Dissertations must be typed in double spacing,
and should be approximately 8,000 words in length. Use good quality A4 paper,
one side only, and leave ample margins. There should be an unnumbered title-page,
but all pages thereafter should be numbered in a single sequence. The title-page
must include (a) the writer's name, (b) the title of the dissertation, (c)
the total number of words, (d) the total number of numbered pages. All works
or sources that are quoted, or are referred to, or that have contributed
materially to the dissertation must be listed in a bibliography at the end
of the dissertation. Individual instances of indebtedness must be noted
in footnotes (or end notes) or in the body of the dissertation as required
by good scholarly practice.
The dissertation must conform to the rules, principles and examples set
out in this document.
GENERAL
1. Titles of books, journals and plays must be in italics
or be underlined .
2. Titles of parts of books (e.g. essays, chapters, poems, etc.) must be
in inverted commas.
3. Paragraphs must be separated by a gap that is wider than that between
lines that are double spaced, and the beginning of the new paragraph must
be slightly indented.
4. Brief quotations that are integrated into the text must be in inverted
commas.
5. Long quotations that are set off from the text must be (a) indented throughout,
(b) printed without quotation marks, (c) separated by an increased space
from the text that precedes and follows them. (They may also be printed
in single spacing, and may use characters of a slightly smaller size set
at a different pitch, but these are not requirements.)
6. Long verse quotations must preserve the verse lineation, but short verse
quotations of about 2 or 3 lines my instead indicate line ends by a slash.
7. Take care that appropriate punctuation precedes and follows quotations.
8. All quotations must be scrupulously accurate, with the single exception
of the final punctuation mark which may need to be modified to fit the new
context.
9. Any omissions in quotations should be indicated by a sequence of three
full stops. Any additions or substitutions should be placed in square brackets.
It is not usually necessary to indicate that a quotation has been taken
from a larger context by concluding it with a sequence of three full stops.
10. Plagiarism must be strictly avoided.
NOTES
Notes must be keyed to the main text by using a single numerical sequence,
with a new number (preferably superscript) for each note. The notes themselves
may be presented either as footnotes (at the foot of the page) or as end
notes (all together at the end of the dissertation, immediately preceding
the bibliography). Remember that the purpose of notes is to provide detailed
references rather than to provide space for discussion that could not be
accommodated comfortably in the main text.
APPENDICES
If it proves essential to present material that supplements the main text,
or would occupy undue space in a note, it may be presented as an appendix
placed at the end of the dissertation and before the bibliography or any
end notes. If more than one appendix is included, the headings Appendix
A, Appendix B, etc. should be used. Remember that appendices are included
in the word count, and that they should be avoided unless really necessary.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
There is no need to divide the bibliography into separate sections for different
categories of material. In general such division creates problems and helps
nobody. In normal circumstances, arrangement should be alphabetical by author,
and alphabetical by title within the work of any one author.
(A) IN THE BIBLIOGRAPHY
Set out the bibliography as a list, with each item on a new line. For books,
the place and date of publication should be given; for journal articles,
the volume number in arabic numerals, year of publication in brackets, and
page numbers should be given.
(i) Authored Books
Altick, Richard D., The Art of Literary Research , rev. John
J.Fenstermaker (New York, 1981)
(ii) Editions
Jonson, Ben, Poetaster , ed. Tom Cain (Manchester, 1995)
Massenger, Philip, The Plays and Poems , ed. Philip Edwards
and Colin Gibson, 5 vols (Oxford, 1976)
Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
, ed. A.C.Cawley and J.J.Anderson, rev. edn (London, 1983). This book could
be listed under Anonymous; or under Pearl-Poet, the; or under Gawain-Poet,
the; or without an author but in the alphabetical sequence of authors at
the point indicated by the first word of the title.
(iii) Journal Articles
Richter, David H., 'The Reader as Ironic Victim', Novel , 14
(1981), 135-51
(iv) Contributions to Books
Carey, John, 'Milton's Satan' in Dennis Danielson (ed.), The Cambridge
Companion to Milton (Cambridge, 1989), pp.131-45
(v) Edited Books
Danielson, Dennis (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Milton
(Cambridge, 1989)
(B) IN THE NOTES (First Reference)
(i) Authored Books
(a) Reference to the whole book: Jeremy Hawthorn, Unlocking the Text:
Fundamental Issues in Literary Theory (London, 1987).
(b) Reference to a few pages: Richard D.Altick, The Art of Literary
Research , rev. John J.Fenstermaker (New York, 1981), pp.14-17.
(ii) Editions
(a) Reference to a page in an editor's introduction: Ben Jonson, The
New Inn , ed. Michael Hattaway (Manchester, 1984), p.20. (It my be
appropriate to state that all subsequent references to the play are to this
edition.)
(b) Reference to two lines in a play: Ben Jonson, Poetaster
, ed. Tom Cain (Manchester, 1995), III. iv. 315-16; or A New Way to
Pay Old Debts , V. i. 379-80, in Philip Massenger, The Plays
and Poems , ed. Philip Edwards and Colin Gibson, 5 vols (Oxford,
1976), ii, 376.
(c) Reference to a line in a poem: Ben Jonson, 'An Epigram', line 13, in
Ben Jonson, The Complete Poems , ed. George Parfitt (Harmondsworth,
1975), p.205.
(d) Reference to a chapter in a novel: Walter Scott, Rob Roy
, ed. John Sutherland (London, 1995), chap. 23 (pp.204-213).
(iii) Journal Articles
(a) Reference to a complete article: Frank Kermode, 'Sensing Endings', Nineteenth-Century
Fiction , 33 (1978), 144-58.
(b) Reference to one page: W.Daniel Wilson, 'Readers in Texts', PMLA
, 96 (1981), 848. Note that some journals have an acronym as their proper
title.
(c) Reference to two sections from an article: David H.Richter, 'The Reader
as Ironic Victim', Novel , 14 (1981), 135-37 and 150-51.
(iv) Journal articles when page numbering is not continued from
one issue to another
Patrick Reilly, 'Nineteen Eight-Four: The Failure of Humanism',
Critical Quarterly , 24. iii (Autumn, 1982), 19-30.
(v) Contributions to Books
John Carey, 'Milton's Satan' in Dennis Danielson (ed.), The Cambridge
Companion to Milton (Cambridge, 1989), pp.131-45; Bertrand H.Bronson,
'Johnson Agonistes' in Donald J.Greene (ed.), Samuel Johnson: A Collection
of Critical Essays (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1965), pp.30-45; T.W.Harrison,
'Dryden's Aeneid ' in Bruce King (ed.), Dryden's Mind
and Art (Edinburgh, 1969), pp.143-67.
(C) IN THE NOTES (Subsequent References)
After the first reference, an abbreviated form that combines clarity with
economy may be used, e.g. Unlocking the Text , p.99; Kermode,
'Sensing Endings', p.145; Richter, p.140; New Inn , IV. ii.
67; A New Way , III. i. 21-25. It is better to use sensibly
shortened titles than to use old-fashioned Latin contractions like ibid.
and op.cit.
(D) PARENTHETICAL REFERENCE
After a first reference has been given in a note, it is often appropriate
to place subsequent references to the same work in the body of the dissertation
rather than to place them in a footnote or end note. Such references should
always be brief so as not to be too disruptively intrusive, and should be
presented in round brackets, e.g. (p.49) and (IV. ii. 8-12) when there is
no doubt which text is being referred to: (Hamlet , III. i.
16), (Paradise Lost , VI. 199-201) and (Genesis 3:14) when
the text needs to be more clearly identified.
In bibliographical references standard abbreviations such as ed. (edited
by), edn (edition), p. (page), pp. (pages), rev. (revision, or revised by),
trans. (translation, or translated by), vol. (volume), vols (volumes) may
be used, but in the main body of the text (except in parenthetical references)
abbreviation of this kind is inappropriate. Works of literature should be
referred to by their usual titles, not by unduly abbreviated forms of the
title, and not by mere initials.
TWO copies of the completed dissertation must be handed
in to the School of English Office no later than 1 p.m. Friday,
22 March 1998 , and a receipt issued. A third copy should be retained
by the writer. Each of the submitted copies must be securely stapled or
bound so that it will not fall apart. Before submitting the dissertation
read it through several times with great care and correct any small errors
of punctuation or spelling.
February 1997