RESEARCH PROJECT FORMAT

The content, format and style of all elements of your research project must conform to
the APA (American Psychological Association) 7th edition. APA style should be
followed as per the following example.
Margins
 Left margin – 1.5 inches to allow for binding.
 Top margin – 1.0 inch above the first line of type.
 Right margin - should be at least 1.0 inch.
 Bottom margin- 1.0 inch below the last line of type.
 Page No. 0.5 inch at the right upper corner.
 NOTE:
 Font Style: Times New Roman/Arial
 Font Size: 12 (For all text other than headings)
 Line Spacing: 1.5

Page Limit for Research Project

Minimum Limit 30 pages

Maximum Limit 70 pages

REFERENCES
The references should appear in APA (American Psychological Association) 7th
edition format.

 For detailed guidance of APA formatting style please see the Appendix at
the end of the document. Table and Figure captions should be used
accordingly.
The project should include the following chapters:
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1 must be at least comprising of the following headings:

 Background of the Study

 Statement of the Problem
 Objectives of the Study
 Scope/Limitation of the Study
 Significance of the Study
 Outline of the Study

CHAPTER 2 THE LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The next chapters (i.e. Chapter 4, 5, etc.…) comprise of:
 Results and Discussion/Analysis

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 7 RECOMMENDATIONS/IMPLICATIONS
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
 Navy Blue Color with Gold Script)
Title Cover Specimen (Hard Bound)
(After 3 Enter Spaces)

TYPE BUSINESS RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE HERE

(16 pt. Bold, Capital Letters, Single Space, Align Centre)
(After 5 enter spaces)

(After 4 enter spaces)

TYPE YOUR NAME HERE

(16 pt. Bold, Capital Letters, Single Space, Align Centre)
(After 6 enter spaces)

(16pt., Bold, Capital Letters, Single Space, Align Centre)

NAME OF THE DEPARTMENT
NAME OF THE DIVISION CAMPUS
UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
LAHORE
(After 1 enter space)
TYPE YOUR SESSION
 (Inner title page Specimen)
(After 3 enter spaces)

Type business research project title here

(14pt. Bold, capitalized each word, Single Space., Align Centre)
(After 6 enter spaces)

TYPE YOUR NAME HERE

TYPE YOUR REGISTRATION NUMBER HERE
TYPE TOUR ROLL NUMBER HERE
TYPE YOUR SESSION HERE
(14pt., Bold, Capital Letters, Single Space, Align Centre)
(After 6 enter spaces)

A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of
Degree Name (Program)
(14pt., Normal, Sentence Case, Single Space, Align Centre)
(After 11 enter spaces)

(16pt., Bold, Capital Letters, Single Space, Align Centre)

NAME OF THE DEPARTMENT
NAME OF THE DIVISION CAMPUS
UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
LAHORE
(After 1 enter space)
TYPE YOUR SESSION
 (Make a section of the document and start page number in Roman (I, II, III, IV……….) from
here at top right corner of the header)

UNDERTAKING
(14pt., Bold, Capital letters, Align Center, Justified, Heading 1)

I solemnly declare that research work presented in the thesis entitled “Type your Business
Research Project Title” is solely my research work with no significant contribution from any
other person. Small contribution/help wherever taken has been duly acknowledged and that
complete thesis has been written by me.
I understand the zero-tolerance policy of the HEC and University of Education, Lahore towards
plagiarism. Therefore, I as an Author of the above titled thesis declare that no portion of my
research project has been plagiarized and any material used as reference is properly
referred/cited.

I undertake that if I am found guilty of any formal plagiarism in the above titled thesis even after
award of <Type your degree abbreviation> degree, the University reserves the rights to
withdraw/revoke my <Type your degree abbreviation> degree and that HEC and the University
has the right to publish my name on the HEC/University Website on which names of students are
placed who submitted plagiarized project.

(12pt., Normal, Sentence Case, Line Spacing 1.5, Justified)

Name: ___________________________________________

Signature: ___________________________________________

Date: ________________________________________________
DEDICATION (Optional)
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
(14pt., Bold, Capital letters, Align Center, Justified, Heading 1)

It should not exceed one page.

(12pt., Normal, Sentence Case, Line Spacing 1.5, Justified)

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
(14pt., Bold, Capital letters, Align Center, Justified, Heading 1)

Not more than 1000 words. Use paragraphs to include the following:
 Background of the study
 Objectives/Aim of study
 Research Methodology
 Findings
 Conclusion
 Implications
 Limitations

(12pt., Normal, Sentence Case, Line Spacing 1.5, Justified)

TABLE OF CONTENTS (Should be Auto generated)
 LIST OF TABLES
(14pt., Bold, Capital letters, Align Center, Justified, Heading 1)

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

LIST OF FIGURES
(14pt., Bold, Capital letters, Align Center, Justified, Heading 1)

FIGURE NO. CAPTION PAGE NO.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
(14pt., Bold, Capital letters, Align Center, Justified, Heading 1)

LIST OF APPENDICES
(14pt., Bold, Capital letters, Align Center, Justified, Heading 1)

APPENDIX NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

 (Make another section of the document and start with page number 1 from here at top right
corner of the header)
CHPATER 1 INTRODUCTION
(14pt., Bold, Capital letters, Align Center, Justified, Heading 1)

1.1 Background
 APPENDIX

USING APA STYLE MANUAL

What is the APA Style?

 APA is a Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association

1) General Guidelines

One should type or print on one side only and the size of the paper should be 8½ X 11
inches. The page number should be consecutive and be at the top right corner. The page number
should begin from the title page but there shouldn’t be page number on title page.
The font size of the text should be 12-point and Times Roman or Courier typefaces. Use only
black toner. There should be indent paragraphs 5-7 spaces. The maximum number of lines per
page should not be more than 27.

2) Headings

There are five levels of heading as given below.

CENTERED UPPERCASE HEADING

Centered Uppercase and Lowercase Heading

Centered, Italicized, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading

Flush Left, Italicized, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading

Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading, ending with a period,
with the following text starting on the same line.

3) Numbers

From one to nine, write all numbers in words e.g. one, two, three, ….nine. From 10 and
overuse numerals for all numbers and never starts a sentence with a number.

4) Seriation

For Seriation, always use the lowercase letter in parentheses.

Seriation within paragraph or sentence: For instance, the response of participants was
different (a) passive response, (b) confused response, and (c) the active one.

Separate paragraphs: Each paragraph should be numbered with an Arabic numeral (1, 2,
 3.), and add a period. Example

1. Start with paragraph indent and type second and succeeding lines flush
left.
2. The new item starts a new paragraph.
5) Tables
Tables should be plotted as shown below.

Table 5.2: Percentage Contribution from RU and non RU universities

Author Publication Citation

Research universities 80 1898(83.3%) 11519 (%81.4)

Non-research universities 20 381 (16.7%) 2628 (18.6%)

Total 100 2279 14147

A.
Significant at .05 level
b.
Based on 10000 sampled tables with starting seed 200000000
6) Figures
Draw figures as shown below;

Figure 5.1 Box plot illustration of AI and OII

7) Citations

The following information is required for citation.

i) Author or Authoring Body
ii) Publication’s date
iii) Title of the research work
 iv) Publisher of the work & place of publication
v) Source’s title (journal, book, talk, encyclopaedia, website etc.
vi) Source’s volume number, issue number, page or paragraph numbers etc.
vii) In the case of electronic source (website, DOI,) date of retrieval date should be
mentioned. For examples, see the relevant part given below.

In-text citation: It is also known as parenthetical citation e.g. author-date reference.

Details are given below. The in-text citation should be listed in the Reference list
Author’s Name in Sentence
Bornmen et al. (2008) used greater than 0.6 cut-off threshold for the categorization of the
indices between the factors (p. 743).
Author’s Name in Parentheses
Scientometric data are usually not symmetrically distributed and skewed (Egghe, 2006a;
Bornmann et al, 2008; Moed, 2005). Therefore, we applied Egghe (2005a; 2005b)
assumption that the relationship between any two indices is nonlinear and can be
described as a power function.
8) Verbatim copying/Short Quotations
Always put the double quotation in the running text for verbatim copying of text or short
quotations of less than 40 words. Make sure to add the author’s last name, publication
year, and page number(s) of quoted text e.g. h-index is defined as “a scientist has index h
if h of his /her Np papers has at least h citations each and the other (Np − h) papers have
no more than h citations each” (Hirsch, 2005a, p. 16569)

The traumatic response commonly involves “delayed, the uncontrolled repetitive

appearance of hallucinations and other intrusive phenomena” (Caruth, 1996, p. 11).
9) Long Quotations

For 40 or more than 40 words, write the text in a block form. Text should be indented 5-7
spaces and no need to put the quotation marks. If the quotation has internal paragraphs,
indent the internal paragraphs further 5-7 spaces. Use single space to write the block
quote and cite the source after the end punctuation of the quoted text. Here is an example
of Long Quotations
Haider (1969) stated that:

The report, submitted by Key in 1956, suggested the need for strengthening scientific
libraries to the chain of laboratories of Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research (PCSIR). The report emphasized the need for maintenance of up to date
libraries through a regular flow of scientific literature in a country like Pakistan, where
personal contacts with international scientists are rather limited. Realizing the poor
condition of science & technology libraries, PANSDOC sponsored a symposium on the
“Development of scientific and technical libraries” held from 14 th to 16th March in 1963
at Karachi. It provided a platform to the scientists, educationists, librarians & publishers
 for presenting their problems, complaints and appreciations based on their experiences.
The PCSIR was established in 1957 with the technical & financial assistance of
UNESCO. Its purpose is to help Pakistani scientists keep abreast of current scientific
literature through its document procurement, translation, bibliography & compilation
services (pp.38-41).
How to cite Secondary Reference
World Health Organization proposed in 1947 the following definition of health. “Health
is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence
of disease and infirmity” (World Health Organization, as cited in Potter & Perry, 2001, p.
3).
10) Multiple Authors (Parenthetical Citations)
In case of two authors, cite both names and separated then by symbol & for instance:
(Saeed & Maryam, 1969, p. 137)
In case of 3 to 5 authors, first time cite all the authors and then use et al. For example:
(Willium et al., 2003)
For six or more authors, one has to cite first author’s name and then et al. e.g: (Pervaiz et
al., 1998)
11) Single author (Multiple Citations)
In case of multiple sources from a single author, citation should be put in chronological
order, separated by comma, for instance: (Burken, 1996, 1998, in press)
When all publication are in the same year the same year: (Ali, 1997a, 1997b, 1997c, in
press)
12) Multiple authors (Parenthetical Citations –Multiple Citations)
For multiple sources, authors should be separated by a semicolon, and should be put in
alphabetical order. For example: (Buker, 1968; Pervaiz, 1995; White, 2011)
13) Personal communication (not included in references)
Personal communication should also cite in the text. Example: (T.K. Aamer, personal
communication, October 14, 2011)
14) Handling Parenthetical Citations
 Sometimes additional information is necessary . . . for instance;
When there is more than one author with the same last name
(H. James, 1878); (W. James, 1880)
 Two or more works in the same parentheses
(Caruth, 1996; Fussell, 1975; Showalter, 1997)
 Specific part of a source; (Jones, 1995, chap. 2)
 If the source has no known author, then use an abbreviated version of the title:
Full Title: “California Cigarette Tax Deters Smokers”
Citation: (“California,” 1999)
Example of parenthetical citations
 Afza (1975) investigated the information needs of scientists working in the Oil, Fats and
Waxes Division of the PCSIR laborites at Lahore using interview method.
Recently, in a reviewing article, Anwar concluded that “land has barren since 1983”
(2007, p. 28).
However, it is no more barren. Lately the research on information needs of various
communities has been explored by Muneera (2007) in her PHD study, Khurum (2007)
and Nazli (2001) in their master studies.
Another example when text is taken from the same source but not continue text (in
parts). Add … for the missing text e.g. According to Evans (2000) “people seek
information from formal and informal system. Informal system provides the bulk of
individual’s every day, or common, information”. He pointed out that “two important
factors ‘accessibility’ and ‘effort’ is governed by law of least effort”…It means people
required information which needed least effort both in terms of time and money (e.g.
material at hand; a person accessible; colleague etc.)”(p. 33).
15) Reference List
 The reference list of all cited sources should be placed at the end. References
should start on a new page and starts each entry flush with the left margin, indent
subsequent lines five to seven spaces (hanging indent).
 Use double space both within and between entries and Italicize the title of books,
magazines, etc.

 Capitalize only the first word of the title, the first word after a colon or dash, and
proper nouns in titles of books, articles, etc.
 Capitalize all major words and all words of four letters or more in periodical titles.
Order of the Reference List
 Sources should be arranged alphabetically starting with author’s last name
 If author has more than one source, arrange entries by year, earliest first
 When an author appears both as a sole author and, in another citation as the first
author of a group, list the one author entries first
 If no author is given, begin entry with the title and alphabetize without counting a,
an, or the
 Do not underline, italicize or use quote marks for titles used instead of an author
name

Examples – the Oder of the Reference List

 Babar, J. R. (2000a). Organize …
 Babar, J. R. (2000b). Classify the …
 Kamran, K. L. (1999). Issue …
 Kamran, K. L. (2003). Preservation of …
 Kamran, K. L., Ali, R., Smooth, P., …
  Yasir, H. (1994). Preclusion …

Group Author
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American
Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Book with one author
Abels, E. (2004). Information seekers’ perspectives of libraries and librarians In D.A.
Nitecki (Ed.). Advances in Librarianship, (pp.151-167).Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Book with two authors
Case, D. O. & White, E. B (2007). Looking for information: A survey of research on
information seeking needs and behaviour (2nd ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Book with six or more authors
Wolchik, S. A., West, S. G., Sandler, I. N., Tein, J., Coatsworth, D., Lengua, L., et al.
(2000). An experimental evaluation of…
Book with no author
Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (10th ed.). (1993). Springfield, MA: Merriam-
Webster.
Book with editors
Allison, M. T., & Schneider, I. E. (Eds.). (2000). Diversity and the recreation profession:
Organizational perspectives. State College, PA: Venture.
Chapter in Book
Stern, J. A., & Dunham, D. N. (1990). The ocular system. In J. T. Cacioppo & L. G.
Tassinary (Eds.), Principles of psychophysiology: Physical, social, and inferential
elements (pp. 513-553). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Multivolume book
Koch, S. (Ed.). (1959-1963). Psychology: A study of science (Vols. 1-6). New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Journals with Continuous Pagination
Chan, L. (1999). Electronic journal and academic libraries. Library Hi Tec, 17(1), 10-16.
Journals with Pagination by Issue
Chatman, E. A. (1996). The impoverished life-world of outsiders. Journal of the
American Society for Information Science, 47 (3), 193-206.
Article in press
Adcs, R. (in press). The new trends in fashion. Journal of fashion.
Abstract
Misumi, J., & Fumita, M. (1982). Effects of PM organizational development in
supermarket organization. Japanese Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 21, 93-
111. [Abstract] Psychological Abstracts, 1982, 68, Abstract No. 11474
Magazine
Posner, M. I. (1993, October 29). Seeing the mind. Science, 262, 673-674.
Newspaper
 Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30). Obesity affects economic, social status. The
Washington Post, pp. A1, A4.
Encyclopedia
Blaser, L. (1996). Relativity. In Gale encyclopedia of science (Vol. 15, pp. 82-86). New
York, Gale Encyclopedia Co.
Videotape
National Institute on Mental Health. (1980). Drug abuse [videotape]. Bethesda: Author.
Thesis
Bokhari, S. A. (1976). Information needs of the engineers of the Heavy Mechanical
Complex, Texila. Unpublished Master’s thesis, University of the Punjab, Lahore.
.Electronic sources
Fidel, R. & Petersen, A. M. (2004). From information behavior research to the design of
information systems: the cognitive work analysis framework. Information Research,
10(1). Retrieved April 3, 2008 from http://informationr.net/ir/10-1/paper210.html.
Web page
Choo, C. W., Detlor, B., & Turnbull, D. (2000). Information seeking on the Web: An
integrated model of browsing and searching. Retrieved on April 3, 2008 from
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue5_2/choo/.
Professional paper from the Internet
Jacob, B. & Shoemaker, N. (n.d.). The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: An interpersonal
tool for system administrators. Retrieved October 19, 2003 from
http://www.mindspring.com/~nancyshoemaker/nes/mbti/mbtipaper.pdf
Stand-Alone Web Document with no author or date
GVU’s 8th WWW user survey. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17, 2003, from
http://www.ccgatech.edu/gvu

Sample Reference List

References
Abels, E. (2004). Information seekers’ perspectives of libraries and librarians in D.A. Nitecki
(Ed.). Advances in Librarianship, (pp.151-167). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Afza, N. (1975). Information needs of scientists working in the Oils, Fats and Waxes Division of
the PCSIR Laboratories. Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Punjab, Lahore.
Allen, B. L. (1996). Information tasks: Towards a user-entered approach to information
systems. USA: Academic Press.
Belkin, N. J. (1980). “Autonomous states of Knowledge as a basis for information retrieval” The
Canadian Journal of Information Science.5, 133-143.
Blake, C. & Pratt, W. (2006).Collaborative information synthesis: A model of information
behaviour of scientists in medicine and public health. Journal of the American Society
for Information Science and Technology, 57(13), 740-1749.
Brown, C. M. (1999). Information seeking behaviour of scientists in the electronic
information age: Astronomers, chemists, mathematicians, and physicists. Journal of the
American Society for Information Science, 50(10), 929-943.
Case, D. O. (2007). Looking for information: A survey of research on information
seeking needs and behaviour (2nd ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Chakrabarti, A. & Mark, R. (2003). Changing Roles of Universities in Developing
Entrepreneurial Region: The Case of Finland and the US. Retrieved March 4, 2008,
fromhttp://web.mit.edu/ipc/publications/pdf/03-003.pdf.
Dervin, B. (1983, May). An overview of Sense-Making research: Concepts, methods, and results
to date. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication
Association, Dallas, TX. Retrieved March 31, 2008 from
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Dervin, B. (1992). From the mind's eye of the user: the sense-making qualitative- quantitative
methodology. In J. D. Glazier & R. R. Powell (Eds.), Qualitative research in information
management. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.
Education & Research Network (n. d.). Retrieved May23, 2006, from http://www.pern.edu.pk.

Subramanyam, K. (1981). Scientific and technical information resources. New York and
Basel: Marcel Dekker.
Talja, S., & Maula, H. (2003). Reasons for the use and non use of electronic journals and
databases: A domain analytical study in four scholarly disciplines. Journal of
Documentation, 59(6), 673-691.
UNISIST (1971). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO
press.
University of the Punjab Lahore (n. d.). Retrieved on January 5, 2007 Retrieved from
http://www.pu.edu.pk/faculities.
Vinckler, P. (2002).The institutionalization of scientific information: A scientometric model.
Library trends, 50(3) 309-574.
Whitelegg, K. & Milne, J. (1996). Report on the survey on the use of computer based
information sources and access to journal papers in Engineering & Science.
Retrieved October 8, 2007 from http://www.liv.ac.uk/Library/news/wwwsvy.pdf
Wilson, T. D. (1981).On Users studies and information needs. Journal of Documentation, 37,
(1), 3-15.
Wilson, T.D. (2004). Information seeking behaviour and the digital information world
European Science Editing, 30(3).
Wilson, T. D. (2005). Evolution in information behavior modeling. Wilson's model. In Fisher,
K. E., Erdelez, S. & McKechnie, L. (Eds.). Theories of information behavior (pp. 31-
36).Medford, NJ: Information Today.
Wilson, T. & Walsh, C. (1996). Information behaviour. an interdisciplinary perspective.
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Yang, H. W. (1998). Information seeking behavior of the scientists. Bulletin of Library and
Information Science, 25, 24-43.
For More Information APA Manual Website: www.apastyle.org