesis
| Part | Contents |
|---|---|
| Preliminary pages | Title page, declaration, supervisor's certificate, acknowledgements, contents, lists of tables and figures, abbreviations, abstract |
| Main text | Introduction; review of literature; methodology; results (analysis and interpretation); discussion, conclusions and suggestions |
| End matter | References or bibliography, then appendices (tools, raw data), and an index if any |
Thesis vs research article
References list only the works cited; a bibliography may also list works consulted but not cited.
Referencing styles
| Style | Type | In-text example | Used mostly in |
|---|---|---|---|
| APA (7th ed.) | Author-date | (Rao, 2021, p. 14) | Psychology, education, social sciences |
| MLA (9th ed.) | Author-page | (Rao 14) | Languages, literature, humanities |
| Chicago | Notes-bibliography or author-date | Footnote number | History, arts |
| Vancouver | Numbered in order of citation | [1] or superscript 1 | Medicine, health sciences |
| IEEE | Numbered in square brackets | [1] | Engineering, computing |
Latin terms in referencing
| Term | Meaning | Use |
|---|---|---|
| ibid. | in the same place | Same source as the note just before |
| op. cit. | in the work cited | A work cited earlier, at a different page |
| loc. cit. | in the place cited | The same work and the same page cited earlier |
| et al. | and others | Several authors |
| cf. | compare | Points to a related or contrasting source |
| sic | thus | The error is in the original quotation |
NET asks you to sequence thesis parts, match styles to disciplines (APA, MLA, Vancouver, IEEE), pick the correctly formatted citation, and decode ibid., op. cit. and et al.
Typical MCQ: “Which referencing style is generally used in education and psychology?” APA (American Psychological Association), an author-date style, e.g. (Rao, 2021).
Typical MCQ: “What does 'ibid.' mean in a footnote?” 'In the same place': the source is the same as in the immediately preceding note.
APA = Author + date, MLA = Author + page. Ibid. = immediately before; op. cit. = cited earlier, over there.