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UOWD

University of Wollongong in Dubai

Ph.D. Thesis & Master's Thesis Formatting Guidelines

Official layout specifications, binding margins, and document formatting requirements.

Governing Body: Higher Degree Research (HDR) Committee & Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences (Dubai, AE)

Degree Scope:🎓 Ph.D. / Doctoral📚 Master's / M.Tech. (central handbook)
Official Handbook:
UOW Higher Degree Research (HDR) Thesis Preparation Guidelines (Dubai Campus)
View Official Handbook ↗
Paper Dimensions
A4 (210 mm × 297 mm)
Binding Margins
40 mm Left / 20 mm Right
Standard Typography
Times New Roman (12pt)*
Line Spacing
1.5x

1. Page Setup & Geometry

Page dimensions, binding margins, and print/digital alignments

A4
Top: 30 mm
Binding: 40 mm
[Header]Page 1
[Front matter]
Right: 20 mm
Bottom: 20 mm
Left (Binding Gutter)
40mm
Right Margin
20mm
Top Margin
30mm
Bottom Margin
20mm
Margin Specification: 40 mm left binding margin; 20 mm right and bottom margins; 30 mm top margin; 12.5 mm header and footer margins.

2. Typography & Spacing Hierarchy

Font selections, heading styles, line spacing, and paragraph indentation

Times New Roman*
Body Font
Times New Roman*
Font Size
12pt*
Line Spacing
1.5x
Paragraph Indent
0.5 in
Approved Typefaces:CalibriTimes New RomanArial
Spacing Exceptions: Single-space table text, figure captions, block quotes, and reference items.

3. Technical & Archival Compliance

ETD ProQuest repository requirements, table spanning, and vector DPI rules

ETD / ProQuest Ready
Tables Layout

Table captions: above.

Figures & Graphics

Figure captions: below. Colour photography minimum 300 DPI.

Math & Formulae

Right-aligned equation numbers (chapter.seq). Preserves native MathML and Word equation blocks.

Archival Preservation

Library ETD guideline: PDF/A-1b (Note: ScholarSpec formats submission-ready Word .docx documents; export to PDF/A upon final committee approval).

4. Preliminary Pages Checklist & Order

Strict graduate school ordering, title page numbering suppression, and Roman pagination

Mandatory Sequence
  1. 1
    Title PageMandatory
    Pagination: suppressed counted
    Requirement: Contains UOWD branding, full title, statement of degree candidature, author's full name and degrees, faculty, and submission year.
  2. 2
    Certification / Originality DeclarationMandatory
    Pagination: roman visible
    Requirement: Formal statement signed by the candidate attesting to the originality of the thesis.
  3. 3
    Generative AI StatementMandatory
    Pagination: roman visible
    Requirement: Mandatory statement under UOW HDR guidelines detailing any generative AI tools used in research or confirming no generative AI was used.
  4. 4
    Statement of ContributionMandatory
    Pagination: roman visible
    Requirement: Details the candidate's independent contributions and co-author credit breakdown for published papers.
  5. 5
    AbstractMandatory
    Pagination: roman visible
    Requirement: Maximum 350 words summarizing problem context, key methodology, and principal empirical contributions.
  6. 6
    AcknowledgementsOptional / If Applicable
    Pagination: roman visible
  7. 7
    Table of ContentsMandatory
    Pagination: roman visible
  8. 8
    List of FiguresOptional / If Applicable
    Pagination: roman visible
  9. 9
    List of TablesOptional / If Applicable
    Pagination: roman visible
  10. 10
    List of AbbreviationsOptional / If Applicable
    Pagination: roman visible

6. Academic Integrity, Similarity & AI Policy

Plagiarism threshold, similarity checking software, and Generative AI disclosure rules

Policy & Disclosure
Generative AI Policy
Disclosure Statement Required

UOW HDR policy mandates a dedicated Generative AI Statement in preliminary pages (directly following the Certification/Originality page), detailing the exact tools used or affirming no GenAI was employed.

8. Institutional & Departmental Policies

Australian Dual-Accreditation Alignment Guidelines:

UOWD HDR theses are subject to Australian TEQSA quality standards and UAE CAA accreditation, culminating in open-access deposit in the University of Wollongong Research Online repository.

Thesis by Compilation (Cumulative) Guidelines:

Doctoral candidates may submit a thesis by compilation comprising at least three peer-reviewed published or accepted papers linked by cohesive introductory and discussion chapters.

Institutional Policy: A4 standard paper size is mandatory.
Institutional Policy: Single-column formatting is required for all examination and archive submissions.

Notice a discrepancy in this 2026 handbook?

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*ScholarSpec is a pre-submission formatting assistant. Output is calibrated to official university graduate handbooks.
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* Provisional ScholarSpec layout used where the cited handbook does not specify this value. Confirm with your thesis office before submission.

  • A4 standard paper (210 x 297 mm). Minimum margins: Left (bound side) 40 mm, Right 20 mm, Top 30 mm, Bottom 20 mm. Line spacing 1.5x.
  • Mandatory Generative AI Statement required in preliminary pages per UOW HDR policy.
  • Corrected 2026-10-13 against primary sources: Brief's dead URL (uow.edu.au/.../higher-degree-research/) is gone. These are University of Wollongong (Australia) sources; no UOWD-specific (uowdubai.ac.ae) HDR formatting page was found (www.uowdubai.ac.ae returns 403 to curl, /research page loads via WebFetch but has no thesis format content). Whether UOWD HDR candidates follow the UOW policy and template should be confirmed, though UOW awards the degrees. Current 2024 policy deliberately leaves font and spacing to the candidate; numeric margins come from the official template (not stated as mandatory in policy) and the superseded 2012 'Guidelines for higher degree candidates' and 2015 HDR Handbook (both 200 but legacy, not cited as sources). Abstract limit differs: <600 words in policy (claimed 350).