Guideline for Dissertation Format
A dissertation is normally subdivided into the following sections:
Title Page:
 Title of the dissertation; 
 Full name of the author/s; 
 The statement “A Dissertation presented to the Department of Criminology,
Faculty for Social Wellbeing in Part Fulfilment of the Requirements for the
 Degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at the University of Malta; 
 The month and year of presentation; 
Abstract:
 The word ABSTRACT in Bold uppercase letters in the top centre; 
 the full name of the author/s; 
 the title of the dissertation; 
 the text of the abstract should be not more than 250 words, presented in single line
spacing. The abstract should offer the briefest possible description of your
 dissertation. The abstract should be as factual as possible; 
 the degree title B.A. (Hons.); 
 the month and year of the presentation of the dissertation; 
 3 to 6 key words in bold uppercase letters to be used for the Department’s
database. 
Author’s Declaration
 A signed declaration by the author/s and the supervisor regarding the originality of
the work 
Dedications and Acknowledgements
 These are optional, however it is customary to at least acknowledge those who
helped you in your dissertation. 
Table of Contents
 The table of contents must include all chapter headings, subheadings, list of tables,
list of figures, appendices and bibliography. 
Main text
Although the construction of the main text may vary, all dissertations must include:
 Introduction 
 Literature Review 
 Methodology 
 Analysis of Data 
 Discussion of Data 
 Conclusion 
Length of the dissertation should be between 10,000 and 15,000 words.
References
APA referencing style must be adhered too.
Presentation
Three soft bound copies of the dissertation must be presented to the Institute of
Criminology.
Once the dissertation is corrected they should be hard bound. The title of the
dissertation should be stamped horizontally in clear lettering on the front covering.
Beneath this there should be the full name/s of the author/s, the degree title, B.A.
(Crim.), followed by the year of presentation.
It is permissible to stamp on the spine the names of the author/s and a short title.
Pagination
 The title page, abstract, author’s declaration and dedications should be counted
 but not numbered. 
 Numbering starts with the table of contents (usually page v), in lower case Roman
 numerals. 
 The rest of the dissertation should be numbered in a single sequence in Arabic
numerals (1,2,3,4 etc.), starting with 1 on the first page of the main text.
Illustrations, diagrams etc. placed within the text of the dissertation should be
 paginated as if they are pages of the text. 
 Page numbers should be centred in the bottom margin. 
Page Layout
 The text, should be produced on A4-size paper. In exceptional circumstances the
 dissertation committee can give permission for an alternative format. 
 Top, right and bottom margins should be 15mm wide, while the left margin
 should be 40mm wide to allow for binding. 
 All dissertations should be word processed or typed. 
Fonts
 A clear serif typeface (e.g. Times New Roman) should be used for the main
dissertation text. A sans-serif font (e.g. Arial) may be used for headings and figure
captions. DO NOT use script or fancy typefaces and avoid monospaced fonts (e.g.
Courier) 

 A 10pt to 12pt font should be used in the main text, slightly larger point size (14pt
to 16pt can be used for headings. Headings may be in bold, otherwise use bold
and italics sparingly, and try to avoid underlining. 
Paragraph Formatting
One and a half spacing should be used throughout the dissertation, with the following
exceptions:
 The table of contents 
 Tables 
 Bibliography (although a blank line should be left between one reference and the
 next) 
 Footnotes and endnotes 
 Long block quotes (more than three lines) 
 Computer program listings 
New paragraphs should either be indented by 10mm to 15mm or leave an extra space
between one paragraph and the next.
Block quotations should be further indented from the left margin by an additional 1015mm.
Numbering
 Arabic numerals should be used for numbering sequences within the dissertation
 (with the exceptions noted above). 
 Three level headings should be used e.g. Chapters are level one headings i.e. 1, 2,
3, etc. level two headings will be 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 etc. while level three headings
 would be 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3 etc. Try to avoid more subheading levels. 
 If more than one appendix is used these should be numbered as: Appendix 1,
 Appendix 2 etc. 
 Figures and tables should also be numbered consecutively 
Dissertation on CDs
For those preparing their dissertation on cd, a copy should be handed, preferably in
Word format
The cd has to be clearly labelled with:
 the name of the student/s 
 the dissertation title 
 the course and year 
 the name of the file it is saved on cd 
 the program used 
 a contact telephone number in case of technical difficulties. 