The format requirements for your thesis are ultimately up to your advisor and committee. Here is a typical format that can serve as a "default" option.

Thesis Format:

Opening Comments: In general, most advisors prefer to see their students write their theses in a style appropriate for journal submission. That is the philosophy behind the guidelines here. These are modified slightly from the instruction on scientific writing given to Biology 142 students. A WORD template for the first three pages of your thesis(title, signature page, abstract), which you can download and modify, is available here. Additional essential details on the formatting of your thesis are available here.

Length: Here you will need guidance from your committee but 20 double spaced pages (excluding figures, tables, abstract, references) would normally be more than sufficient. 10-15 pages will often be enough.

Title: The title is important but often neglected. It should state the topic of your research, the main question asked, or the main finding. It is a good idea to give the name of your research organism/taxon.

Abstract: The abstract is a complete summary of your study in no more than 150 words. State the question asked in your study, and/or the hypotheses tested. Briefly describe your methods, then state your main result(s). Conclude by stating how your findings will influence our understanding of the problem you set out to address.

Introduction: Set the stage for your study. Explain the hypotheses being tested or questions being asked and why they are important and interesting. Provide background and context for your study. Briefly describe your experimental taxon, emphasizing how it is appropriate for your research. Give any key details relevant to your investigation. Here and elsewhere, any non-obvious statements should be backed up by data or citations. Citations consist of the last names of the author(s) followed by the year of publication, with one or both in brackets. For two authors, use 'and', e.g. McKinnon and Woller (1999). For more than two authors, give the last name of the first author followed by 'et al.', e.g. (Davis et al. 2002). Sub-sections and sub-headings are desirable here and throughout your write-up.

Methods: State where and when you collected your organisms or raw data. Explain your experimental procedure, with dates. Describe how you made measurements and what your sample size was. Briefly describe your statistical analyses. Use figures if appropriate. Your methods should describe your work in sufficient detail, in normal prose, that someone else could replicate your study.

Results: Use figures to summarize your data, such as histograms or scatter plots. Give each figure a number and a title--generally, the figure and title should stand alone and the reader should not have to go to the text to make sense of the figure. Also describe your results with text, referring to your figures for support (cite them according to their numbers). Tables may also be used, but figures are preferable. Tables should be numbered in a separate sequence. Describe the results of your statistical tests. Write in prose, not point form.

Discussion: Briefly review your main findings then interpret the results of your study in light of previous work. Think hard about what the results mean in a larger context. Consider any possible weaknesses in your study or assumptions you had to make. Point out directions for future work.

Literature Cited: alphabetical, with name-year style citation, not numbered.