unsw phd thesis template

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Structuring Your Thesis Proposal

How should i structure the proposal.

The following sections are recommended for your research proposal report. Check with your supervisors for optional sections, variations and additional sections that may be required.

Routine information

This can be a full cover page or a quarter page header.

• Address, telephone and email details
• Degree for which you are a candidate
• Supervisor's and co-supervisor's names
• Thesis proposal title

Statement of Topic

Introduce the reader to the recognised general subject area and how your topic is related. Briefly point out why it is a significant topic and what contribution your work will make.

Aims of the thesis/dissertation

Set out specific objectives of the research.

Review of the literature

This, together with the following section on the theoretical orientation, will be the main substance of the proposal and will lay the basis for your discussions of your methods and your total research program.

The literature review should explain the relation of your topic and research aims to significant literature and recent (and current) research in your field. The form of the literature review may vary according to the nature of your field: experimental, philosophical, theoretical, comparative, etc., but its purpose will be the same in all fields. The literature review should place your proposed research topic clearly in its relevant research context, and should demonstrate your awareness of significant similar or relevant research.

You may need to make qualitative judgements concerning the literature. Be careful not to allow the evaluation of previous work to become a large open-ended task. You should consult with your supervisors on the types of questions you need to be asking and what boundaries you should place on your literature review.

In one sense the literature review for the proposal is incomplete. You will continue to expand and update the literature as your research progresses and as you locate new publications. The final literature review will be included in your thesis.

Ask yourself:

• Which pieces of research seem to have been most successful, the most promising and which less so?
• What are the major lines of criticism that can be levelled at previous work?
• What major omissions, gaps or neglected emphases can be identified?

Theoretical orientation

Your aim here is to state your basic ideas on the topic.

• First, state the various theoretical approaches taken in your topic. Which one do you propose to use in your research and why? Where, tentatively do you stand on the topic?
• If there are various theories on your topic or in your field, which one(s) will you use in your conceptual framework for your thesis?
• Which terms or trends do you wish to follow up from the literature review?
• Do you have any fresh suggestions of an explanatory, interpretative, or programmatic kind?

Think it through:

• Perhaps the best way to approach this section is to set down your main insights, hypotheses, hunches, or even hopes about your topic.
• In view of past theory and research, and your emerging issues, what are the areas that you expect to have findings?
• For empirical theses you may need to formulate explicit hypotheses.

Methodology

Describe your proposed methods in sufficient detail so that the reader is clear about the following:

• What kind of information will you be using?
• From what sources will the information be obtained?
• What resources will you require?
• What methodology will you be using?
• Why have you selected this approach?
• What ethical and safety issues have you identified and how do you propose to proceed?

Research program timelines and milestones

Timelines and milestones are important tools for planning your research project effectively and completing your thesis on time.

Milestones are the steps you need to take to meet your goals. Timelines help you plan out when your key goals and milestones will be completed.

Your timeline can be formatted as a table or a list. Include when you will start and finish important aspects of your research, such as: literature research, required training or attending courses, stages of experiments or investigations, beginning and completing chapters, reviews and seminars you will give, and completing the thesis.

The Graduate Research School (GRS) provides resources and seminars on developing effective milestones and preparing for Research Progress Reviews. For more information, visit this page .

Tentative thesis chapter outline

You should check with your supervisor if this is a required section of the thesis proposal. Present the chapter outline as a draft contents page with brief annotations of expected content or stages. Follow the standard sections relevant to your type of research. Look at past theses in your area and discuss your ideas with your supervisor.

List all publications cited in your proposal. Use the style recommended by the school or your supervisor. This may be a standard style the whole school follows or it may be the style of the leading journal in your field.

Recommended reading and acknowledgments

Recommended reading.

Here are some of useful resources and texts that you can consult. Your school may also have a postgraduate handbook or specific guidelines on thesis proposals.

Allen, G.R. (1976) The graduate student's guide to theses and dissertations: A practical manual for writing and research . San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass.

Cryer, P. (1996) The research student's guide to success . Buckingham, Open University Press.

Davis, G.B. & Parker, C.A. (1979) Writing the doctoral dissertation: A systematic approach . Woodbury, NY, Barrons Educational Series.

Laws, K. (1995) Preparing a Thesis or Dissertation Proposal. University of Sydney.

Phillips, E.M. & Pugh D.S. (1987) How to get a Ph. D.: A handbook for students and their supervisors. 2nd Ed. Buckingham, Open University Press.

Postgraduate Board, Student Guild (1998) Practical aspects of producing a thesis at the University of New South Wales. 3rd Ed. Available from the Student Guild, First Floor East Wing, Quadrangle Building, The University of New South Wales.

Karathwohl, D.R. (1988) How to prepare a research proposal. Guidelines for funding and dissertations in the social and behavioural sciences. 3rd Ed. New York, Syracuse University Press.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the following academics, staff and students, for their contributions and advice: Professor David Trimm, Professor John Trinder, Dr. Jacquelyn Cranney, Professor Staffan Kjelleberg, Dr. Tony Partridge, Professor Clive Fletcher, Professor Chris Sorrell, Professor Jason Middleton, Dr. Khosrow Zarrabi, Professor Marilyn Fox, Professor Michael Wootton, Dominic Fitzsimmons, Gwyn Jones, Bianca Azar.

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Your Thesis

The goal of all higher degree research (HDR) programs is to write a thesis that demonstrates how you have made an original contribution to knowledge. While the task of writing a thesis can be daunting, there are several things you can do to stay on track and complete your thesis on time while producing your best work.  

The Graduate Research School (GRS) runs two seminars that will help you prepare for your thesis submission:

Thesis Submission Seminar   Outlines the submission and examination process

Using Publications in Your Thesis Seminar Examines how publications may be incorporated into your thesis, including how authorship is determined, and when to seek permission to use published work

The GRS also offers a weekly HDR writing group and a Thesis Writing Boot Camp to help you build a regular writing practice. For information on the seminars and events available, please visit this page .  

Can’t make it to a Seminar or event? Watch a recording of the last session and download a copy of the slides here . 

Additional Resources

UNSW Resources Thesis Submission and Examination Applying for Restricted Access   iThenticate  Thesis Format Guide Thesis Examination Procedure

Finding other HDR theses in your field UNSW digital thesis collection Trove – Australian print and digital theses ProQuest dissertations and theses global (UNSW sign in required for access) EThOS e-theses online service

Writing Your Thesis The Writing Center - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 10 Tips for writing a PhD thesis – Times Higher Education  How to write 10,000 words a day – The Thesis Whisperer

Thesis Plans Free Thesis Plan templates – iThinkwell Sample Thesis Plan - The University of Edinburgh

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Finding UNSW theses

UNSW PhD or Masters by Research theses can be located via  UNSWorks . For honours theses, contact the UNSW faculty, school or the author directly.

For more information on rights of use and removing material in UNSWorks see  Copyright - UNSWorks .

Finding Australian and international theses

Australian theses.

To find Australian theses, search via:

Library collection To find UNSW Library’s collection of Australian and international theses in print, search  Library collection  for a title or keywords. Refine your results by selecting  Refine my results > Resource types > Dissertations  in the column on the left.

Trove - Australian print and digital theses Trove includes theses at all levels, including PhD, masters and honours. To limit your search to Australian theses only, use  Trove - Research & Reports  search. Tick the  Australian content  box. Next to  Format - select  Thesis  from the drop-down list.

International theses

To find international theses, search via:

BASE BASE academic search engine provides access to the repositories of 8,000 institutions. 60% of the full-text documents are open access.

CORE CORE aggregates open access research outputs from repositories and journals worldwide.

DART-Europe e-theses portal DART-Europe is a partnership of research libraries and library consortia working to improve global access to European research theses.

EBSCO open dissertations Includes the content from American Doctoral Dissertations in addition to theses and dissertations from around the world. Coverage from 1955.

Open access theses and dissertations OATD provides access to open access graduate theses from over 1100 colleges, universities, and research institutions.

Theses Canada Theses and dissertations in the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) collection.

Web of Science The Web of Science ProQuest Dissertations & Theses collection provides access to the citation information of theses form around the world. To search for thesis citations, change the search from Web of Science Core Collection to ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Citation Index .

Non-UNSW theses

To obtain a thesis that is not available via the resources listed above, contact the library of the holding/publishing institution directly. Conditions of access to a thesis are determined by the author and holding library, and is outside the control of UNSW Library.

Depositing your thesis

How to  deposit  your UNSW thesis.

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Guidelines for writing a thesis

These guidelines are intended for students writing a thesis or project report for a  Third Year Project Course ,  Honours year  or  Postgraduate Coursework Project . Postgraduate research students should see  Information about Research Theses  for postgraduate research students.

Before you start your Honours or Project year, you should speak to members of staff about possible thesis topics. Find out who works in the areas that you are interested in and who you find it easy to talk mathematics with. If at all possible, settle on a topic and supervisor before the start of the first semester of your Honours or Project year.

Most students see their supervisor about once a week, although this is usually open to negotiation between the student and the supervisor. Even if you haven't done much between visits it is a good idea to have a regular chat so that your supervisor can keep track of how you are going. You can expect your supervisor to:

• Help you select - and modify - your topic.
• Direct you to useful references on your topic.
• Help explain difficult points.
• Provide feedback on the direction of your research.
• Read and comment on drafts of your thesis.
• Help prepare you for your talk.
• Give general course advice.

Your thesis or project report is an overview of what you have been studying in your Honours or Project year. Write it as if you were trying to explain the area of mathematics or statistics that you have been looking at to a fellow student.

• Include an introduction that explains what the project is all about, and what its contents are. (It is sometimes better to leave writing this part to the end!) For many reports, a conclusion or summary is appropriate.
• Your thesis should be a coherent, self-contained piece of work.
• Your writing should conform to the highest standards of English. Aim at clarity, precision and correct grammar. Start sentences with capital letters and end them with full-stops. Don't start sentences with a symbol.
• Take great care with bibliographic referencing. Wherever some material has an external source, this should be clear to the reader. Don't just write in the introduction: 'This report contains material from [1],[2] and [3]' - give the references for the material wherever it is used. Don't gratuitously pad your reference list with references that are not referred to in the text. Check current journals for acceptable referencing styles.
• Be careful not to plagiarise. What constitutes plagiarism is perhaps a little different in mathematics and statistics compared to some other subjects since there is a limit to how different you may be able to make a proof (at least in its basic structure). We do, however, expect the report to be written in your own words. A basic rule is: if you put a fact or an idea in your report which is not your own, the reader should be able to tell where you got this fact or idea.
• The University has  policies on academic honesty and plagiarism  which all students should familiarise themselves with.

Generally, mathematics reports and theses are almost always typed in LaTeX. If you are going to type it yourself, you should allow a certain amount of time to become familiar with this software. Indeed, starting to learn LaTeX well before you actually want to write is a very good idea.

You should not underestimate the time it takes to produce a polished document. You will almost certainly need several drafts. It is very difficult to concentrate on getting the mathematics, spelling, grammar, layout, etc., all correct at once. Try getting another student to proofread what you have written - from their different viewpoint they may pick up on lots of things that you can't see.

P R Halmos (1970) in  How to write mathematics, Enseignement Math.  ((2) 16, 123-152) has the following advice: "The basic problem in writing mathematics is the same as in writing biology, writing a novel, or writing directions for assembling a harpsichord: the problem is to communicate an idea. To do so, and to do it clearly:

• you must have something to say (i.e., some ideas), and you must have someone to say it to (i.e., an audience)
• you must organize what you want to say, and you must arrange it in the order you want it said in
• you must write it, rewrite it, and re-rewrite it several times
• and you must be willing to think hard about and work hard on mechanical details such as diction, notation, and punctuation.

That's all there is to it."

His other advice includes:

• Say something: "To have something to say is by far the most important ingredient of good exposition---so much so that if the idea is important enough, the work has a chance to be immortal even if it is confusingly misorganized and awkwardly expressed..... To get by one the first principle alone is, however, only rarely possible and never desirable."
• Audience: "The second principle of good writing is to write for someone. When you decide to write something, ask yourself who it is that you want to reach." Your broad audience will be fellow Masters and Honours students, who may not be experts in your thesis topic. "The author must anticipate and avoid the reader's difficulties. As he(/she) writes, he(/she) must keep trying to imagine what in the words being written may tend to mislead the reader, and what will set him(/her) right."
• Organise: "The main contribution that an expository writer can make is to organize and arrange the material so as to minimize the resistance and maximize the insight of the reader and keep him(/her) on the track with no unintended distractions". 
• Think about the alphabet: "Once you have some kind of plan of organization, an outline, which may not be a fine one but is the best you can do, you are almost ready to start writing. The only other thing I would recommend that you do first is to invest an hour or two of thought in the alphabet; you'll find it saves many headaches later. The letters that are used to denote the concepts you'll discuss are worthy of thought and careful design. A good, consistent notation can be a tremendous help".
• Write in spirals: "The best way to start writing, perhaps the only way, is to write on the spiral plan. According to the spiral plan the chapters get written in the order 1,2,1,2,3,1,2,3,4 etc. You think you know how to write Chapter 1, but after you've done it and gone on to Chapter 2, you'll realize that you could have done a better job on Chapter 2 if you had done Chapter 1 differently. There is no help for it but to go back, do Chapter 1 differently, do a better job on Chapter 2, and then dive into Chapter 3... Chapter 3 will show up the weaknesses of Chapters 1 and 2".
• Write good English: "Good English style implies correct grammar, correct choice of words, correct punctuation, and, perhaps above all, common sense."

More information on how to write mathematics:

• Lee, K. A guide to writing mathematics
• Lee, K. Some notes on writing mathematics 
• Jackson, M. Some notes on writing in mathematics
• Reiter, A. Writing a research paper in mathematics
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• Postgraduate Coursework Project
• Third Year Project Courses

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Copyright at UNSW

• Copyright and your thesis
• Moral rights
• Copyright protected materials
• Copyright duration
• Rights of copyright owners
• Using copyright materials
• Copyright ownership
• Fair dealing
• Disability access
• Open access
• Events and public performances
• Plagiarism and contract cheating
• Copyright infringements
• Quoting materials in your research
• Publishing your research
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• Managing copyright in your thesis
• Requesting permission
• Incorporating publications into your thesis
• Depositing your thesis in UNSWorks

UNSW students generally own copyright in their own works, including UNSW postgraduate students’ research theses.  There are exceptions to these rules, and they can be found in the UNSW intellectual property policy

When researching and writing your thesis, you may include third party copyright material such as quotes, tables, photographs, illustrations or diagrams. When using third party copyright material, you must ensure that you comply with copyright law. Under the fair dealing provision for research or study , within the Copyright Act, a reasonable portion of third party copyright material can be used in the version of your thesis submitted for examination. 

If third party copyright materials are reproduced in the public version of your thesis, you generally need permission from the copyright owner.  This permission is in addition to the normal academic practice of citing resources. 

UNSW requires a digital copy of theses to be deposited into the University's open access repository, UNSWorks. As part of the depositing process, you must declare that you obtained permission from any third party copyright materials within your thesis. More information about thesis submission can be found at Graduate Research . 

For this reason, it is important for students to carefully consider what third party copyright material they include in their thesis and allow time to obtain permission from copyright owners, if required.

For more information about thesis examination processes for all higher degree research programs at UNSW, see Thesis examination procedure .

Generally, substantial third party copyright material may be included without copyright owner's permission if:

• Copyright has expired
• A fair dealing exception covers the use 
• An insubstantial portion is used
• The material has a licence to allow for re-use

When researching and writing a thesis, it is likely that third party copyright material is used. 

Generally, research students can rely on the fair dealing for research or study when using copyright materials in the version of their thesis they turn in for examination as part of their degree program.  

Deciding whether a use is ‘fair’ is determined largely by how much of the work has been copied. 

A reasonable portion is generally considered to be:

• 10% or one chapter if the work is a published edition of 10 pages or more
• 10% of the words if the work is electronic
• one article in a single edition of a periodical publication (a journal or newspaper)
• more than one article in a single edition of a periodical publication if the same subject matter

Artistic works, unpublished material, films, and sound recordings do not have the same 10% provision. To be able to use these types of materials, you need to consider whether the use is fair and reasonable.    It is generally considered ‘reasonable’ under the fair dealing for research or study to reproduce a whole of an ‘artistic works’ (including maps, diagrams, graphs, etc.) that accompany and illustrate/explain a text for research or study purposes. If including a substantial amount of material that has been sourced from e-books or e-journals provided by the Library, best practice is to check the licence terms of these resources and request permission to include these resources in both your thesis for examination as well as the public version of your thesis. 

Copyright in the public version of your thesis

While the fair dealing for research or study allows for the use of copyright materials in the version submitted for examination, the research or study exception does not cover the use of copyright materials in the public version submitted to UNSWorks (UNSW’s institutional repository). If copyright materials are reproduced and communicated in the public version of their thesis, permission is generally required, unless an exception or licence applies. 

When can copyright material be used without seeking permission?

There are some circumstances where other people’s material can be used without permission. These include:

• when the copyright has expired or the copyright owner has waived their rights (Public Domain) 
• when a fair dealing exception covers the use 
• the amount used is insubstantial (i.e. brief quote / extract from a publication). See,  Quoting materials  
• materials with a Creative Commons licence attached
• materials copied from a website where the terms and conditions allow re-use for your intended purposes
• library subscribed resources where the publisher allows for the copyright material to be included in the public version of your thesis 

When using other people’s copyright material, remember to attribute the work and abide by any terms attached to licences.

What copyright materials requires permission for reuse?

Permission is generally required if a substantial portion of the third party material has been used.  Whether a portion is considered substantial or not is judged on both a qualitative and quantitative basis.

Examples of the type of materials that require permission for the public version of your thesis are as follows:

If the use of copyright material does not fall in one of the categories mentioned above, then student would either need to seek permission or redact the copyright material from the public facing version of their thesis that is deposited into UNSWorks. Find out more about requesting permission here .  

When writing your thesis, it is important to start the process of obtaining permission as soon as possible as it can take some time to gain the necessary permissions.  There are a number of ways to approach seeking permission:

• Use Rightslink for permissions for the use  images in books/journals; journal articles and book chapters Many commercial publishers direct permission requests to the Copyright Clearance Centre – RightsLink service.  It important that when requesting permission that the intended use is to post the thesis in an open institutional repository.
• If you are unable to gain permission via RightsLink then you need to locate the copyright owner/s. A guide to locating the copyright owner can be found on the Australia Copyright Council Information Sheet: Permission How to Get It
• If the copyright owner is a publisher, then they normally would have a ‘request copyright permission’ type link on their website. 

To request permission from a copyright owner you should: 

• check to see if the publisher has an online permission form on their website 
• if the publisher does not have a form, this Copyright permission request template  can be used as a guide to request permission
• include a detailed description of material to be used and the amount of the material you wish to use 
• state clearly that you are seeking permission to use the work for non-commercial purposes and that a copy of your thesis will be made publicly available online in UNSWorks (UNSW’s institutional repository).
• be conscious that the copyright owner has the right to say no 
• be aware that a copyright owner may charge a fee or ask you to sign a licence agreement 

Remember to allow plenty of time, as it may take months for the permission to be granted.  

It also important to retain copies of permissions you have received. Copyright permission granted by publishers and copyright owners can be included in the master copy of your thesis that is submitted to the Library, however they should be removed from the public version. Refer to Depositing Your Thesis for more information. 

Removing third party copyright material from the public version of your thesis

If it is not possible to obtain permission for the reuse of certain copyright material in the public facing version of a thesis, then those material should be removed. In the place of the redacted materials, you may include a short statement such as:

• “Figure (Text/Chart/Diagram etc.) has been removed due to copyright restrictions”. 
• “Content can be access via [insert name of publication, URL etc.]”  

If you plan to incorporate your own research publications into your research, it may be possible if the research and its publication occurred during the candidature of your degree. You will need the necessary permission from the publishers and any co-authors, and if you are using a publication/s in lieu of a chapter/s in your thesis, approval from your primary supervisor and School Postgraduate Research Coordinator is also required. Some faculties may also have discipline-specific guidelines that should be consulted. 

For more information about incorporating publications into your thesis, see Thesis Examination Procedure  and the UNSW Thesis Format Guide .

Publisher agreements often assign the publisher all rights to the work, although each publisher's policy differs. If you plan to incorporate articles in your thesis, the terms can be negotiated with the publisher prior to signing the agreement. For more information, see Publishing your research . 

If you haven’t negotiated rights prior to publication and need to request permission from the publisher:

• check to see if the publisher has an online permission form on their website
• if the publisher does not have a form, this  UNSW copyright permission template  can be used to request permission
• tell them the amount of the work you wish to use (e.g. the whole work or a part/section)
• state clearly that you are seeking permission to use the work for non-commercial purposes
• consider asking permission for future use of the material (e.g. conference presentations)
• be conscious that the copyright owner has the right to say no
• be aware that a copyright owner may charge a fee or ask you to sign a licence agreement
• allow plenty of time, as it may take months for the permission to be granted

UNSWorks is the UNSW Open Access institutional repository which enables UNSW researchers to make their research outputs freely available and accessible. 

In accordance with UNSW’s Open Access Policy, when depositing your thesis into UNSWorks, you grant UNSW a licence to make the thesis freely available online under a Creative Commons licence. 

As of 1 December 2021, all deposited theses will have a Creative Commons Attribution ( CC BY ) licence applied. This licence allows users to copy, share and adapt the material provided appropriate attribution is given to the creator. The licence also allows for commercial use.

Theses submitted prior to 1 Dec 2021, will have a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Licence ( CC BY-NC-ND ).

As the creator of the work, you retain copyright in the thesis as well as the right to use the thesis in future works (i.e. future articles, books, conference presentations).

As part of the depositing process, you must declare that you have obtained permission for any third party copyright materials within your thesis. If you have been unable to obtain permission, the third party copyright material must be removed from the public version of your thesis.

Find out more about requesting permissions for third party copyright materials within your thesis. 

UNSW staff and students can contact [email protected] for assistance with a copyright query or to arrange a copyright information session.

Related resources

Depositing your thesis

Copyright log (257KB DOCX)

Australian Copyright Council Information Sheet: Permission: How to Get It

• Last Updated: May 17, 2024 4:26 PM