The Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R.

Medical University, Chennai

GUIDELINES ON DISSERTATIONS FOR ALL PG COURSES

Post Graduate Medical Courses

The committee recommended to follow the guidelines stipulated by the Medical
Council of India to approve the dissertations submitted by the post-graduate
Medical students.
This will come into effect from April 2014 Examination onwards.

Doctor of Medicine (M.D.)/Master of Surgery (M.S.)

Thesis/Dissertation

Every candidate shall carry out work on an assigned research project

under the guidance of a recognised Post Graduate Teacher, the result of
which shall be written up and submitted in the form of a Thesis.

Work for writing the Thesis is aimed at contributing to the development of a

spirit of enquiry, besides exposing the candidate to the techniques of
research, critical analysis, acquaintance with the latest advances in
medical science and the manner of identifying and consulting available
literature. Thesis shall be submitted at least six months before the
theoretical and clinical / practical examination.

The thesis shall be examined by a minimum of three examiners; one

internal and two external examiners, who shall not be the examiners for
Theory and Clinical; and on the acceptance of the thesis by two examiners,
the candidate shall appear for the final examination.

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MDS Degree Course
The committee recommended to follow the guidelines stipulated by the Dental
Council of India to approve the dissertations submitted by the post-graduate
Dental students.This will come into effect from April 2014 Examination onwards.

DISSERTATION:

Every candidate appearing for the MDS degree examination for the first
time shall submit with his application for the admission to the Examination,
four typewritten copies of a dissertation of a research topic undertaken by
the candidate and prepared under the direction and guidance and to the
satisfaction of his University teacher. The dissertation should be submitted
3 months prior to the MDS Examination. The dissertation shall be referred
to the Examiners for the MDS examination and acceptance of it by the
examiners shall be a precondition to the admission of the candidate to the
written part of the examination.

A candidate whose dissertation has been accepted by the examiners, but

who is declared to have failed at the examination will be permitted to
reappear at the subsequent MDS examination without having to prepare a
new dissertation, if, however, the dissertation is rejected, the authorities
shall give reasons thereof and suggestion for the improvement of the same
and the dissertation thus improved will have to be resubmitted to the
examiners and accepted before appearing in MDS Examination.

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M.Sc. ( Nursing)
The committee recommended to follow the guidelines of Indian Nursing Council
to approve the dissertations submitted by the post-graduate Nursing students
(M.Sc. Nursing).

Further, the committee recommended to include the following also.

 If a candidate fails in Dissertation, the results need not be withheld to
enable the student to resubmit the dissertation.

 If a candidate fails in the Dissertation, he / she should resubmit the

dissertation three months before for the next exam.

This will come into effect from April 2014 Examination onwards.

Dissertation

Evaluation of the dissertation should be done by the examiner prior to viva

Duration: Viva-voce -minimum 30 minutes per student

Guidelines for Dissertation

Tentative Schedule for dissertation

S. No. Activities Scheduled Time

1 Submission of the research End of 9th month of 1st year
Proposal
2 Submission of dissertation – End of 9th month of IInd Year
Final

Note: - Administrative approval and ethical clearance should be obtained

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A. Research Guides

a) Qualification of Guide

Main guide : Nursing faculty / nursing expert in the same clinical

speciality holding Ph.D./M.Phil/M.Sc. Nursing with a minimum of 3
years experience in teaching in the Post Graduate Programme in
Nursing.

Co-Guide : A Co-Guide is a nursing faculty/expert in the field of study

(may be from outside the college but should be within the city.)

b) Guide – Students Ratio

Maximum of 1:4 (including as co-guide)

c) Research Committee
There should be a research committee in each college comprising of
minimum 5 members chaired by the Principal, College of Nursing.

One internal and One external examiners(outside the University) should

evaluate dissertation and jointly conduct viva-voce for each student

For Dissertation Internal examiner should be the guide and external

examiner should be Nursing faculty / nursing expert in the same clinical speciality
holding Ph.D./M.Phil/M.Sc. Nursing with a minimum of 3 years experience in
guiding the research projects for Post Graduate students of Nursing.

M. Pharmacy
1. Faculty who possess seven years of teaching experience after postgraduate
and out of which five years of P.G. teaching in their speciality will be a guide for
postgraduate students . The Guide Students ratio should be 1:4.

2. The Candidates can be permitted to carry out the dissertation outside the
institution for the purpose of data collection allowed maximum of 90 days.

3. The candidate should submit the dissertation two months before the
commencement of the final exam.

This will come into effect from April 2014 Examination onwards.

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M.P.T.

1. Faculty who possess five years of teaching experience after postgraduate

will be a guide for postgraduate students in the concerned specialities . The
Guide Students ratio should be 1:4.

2. The candidate should submit the dissertation three months before the
commencement of the final exam.

This will come into effect from April 2014 Examination onwards.

MOT

1. Faculty who possess four years of teaching experience after postgraduate

will be a guide for postgraduate students in the concerned specialities . The
Guide Students ratio should be 1:4.

2. The candidate should submit the dissertation three months before the
commencement of the final exam.

This will come into effect from April 2014 Examination onwards.

AYUSH
MD (Homoeopathy)

 Every candidate seeking admission to the Part II of the examination shall

submit a dissertation of not less than 10000 words. The dissertation shall
form the basis of viva-voce examination.
 Every candidate shall prepare and submit four printed or typed copies of
dissertation embodying his own research and contribution in advancing
the knowledge in the subject to the University for approval not later than
six months prior to the holding of Part II examination.
 The Dissertation shall be submitted to the Guide/Supervisor at least three
months before the time fixed for submitting it to the University, and the
Guide/Supervisor shall certify that the work has not previously formed the
basis for award of any post graduate degree or diploma and that the work
is the record of the candidate's personal efforts and submitted to the
University duly countersigned by the Guide/Supervisor.

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  The examiners appointed to conduct the examinations shall scrutinize the
dissertation and jointly report whether the dissertation be accepted or
rejected or may make suggestions, as they deem fit.
 The candidate shall be allowed to appear for the Part II examination three
months after the examiner accepts the dissertation
 Provided that the candidate, whose dissertation has not been accepted,
may be permitted to resubmit the same within a period of six months and
not more than one year after rejection.
This will come into effect from April 2014 Examination onwards.

MD (Siddha)
 The topic of the dissertation should be submitted to the university at the
end of the first year before appearing for the examination.
 Once the title of dissertation topic is accepted, the student will not be
allowed to change the topic or proposed scheme of work without prior
sanction of the authorities concerned.

 The dissertation should contain at the end a summary of not more than
150 words embodying the conclusion arrived at by the student.
 The dissertation shall not ordinarily exceed 150 type written pages and
should not be less than 50 pages including chart, diagram, photograph.
Bibliography etc.
 The dissertation should be submitted to the university three month before
the commencement of final year examination.
 If the dissertation is not approved, it will be returned to the student with the
re marks of the examiner and the student can resubmit the same after
complying with the observations made by the examiners.
 The student will be given two chances for resubmission of the dissertation
at the end of six months period each after the first submission.
This will come into effect from April 2014 Examination onwards.

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ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCE COURSES

1. Faculty who possess seven years of teaching experience after postgraduate

and out of which five years of P.G. teaching in their speciality will be a guide for
postgraduate students . The Guide Students ratio should be 1:4.

2. The Candidates can be permitted to carry out the dissertation outside the
institution for the purpose of data collection allowed maximum of 90 days.

3. The candidate should submit the dissertation three months before the
commencement of the final exam.

This will come into effect from April 2014 Examination onwards.

General Guidelines for Submission of Dissertation/Thesis by

Post-Graduate students

1. The dissertation / thesis will be signed by he Guide at the time of submission

and countersigned by the Professor / HOD and forwarded by the Head of the
institution.

2. The topic of the dissertation / thesis should be approved by the Guide / HOD
and forwarded by the Head of the institution (i.e Dean / Principal) along with the
approval of the Institutional Ethics Committee / Institutional Animal Ethics
Committee to the University before the commencement of the 1st year
examination.

3. If the adequate facilities are not available in the concerned institution, the
candidates can be permitted for data collection related to dissertation for a
maximum of 90 days outside the institution with approval of the Guide / HOD /

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Head of the institution.

4. If a candidate fails in dissertation he / she has to resubmit the

dissertation within three months before the next exam.

5. The candidates should complete the dissertation within double the duration of
the course.

6. The thesis work will be reviewed by the Assistant Professor once in a month,
the Unit Chief once in 3(three) months and HOD once in a year.

7. Two copies are to be submitted as an electronic version of the entire thesis in

a standard CD format by mentioning the details and technicalities used in the CD
format.

8. The dissertation / thesis should not be published in any journal before taking
the examination.

9. It should be submitted for publication in E-journal of the University after the

examination is over.

10. Existing colour of wrapper to be followed for all postgraduate courses.

This will come into effect from April 2014 Examination onwards.

This guidelines for Dissertation of this University for all

post graduate courses is subject to the condition laid down in their
respective councils norms wherever there is no councils norms, the
University norms shall be final.

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