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Thesis by Publication: Faculty of Engineering Guidelines

Pagination  Inclusive pagination is to be used. 
Bibliography Use end of chapter references.
Framing Papers   Introductory & conclusion chapters. Depending on the content of the papers, it may be necessary to add methodology/techniques/validation chapters.
No. of papers 3 - 5 publications, depending on the length and quality of papers. Except in exceptional circumstances, these should be journal publications.
Photocopies PDFs must be used.
% Authorship   The candidate should be the main contributor to the thesis.
Declarations To be clearly specified & formatted according to MRGS template. Co-author signatures necessary on all papers in all thesis copies except those in appendix. Rewritten, previously published papers require acknowledgement of others' contributions.
Faculty guidelines document available   Yes.
Status of papers   Co-authored papers to have been submitted; sole-authored to have been accepted. However, note that it is preferable to have all papers at least "accepted subject to minor changes", since it leaves a bad impression to have the situation of rejected papers included in the thesis.
Other Other papers can be included as appendices .

Faculty of Engineering Guidelines on Theses Based or Partially Based on Conjointly Published or Unpublished Work

These guidelines should be read in addition to the University requirements for preparation of a thesis based or partially based on published or un-published work. See:
Doctoral Information Handbook: Chapter 7: Thesis and examination matters
http://mrgs.monash.edu.au/research/doctoral/chapter7a.html

and

Guidelines for theses based or partially based on conjointly published or unpublished work (includes example of acknowledgement and declaration form) available at:
http://www.mrgs.monash.edu.au/research/examination/thesis-by-publication/part_a.rtf
http://www.mrgs.monash.edu.au/research/examination/thesis-by-publication/part_b.rtf

The number of papers required to submit a thesis

  • There is no set number of papers. The guiding principal for this submission option is that the content should equate to the research content of the “traditional” narrative style thesis.
  • In general, the thesis should represent a sustained theme of research.

Candidates Contribution to Authorship

  • Essentially, the initiation, key ideas, development and writing up of each work should be the primary responsibility of the candidate. It is expected that papers submitted in a thesis would therefore have a substantial and significant contribution by the candidate (at least 50%). The candidate would therefore usually be first or joint first author.
  • Papers where the candidate has less than 50% contribution may be included if significant to the thesis but papers with minor contributions should be kept to a minimum.
  • If several papers result during candidature where the candidate has a minor contribution and where these relate to but are not vital to the argument of the thesis, these papers may be appended to the thesis.
  • A list of all papers published during candidature should be included at the front of the thesis.
  • If appropriate, published papers that become the basis for thesis chapters in a revised and rewritten form, require acknowledgement of the contributions of others and references where appropriate to the original published paper(s).
Note: Candidates are strongly urged to arrange for the relevant authorship declaration form to be completed by contributing authors as soon as the paper is prepared or submitted for publication. This should facilitate the collation of authorship contribution when the thesis is ready for submission.

Introduction

The thesis should include an introduction chapter including a literature review identifying the state-of-the-art in the research area, and identifying clearly the contributions of the authors to the field. Generally, the contributions of the included papers and other chapters are described here.

Methodology (Materials and Methods)

Where methodology or a technique is critical or significant to the theme of the thesis it is appropriate to include a fuller description than what may be included in a published paper. Note that this is likely to be the case, since reasonably complete descriptions of numerical, experimental and/or analytical methods, and validations, are not likely to make it into journal papers. For engineering theses, this is generally an important aspect and should be presented carefully and in some detail.

Presentation of the papers in the bound thesis

  • Photocopied articles should be avoided because of issues of quality. The papers generally should be included as printed versions of Portable Document Format (.pdf) files, which are generally available for most journals.
  • If papers are unpublished but have been submitted for publication the paper can be inserted in manuscript format.
  • It may be appropriate to include a short introduction or other commentary before each paper.

Pagination of a thesis

Where pdf copies (or photocopies) of papers have their own pagination these pages should also have pagination added that pertains to the thesis. This will ensure that examiners can highlight the correct thesis page(s) on which they are commenting.

Conclusion

In addition to an integrative discussion the thesis should include a “conclusion” which gives a synopsis of the original contribution the work has made to the knowledge and understanding of the area with which the thesis is concerned. It may include some indications of what the candidate sees as future directions for their particular research on the field.

References/Bibliography

  • A thesis bibliography should be created at the back of the thesis to list in full the papers cited in the general introduction and integrated discussion.
  • The works cited in the inserted papers do not need to be included in the thesis bibliography unless these papers are also cited in the general introduction or integrative discussion.