Thesis formatting
Your thesis, laid out the way your university asks.
Yes, we format your thesis or dissertation as per your university’s own rules, and give back a clean Word file and a print-ready PDF.
Formatting looks easy till the last week before submission. Then the page numbers restart in the wrong place, and the contents page suddenly shows “Error! Bookmark not defined”. Figure 3.4 goes two pages away from its caption. Sometimes the library returns the copy because the left margin is 30 mm and the rule says 35.
Every university writes its own rules, and no two of them follow exactly the same layout. So we start from your university’s format document only, not from some template that came on a WhatsApp group. Then we build the thesis on Word styles. When you make a late change, the headings, numbering, captions and contents page update by themselves.
Who this suits
- Your guide has approved the content and deadline is near, but the file is a mix of different fonts, numbers typed by hand and pasted tables.
- The thesis came back from format scrutiny with a list of corrections. Only those points need fixing. Other pages should not get disturbed while doing it.
- Your university wants an A5 library copy besides the A4, and the figures and tables have to be readable in that smaller size also.
- You are just starting to write, and want a proper file from the first day itself, so that 250 pages need no reformatting at the end.
What you get
- A rules sheet for your university
This is one page with your university’s rules, as we found them in its regulations or format guide. In it we write the paper size and margins, and the font and spacing to use. Page order and numbering are also there, along with what to print on the cover and on the spine. Some points the university is silent about. Against such a point we put a mark. Ask your guide what to do there.
- A Word file built on styles
We rebuild your thesis on Word styles. Chapters and sections use Heading 1 to Heading 3, and these are linked to multilevel numbering. Body text, quotations, captions and references each get their own style, set one time only. Change a style later and every heading using it changes too.
- Automatic contents and lists
Word itself generates the table of contents, list of tables, list of figures and, if your thesis needs one, the list of abbreviations. No caption is typed by hand in our file, all of them go in through References › Insert Caption only. Later a figure may shift to another page. Just update the list and it picks up correct page number.
- Correct page numbering
The front pages are numbered in Roman. From Chapter 1 onwards the numbers are Arabic. Between the two parts we put a section break. Typing page numbers by hand, we never do that. Where your university asks for it, each chapter starts on an odd page.
- Front pages in the set order
Title page, declarations, the supervisor’s certificate, acknowledgements, abstract and contents are placed in the order your university prescribes, with its wording. The signatures are left for you to fill in.
- A print-ready PDF
We make a PDF with all fonts embedded and check it page by page. The same file goes to the print shop and to any online upload your university is asking for.
How the work runs
Send the rules and the file
Send your thesis in Word. If you have your university’s format guide, or the pages of the regulations that talk about format, send those also. If not, tell us the university and department, and we first look for the official document.
We make the rules sheet
Before any formatting starts, we send you the rules sheet. Please show it to your guide once. Sometimes a department follows a practice different from the university document, and it is easier to know that now itself.
We rebuild the document
Following the rules sheet, we apply the styles, numbering, captions and front pages chapter by chapter. Tables pasted as pictures are rebuilt as proper Word tables, so they stay sharp and the text inside can be searched.
You check the proof
Go through the PDF proof page by page with the rules sheet beside you. Whatever you find, we correct. We also do the corrections your guide or the format scrutiny points out.
Ask about thesis formatting
Only four fields to fill. We will call or WhatsApp you back by the next working day, and many times earlier than that. First talk with us is free, you don’t pay anything for it.
How long it takes
| Work | Typical time | Depends on |
|---|---|---|
| Rules sheet for your university | 1 to 2 working days | If the format document is published and still current |
| Formatting a Master’s dissertation of 60 to 100 pages | 2 to 4 working days | How many tables and figures |
| Formatting a PhD thesis of 200 to 300 pages | 5 to 8 working days | Tables, equations and how the file was first made |
| Fixing a list of scrutiny corrections | 1 to 3 working days | How many corrections, and if the file uses styles |
| Setting up a blank template before you write | 1 to 2 working days | How much detail the university’s rules give |
Do the formatting at the end, once the content is approved, or at least once the chapters stop changing. Most times a formatted thesis breaks because whole sections were moved around after formatting.
What it costs
The fee depends on the length and on how your present file was made. Suppose your 250-page thesis is already using Word styles and proper captions. Then our work is much less, compared to a file where each number was typed manually. We look at your file first, and then send a written scope along with the fee.
The quote depends on
- How many pages
- How many tables, figures and equations
- If your file already uses Word styles
- Converting the reference list to another style
- An A5 copy or any second version
- Your deadline
Who you’d be working with
Thesis Writing Service is run by Saaira Technologies from Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu. We work with scholars by phone, WhatsApp, email and video, so you never need to travel. The figures are the company’s own.
- years of research support
- 10+
- scholars helped
- 1,500+
- subject areas
- 12+
- countries
- 25+
Questions scholars ask
Isn’t there one standard thesis format in India?
No. The UGC rules are for the PhD itself and they don’t fix any page layout, so every university makes its own. Anna University’s Centre for Research wants 13-point Times New Roman, line spacing 1.5 and a left margin of 35 to 40 mm. Bangalore University also uses Times New Roman with 1.5 spacing, but at 12 point, and its left margin is 1.5 inches. JNTUH uses Bookman Old Style 12. In the University of Madras rules you won’t find a fixed margin or typeface at all. There the supervisor and the Research Advisory Committee decide the presentation style.
What if my university has no format guide?
This happens more than scholars expect. In that case we follow whatever your university’s regulations do say, along with the common practice your department accepts. One more thing, ask your guide for a recent thesis from your department that got accepted. Many times that copy itself is the clearest guide you will get.
Do you handle the A5 library copy?
Yes. Some institutions want a smaller copy for their library. KTU asks for A4 soft copies and A5 library copies. The final library version at IIT Madras is also A5. We check if the figures and the text inside tables can still be read after reduction, and where they can’t, we resize them.
Can you format the references too?
Yes, if you add it to the scope. We convert the list into the style your university or guide wants, like APA, IEEE, Harvard or Vancouver. Then we check that the in-text citations are matching with the list. If you used Zotero or Mendeley, please send us library file also.
What about the Tamil abstract?
Some universities in Tamil Nadu ask for it. The University of Madras wants a Tamil abstract of up to 10 pages, placed before the contents page, with a certificate from the Tamil Virtual Academy. For Anna University the scholar gives an English abstract and a Tamil abstract also, and for each of them around 400 words is the length. We will place and format the Tamil text you give us. Writing or translating that text we don’t do.
Is there a page limit?
Many times there is, so check it early. Bharathiar University limits the main text to 275 pages and gives no exemption. Anna University wants the main text between 100 and 400 pages, and references and appendices are not counted in that. For KTU, the thesis limit is 300 pages.
Can I keep editing after you’ve formatted it?
Yes. That is the reason we build everything on Word styles. Type new text in the body style, and use the heading styles for any new section. Insert captions the same way we did. To refresh the contents page, right-click on it and update it. We show you all this on a short call.
Stuck on a chapter? Talk it through with us.
Call or WhatsApp, say where you are in your thesis, and we’ll tell you plainly what kind of help makes sense, if any.