FORMAT OF DISSERTATION

It is the very first page of dissertation. The title is a concise statement identifying actual variables or theoretical issues under investigation and the relation between them. A title should be in minimum possible words that adequately describes the contents of research work/study all the words in the title are to be chosen with great care and the association with one another properly sequenced. This is also important for indexing the study. The title does not contain any abbreviation, chemical formulae, proprietary names and jargons etc.

The title should be written on the top in bold letters, followed by full name of trainee in the order of first, middle, initial and last name alongwith the highest academic degree. Then full name of Supervisor is mentioned under whom the entire research work/study has been completed together with his/her highest academic degree. At the bottom the name of department and institution is to be given, where research work/study has been conducted. The date of submitting Dissertation is given at the lowest end of the title page.

ii. Supervisor’s Certificate
It is placed after the acknowledgement and is numbered in the Roman numeral.

iii. Dediction
It is an optional section, in which trainees normally dedicate their Dissertation to their parents, brother, sister, teachers, friends, spouses and/or children. The dedication is written in the center of a separate page in one or two lines and numbered in Roman numerals.

iv. Acknowledgement
This section is designed to offer thanks or appreciation to the efforts of individuals or organizations for help, advice or financial and material assistance extended by them during the research work/study. The trainees should not forget to mention the names of there colleagues, statisticians, the computer operator and spouse, if applicable, as well as the supervisor. This is the best place to show gratitude and appreciation. Technical help and other contributions like financial and material support are acknowledged in a separate paragraph. This section is placed after the dedication on a separate page and numbered in Roman numerals.

v. Table of Contents
It is an important section of part I that contains the main headings of the text in the dissertation, annexes and page numbers in Arabic and Roman numerals. Sub-headings are also used where necessary. Table of contents is written on separate page(s) and numbered in Roman numerals.

vi. List of Tables
All the tables of dissertation are listed together with titles and page numbers in this section. It is written on separate page(s) and numbered in Roman numerals.

vii. List of Figures / Graphs / Illustrations
All the figures, graphs and illustrations drawn for the dissertation are listed with titles and page numbers in this section. It is written on a separate page and duly numbered in Roman numerals.

viii. List of Abbreviations
A list of all the abbreviations used in the dissertation along with full words is written on separate page(s) and numbered in Roman numerals. Only standard abbreviations are used in the dissertation.

2) Sections of Part II:

i. Structured Abstract
It is the first section of the dissertation. The abstract is a brief account of the dissertation, summarizing the information given in each major section. It is different from the conclusion and identifies the basic contents of the dissertation. It is written in past tense, emphasizing on important aspects of the dissertation. The abstract is around 250 pages words written under the following headings:

• introduction
• objectives
• main outcome measures,
• study design
• setting
• subjects
• methods
• results
• conclusions.

At the end of abstract, three to ten (3-10) key words are identified and written. Selected key words should be from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), List of Index

ii. Introduction
It is second section of the dissertation that presents the specific problem under study and reflects:

• The importance of the topic selected
• The rationale of the study and discusses the background.

Before writing introduction in the dissertation, the trainee should study relevant literature retrieved from published papers. Relevant articles are selected, which improve the understanding of the topic. Only pertinent references are cited but not extensively reviewed in this section. Rationale of the study should be mentioned at the end of introduction.