Bangalore University PhD thesis

Layout and page order

The layout rules are few, and the table above has all of them. Two points many scholars are missing.

First one is the spelling. As per the 2024 regulations you can use Indian (British) spelling or American spelling, but only one of them in the full thesis. “Analyse” in Chapter 2 and “analyze” in Chapter 4 is against the rule. In Word, set the proofing language one time for the whole file (Review › Language › Set Proofing Language). Then run the spell check again.

Second one is the page numbers. From your declaration till the list of abbreviations, you use Roman numerals. Chapter 1 starts the Arabic numerals, and they continue till the last page of the references. After that the annexures again take Roman numerals. This switch back needs its own section break in Word.

The university gives the order of the thesis as these twelve items.

1. Cover page, as in Appendix 1
2. Title page, as in Appendix 2
3. Your own declaration (Appendix 3)
4. Your supervisor’s declaration (Appendix 4)
5. The certificate for evaluation of the thesis (Appendix 5), which the department chairperson and your supervisor both sign
6. Acknowledgements
7. Table of contents
8. List of figures, tables and illustrations
9. List of abbreviations, only if you have them
10. The chapters
11. Annexures, if there are any
12. References or bibliography

Note that annexures come before the references. Many other universities do it the other way round. Chapter 1 must have the title INTRODUCTION. It covers the context, research questions, hypotheses, scope, method and an outline of the thesis. The last chapter must have the title CONCLUSION.

The reference style in Appendix 9

In Appendix 9 the university gives its own author–date style. It has examples for books, journal articles, chapters in edited books, newspapers, unpublished theses, translations, government reports and legal cases. At first look it is almost like APA, but the punctuation is different in many small places. For a book, the entry goes surname, then first names, then year in brackets, then title in italics, and last the place and publisher. For a journal article, volume and issue are written like 29 (3), then a colon and then the page numbers.

If you are using APA 7 in a reference manager, there are two ways. One way is to get a style file that matches Appendix 9, or edit one yourself till it matches. Or you keep APA in the software for now. Then at the very end, sit with the printout and correct each entry by hand. Ask your supervisor which way your department will accept. Don’t keep some entries in APA and some in Appendix 9 style.

The final synopsis and its page budget

The synopsis format in the appendix is very detailed. The synopsis should be 12 to 14 pages of A4. The bibliography is not counted in that. Font and spacing are same as the thesis. The appendix also give a page budget for each section, like below.

• Background takes two pages
• Review of literature, six pages, arranged theme by theme and not one summary after another
• Definition, rationale and scope in one and a half pages
• Research problem, questions and hypotheses, one page
• For research methods one page, giving what type of data and where it comes from
• Tentative chapters can go up to two pages, with four or five lines for each chapter

Mostly synopses come back because of the methods part. The appendix clearly says that just writing “descriptive or analytical methods” is not enough. You have to name your design, sample, tools and the tests you used.

From colloquium to submission

Clause 17 of the 2024 regulations gives the steps in this order.

Progress reports. The half-yearly progress report is filed in the synoptic format of Appendix 8, with a detailed report attached (15.1). The final synopsis will not be forwarded if even one earlier report is missing in the file (17.2). Some scholars missed one report in second or third year and forgot about it. Go to the department and file that pending report before you prepare anything else.

The pre-submission colloquium. Before the final synopsis, you present at a colloquium in the university PG department, with faculty and supervisors present. You show the method followed and the data collected and analysed (17.3). The comments from the colloquium must be added into the thesis. The proceedings are sent to the Registrar (Evaluation) through the department chairperson.

The request to submit. Your request goes through your supervisor to the Registrar (Evaluation), with five copies of the final synopsis. You can send it up to six months before your minimum period is over (17.1). For full-time scholars the minimum is three years and for part-time scholars it is four years. Both are counted from the date of provisional registration.

The thesis. After you get the permission letter you have six months to submit the thesis (17.4). You give four copies. You don’t hand them straight to the university. They have to go through your supervisor and the chairperson of your department. If the six months pass, it is the Doctoral Committee that decides what to do next.

The library’s plagiarism report

As per clause 17.5, three documents are bound inside the thesis. One is your own undertaking saying there is no plagiarism. Next is the plagiarism report of your thesis, checked and signed by the University Library. Last is the certificate from your supervisor. It says you did the work yourself and the thesis was not submitted to any other university.

The library’s plagiarism policy follows the UGC regulations of 2018. As per that, if the similarity is 10% or below, there is no penalty. The policy also has three forms you should know.

• Annexure I has the software name, date of checking, similarity index and word count. Your supervisor ticks whether the index is within the norms or not.
• Annexure II is an affidavit from you, on ₹100 non-judicial stamp paper and notarised. Keep one day aside for the notary.
• Annexure III is given by your supervisor, with the name Self Plagiarism Exclusion Certificate. It lists the papers that came out of your thesis. Those papers only are excluded from the similarity count.

Suppose one of your published papers has co-authors. Then Annexure IV is needed, where they give consent for using the paper in your thesis. Collect these signatures early, because one of the co-author may have moved to another college by the time you submit.

Which software does the library use? A note in the same policy file says Ouriginal (Urkund) for most faculties, Turnitin for engineering, and DrillBit for regional languages and MBA projects. But that file was uploaded in mid-2023. After that, ShodhShuddhi shifted from Ouriginal to DrillBit, so ask library what they are running now.

If plagiarism is found later, the degree is taken back, and a supervisor who was part of it loses guideship for minimum three years (17.8).

The two papers, as first author

At the time of submission, clause 17.10 asks you to show two articles in your research area where your name comes first. The clause says the journal should be reputed, refereed, peer-reviewed or UGC CARE. If you don’t have such articles, two presentations at conferences or seminars are also accepted, again with your name as first author. Show the reprints or certificates as proof.

Take the words “as first author” seriously. If the supervisor’s name is first and yours second, that paper will not count for this clause. Fix the author order with your supervisor before you start writing the paper itself, and don’t leave it till acceptance.

One more thing about UGC CARE. The word is there in the clause even now. UGC itself has stopped the CARE listing, and their notice for that is dated 11 February 2025. If you are choosing a journal because it was in the old CARE list, check with your department whether they still accept it.

Evaluation and the open viva

Your supervisor makes a panel of ten experts, at least Associate Professors or senior scientists. The Board of Studies approves this panel (18.1, 18.2). Minimum five names should be from outside Karnataka or from abroad. From the panel the Vice-Chancellor selects two external examiners, and they are asked to send their reports within 45 days (18.5). As per 18.16 the university should finish everything, including declaring the viva result, inside six months from the day you submit.

If one examiner asks for resubmission, you get six months to revise, and resubmission is allowed one time only (18.10, 18.11). Sometimes one examiner says the degree should not be given. In that case the thesis is sent to a third examiner, and that report decides the matter.

When both reports are positive, the open viva is held on a working day (19.1). Your supervisor is the chairperson of the board. The other members are the department chairperson or the centre head, and one external examiner. If the external examiner can’t travel, the viva can be done online with permission, and then the session is video-recorded. The open viva notice is put on the department notice board one week before (19.4). Supervisors, faculty, scholars and interested experts can attend.

In the open viva the board wants to see if you know your area well and can answer for what you wrote in the thesis. Whatever points the examiners raised in their reports, expect questions on those also. If the viva does not go well, you get one more chance within three months (19.8). Once you pass, you submit the corrected thesis as two printed copies and two PDF copies (20.3).

When we format a Bangalore University thesis with a scholar, most of the time goes in Appendix 9 and the twelve-item order. If you want us to do that along with you, see our thesis formatting service. If it is the chapters themselves you are stuck on, our PhD thesis help in Bangalore page has the details. Many engineering scholars in the city are actually under VTU and they don’t realise it. Our Bangalore page explains how Bangalore University is different from VTU and RGUHS, and the VTU guide has the Belagavi rules. For checks that apply at any university, use the formatting checklist.