Preparing your thesis
Ready to submit your thesis? Or want to think ahead? Here are some tips to guide you.
While submitting your thesis for examination represents the culmination of all your work over the course of your HDR studies, your work towards this goal should begin early in your candidature.
Understanding the requirements from the outset – and properly planning to ensure you meet them – will make the whole process of writing and submitting your thesis smoother and less stressful.
These general requirements apply to all HDR theses at the University of Sydney.
For full details of these requirements, refer to the following:
Originality is one of the most important criteria for any HDR thesis. Your thesis should make a significant contribution to the accumulated knowledge within your discipline – which implies that it must offer something new.
A thorough literature review of existing research in your field will allow you to identify gaps and limitations in the current knowledge, and these in turn will guide you to identify the best focus for your own original research.
Your supervisor is the best person to advise you on whether you have enough new ideas to contribute. You will also have opportunities to explain and explore your ideas with other HDR staff and students within your faculty or school.
Your thesis must include a signed statement of originality.
While the thesis you submit must be your own work, it is quite usual to collaborate with others and/or get other assistance along the way. You must clearly identify and acknowledge any such input that contributed to the development of your thesis so that you do not (intentionally or unintentionally) misrepresent it as your own.
All theses should contain an acknowledgement section, an author attribution statement and a statement that acknowledges any use of generative artificial intelligence (AI).
The acknowledgement section should acknowledge those who contributed to the successful completion of the thesis, which often includes the supervisor, collaborators, colleagues and/or family members. You must acknowledge any editorial services provided by a third party.
Your supervisor will be able to assist you in ensuring you have appropriately acknowledged all collaboration and/or assistance provided.
Any generative AI tools that you have used in your research or in any part of the preparation of your thesis should be acknowledged. If you did not use generative AI, then you should still include a statement to this effect.
Support that you received from the Australian Government, including a Research Training Program Scholarship and/or Research Training Program fee offset, must be acknowledged with the following statement: “This research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship.”
Please note that all domestic students receive a Research Training Program offset scholarship, even if they do not hold a stipend.
The author attribution statement should come immediately after the acknowledgement section in the beginning of the thesis. Your statement must include your signature. For individual papers, an author attribution statement can also be inserted immediately prior to the chapter containing the published material, if appropriate.
See more information and a sample statement.
Your thesis must form a cohesive and unified whole, with a consistent focus on a particular topic and content that is linked and ordered thematically.
The introduction and conclusion sections of your thesis will be particularly important in tying all its content together, but cohesion should also be made explicit throughout. Some examples of how you might achieve this are explored below.
Which of these features you include will depend on your discipline and research topic – but the more links you can establish between the various parts of your thesis, the more cohesive the whole will be.
While submitting your thesis might seem a long way off as you begin your HDR studies, understanding all the submission requirements from the outset will help you to plan and meet them as you proceed, saving you a lot of time and stress at the end.
Once you have submitted your thesis for examination, it is not possible to withdraw it for revision (except under the provisions of the Thesis and Examination of Higher Degree by Research Students Policy (pdf, 392KB).
There is usually an opportunity to make minor changes to the final version of the thesis after examination. While it is important to make sure that your thesis fulfils the requirements, don’t forget that it is better to have a finished thesis than a perfect thesis.
You must submit your thesis electronically as a single PDF file. This is because it needs to be in PDF format to be checked by the University’s similarity-detection software before being sent for examination.
If you submit it in any other format it will need to be converted to PDF after submission, which may result in undesirable formatting changes over which you will have no control. Any supporting documents (including appendices) may be submitted in other file formats if required.
The maximum single file size is 3.99 GB. If you need to submit a larger file, contact the Higher Degree by Research Administration Centre (HDRAC) for advice.
For a doctoral degree, the maximum word limit is generally 80,000 words. This may be exceeded by no more than 20,000 words with the written permission of the Dean or the Associate Dean.
For a master’s degree by research, the maximum word limit is generally 50,000 words. This may be exceeded by no more than 10,000 words with the written permission of the Dean or the Associate Dean.
These word limits include all material in the main body of your thesis and all footnotes and/or endnotes. They exclude bibliographies, reference lists and appendices.
Check your faculty or school handbook for any other word limits that may apply.
There are no University-wide formatting requirements, but you must check your faculty or school handbook for any formatting requirements that may apply.
Your thesis title may be a maximum of 250 characters (including spaces) and must be in title case (not all upper case). If you would like to update your thesis title or abstract, please log in to Sydney Student, hover over 'My Studies', select 'Research Details' and select 'Update thesis title and abstract'
Please note, this will not update your title in RECS. You can update your title in RECS at the following times which will then update Sydney Student:
Contact the Higher Degree by Research Administration Centre (HDRAC) if you require assistance.
There is no standard University-wide thesis template that you are required to use, but it may be helpful to search for previously submitted theses similar to yours.
You should discuss early with your supervisor how they would like to receive and review drafts of your thesis chapters as you complete them, and it is helpful to agree a timeline as the deadline for submission approaches.
The following information is provided to help direct the preparation of your thesis, but your supervisor should advise you about what is expected in your own discipline.
All theses must include thesis preliminary pages which contain the following compulsory information:
The structure of the main body of your thesis will depend on your discipline and the kind of thesis you are writing. In some disciplines, there are certain conventional structures that are expected, while in others, more variation may be possible.
Check your faculty or school handbook for any relevant guidelines that may apply. It is a good idea to refer to previously awarded PhD theses to help decide the structure of your own work.
In general, the main body of your thesis will comprise multiple chapters that each contribute to the development of an argument and/or the presentation of research data in response to your research question(s). The number of chapters will vary depending on your discipline and the nature of your research.
It is best to decide early what format you intend the thesis to be presented in. You should discuss this early in your candidature with your supervisor to decide what the most appropriate format for your research question will be.
In a traditional thesis you will typically start with a broad literature review to contextualise your research. You should include a research question or questions that guide the future chapters. Theses should also typically have a final discussion chapter.
Other chapters vary depending upon the nature of your discipline. Speak to your supervisor, ask for examples of previous theses in your discipline on similar topics or consult any guidelines in your school of faculty to help develop an appropriate structure for your thesis. It would be common to have a methodology chapter and chapters in which the research data are presented. However, theses that do not collect original data might focus more on the development of an argument or an explanation of a creative work.
