What are Preliminaries?
Preliminaries are pages preceding the main text of a research project or
thesis. The research project is usually presented following a particular
format. The format varies from places to places and from discipline to
discipline. The format presented in this post are considered to be widely used
in many places and discipline. Essentially, a research project report comprises
three major sections as follows:
1.
The
Preliminaries
2.
The
Main Body
3.
The
Appendix
This post will discuss the Preliminaries, you can check the main body (which
comprises Chapter 1 to 5) of my previous post here: How to Write Project or
Thesis.
The preliminaries is sub-divided into the Following, and i will discuss the importance of each on your project work or thesis.
The Title Page – This carries information on the
project, the programme (degree, diploma of certificate) for which the project
is being undertaken, the department and the university/institution to which the
report is being presented, the particulars of the student submitting the
project, the month and year the project is submitted.
The Approval page – This makes provision for the signatures
of the supervisor, the internal examiner, the external examiner, the head of
the department and dean of the faculty where the thesis is being carried out.
The Acknowledgement – is used to express gratitude or
appreciation and indebtedness of individual, groups, institutions,
organizations etc. who has/have contributed to the success of the research work.
Those who by one way or the other provided form of assistance or the other
during the execution of the work.
The table of Content – In the table of contents, the various
elements, chapters or parts of the report and the pages where they appear are
listed. Only the first pages are indicated.
The List of Tables and
Figures – this sub-section
follows after the table of contents. The tables and figures used in the thesis
will be indicated under here. They are not to appear as an original table, but to
indicate the pages they can be found in the thesis or project.
The abstract – This is a very important part of this
section and of the project as a whole. This part is a summary or a very short
account of the work. This short account gives an idea of the purpose of the
work, brief description of the methodology and major findings of your study. It
can be used to know the quality content of your thesis.