king's college dissertation guidelines

The King's Careers Blog

We're here to help you, whether you are in the discover, focus or action phase of your career journey., it’s dissertation time(line).

Written by Silje Undlien, Third Year War Studies undergraduate at King’s College London & Student Enquiries Officer at King’s Careers & Employability.

The dissertation. Whether you’re an undergraduate or postgraduate student at King’s, it’s something you have to go through as part of your degree. You might consider it one of the most important challenges of your academic career. Or it’s just one of those things you know you have to get done.  Most students start off with a great deal of enthusiasm about their dissertation, but the scale of the project can easily throw them to despair. Whatever you might be feeling about writing your dissertation, it’s important that you discover how to devise and stick to a work schedule. Often, it’s the sticking to that will create problems. So how do I go about creating a dissertation timeline or work schedule, and why should I have a timeline at all?

The short answer is that I can’t really give you an answer. No single way of creating a dissertation timeline or work schedule will satisfy the needs and methods of every student. Everyone has their own way of doing things! But being organised is still key. You need to be realistic about your deadline and, more importantly, your time management skills. So, to get started, here are some questions to ask yourself:

• What type of dissertation am I writing?
• Am I an undergraduate or postgraduate student?
• How much time do I have to write my dissertation?
• How is my course organised? Am I doing my dissertation alongside other modules and commitments?
• Am I choosing my own topic? Or is my department choosing the project for me? Perhaps it’s a module-based project?
• What am I expecting from myself?

All of this will impact on how your dissertation research might progress. Especially important is realising just how much time you really have to get your project done. If you’re an undergraduate student with modules and coursework to do alongside your dissertation, it’s easy to get lost in the idea that you have a full year to write your dissertation. (Trust me, I’ve been there!) Realistically, however, you will only have a few months. Your full year is actually just an academic year. And from this academic year you’ll need to factor in time off, holidays, illness, part-time work, and all the other commitments you might have going on in and alongside your course. It might be the most general tip I can give you, but it’s an important one: Get started ASAP!

The first step is to learn your methods. One of our Marketing Assistants, currently writing her postgraduate dissertation, recently said: “You really do need to learn your methods. I’m still getting to know mine.” So ask yourself: How do I normally organise my work? What are my habits, good or bad? Your dissertation is probably going to be your biggest project yet, and, though you might be telling yourself that you’ll get rid of all your bad work habits, chances are you’ll fall into a similar routine or pattern of organising and doing your work to what you’ve done before. Have you normally been the last-minute essay writer? Establishing your own methods of studying is the first step to getting organised. I’m not saying that you should write your dissertation last minute, even if that’s your established method of getting work done. All I’m trying to point out is that you’ll be better-equipped to deal with the big task of writing your dissertation if you know yourself, and, importantly, if you create a work schedule which accommodates this knowledge about yourself, your work ethic, and your time management skills. It’s all about realistic planning…

So, how can I get organised? You’ll need to find a system that works for you. The most important thing is to find a way to write down a list of tasks or action points. Some people might prefer to set vague deadlines, while others will create a ‘Study Matrix’ (see example below) with detailed information abut how and when things are going to get done. Point is, it can be as detailed (or not detailed) as you like. It might be a good idea to plan out when you’ll have your meetings with your supervisor, and to pin-point what you’d like to discuss in each meeting. Ask your supervisor to help you create a set of action points after each meeting, so that you have a rough idea of what you need to do before the next one. If you feel like your supervisor is not pushing you enough; ask them to! (Stay tuned for a more detailed blog post about how to communicate with your supervisor!)

I mentioned before that finding a system can often be less problematic than making yourself stick to it. (Cheers to you, fellow procrastinators!) So what can I do to stay organised?  First of all, you should identify and deal with procrastination. Find out why you procrastinate and what you might do to avoid it. You might want to minimize distractions, ask someone to check up on you, or create a reward system. You should also find out in what kind of environment you work best. How, when, and where do I best stay focused? You can also try using Tomato Timer , a time management technique created for a more productive way to work and study. Secondly, it’s important to have emergency plans. What happens and what will I do if I experience unexpected delays? Staying organised is also about understanding that things are not going to go just the way you planned it to, and to find ways to deal with this without losing sight of the end goal.

On a final note, remember to schedule enough time for proof-reading and touch-ups, to edit with fresh eyes, and to make lots of backups as you go! It will also be useful to locate any departmental information or guidelines for dissertation-writing. So there you have it! It’s dissertation time!

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Dissertation And Long Essay Guidelines For Undergraduate And Postgraduate Taught Students Kings College

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PhD Thesis Template for King's College London

This is an unofficial LaTeX template for King's College London PhD Thesis submissions which is modified from the template for CUED to meet the current requirements of King's. Please check them at https://www.kcl.ac.uk/campuslife/acservices/researchdegrees/students/format-of-thesis-and-binding before using this template. The usage details of the template can be found at: https://github.com/kks32/phd-thesis-template

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Student theses

• 1 - 50 out of 7,001 results
• Title (ascending)

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“women professing godliness with good works”: quaker women's art before ackworth and westtown, circa 1650-1800.

Supervisor: Welch, E. (Supervisor) & Gowing, L. (Supervisor)

Student thesis : Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy

“When My Mind Hurts, My Body Hurts”: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Factors Contributing to the Relationship Between Complex PTSD and Chronic Physical Health Conditions

Supervisor: Radcliffe, P. (Supervisor), Rexhepi-Johansson, T. (Supervisor) & Carter, N. (External person) (Supervisor)

Student thesis : Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Clinical Psychology

“We will build an over bridge”: Dalit poetry and identity in Gujarat

Supervisor: Majeed, J. (Supervisor) & Sinha, V. (External person) (Supervisor)

“We are just at the beginning of this process.” An agency-level interrogation of women in U.S. counterterrorism efforts

Supervisor: Jabri, V. (Supervisor)

“Understanding health policy change in post-dictatorship Chile (2000-2006): an Advocacy Coalition Framework analysis”.

Supervisor: Baeza, J. (Supervisor) & Murray, S. F. (Supervisor)

“This substance is not an easy substance”: the politics and morality of khat use and control in a London Somali community

Supervisor: Behague, D. (Supervisor) & Vrecko, S. (Supervisor)

“This is what democracy looks like”: police, visibility and the right to protest

Supervisor: Bowling, B. (Supervisor)

“The story of the neighbours”: local relations, storytelling and the social organisation of power in north-east England, 1730-1815

Supervisor: Gowing, L. (Supervisor) & Goldgar, A. (Supervisor)

“The sailors dearly love to make up”: Cross-Dressing and Blackface during Polar Exploration

Supervisor: Howard, J. D. V. (Supervisor) & Turner, M. W. (Supervisor)

“The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh 8:10): an evaluation of the Bible Explorer Programme

Supervisor: Erdozain, D. (Supervisor), Sedmak, C. (Supervisor) & Barnes, L. P. (Supervisor)

“The half-breed, the half-dead”: Blood-Mixing, Queer Latino Cultural Production, and HIV/AIDS, 1981-1996

Supervisor: Howard, J. D. V. (Supervisor), Shalson, L. S. (Supervisor) & Saunders, M. W. M. (Supervisor)

“Soja Come, Soja Go”: military withdrawal from government in Nigeria (1999)

Supervisor: Mitton, K. (Supervisor) & Hiribarren, V. (Supervisor)

“Partners, Not Allies”: Understanding Alignment in China’s New Era of International Relations

Supervisor: Leveringhaus, N. A. (Supervisor) & Brown, K. (Supervisor)

“On Your Left”: Woke Marvel and the Growing Political Divide in Post-9/11 America

Supervisor: Wheatley, C. (Supervisor) & Smith, I. (Supervisor)

“Laced with fire of stress”: the theological vision of Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.

Supervisor: Quash, B. (Supervisor) & Rosen, A. (Supervisor)

“I have made you a מוֹפֵת” (Ezekiel 12:6): a linguistic-theological exegesis of Ezekiel as מוֹפֵת

Supervisor: Joyce, P. (Supervisor) & Stökl, J. (Supervisor)

“I can’t control my high moods”: The relationship between cognitions about internal states and adolescent bipolar symptoms

Supervisor: Smith, P. A. (Supervisor)

“How lonely sits the city”: An Exploration of Loneliness and Human Connection in the Hebrew Bible, in Conversation with Select Modern Empirical Research on Loneliness

“from the theses on feuerbach to the philosophy of praxis: marx, gramsci, philosophy and politics”.

Supervisor: Callinicos, A. T. (Supervisor)

“Determined to Fight Determined to Win”: The combat experience of the People’s Army of Vietnam at Điện Biên Phủ

Supervisor: Busch, P. (Supervisor)

“Dem Reich der Freiheit werb’ ich Bürgerinnen!”: Visions of the Self in the Nineteenth-Century French and German Female-Authored Novel

Supervisor: Mucignat, R. (Supervisor) & Smale, C. (Supervisor)

“Comprehensive Odyssey”, a digital critical repository of the Odyssey and its sources: perspectives and consequences.

Supervisor: D'Alessio, G. B. (Supervisor) & Lavagnino, J. D. (Supervisor)

’Active ageing’ and health: an exploration of longitudinal data for four European countries

Supervisor: Grundy, E. (External person) (Supervisor) & Jamieson, A. (External person) (Supervisor)

‘Αθήνα – η πιο ξένη πρωτεύουσα’: urban estrangement in Greek poetry, 1912-2012

Supervisor: Ricks, D. B. (Supervisor) & Beaton, R. M. (Supervisor)

‘You … Are Going to be Pioneers’: American Women, World Citizenship, and Study Abroad in Western Europe, 1950-1970

Supervisor: Matlin, D. (Supervisor) & Balbier, U. (Supervisor)

‘Your country is my country': civil-military relations as social reproduction, 1880-1920

Supervisor: Foley, R. (Supervisor) & McCartney, H. (Supervisor)

‘Wilful Longing to God’: A Lacanian Reading of Julian of Norwich’s Texts

Supervisor: Salih, M. S. A. L. (Supervisor) & Mills, R. T. P. (Supervisor)

‘Who pays the piper …’: An investigation into the effects of managerial and market based school accountability measures on independent school teachers’ practice

Supervisor: Gewirtz, S. (Supervisor) & Tlili, A. (Supervisor)

‘Whatever it Takes’: How American Popular Culture Moderates and Diminishes Torture and its Consequences

Supervisor: Gow, J. (Supervisor) & Birchall, C. (Supervisor)

‘We’ve come to live with this thing, like it’s our birthright.’ Negotiating ordinary and exceptional TB in the South African colonial present.

Supervisor: Pollock, A. (Supervisor), Fairall, L. (Supervisor) & Eccleston-Turner, M. (Supervisor)

‘Turkish/Kurdish’ youth in North London: ethnic identifications

Supervisor: Harris, R. (Supervisor)

‘The Weight of a Rhetoric of Buildings’: Literary Uses of Architectural Space, 1909-1975

Supervisor: Saunders, M. W. M. (Supervisor) & Feigel, L. (Supervisor)

‘The Paradox Of U.S. Security In The 1990s: Trans-Border Challenges From Mexico In The Context Of Nafta’

Supervisor: Dandeker, C. (Supervisor), Hills, A. (Supervisor) & Philpott, W. J. (Supervisor)

‘THE ART OF ARTS AND THE SCIENCE OF SCIENCES’: THE CURE OF THE SOUL AND THE LEADERSHIP ROLE OF THE CLERGY

Supervisor: Sedmak, C. (Supervisor) & Joyce, P. M. (Supervisor)

‘Silence is like our mother tongue’: An ethnography of distress and care amongst Eritrean diasporic women in the UK

Supervisor: Kelly, A. (Supervisor) & Ansems De Vries, L. (Supervisor)

‘Sign Here for Statehood’: The Role of International Environmental Agreements in Building Legal Recognition for Taiwan and Palestine

Supervisor: Boyle, A. (External person) (Supervisor)

Student thesis : Master's Thesis › Master of Laws

‘Sex Scenes That Would Offend the Marquis de Sade’: The Queer Significance of Obscenity in William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch and John Waters’ ‘Trash Trilogy’, 1959 – 1985

Supervisor: Turner, M. (Supervisor) & Gorfinkel, E. (Supervisor)

‘Seize turtles deep down in the Five Seas’: history of marine science in Qingdao in Mao Era China (1949-1972)

Supervisor: Altehenger, J. (Supervisor) & Gainty, C. (Supervisor)

‘Secrets of Women’: Translating the Female Body in Early Modern Books of Secrets (1555-1700)

‘scientifics’ and ‘wycombites’: a study of the quartermaster general’s department of the british army, 1799-1814.

Supervisor: Davies, H. (Supervisor) & Lambert, A. (Supervisor)

‘Scarce expressible in English’: Theatre and the Common Law, c. 1597 – 1624

Supervisor: Munro, L. (Supervisor), McMullan, G. (Supervisor) & Crawforth, H. (Supervisor)

‘Over, under and through the walls’: The dynamics of public security, police-community relations and the limits of managerialism in crime control in Recife, Brazil

Supervisor: Pereira, A. W. (Supervisor) & Garmany, J. T. (Supervisor)

‘Our Rule in India rests wholly on ourselves’: The District Officer in Bengal 1850 – 1905

Supervisor: Wilson, J. E. (Supervisor) & Sleight, S. P. (Supervisor)

‘No-one chooses me for anything’: An examination of sixth form selective practices and the shaping of moderate attainers’ post-school choosing.

Supervisor: Gewirtz, S. (Supervisor) & Maguire, M. (Supervisor)

‘More Bang for the Buck’: Examining the Determinants of Terrorist Adoption of New Weapons Technologies

Supervisor: Neumann, P. R. (Supervisor) & Bowen, W. Q. (Supervisor)

‘Max-imising’ madness in music: the gift of madness in the music of Peter Maxwell Davies

Supervisor: Wiebe, H. (Supervisor) & Fend, M. (Supervisor)

‘Masterly inactivity’: Lord Lawrence, Britain and Afghanistan, 1864-1879

Supervisor: Readman, P. A. (Supervisor)

‘London’s moving East’: film, television, and gentrification, 1980 to the present

Supervisor: Shiel, M. (Supervisor) & Napper, L. (Supervisor)

‘Literary’ monuments to national heroes (1830s-1870s): literature, cultural memory and the making of Greek national identity

Supervisor: Beaton, R. (Supervisor), Ricks, D. (Supervisor) & Van Steen, G. (Supervisor)

‘Listen to our thoughts’: counter-conduct, genealogy and the politics of democratic dissent

Supervisor: Bolt, N. (Supervisor) & Betz, D. (Supervisor)

Searching for Systematic Reviews & Evidence Synthesis: Further information

• Define your search question
• Searching Databases
• Drawing up your search strategy
• Advanced search techniques
• Using Filters
• Grey Literature
• Recording your search strategy and results
• Managing References & Software Tools
• Further information
• Library Workshops, Drop ins and 1-2-1s
• AI tools in evidence synthesis

Further reading

• Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions is the official guide that describes in detail the process of preparing and maintaining Cochrane systematic reviews on the effects of healthcare interventions. more... less... The current complete version of the Handbook is 5.1 (updated March 2011), edited by Julian Higgins and Sally Green.
• 4.S1 Technical Supplement to Chapter 4: Searching for and selecting studies [Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions]

Social Science Systematic Reviews

Systematic review (sr) toolbox- currently off-line temporarily, may 2024.

Systematic Review (SR) Toolbox  is a searchable online catalogue of tools to support systematic reviews, which aims to help reviewers find appropriate tools based on their needs. It uses a simple, yet flexible, classification system to classify tools based on how they provide support for the systematic review process.

Undertaking a systematic review involves the systematic storage, management, validation and analysis of large quantities of data; activities that can be error prone and time consuming. Automated tools (i.e. software), therefore, can be used to support many aspects of the systematic review process.

For example, the SR Toolbox contains details of Risk of Bias software and websites including RoB 2, ROBINS-I and other risk of bias tools and checklists.

Although the focus of SR Toolbox is on identifying software to support systematic reviews, other tools or support mechanisms (i.e. checklists, guidelines and reporting standards) can also be found.

PROSPERO: Register your systematic review

PROSPERO is an international database of prospectively registered systematic reviews in health and social care. Key features from the review protocol are recorded and maintained as a permanent record. PROSPERO aims to provide a comprehensive listing of systematic reviews registered at inception to help avoid unplanned duplication and enable comparison of reported review methods with what was planned in the protocol.

Consider registering your systematic review and also searching to see whether a systematic review on your prospective topic has also been registered in order to avoid duplicating research.

PROSPERO includes details of any ongoing systematic review that has a health related outcome in the broadest sense. Systematic review protocols registered on PROSPERO can include studies of any design. Work is underway to facilitate the inclusion of reviews of pre-clinical studies. 

Other registers of systematic review protocols include the Cochrane Collaboration, Campbell Collaboration and Joanna Briggs Institute. There are also some journals which publish Systematic Review protocols e.g. BioMed Central's Systematic Reviews.

If your Systematic Review does not fit PROSPERO's criteria e.g. a review of pre-clinical studies then you could consider publishing your protocol on a site such as Research Gate , figshare or Open Science Framework (OSF ) or INPLASY (note there may be a charge for registering with this site).

Scoping reviews also can't currently be included on PROSPERO. The  PRISMA guidance for scoping review s (PRISMA SCr) suggests some locations for registering the protocol including  Open Science Framework .

Can't access the full text? Interlending and Document Delivery

All King’s College London staff and students as well as staff from King's Health Partners are eligible to make requests for books and articles for teaching and research purposes that aren’t available in the King’s collections.

Requests can be made for books, journal articles, theses, dissertations and other publications. 

Students and staff are allocated a number of free requests at the beginning of each academic year. For more information on how to place a request and to see the annual allocation please visit the  Interlending and Document Delivery page .

If you are aware that the systematic review you are undertaking will rely heavily on material that King's does not subscribe to or that you cannot gain access to via other libraries such as the Senate House Library or the British Library then you should first contact the Library  for advice and to discuss your specific needs . If you expect to make a large number of requests then it may be necessary to agree with you an approximate time frame for obtaining the requested material that will not adversely affect other customers of the service.  In the majority of cases you will find that the free annual allocation will be enough, particularly for systematic reviews limited to the English language in the health, clinical & life sciences fields.  

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• Last Updated: Aug 16, 2024 4:30 PM
• URL: https://libguides.kcl.ac.uk/systematicreview

Format, bind and submit your thesis: general guidance

You no longer need to submit a physical copy of your thesis. Please refer directly to the “Submit Your Thesis” section below.

This information is for research students submitting a thesis for assessment. It tells you how to:

• format your thesis
• submit your thesis
• bind your thesis (if applicable) 
• submit the final copy of your thesis

There are different requirements for students of fine arts, design, architecture or town planning.

Find out more about these requirements

Format your thesis

UCL theses should be submitted in a specific format, this applies to both the viva and final copies of your thesis. 

View the thesis checklist

Presentation

In the electronic version of your thesis, hyperlinks (including DOIs) should be functional and resolve to the correct webpage.

We would recommend using Arial or Helvetica fonts, at a size of no less than 12.

Find out more about the accessibility guidelines

If printed, please present your thesis in a permanent and legible format.

Illustrations should be permanently mounted on A4 size paper and bound in with the thesis; you may not use sellotape or similar materials.

A4 size paper (210 x 297 mm) should be used. Plain white paper must be used, of good quality and of sufficient opacity for normal reading. Both sides of the paper may be used.

Both sides of the paper may be used.

Margins at the binding edge must not be less than 40 mm (1.5 inches) and other margins not less than 20 mm (.75 inches). Double or one-and-a-half spacing should be used in typescripts, except for indented quotations or footnotes where single spacing may be used.

All pages must be numbered in one continuous sequence, i.e. from the title page of the first volume to the last page of type, in Arabic numerals from 1 onwards. This sequence must include everything bound in the volume, including maps, diagrams, blank pages, etc. Any material which cannot be bound in with the text must be placed in a pocket inside or attached to the back cover or in a rigid container similar in format to the bound thesis (see Illustrative material ).

The title page must bear the following:

• the officially-approved title of the thesis
• the candidates full name as registered
• the institution name 'UCL'
• the degree for which the thesis is submitted

The title page should be followed by a signed declaration that the work presented in the thesis is the candidate’s own e.g.

‘I, [full name] confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis.'

Please see the section below entitled ‘Inclusion of published works in doctoral theses’ for more information about how to indicate when you have re-used material that you have previously published.

The signed declaration should be followed by an abstract consisting of no more than 300 words.

Impact Statement

The abstract should be followed by an impact statement consisting of no more than 500 words. For further information on the content of the Impact Statement, please see the Impact Statement Guidance Notes for Research Students and Supervisors on the Doctoral School's website. 

Find out more about the Impact Statement

Inclusion of published works in doctoral theses

If you have included any work in your thesis that you have published (e.g. in a journal) previously, then you will need to insert a completed copy of the UCL Research Paper Declaration Form into your thesis after the Impact Statement. The form, and information about how to complete it is available on the Doctoral School’s website.

Find out more about the UCL Research Paper Declaration Form

Table of contents

In each copy of the thesis the abstract should be followed by a full table of contents (including any material not bound in) and a list of tables, photographs and any other materials. It is good practice to use bookmarking within the PDF of the thesis in electronic form to allow readers to jump to the relevant section, figure, table etc. from the table of contents.

Illustrative material

Illustrative material may be submitted on a CD-ROM. If you wish to submit material in any other form, your supervisor must contact Research Degrees well in advance of submission of the thesis.

Any material which cannot be bound in with the text must be placed either in a pocket inside or attached to the back cover or in a rigid container similar in format to the bound thesis. If it is separate from the bound volume it must be clearly labelled with the same information as on the title page. Each copy of the thesis submitted must be accompanied by a full set of this material.

Submit your thesis

Viva copies.

You must submit an electronic version of your thesis to via the UCL OneDrive . You no longer need to submit a printed copy unless your examiners ask for this. 

Find out more on how to submit via the UCL OneDrive

We will check your status and if your examiners have been appointed we will forward the thesis directly to them. They will then be able to download the copy of your thesis to prepare for your exam. 

If, following your submission, an examiner requests a hard copy of the thesis, you or your supervisor will need to arrange for this to be printed. Your supervisor or department can arrange for this to be sent directly to the examiner at their preferred postal address, or it can be handed to the  Student Enquiries Centre  during their walk-in operational hours. If submitted to the Student Enquiries Centre, the research degrees team will collect your thesis and post it on to the examiners, but please be aware that collections take place once per week and we cannot guarantee the physical copies will be posted within less than 8-10 working days    UCL’s standard submission of a thesis is electronic, in line with UCL’s sustainability strategy . If an examiner requests a physical thesis copy (this may be due to accessibility requirements of the examiner), you are responsible for making sure that your thesis is correctly printed and bound by the company you select. 

If your examiners have not been appointed, your thesis will be held securely until your examiners have been formally appointed by UCL.

Covid-19 Impact Form

We have developed a form for you to submit with your thesis if you wish to declare an impact on your research.   The form is optional and your choice to complete it or not will have no bearing on the outcome of your examination. It is intended to set the context of examination and is not a plea for leniency. Your examiners will continue to apply the standard criteria as set out in UCL’s Academic Manual and the joint examiners’ form. Please see the publication from the QAA on Advice on Doctoral Standards for Research Students and Supervisors for further support.

You must submit this form as a separate Word document or PDF when you submit your thesis via the UCL Dropbox as detailed in our guidance above.   We will only accept the form if you submit it at the same time that you submit your thesis.  This will apply if you are making an initial submission or a resubmission.

Download the Covid-19 Impact Form

Find out more about the Student Enquiries Centre

Your examination entry form must be received and logged by Research Degrees before you submit your thesis.

Find out more about examination entry

Re-submission

If you need to re-submit you must:

• submit a new examination entry form to the Research Degrees office at least 4 weeks prior to the expected submission of the thesis
• you must submit an electronic version of your thesis to via the UCL OneDrive . You no longer need to submit a printed copy unless your examiners ask for this.  Find out more on how to submit via the UCL OneDrive

We will check your status and confirm that your examiners are willing to review your revised thesis. We will then forward the thesis directly to them. They will be able to download the copy of your thesis for assessment. 

If an external examiner requests a hard copy of the thesis you will need to arrange for this to be printed and submitted to the Student Enquiries Centre during their walk-in operational hours. We will collect your thesis and post it on to the examiners.

Submitting as a Non-Registered Student

If you do not submit your thesis by the end of your period of Completing Research Status, your registration as a student will end at that point. Your supervisor will then need to apply for permission for you to submit your thesis in writing to the Research Degrees section, at least 3 weeks before your expected submission date. You will be charged a submission extension fee at the point you submit your thesis.

Bind your thesis

You no longer need to submit a printed copy unless your examiners specifically request this.

The thesis must be bound securely.  Both sides of the paper may be used.   Illustrations should be permanently mounted and bound in with the thesis.  Illustrative material may be submitted on a separate electronic storage device. If you wish to submit material in any other form, your supervisor must contact Research Degrees well in advance of submission of the thesis.   Any material which cannot be bound in with the text must be placed either in a pocket inside or attached to the back cover or in a rigid container similar in format to the bound thesis. If it is separate from the bound volume it must be clearly labelled with the same information as on the title page. Each copy of the thesis submitted must be accompanied by a full set of this material.  

You are responsible for making sure that your thesis is correctly bound by the company you select.

Final copies

UCL no longer requires a printed copy of your final thesis and we will award your degree once you have met the academic conditions and the Library have confirmed receipt of your e-thesis, the Deposit Agreement form, and you have cleared any outstanding fees.

You will need to deposit an electronic copy of your final thesis (and a completed E-Thesis Deposit Agreement form) via UCL's Research Publications Service (RPS). Please ensure that you remove, or blank out, all personal identifiers such as signatures, addresses and telephone numbers from the e-thesis (this does not include your own name on the title page).    Any photographs that you have taken should not show identifiable individuals without their permission and any you have taken of children should mask their faces.

If you do wish to deposit a hard copy you can do so by sending it directly to the Cataloguing & Metadata department of Library Services by post, or in person at the Main Library help desk.  You will find more information about the process on the existing webpage for e-thesis submission. 

Find out more about depositing an electronic and printed copy of your thesis

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EIS PhD Research Proposal Guidelines

The research proposal is the most important part of your PhD application. We do not expect the proposal to be perfect at this stage, nor do we expect you to stick to it rigidly, as your ideas will almost certainly change once you start to study. However, we do expect it to show convincing evidence of your ability to plan and organise independent research. Please read and follow the guidelines carefully. 

Your proposal should be 2,000-3,000 words long , plus bibliography, using the following sections: 

• Title  – The best titles are simple and descriptive, identifying the topic and approach that will be taken.
• Central research question and objectives  – The question your research seeks to answer should be stated simply, then fleshed out to show to show why it is timely and important – both intellectually and politically – for you to be writing a PhD on this topic. After that, you should state, in straightforward terms, how the PhD will answer the research question.
• Literature review – Here you must show how your central research question relates to existing academic studies in your field. This requires a short literature review which will situate your proposed research within the framework of the dominant perspectives on similar issues in the existing literature. Ideally, you should be able to demonstrate how your proposed research fills a gap in the literature and therefore adds substantively and can make a lasting contribution to academic debates. One key criterion for writing a successful PhD is that it is original work, so you must try to avoid setting up your analysis in a way which simply replicates work which can already be found within the literature.
• Theoretical framework – Here, you should detail what theoretical framework(s) will underpin the analysis in your PhD, why that framework has been chosen, and what advantages it gives you for addressing your central research question.
• Case studies and methodology – Here, you should discuss the type of empirical research (statistical work, interviews, surveys etc.) that you will be doing and the case study/case studies that you have chosen. This is essential in all cases except for abstract political theory PhDs. You should show how your theoretical framework informs the methodology that you will use and why that methodology is particularly advantageous for answering the research question.
• Problems – Here, you should reflect on any problems you think you may encounter whilst undertaking your research and indicate how they might be overcome or mitigated. These might include, for example, access to data.
• Bibliography  – You should include a complete bibliography for the proposal.

The above draws on the advice issued by the Political and International Studies department at Warwick University.