HOW TO WRITE PRELIMINARY PAGES OF YOUR RESEARCH

HOW TO WRITE PRELIMINARY PAGES OF YOUR RESEARCH

In your research your preliminary pages come before your main work; they are concise and they form   part of your project work. I will be taking you through the various pages that come before your main research in this blog post:

1. The cover page

This is the first page of your research and it I written in upper case letters. It contains the topic of your research work, your name, your registration number (that is matriculation number), and the institution of study; the year and month your research was completed. For example:

THE THEME OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND FEMINISM IN CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS

BY

GEORGE WILLIAMS ADIGWE

UG/014/200

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ARTS

NIGER DELTA UNIVERSITY, WILBERFORCE ISLAND, BAYELSA STATE

IN

PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE REQUIREMENT OF A BACHELORS OF ARTS IN ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES

JULY, 2018

2. Declaration

This where you attest to the originality and authenticity of the research you have carried out. You can liken this to an affidavit so when you are declaring you simply owe up to the work. An example would be:

I declare that this project on “The Theme of Domestic Violence and Feminism in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus I an original work done by me under the supervision of Professor Saani Ngagage Atiru, department of English and Literary Studies, faculty of Arts, Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State.

Then you sign off with your name below the declaration

3. Certification

This is more like your declaration but at a deeper level. This time you are not the only one involved, your supervisor and external supervisor are also part of it. It is a confirmation that you have performed your requirement to be awarded the degree. You can see samples from your school library to know how it is written.

4. Dedication

You probably had someone in mind while doing your research; it could be a love one or someone who has a significant influence in your life that you want to dedicate the work to.  Well, most people will dedicate it to God because it is His grace that aided you in accomplishing the work.

5. Acknowledgement

Here is where you express your gratitude to those who have helped you doing your research and also those saw you through your years in the university.  I am sure some significant things happened and you received help from unlikely sources that helped you out of crisis. Feel free to thank those persons who helped you but of course, remember your parents, siblings, supervisors, lecturers, social clubs etc.

6. Table of contents

I am sure you don’t want your reader turning to your work and wondering where to find a particular information. So, your table of content would help you structure your research. It is the arrangement of information in order of the chapters.

7. Abstract

I have already written about how you can write a beautiful abstract. Please, check previous blog posts to read up on abstract.