[soc.college] Thesis/dissertation format specs -- looking for feedback

wales@valeria.cs.ucla.edu (Rich Wales) (03/20/91)

I would like to hear from people at universities around the net regard-
ing what their institutions require/permit/forbid in the way of thesis
and dissertation format or layout.

The reason I am asking this is that I would like to gather information
that I can use to help persuade UCLA to relax its current dissertation
format requirements on a couple of points.

Specifically, I am looking for info on three issues:

(1) Does your university permit "single spacing" or "one-and-a-half
    spacing" of the body of a dissertation or thesis?

    I personally believe that "one-and-a-half" spacing (about 4.5 lines
    per inch) is a reasonable compromise between readability and paper
    conservation.  However, UCLA's official regulations demand "double"
    spacing (3 lines/inch) -- though it appears that they are accepting
    "one-and-a-half" spacing on a limited, unofficial basis for laser
    printer output from some departments.

    UMI (University Microfilms International, the people who microfilm
    dissertations) has told me they have no objections to single-spaced
    manuscripts, as long as they are neat and legible.  UMI =does= pre-
    fer that the =abstract= be double-spaced, since the abstract needs
    to be transcribed by hand into their database system.

(2) Does your university permit (or, perhaps, require) the phrase "All
    Rights Reserved" in the copyright notice of a dissertation/thesis?

    UCLA currently =forbids= the inclusion of "All Rights Reserved" in
    their official copyright notice specs.  Although this phrase is not
    required in order to have a valid copyright under US law, there are
    apparently still a handful of South American countries which are
    signatories =only= to the old Pan American Copyright Convention --
    and in those countries, I'm told that a standard copyright notice
    (C-in-a-circle, year, author) has =no= legal standing unless the
    phrase "All Rights Reserved" (or the equivalent in Spanish) is also
    included.

    This may mean, for instance, that UCLA students from countries which
    honor only the Pan American convention are being denied the chance
    to copyright their dissertations in a form that will be acceptable
    back home.  I would like to see this changed.

(3) On the title page of a dissertation/thesis at your university, does
    the description of the degree include the word "of" before the name
    of the degree?

    More specifically:  Does the title page include a phrase such as
    "the degree of Doctor of Philosophy", or "the degree of Master of
    Science"?

    UCLA demands that the title page must =not= include the word "of"
    before the name of the degree.  Thus, for instance, a dissertation
    in CS must include the following phrase on the title page:

	  A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the
	     requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy
			   in Computer Science

    I contend that "the degree Doctor of Philosophy" is not proper
    English (any more than "the State California" would be correct) --
    but apparently someone at UCLA decided that "the degree =of= Doctor
    of Philosophy" doesn't convey the intended meaning.  They are very
    sticky on this point and will =not= accept a dissertation with the
    extraneous "of" in the title page.

Please send me any responses by e-mail.  If possible, also send me the
address and/or phone number of your university's dissertation office, so
that I can try and get official written confirmation to show the folks
at UCLA.

Thanks!

--
Rich Wales <wales@CS.UCLA.EDU> // UCLA Computer Science Department
3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, CA 90024-1596 // +1 (213) 825-5683