NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering
NGS/Thesis-Exam/08/12
(08 June 2015)
Thesis Submission and Examination
1. Submission of Thesis for Examination
a. Deadline for Submission
Candidates have to submit their theses for examination (after being approved
by the supervisors) by the maximum period of candidature or such date as
stipulated by the supervisors or the University, whichever date is earlier. A
grace period of up to two weeks can be given by the NGS Office (request must
be supported by the main supervisor) without the need for candidates to apply
for an extension of his/her candidature. However, the request must be
submitted before the expiry of the candidature, as candidature will be
considered as lapsed once maximum candidature has reached. Late requests
would be considered as reinstatement of candidature requests with an
administrative fee of S$250 payable for successful reinstatements.
Candidates who are unable to submit their thesis even within the two week
grace period should consult their supervisor first before applying for an
extension of their candidature by completing the “Application for Extension of
Candidature Form”. The application must be submitted through the
supervisor(s), preferably three months before the expiry of candidature, for
consideration by NGS and, for those students funded by the A*STAR Graduate
Scholarship (AGS), also by A*STAR. Candidature will be considered as lapsed
once maximum candidature has reached. Late requests would be considered
as reinstatement of candidature requests with an administrative fee of S$250
payable for successful reinstatements.
Candidates who wish to submit their thesis before the minimum residency
period of candidature should submit a written request to the NGS office, through
the supervisor(s), for approval before submission.
b. Thesis Submission Date & Fees Payable
Tuition and miscellaneous fees are payable until the thesis is submitted for
examination. However, the insurance premium will continue to be payable for
full-time students unless the student converts his/her candidature to part-time. A
candidate who converts his/her candidature to part-time after Instructional Week
2 is liable to pay the insurance premium for that semester.
The tuition fees payable for the semester in which the thesis is submitted for
examination depends on the thesis submission date (i.e., the date of receipt of
thesis by NGS Office) as follows:
Date of Submission
Research Fees Payable
By end of Instructional Week 2
Exempted
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During first half of semester
Half of fees for the
Sem 1: After Instructional Week 3 to 30 September
semester
Sem 2: After Instructional Week 3 to 31 March
During second half of semester
Sem 1: October to end of semester
Sem 2: April to end of semester
Full fees for the semester
Note:
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To encourage research students to submit their thesis promptly, those who
do so after Instructional Week 2 but within the first half of the semester would
receive a half semester tuition fee refund.
The fee refund is not applicable to Mandatory Miscellaneous Fees.
Research students (non-scholars) who submit their thesis for examination
during the semester when they are on leave of absence or during the
semester immediately after the period of leave, will have to pay fees for one
semester (even if the thesis is submitted within Instructional Week 2 of the
latter semester).
Research scholars whose research scholarship have expired and have not
submitted their thesis are no longer eligible for tuition fee allowance. They
are required to pay their own fees with effect from the current semester (if the
last day of scholarship is within the first two instructional weeks of the current
semester) or with effect from the subsequent semester (if the last day of
scholarship is beyond the second instructional week of the current
semester). Fees are payable until the thesis is submitted for examination.
For current research scholars, the last day of award will be the date of
receipt of the thesis to NGS. If the research scholars did not submit the
thesis as soon as s/he could have, NGS can terminate the scholarship
earlier than the date the thesis was received by NGS.
c. Thesis Format
The thesis will usually consist of a detailed literature review, description and
critical analysis of the student's work, and should be bound form in the format
described in Annex A.
For General Guidelines on Format of Thesis, please refer to Annex A.
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d. Administrative Procedures for First Submission of Thesis for Examination
Once the thesis is ready for submission, please
i.
Pay the examination fee of S$535 at Student Service Centre (Level
1, Yusuf Ishak House), together with the Thesis Exam Fee
Payment Form (03/2012/TS/FEE/VL) during office hours.
The cheque should be crossed and made payable to “National
University of Singapore” with your name, registration number and
name of School written on the reverse side of the cheque.
ii.
Submit the following documents to the NGS Office during office
hours:
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5 copies of soft bound thesis & a softcopy in CD-ROM
Thesis Submission Form (09/2011/TS/SUB/VL)
Payment receipt of thesis examination fee (03/2012/TS/FEE/VL)
Your latest Student Account Statement (there should be no
outstanding fees)
For research scholars who have received excess Research
Scholarship stipends and have yet to refund the excess, the
University reserves the right to withhold student status letters,
results slips or transcripts, status letters, thesis examination and
the confirmation of the award of the degree.
e. Administrative Procedures for Re-submission of Thesis for Further
Examination
Once the thesis is ready for re-submission, please submit the following Submit
the following documents to the NGS Office during office hours:
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4 copies of soft bound revised thesis & 1 softcopy in CD-ROM (will be
indicated in the letter)
4 copies of soft bound original thesis (will be indicated in the letter)
Report on amended PhD Thesis (For Re-examination) duly signed and
completed (if applicable).
Detailed Summary of Amendments made / point-by-point rebuttal
f. Final Amended Thesis
If your thesis does not require further examination, please submit the following
to the NGS Office by the deadline, as stipulated after your Oral Defense:
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Report Form on Amended Ph.D. Thesis (NGS/F/016/07) duly signed and
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2.
completed (if applicable).
Detailed summary of amendments made (if applicable).
Electronic Thesis Submission Form (RO/667) duly signed and completed (if
applicable)
Updated List of Publications
Feedback on Research Guidance Form
Process of Thesis Examination
(Important: Please note that you should not, under any circumstances,
communicate with any examiner on matters related to your thesis examination.)
a. Nomination of Thesis Examiners
To ensure quality of thesis examiners, a supervisor would have to nominate 4
examiners (2 internal & 2 externals – one principal and one reserve) and
provide the references as well as brief CVs of each examiner and notify NGS
approximately one month before the thesis is expected to be submitted for
examination. The form ‘Nomination of Examiners for Thesis Examination’
(07/2012/TS/NOM/VL) should be duly completed and submitted to the NGS
Office. This is to allow sufficient time for the approval of the proposed
examiners, so that the thesis can be sent for examination upon submission.
Each thesis will be read by 2 internal and 1 external examiners. The backup
external examiner will only be called upon to assess the student’s thesis, if an
unforeseen situation arises, such as the principal nominee not being able to
fulfill his / her role. For the Criteria of Examiners, refer to the “Nomination of
Thesis Examiners” form found on the NGS website.
b. Period of Thesis Examination
Examiners are given 7 weeks from the date of receipt of thesis to complete the
examination of the thesis and submit an evaluation report. Reminders will be
sent by the NGS Office to examiners who fail to submit their evaluation reports
by the deadline.
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The thesis will be examined by three examiners
Candidates are required to attend an oral examination (open seminar style)
after the thesis has been examined.
Candidates are to bring a copy of the thesis for the oral examination.
For details on the Examination Format, please refer to Annex B
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c. Outcome of Thesis Examination
i. After all the examiners’ reports are received:
 If there are no/minor amendments, the candidate will be notified of the
confirmed oral examination date. A copy of the NGS’s guideline on the
oral presentation will also be given to the candidate.
Candidate is strongly advised, with the assistance of the
supervisor(s), to identify and respond to major issues and criticisms
raised by all examiners in their reports.
These responds could be drafted in a form of a concise point-to-point
written rebuttal that could be communicated to the examiners before
the viva, or on the day itself, through NGS. Candidates and
supervisors are reminded that they should not communicate directly
with any of the examiners.
 However, if major revision is recommended by the examiner(s), the
candidate may be asked to revise and resubmit the thesis for further
examination before the oral examination is scheduled. After the oral
examination, the candidate will be informed by the Oral Panel of the
outcome, on the amendments to the thesis and the person(s) to
advise the candidate on the amendments, if applicable.
Please note that if major revisions to the thesis are required, the candidate may
have to pay fees for 1 semester, even if the period granted to do the revision is
less than six months. If the candidate is unable to complete the revisions in six
months, s/he will be required to pay another semester's fees. The total revision
period cannot exceed 12 months.
After examination/re-examination, if no or only minor amendments are required,
the final approved thesis must be uploaded electronically. The candidate will be
notified via email when the system opens for a week for candidate to upload the
thesis. The candidate is required to check and ensure that the uploaded thesis is
the final, complete and correct version. The uploaded electronic thesis will be
accepted without any further verification from NGS or supervisor(s).
Therefore, the candidate must be responsible in ensuring that the correct version
is uploaded onto the system.
One copy (in any form agreed with your supervisors) of the final approved thesis
should be submitted to the supervisors.
The candidate must also complete and submit the Feedback Form on Research
Guidance (obtain from NGS).
3. Award of Degree
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You will be considered for award of degree
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if all minor/major revisions are incorporated in the thesis to the satisfaction
of the supervisor(s) and the Oral Panel member (if applicable);
and the thesis has been uploaded accordingly.
After the degree has been awarded by the Board of Graduate Studies, the
Chancellor’s approval will be sought for the degree to be conferred in writing. The
approximate timeframe for approval by Board of Graduate Studies and Chancellor
is about two months after the thesis has been uploaded onto the system.
IMPORTANT NOTE
Do remember to update any change in your mailing address in the ISIS system
(https://myisis.nus.edu.sg) so that the outcome of the thesis examination can be
communicated to you promptly.
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Annex A
NGS/THESIS-EXAM/08/12
General Guidelines on Format of Research Thesis Submitted For Examination
1. General Information
A Ph.D. thesis must make a significant contribution to the knowledge of the
subject concerned or provide evidence of originality either by the discovery of new
facts or by the exercising of independent critical ability.
Work which has been submitted for another degree, or for which a degree has
already been conferred by the University or any other university, may not be
submitted again as a thesis, but you are not precluded from incorporating part of
such work provided that, in the thesis, you clearly indicate the part of the work
which has been so incorporated. Furthermore, please note that any work
carried out before your enrolment in the University cannot be used for
submission in a thesis examination, unless you have obtained approval
from your supervisor and from NGS.
The thesis must be written in English,
Before submission of the thesis, you should seek consent from the copyright
owners for the inclusion of any third party proprietary/confidential intellectual
property in the thesis.
Politically and commercially-sensitive information; or proprietary/confidential
information which is not critical to the thesis and for which consent is not granted,
should be excluded from the thesis. If necessary, such information could be
included as appendices instead and be excluded from the final thesis to be
uploaded to the Electronic Thesis & Dissertation (ETD) system.
2. Thesis Title
If the thesis title differs significantly from the original approved title, the candidate
must apply for a change of title using the prescribed application form which can be
downloaded from the NGS website, at least one month before the thesis is
submitted for examination.
3. Word Limit
The word limit for the thesis (including footnotes but excluding appendices,
bibliography, maps, charts, statistical tables, graphs, illustrations, etc) is 40,000
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words. Candidates who wish to apply for an extension of word limit for their theses
will have to seek approval from their supervisor(s) and NGS.
4. General Formatting
Page Size: Each copy of the thesis must be printed on A4 size page (8.27” x
11.69”) paper with a white background and black color font for the text.
Print Quality: Clear, clean and sharp copies are required. In the case of
photocopies, no fading, extraneous marks or gray background should appear.
Margins: The left margin should be 1½ inches. Margins on the remaining three
sides should not be less than 1 inch each. A right justified or ragged right margin is
acceptable, but this must be consistent throughout the thesis.
Font: The font size for the main text should be 11 to 12 points. The same font type
and size should be used for the entire thesis (with possible exception of figures
and appendices). Do not choose a font that is difficult to read. The following fonts
are acceptable: Times Roman and Helvetica.
Line Spacing: The text should be double-spaced throughout with the following
exceptions:
• Captions for Figures/Tables – should be single-spaced
• List of Figures/Tables – should be single-spaced and double-spaced between
entries
• Footnotes – should be single-spaced
Page Numbering: All pages except the title page must be paginated. The page
numbers must appear at the bottom center of the page. The position of the page
numbers does not change even on pages with landscape mode illustrations.
All material preceding the thesis proper (introductory sections starting from
acknowledgements to summary) may have a separate sequence of numbering,
preferably in roman numerals beginning with i. Plates, maps, plans, diagrams,
tables, etc., should also be given a separate sequence of numbering.
The main body of the thesis should be numbered in Arabic numerals from 1
onwards. The numbering must be consecutive throughout the thesis and should
include all maps, diagrams, photographs, etc. Published material submitted with
the thesis, whether bound in with the thesis or not, should not be included in the
pagination but must maintain the same margins, font type and size.
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For a thesis which consists of more than one volume, one numbering sequence
should be used, for example, if volume I ends at p.200, volume II should begin
with p.201.
Footnotes: Footnotes should appear at the bottom of each page for easy
reference and not at the end of the chapter.
Printing: The thesis (paper copies) should be printed in a double-sided format.
5. Sequence of Content
The content of the thesis should be in the following order 
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Title page
Declaration Page
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
Summary
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Illustrations
List of Symbols
Main body of thesis
Bibliography
Appendices
6. Title Page (Please see sample in Figure 1)
The title page should contain the following information in BLOCK LETTERS not
exceeding 16 points • Thesis title
• Candidate’s name (with qualification(s) in brackets)
• The words: “A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF <NAME OF
DEGREE>”
• Department: DEPARTMENT OF <NAME OF DEPARTMENT>
• Name of University: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
• Year of the first submission of thesis - If the thesis is resubmitted in a
subsequent year, the year of submission to be indicated on the title page should
remain as year of first submission.
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Figure 1:
Title Page
A MODELLING STUDY OF
WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT
WONG KAH FOO
(B.Eng.(Hons.), NUS
A THESIS SUBMITTED
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILSOPHY
NUS GRADUATE SCHOOL FOR INTEGRATIVE
SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
2007
7. Declaration Page (Please see sample in Figure 2)
The words on this page should be of a font size of 11 to 12 points. The following
should be stated:
“Declaration
I hereby declare that this thesis is my original work and it has been written by me in its
entirety. I have duly acknowledged all the sources of information which have been
used in the thesis.
This thesis has also not been submitted for any degree in any university previously.”
The candidate should sign at the bottom of the page with the candidate’s nam
and the date indicated.
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Figure 2: Declaration Page
Declaration
I hereby declare that the thesis is my original
work and it has been written by me in its
entirety. I have duly acknowledged all the
sources of information which have been used in
the thesis.
This thesis has also not been submitted for any
degree in any university previously.
_________________
Wong Kam Foo
25 April 2012
8. Summary
The thesis must contain a summary of not more than 500 words written in the
English Language. The summary must be bound in with the thesis.
9. Photographs, Illustrations & Other Attachments
Photographic and other illustrations should be securely mounted using
double-faced tape. Photograph album pockets or slits in the page are not
adequate. In no circumstances should ‘cellophane tape’ or a similar material be
used for any purpose in a copy of the thesis. All copies of the thesis should
contain original photographs.
Subsidiary papers and other loose material should be bound in wherever possible.
If this is not possible, an adequately guarded pocket for each material should be
provided at the end of the thesis. Any such loose material (and corrigenda
sheets, if not bound in) should bear the candidate’s name, initials and degree.
10.
Thesis Cover and Spine (Please see sample in Figure 3 & 4)
The front cover and spine of the thesis should contain only the following
information in BLOCK LETTERS. The font size on the cover should not exceed 16
points:
Cover:
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Thesis Title
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Candidate’s Name
University Name
Year of first submission
Figure 3: Thesis Cover
A MODELLING STUDY OF
WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT
WONG KAH FOO
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
2012
Spine:
• Thesis Title (or an abbreviated title)
• Candidate’s Name
• Year of first submission
Figure 4: Thesis Spine
A MODELLING STUDY OF
WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT
11.
WONG KAH FOO
2012
Type of Cover / Binding
For submission of your thesis for examination/re-examination, the thesis should
be bound with soft cover (light blue with black lettering not exceeding 16 points)
using saddle-stitch or perfect binding (spiral or ringback binding is not acceptable).
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Annex B
Thesis Examination Format
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After reading the thesis, each examiner should within seven weeks, write
independently a brief report containing a provisional recommendation (see the list
below) and submit it to NGS.
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When all reports are received, they will be shown to all members of the
examination panel prior to the oral examination.
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The candidate may be requested to revise the thesis prior to the oral examination
if the panel as a whole agrees that this would be beneficial to the student.
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Candidate is strongly advised, with the assistance of the supervisor(s), to identify
and respond to major issues and criticisms raised by all examiners in their
reports.These responds could be drafted in a form of a concise point-to-point
written rebuttal
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At the final examination of an NGS student, the Chair of the student’s Thesis
Advisory Committee (TAC) and the internal examiners will be present. In some
cases, NGS will nominate additional NGS supervisors to participate in the
examination. External examiner(s) may also be present but this is not mandatory.
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The Oral Examination comprises the following components
- Open Seminar, of approximate 30 - 45mins (together with examiners)
- Question & Answer Session, of approximate 15 mins
- Closed-Door Examination (with examiners only)
Note:
Due to time-zone differences between Singapore and some examiners’
countries of residences, it may be necessary to schedule the open-door seminar
at a separate time from the examination. On these occasions, the seminar
should be scheduled shortly before or after the Viva. NGS will coordinate with
the student as well as examiners on a suitable timing.
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The student should make an oral presentation, describing the work, for not more
than 45 minutes. The candidate should:
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Give a brief overview of the thesis;
Discuss key findings and new contributions made to the field;
Justify the methodology and theoretical framework used; and
Analyze the implications of study for future research or applications
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He/she is then expected to answer satisfactorily any question raised on the
subject matter of the research thesis and related subjects by the examiners. The
panel will then discuss the merit of the PhD in private and reach a decision.
Possible decisions:
awarded PhD without further examination
awarded PhD subject to minor revision to thesis
awarded PhD subject to amendments of a more substantive nature
not awarded PhD but be permitted to resubmit the thesis in a revised form
after a further period of study and/or research
e. not awarded PhD
a.
b.
c.
d.
For Decisions b, c and d, the examiners should decide how the revised thesis will be
managed and will construct a report, to be communicated to the candidate.
For decision e, they will construct a report emphasizing the finality of the decision and
the reasons for it. We anticipate that in most cases, the examiners’ reports can be
given directly to the candidate, but in some editing may be required.
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