SOME TIPS WHILE WRITING A SCIENTIFIC PAPER OR DISSERTATION

1. Introductory Remarks

·                            ·         The paper must be clear, concise, accurate, well organized, and neat.

·    To achieve these, pay attention to the size and quality of the paper, the format, the language, and the style.

·         Print out dissertation on standard-sized white paper (A4).

·        As a general rule, use 1.5 line space) throughout the paper, except footnotes, bibliography and indented quotations.

·       Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides. If it is a long thesis, increase the left margin by ½ inch (or give half inch Gutter (page set up – margins – gutter).

·       Keep in mind your reader. Imagine that you are writing for a fellow student who is familiar with your discipline but does not know your area.

·         Use simple words, short paragraphs, and active voice, if possible.

·         Vary sentence lengths.

·     Use gender-neutral or inclusive language, avoiding such gimmicks as using he/she, but recasting sentences to achieve invisible gender neutrality.

·      Avoid negatives, especially double negatives. Write, for example, common instead of not uncommon and known instead of not unknown.

·     Place sequences in order (Avoid: “Before giving our critical comments, we shall discuss the salient features of Derrida’s deconstruction.” Say: “We shall discuss the salient features of Derrida’s deconstruction before giving our critical comments.”

2. Indentation

·       Indent the first line of every paragraph (in the modern style, indent is not given. Therefore, the student is free to give indent. However, be consistent).

·         Indent the footnotes five spaces from the left-hand margin (one tab or 0.5”).

·      Items in the Reference/Works Cited list use hanging indent, i.e., they have first line with the left-hand margin while the following lines are indented five spaces (or 0.5”).

·     Long quotations (more than 5 typed lines) are placed in indented spaces (or 0.5”) either only in the left or on both sides without quotation marks.

3. Pagination

·     Short Paper: Using Arabic numerals (1,2,3,4…), number all pages including the title page. You may choose not to show the page number on the title page (first page). To do this, double click on the footer or header you have generated the page numbers and select ‘different page’ form Design in menu bar.

·    Long Dissertation: All the pages before the first page of Introduction are numbered in small Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv...). Beginning from the first page of Introduction till the end of the paper, including bibliography and appendixes are to be numbered in Arabic numerals.

·     For both short papers and long dissertations, numbers are placed uniformly either at the top right, or at the bottom right, or at the bottom center of the page.

How to give different page numbers?

·     To give different page numbers first give the Section break. Page layout, break, section  break, next page.

·         Then click insert, page numbers, edit page numbers

·         Click desired page numbers and then click from One

·         Insert page number, bottom/top/center/left/right

·         To give another different type of page number again give section break as said above

·     Click insert, page number, edit page numbers, click desired page number, start at 1 and continue like previous.

How to give different header/footer titles in different pages?

·         Give section break.

·         Double click on the header or footer

·         Navigation pane

·         Click on link to previous (this will disable the link from previous section)

·         Type your title

4. Subdivisions

Avoid single subdivision. To divide you always need at least two parts. This means, there can never be an “A” without a “B,” a “1” without “2,” an “a” without a “b.” For an enumeration having several subdivisions, one of the following schemes or notation and indentation could be used.

Scheme 1

I. Main heading

A. Subheading (level 1)

1. Subheading (level 2)

a. Subheading (level 3)

i. Subheading (level 4)

ii. Subheading (level 4)

b. Subheading (level 3)

2. Subheading (level 2)

B. Subheading (level 1)

II. Main heading

Scheme 2

1. Title

1.1 Subtitle

1.1.1 Subtitle

1.1.2 Subtitle

1.2 Subtitle

1.2.1 Subtitle

1.2. 2 Subtitle

2. Title

2.1 Subtitle

2.1.1 Subtitle

2.1.2 Subtitle

2.2 Subtitle

5. Table of Contents

·         It should include all the divisions that precede it and follow it except the title page.

·         Roman small numerals are given for the divisions that precede it and Arabic numerals are given to divisions that follow it. (In order to do this, give section break. Page Layout – Breaks – Section Breaks – Next Page. Then keep the cursor in the desired page, insert Page Number – Format Page Number – start at…)

·     It can be generated automatically in MS-Word. In order to do so, the different levels and headings are to be defined correctly.

How to define Table of Contents?

·                         ·       Select the Headings or keep the cursor point on the main heading (this amounts to the level  I. e.g 1.1)

·    Click Home – Style – Select Heading 1 (now right click on Heading, Modify, set the headings as desired like, Automatic, Times New Roman, font size. Then click on Format (see, at the bottom of the dialogue box), paragraph, adjust the paragraph space, line space, font, etc. Second time you define the titles, just click on the first level heading and just click on the Heading 1.

·        Click Ok, Ok.

·      For the second level or second heading (e.g 1.1.1), click on the Heading 2 from style and do complete the same procedure mentioned above.

·         For the Third level (e.g. 1.1.1.1), click on Heading 3 and it continues as per your levels.

How to generate the table of contents?

•     Keep the cursor in the page where you want to generate the Table of Contents.
•    Click on the reference, table of contents and select any one type

Editing the Table of Content format

·      You can edit the way you want to generate. To do this, you need to click on the ‘insert    table of contents’ form Table of Contents in Reference   

·    Increase levels (by default it is three levels). Increase the levels if you have more than three levels.

·  If your table of content comes all capitals, or All Bold, or All Italics, then do this following modification. Click on Modify. Then edit the table of contests selecting each table of contents entries by selecting (TOC 1, TOC 2, TOC 3…) and edit as per your need.

·     Generate the Table of Contents only just before taking the print of the final copy, because any change made after may result in the indication of wrong page numbers. 

·    Before taking the print out, type in title case “Table of Contents” or merely “Contents,” and center this heading. 

·    To remove hyperlink from the text, especially from the Table of Contents, the following methods can be used. Press CTRL+A to select the entire document and then press CTRL+SHIFT+F9. 

·    Removing the Link of the table of contents: in order to copy the table of contents from one document to another for the sake of publishing or for any other purpose, the link of the table of contents need to be removed. Following the method to do it.

          ·      Following the method to do it.

          ·     In all versions of Word you can remove the hyperlink attribute from the TOC field code using

               the following method:

o     Using the keyboard arrows, position your cursor just in front of the first TOC entry.

o   Right-click, then select Toggle Field Codes. The field code is displayed—it will look something like { TOC \o “1-3” \h }.

o     Delete the \h part.

o     Press F9 to refresh the Table of Contents.

o    Select the Update entire table option, then click OK. 

6. Frequently Used Abbreviations in Documentation

cf. = confer, compare

vol. = volume

Ibid. = ibidem, in the same place

n.d. = no date.

n.p. = no publisher, no place

ms. = manuscript

mss. = manuscripts

ed. = edition, edited by, editor

Trans. = translated by, translator.

ch. Or chap. = chapter

op. cit.  = opera citato – ‘in the work quoted’

loc. cit.  =  loco citato – ‘in the place cited’

7. Footnote and Bibliography Entry

Type of Entry	Footnote Entry		Bibliography Entry
Book, one author	Daniel A. Weiss, Oedipus in Nottingham: D.H. Lawrence (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1962), 62.		Weiss, Daniel A. Oedipus in Nottingham: D.H. Lawrence. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1962.
Book, two authors	Walter E. Houghton and G. Robert Strange, Victorian Poetry and Poetics (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1959), 27.		Houghton, Walter E., and G. Robert Strange. Victorian Poetry and Poetics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1959.
Book, 3+ authors / Book in a series	Jaroslav Pelikan and others, Religion and the University, York University Invitation Lecture Series (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1964), 109.		Pelikan, Jaroslav, M.G. Ross, W.G. Pollard, M.N. Eisendrath, C. Moeller, and A. Wittenberg. Religion and the University. York University Invitation Lecture Series. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1964.
Book, no author given	New Life Options: The Working Women's Resource Book (New York: McGraw- Hill, 1976), 42.		New Life Options: The Working Women's Resource Book. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976.
Institution, association, or the like, as "author"	American Library Association, ALA Handbook of Organization and 1995/1996 Membership Directory (Chicago: American Library Association, 1995), MD586.	American Library Association. ALA Handbook of Organization and 1995/1996 Member- ship Directory. Chicago: American Library Association, 1995.
Editor or compiler as "author"	J.N.D. Anderson, ed., The World's Religions (London: Inter-Varsity Fellowship, 1950), 143.	Anderson, J.N.D., ed. The World's Religions. London: Inter-Varsity Fellowship, 1950.
Edition other than the first	William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas, 8th ed. (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1956), 62.	Shepherd, William R. Historical Atlas, 8th ed. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1956.
Reprint edition	Gunnar Myrdal, Population: A Problem for Democracy (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1940; reprint, Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1956), 9.	Myrdal, Gunnar. Population: A Problem for Democracy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1940. Reprint, Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1956.
Component part by one author in a work by another	Paul Tillich, "Being and Love," in Moral Principles of Action, ed. Ruth N. Anshen (New York: Harper & Bros., 1952), 663.	Tillich, Paul. "Being and Love." In Moral Principles of Action, ed. Ruth N. Anshen, 661-72. New York: Harper & Bros., 1952.
Electronic document: From Internet	William J. Mitchell, City of Bits: Space, Place, and the Infobahn [book on-line] (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995, accessed 29 September 1995); available from http://www-mitpress.mit.edu:80/ City_of_Bits/Pulling_Glass/ index.html; Internet.	Mitchell, William J. City of Bits: Space, Place, and the Infobahn [book on- line]. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995, accessed 29 September 1995; available from http://www-mitpress. mit.edu:80/City_of_Bits/Pulling_Glass/ index.html; Internet.
Encyclopedia, unsigned article	Collier's Encyclopedia, 1994 ed., s.v. "Mindoro."	Well-known reference books are generally not listed in bibliographies.
Encyclopedia, signed article	C. Hugh Holman, "Romanticism," in Encyclopedia Americana, 1988 ed.	Well-known reference books are generally not listed in bibliographies.
Interview (unpublished) by writer of paper	Nancy D. Morganis, interview by author, 16 July 1996, Fall River, MA, tape recording.	Morganis, Nancy D. Interview by author, 16 July 1996, Fall River, MA. Tape recording.
Newspaper article	"Profile of Marriott Corp.," New York Times, 21 January 1990, sec. III, p. 5.	"Profile of Marriott Corp." New York Times, 21 January 1990, sec. III, p. 5.
Article in a journal or magazine published monthly	Robert Sommer, "The Personality of Vegetables: Botanical Metaphors for Human Characteristics," Journal of Personality 56, no. 4 (December 1988): 670.	Sommer, Robert. "The Personality of Vegetables: Botanical Metaphors for Human Characteristics." Journal of Personality 56, no. 4 (December 1988): 665-683.
Article in a magazine published weekly (or of general interest)	Robin Knight, "Poland's Feud in the Family," U.S. News and World Re- port, 10 September 1990, 52.	Knight, Robin. "Poland's Feud in the Fam- ily." U.S. News and World Report, 10 September 1990, 52-53, 56.
Thesis or dissertation	O.C. Phillips, Jr., "The Influence of Ovid on Lucan's Bellum Civile" (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1962), 14.	Phillips, O.C., Jr. "The Influence of Ovid on Lucan's Bellum Civile." Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1962.

Tips for Preparing a Research Proposal

1. Research Question

Prepare one question which will comprise the very problem that you are trying to find out or solve or to explore. Make it in the form of a single question.

2. Hypothesis

• Just write one sentence which will show what will be more or less your answer at present on the question. That is you bring out what is the answer for your research question.

3. Methodology

• What is the methodology that you are going to apply?
• Mostly as far a philosophy student is concerned it would be exegetical and hermeneutical. It can be descriptive or analytical or data collection.
• It could include whether are you depending upon primary sources or secondary sources.

4. Review of literature

• You have to indicate what all studies have done so far on the issue.
• Those philosophers (or authors) those who have worked on the issue that you are taking up and the important works that have come up.

5. What do you expect that you can contribute other than those who have done?

• Show your contribution that you expect that you can achieve.

6. Limitations

• What are the limitations that you expect that you may come across in your research?

For example:

• Lack of access to original primary sources due to inability to language, their availability, etc.
• You belong to one religious tradition and then studying the other, and such problems.

7. Working Plan

• A possible schema. How many chapters and what do you prefer to include in each chapter, etc.

8. The relevance of the topic.

• In the present context what is the relevance of your finding. In the society does it make a sense, in the religious field does make any sense. In the scholarly field does it bring any relevance, etc. 

Prepared by,

Fr. Raju Felix Crasta

St. Albert’s College, Ranchi