INTRODUCTION

An essential part of research is scholarly writing of research reports, particularly thesis and
dissertation. Through this manual, students are expected to comply with standards set by the
EARIST Graduate School.

With their advisers, students will find valuable pointers on how to write the different parts of
their thesis/dissertation as well as information on the defense process. In a valuable way, this is
lighten the anxiety of the candidate by having confidence that his or her work has met bare
minimum standards of scholarship.

Through scholarly outputs, the EARIST Graduate School aims to advance the frontiers of
knowledge and expertise in the various fields of disciplines as well as protect the integrity of
academic research through responsible report writing.

Application for Defense and the Defense Process

Application for Thesis/Dissertation Defense
1. After passing the comprehensive examination, the student may apply for Title
Defense at the Office of the Dean, Graduate School.

2. The candidate is given four (4) consecutive semesters or an equivalent of two years to
schedule the final defense but not less than one (1) semester after the proposal defense. In
case the final defense is not done within the prescribed period, the candidate shall have to
present a new study and must undergo the same defense process.

The Defense Process

1. First Stage: Title Defense

The student must seek a schedule for the title defense at the Office of the Dean,
Graduate School. He/she will present three (3) title proposals for the approval of the Oral
Defense Panel (ODP) composed of the Dean as Chairman and three (3) members (for thesis)
and, for dissertation, four (4) members with the Dean as chairman. The Dean shall appoint the
ODP which will, undertake the evaluation of the title proposals. After approval of the title,
thesis or dissertation adviser will be selected from among the members of the ODP. (See
Appendix A)

2. Second Stage: Proposal Defense

Upon completion of Chapter 1-3 of the thesis/dissertation proposals, the student shall
proceed with the Proposal Defense. The student must submit a copy of proposal to the Office
of the Dean, Graduate School for approval. If the proposal is in order, the College Secretary shal
advise the student to prepare six (6) copies of the proposal (for thesis) and seven (7) copies of
disseratation and must schedule the defense. The Dean shall reconstitute the same ODP. When
appropriate, a non-EARIST / GS faculty member or outsider (research / practitioner) shall be
invited as panel member upon the approval of the Dean.

3. Third Stage: Final Defense

Upon completion of Chapters 4 and 5 of the thesis and dissertation and upon the
certification of the adviser (See Appendix C), the candidate shall now proceed with the Final
Defense. During this stage, the completed research shall be evaluated by the same OPD.

The Defense Process

1. First Stage: Title Defense
The student must seek a schedule for the title defense at the Office of Dean, Graduate
School. He/she will present three (3) title proposals for the approval of the Oral Defense Panel
(ODP) composed of the Dean as chairman and three (3) members (for thesis) and, for
dissertation, four (4) members with the Dean as chairman. The Dean shall appoint the ODP
which will undertake the evaluation of the title proposals. After approval of the title, the thesis
or dissertation adviser will be selected from among the members of the ODP.
2. Second Stage: Proposal Defense
Upon completion of Chapter 1-3 of the thesis/dissertation proposal, the student shall proceed
with the Proposal Defense. The student shall proceed with the proposal to the Office of the
Dean, Graduate School for approval. If the proposal is in order, the College Secretary shall
advise the student to prepare six (6) copies of the proposal (for thesis) and seven (7) copies for
dissertation and must schedule for defense. The Dean shall reconstitute the same ODP. When
appropriate, a non-EARIST/GS faculty members or outsider (research/ practitioner) shall be
invited as panel member upon the approval of the Dean.
3. Third Stage: Final Defense
Upon completion of Chapter $ and 5 of the thesis and dissertation and upon the
certification of the adviser, the candidate shall now proceed with the Final Defense. During this
stage, the completed research shall be evaluated by the same ODP.

Manuscript Submission and Defense Schedules

• The candidate shall submit the proposal/manuscript and be scheduled for presentation
anytime within the academic year (including summer term). The required number of copies
shall be submitted to the GS office and received by the GS Secretary at least seven days before
the schedule of presentation to allow the members of the evaluation committee to adequately
scrutinize the proposal/manuscript.

• All defenses shall be scheduled at least one week after the required copies have been
received by the GS Office.
• For the student to be included in the list of candidates for graduation, the last date of
Final Defense shall be held one week before the graduate School Academic council meeting or
as scheduled by the President.

Matrix on the Number of Copies and Schedule for Submission of the Thesis/Dissertation for
Oral Defense
PRELIMINARIES

TITLE PAGE

This includes:

1. the title of the thesis / dissertations;

2. the faculty and institutions to which the paper is presented;

3. the degree sought;

4. the full name of candidate;

5. the year the research paper is defended.

The title must be typewritten in inverted pyramid style 12-point, courier new, double space, highlighted,
and ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. The recommendation length for the title is 12 to 15 words do not use
abbreviations in a title. The title page is counted but not numbered.
CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL SHEET

Certificate of approval is the type of the documents which shows the official approval of the item if you
need a certificate of approval then you must app to apply for this as it is one of the important
certificates when you need approval for something related to your business or company or organization.

This includes:

1. Certification/recommendation for oral examination: by the adviser

2. Approval of the members of the panel for oral defense

3. Acceptance by the dean;

4. Rating of oral examination; and

5. Date of oral examination.

Names should be in uppercase letters. This page is counted and should be numbered with small roman
numeral in the upper right corner.
What is an abstract?

An abstract is a concise summary of a research paper or entire thesis.

It is an original work, not an excerpted passage. An abstract must be fully self-contained and
make sense by itself, without further reference to outside sources or to the actual paper. It
highlights key content areas, your research purpose, the relevance or importance of your work,
and the main outcomes.

It is a well-developed single paragraph of approximately 250 words in length, which is indented

and single spaced. The function of the abstract is to outline briefly all parts of the paper.

Although it is placed at the beginning of your paper, immediately following the title page, the
abstract should be the last thing that you write, once you are sure of the conclusions you will
reach.

Why write an abstract?

Abstracts are important for both selection and indexing purposes.

Selection: Abstracts allow readers who may be interested in the paper to quickly decide
whether it is relevant to their purposes and whether they need to read the whole paper.

Indexing: Most academic journal databases accessed through the library enable you to search
abstracts. This allows for quick retrieval by users. Abstracts must incorporate the key terms that
a potential researcher would use to search.

When is it necessary to write abstracts?

Abstracts are usually required for:

• submission of articles to journals

• application for research grants

• completion and submission of theses

• submission of proposals for conference papers

What to include in an abstract

The format of your abstract will depend on the discipline in which you are working. However,
all abstracts generally cover the following five sections: 1/2

1. Reason for writing:

What is the importance of the research? Why would a reader be interested in the larger work?

2. Problem:

What problem does this work attempt to solve? What is the scope of the project? What is the
main argument, thesis or claim?

3. Methodology:

An abstract of a scientific work may include specific models or approaches used in the larger
study. Other abstracts may describe the types of evidence used in the research.
4. Results:

An abstract of a scientific work may include specific data that indicates the results of the
project. Other abstracts may discuss the findings in a more general way.

5. Implications:

How does this work add to the body of knowledge on the topic? Are there any practical or
theoretical applications from your findings or implications for future research?

Acknowledgments

Why is Acknowledgement Section needed in Research Paper?

The acknowledgement section is one of the important sections for academic research papers. It
appreciates all the contributors of the research paper for their efforts. Here is how you should
acknowledge all the contributors, only those who gave assistance without professional fees
should be mentioned in the acknowledgement.

As the acknowledgment section helps to identify the contributors you should try to get
everyone who is involved in this research. It may include the following:

• Authors/Writers
• Colleagues
• Funding Organization/ Donor = Professors
• Supervisors
• Administrative personnel
• Reviewers

The information supplied in the acknowledgement section of academic writing should be kept
concise. It should only include persons who are directly involved with the project.

GUIDELINES FOR WRITING

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A page of acknowledgements is usually included

at the beginning of a Final Year Project,
immediately after the Table of Contents.
Acknowledgements enable you to thank all those
who have helped in carrying out the research.
Careful thought needs to be given concerning
those whose help should be acknowledged and in
what order. The general advice is to express your
appreciation in a concise manner and to avoid
strong emotive language.

Note that personal pronouns such as 'l, my, me... are nearly always used in the
acknowledgements while in the rest of the project such personal pronouns are generally
avoided.
The following list includes those people who are often acknowledged. Note however that every
project is different and you need to tailor your acknowledgements to suit your particular
situation.

Dedication

A dedication is a message from the author that is appended to a work in honor of a person,
group, or cause. Most dedications are brief tributes that begin with "To...", such as "To my
family."

Use the third person in referring to yourself. The acknowledgment page is counted and should
be numbered with small roman numeral in the upper right comer. (See Appendix E)

Dedication The researcher may use any format. This page counted and should be numbered
with small roman numeral in the upper nght corner.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Precedes all sections it lists. It should list the chapter titles, the main headings and
subheadings in the text, and the reference materials.
• The beginning page number for each section is indicated along the right-hand margin.
• The numbering of chapters and the wording, capitalization and punctuation of titles and
headings should be exactly the same as they are in the text.

EXAMPLE
• This page is counted and should be numbered with small roman numeral in the upper
right corner.
LIST OF TABLE/FIGURES

• Follows the Table of Contents.

• Each type of illustrative matter should be listed on a separate page.
• When there are only two or three tables or figures in 2 thesis or dissertation, these are
combined in one list.

EXAMPLE

• This page is counted and should be numbered with small roman numeral in the upper
right corner.
Chapter 1

The Problem and Its Background

Introduction

The introduction provides readers with the background information for the research the purpose is to
ascertain a framework for the research so that the readers can understand how it is related to other
research or studies.

This part should contain a discussion of any or all of the Following

1. Presentation of the problem (Macro-Mini-Level)

The start of the introduction is the presentation of the problem, that is, what the problem is all
about. This will indicate what will be covered by the study.
Example: Suppose that the investigation is about the CLASSICAL MUSIC IN SPATIAL REASONING
TEST: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
 Macro - Sociologists who conduct macro-level research study interactions at the broadest
level, such as interactions between nations or comparisons across nations.
Example: Worldwide trends in the criminal regulation of sex, 1945–2005. American
Sociological Review, 75, 867–893. These researchers examined worldwide changes over time
in laws regulating sex. By comparing laws across a number of countries over a period of
many years (1945–2005), Frank learned that laws regulating rape, adultery, sodomy, and
child sexual abuse shifted in focus from protecting larger entities, such as families, to
protecting individuals.

Mini - At the micro level, sociologists examine the smallest levels of interaction; even in some
cases, just “the self” alone.
Example: Microlevel analyses might include one-on-one interactions between couples or
friends. Or perhaps a sociologist is interested in how a person’s perception of self is
influenced by his or her social context.
Level - At the meso level, sociologists tend to study the experiences of groups and the
interactions between groups.
Example: At the meso level, sociologists are likely to examine interactions between gangs or
perhaps how different branches of the same gang vary from one area to the next.

2. The existence of an unsatisfactory condition, a felt need/problem that requires a solution

Example: A candidate’s ability to manage 2D and 3D objects, recognize patterns between
shapes, and visualize moments and changes in those shapes is evaluated using spatial reasoning
exams, also known as spatial awareness/spatial ability tests. This can entail determining which
response option rotates a certain 2D image. We constantly display spatial awareness as we
evaluate things and forms our daily lives (Spatial Reasoning Tests | Expert Practice Tests). As
cited by Liben and Titus (2012), they want to know who to improve the spatial thinking of the
students that enrolled to geosciences courses. They used spatial tests regularly and got a
significant result that they eventually benefited and improved their cognitive thinking.

3. Rationale for Conducting the Study

- The reason or reasons why it is necessary to conduct the study must be discussed

Example: In this study, it will tackle more on the classical music and spatial reasoning. This
was stimulated from the pre-existing and preceding studies and literatures. The goal was to
determine whether there is an impact of classical background music on spatial reasoning.

- keep in mind the need to provide an answer to the questions: "What are you doing; and
Why are you doing it." this means that the researcher should lay down the focus of the
study as well as the rationale for conducting such study from global down to local
perspective.
 4. Historical background of the problem
This segment consists of statements on what led the investigator to launch the study. A
historical background may be given. Situations that may have spurred the researcher to
undertake the study are included.
Example: Canesares, Beniga and Talledo (2022) conducted a study that aims to
investigate the effect of different music presentations on the different cognitive tasks
among college students wherein results showed that there are no significant treatment
main effect for music, but has a significant treatment main effect for cognitive tasks,
and significant interaction effect between music and cognitive tasks.
Theoretical Framework or Conceptual Framework

This study should contain both theoretical and conceptual framework

- Theoretical Framework - a specific theory and theorist must be identified and discussed.
- Conceptual Framework - Clarifies the relationship between and among the major variables of the
study and may be presented through a paradigm

Input – Process - Output (IPO) Model

Inputs - are modeled as consumables and efforts that are introduced to a system at the beginning stage
of the lifecycle.

Process - is modeled as the conversion of the inputs to the outputs.

Outputs - are modeled as the result produced by the system.

if the IPO model is utilized, The Following must observed

A. The columns must be of equal size.

B. Feedback Loop must be properly indicated

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
• It is used in research work as a claim that points to the problem addressed by a study.
• The goal of SOP is to transform a generalized problem into a specific and well-defined
problem.
• An SOP does not have to be long and detailed. A good statement of the problem should
be no more than one page long.
• A good statement of the problem should address a knowledge gap in the field and result
in additional research.
• The first paragraph includes a declarative sentence that states the purpose of the study.
The sub-problems are expressed in interrogative sentences in the following paragraph.
• Proposals are written in the future tense, while the thesis or dissertation is written in
the present tense.
EXAMPLE OF STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

o Classical Music in Spatial Reasoning Test’s Statement of the Problem

The study aimed to determine the impact of listening to the classical background music of 1st
year Bachelor of Science in Psychology Section B in Eulogio "Amang” Rodriguez Institute of
Science and Technology on answering spatial reasoning tests effectively.
Specifically, the researchers sought to answer the following questions:
1. What is the mean performance of the 1st year students in the spatial reasoning test under:
1.1 Control Condition;
1.2 Experimental Condition?
2. Is there a significant difference between the control group and experimental group in terms
of spatial reasoning test performance?
3. Based on the findings, what intervention program may be proposed?

Hypothesis
This is stated in the null form (Ho) with an introductory sentence. Use hypotheses for
more than one hypothesis.
VARIABLES IN HYPOTHESIS
1. Independent Variable - is something the researcher changes or controls.
2. Dependent Variable - is something the researcher observes and measures.
TYPES OF RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
• Alternative Hypothesis - states that there is a relationship between the two variables
being studied (one variable has an effect on the other).
• Null Hypothesis - states that there is no relationship between the two variables being
studied (one variable does not affect the other).
• Nondirectional Hypothesis - A non-directional (two-tailed) hypothesis predicts that the
independent variable will have an effect on the dependent variable, but the direction of the
effect is not specified.
• Directional Hypothesis - A directional (one-tailed) hypothesis predicts the nature of the
effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable.

HOW TO WRITE A HYPOTHESIS

1. To write the alternative and null hypotheses for an investigation, you need to identify
the key variables in the study.
2. Operationalized the variables being investigated.
3. Decide on a direction for your prediction.
4. Write your hypothesis.
SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
• The Scope and Limitation of the study sets boundaries and parameters of the problems
and it narrows down the scope of the research.
• The first paragraph contains the Scope, which defines how the study will be narrowed or
the boundaries in terms of people involved in the study, instrument, time, location, or the
study's "who," "where," "when," and "how. “
• The second paragraph identifies the limitations or the constraints of the research.

EXAMPLE OF SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

o Classical Music in Spatial Reasoning Test’s Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study only focuses on the Effect of Classical Background Music on Answering the Spatial
Reasoning Test Effectively of the 1st-year B.S. Psychology Students in section B of Eulogio
Amang Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology Cavite Campus. The data collection will
be conducted on 85% of the population in the 1st year of B.S. Psychology Student on Eulogio
Amang Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology CAVITE and the method we used to know
the percentage of respondents is Slovin Formula. The test, which will be done with the
respondents' participation, is randomly divided into either the control group (no classical
background music) or the experiment group (with classical background music). Participants in
the experimental group were told that a recording of a classical music piece would be played,
and they were to do a Spatial Test. The time consumed in the study is approximately 30 to 60
minutes. This study will not cover other problems that are not considered part of Classical
Background Music. And the research will not extend to other aspects that are not connected to
Classical Background Music, and it is also for our desired participants only; 1st Year BS
Psychology on Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology CAVITE.
Chapter 1

Significance of the Study

• Begins with an introductory statement
• Must identify who will benefit from the study’s findings.

Definition of Terms
• Defines important terms or variables used in the study.
• Terms should be defined conceptually or operationally.
• Provide an introductory sentence. Terms should be alphabetically arranged.
• Acronyms and abbreviations should be spelled out. For two or more worded terms,
unless otherwise indicated, only the first letter of the first word should be capitalized,
• Sources of constitutive and technical definitions should be properly acknowledged.
Chapter 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter serves to tie together two things: What others have done and what you have plan
to do. The review is supposed to lead somewhere, namely to your own research and its
justification.
A Review of Related Literature (RRL)
- Is the selection or annotation of available documents (both published or
unpublished) which contains information, ideas, data and evidence related to the
topic that a person proposes to research on.

Only Literature and Studies related in purpose or findings to the current study should be
included in the review. For Related Studies, the discussion should be a brief critical analysis of
the purpose, method of the study, principal findings and conclusions. Point out how each of the
studies reviewed relates to the problem at hand. The present study should be shown to relate
with or evolved from earlier work.

Presentation of the literature and studies should be done thematically or according to the
variables of the study. Reviewed Literature except those of historical importance must be
copyrighted within the last ten years while ten years for studies. A minimum of ten (10)
literature/studies which are relevant to the present study must be cited.
The review is divided into two parts:
A. Related Literature (Foreign and Local),
B. Related Studies (Foreign and Local).

A. Related Literature
• The related literatures are articles taken from the books, journals, magazines, novels
and other sources relevant to a particular area of research.
• The related literature is composed of discussions of facts and principles to which the
present study is related.
Related Literature are classified into two:
• Foreign Literature- it is the study of significant works (poems, novels, plays, even works
of philosophy) written in foreign languages

• Local Literature- is an informative booklet or other means of information that informs

people about the local environment.
Chapter 2

Local and Foreign Studies

Synthesis

Local and Foreign Studies

Research studies are done to discover new information or to answer a question about how we
learn, behave and function with the end-goal of benefitting society.
Some studies might involve simple tasks like completing a survey, being observed among a
group of people or participating in a group discussion

Synthesis
combine the information from those multiple sources and add your own analysis of the
literatures or studies

Only related literature and studies related in purpose or findings to the current study should be
included in the review.
example:
CLASSICAL MUSIC IN SPATIAL REASONING TEST
ex: Tabuena, A. C. (2021). The Effect of Research-Based Music Classroom
Assessment Techniques on the Students’ Performance in Flute Recorder Education. Universal
Journal of Educational Research.

Presentation of the literature and studies should be done thematically or according to the
variables of the study.

For documentation, the APA author/date style of parenthetical citation is utilized. (example of
APA citation)
Reviewed literature except those of historical importance must be copyrighted within the last
10 years while 5 years from studies. A minimum of 10 literature/studies which are relevant to
the present study must be cited.