Thesis Format Guide: Margins, Fonts, Spacing and Page Order

Pakistani student checking the margin of a printed thesis page with a ruler beside a stack of bound thesis copies

Does my department want 1.5 spacing or double spacing? Why is the left margin wider than the right? Which comes first after the title page: the certificate, the declaration or the similarity report? And where does page 1 actually start?

These questions usually arrive in the last week before printing, when a finished thesis suddenly looks wrong. The answers sit in your own university’s manual, and the manuals do not agree with each other. The details below come from published thesis guidelines of Pakistani universities, mostly written for MS, MPhil and PhD theses. A BS final-year project report may follow a shorter departmental template, so check that separately.

The short answer: what most Pakistani thesis manuals ask for

Most manuals ask for A4 paper, Times New Roman at 12 points, 1.5 or double line spacing, a wider left margin for binding, Roman numerals on the front pages and Arabic numerals from Chapter 1. However, no two universities set every detail the same way. The left margin, the heading sizes, the page order and even the position of the page number change from one manual to the next. So your department’s manual always wins over any general guide.

Position correct as of October 2026. Universities revise their manuals, so confirm the latest copy with your department before you print.

Margins: why the left side is wider

The left margin is wider because the pages are bound on that edge. For example, the University of Health Sciences Lahore thesis format guidelines ask for 1.5 inches on the left and 1 inch on the top, bottom and right. The University of Malakand thesis style asks for the same, and so do the UMT School of Pharmacy thesis guidelines.

Other universities break the pattern. Mehran University asks for 1.5 inches at both the top and the left. UAF uses 1.25 inches at the binding edge, Turbat uses 4 cm on the left and 2 cm elsewhere, and the University of Karachi lists 1.5 inches on the left but only 0.8 inch on the right.

Eight manuals side by side

University	Left margin	Other margins	Line spacing	Body font
UHS Lahore	1.5 in	1 in	Double	Times New Roman 12
University of Malakand	1.5 in	1 in	1.5	Times New Roman 12
UMT School of Pharmacy (2024)	1.5 in	1 in	Double	Times New Roman 12
Mehran University (guidelines dated January 2018)	1.5 in	Top 1.5 in, right and bottom 1 in	1.5	Times New Roman 12
University of Karachi	1.5 in	Right 0.8 in	1.5	Times New Roman, Arial or Calibri 12
UAF (postgraduate manual)	1.25 in	1 in	1.5	Times New Roman or Palatino 12
University of Sargodha	1.5 in	1 in	1.5	Times New Roman 12
University of Turbat	4 cm	2 cm	Double	Times New Roman 12

Position correct as of October 2026. Check your department’s latest manual, because several of these documents are revised from time to time.

Fonts and sizes: body text, headings and the cover

Times New Roman at 12 points is the standard body text in these manuals. Karachi also accepts Arial or Calibri, and UAF accepts Palatino, but the 12-point size stays the same. Headings are where the manuals split.

UHS Lahore: chapter titles in upper case at 14 points bold, headings at 14 bold and sub-headings at 12 bold.
UMT School of Pharmacy: first-level headings in upper case at 14 bold, second-level headings at 12 bold, third-level headings at 12 italic, and a 16-point bold title.
Sargodha: heading sizes of 16, 14, 12 and 12, all bold.
Mehran: chapter headings at 14 bold capitals, a 20-point thesis title on the title page and 18-point headings on the front pages.
Karachi: cover page font no larger than 18 points.

The practical fix is simple. First, set up Word’s built-in Heading 1, 2 and 3 styles once, using your manual’s sizes. Then apply them as you write, because the table of contents can then build itself. Also keep one font throughout, and use a smaller size only where the manual allows it, such as footnotes. UAF, for instance, sets footnotes at 10 points.

Line spacing and the places where single spacing is allowed

Double spacing and 1.5 spacing both appear in the manuals, so never assume. UHS asks for double spacing in the text. Malakand, Mehran, Karachi and UAF ask for 1.5.

Every manual also lists exceptions. At UHS, only footnotes, long quotations, table captions, figures and legends may be single spaced, and reference entries are single spaced with a double space between entries. Turbat allows single spacing for block quotes of three lines or more, references, captions and headings. UAF allows it for long quotes, footnotes, captions and individual references. Sargodha adds 6 points before and after each paragraph, so look for this kind of detail in your own manual.

Page order: what comes before Chapter 1

Front pages cause the most rejected formatting, because the order differs. A typical sequence looks like this:

Title page
Certificate or approval page signed by the supervisor
Author’s declaration
Plagiarism undertaking or similarity report
Dedication and acknowledgements
Table of contents
Lists of tables, figures and abbreviations
Abstract
Chapters, then references and appendices

Not every manual follows this list. UHS puts the supervisor’s certificate straight after the title page and has no declaration page in its list. UMT’s School of Pharmacy starts with a fly page, then adds a similarity report after the declaration. Mehran asks for a dedication, a certificate of approval, a declaration, a plagiarism undertaking and a copyright page before the acknowledgement. Malakand wants the declaration and plagiarism undertaking first, followed by two certificates.

One pattern is steady. In the UHS, Malakand, UMT and Mehran manuals, the abstract is the last front page before Chapter 1, and the table of contents comes after the acknowledgements. For how the chapters themselves are arranged, the guide on thesis structure covers that part.

Page numbers: Roman numerals first, then Arabic

The rule is almost universal, yet the details vary. Front pages take lower-case Roman numerals, and the main text starts at 1 on the first page of Chapter 1. After that, the manuals disagree about where the number sits and where the count begins.

UHS puts every number at the bottom centre and leaves the title page unnumbered.
Malakand starts the Roman count at ii after the title page and places numbers at the bottom right.
Mehran counts the title page as i, then places the first page of each chapter’s number at the bottom centre and other pages at the top right.
Karachi uses Roman numerals from the title page to the abstract, then Arabic numerals at the bottom right.
UAF starts its Roman numerals at the table of contents, which becomes page i.

In Word, the easiest method is a section break (next page) between the front pages and Chapter 1. Then format the page numbers in each section separately and restart the Arabic count at 1. As a result, nothing shifts when you add a front page later.

Headings, tables and figures

Each chapter should begin on a new page in the UMT, Mehran and UAF manuals. Subsections are numbered by chapter, such as 1.1 and 1.1.1.

Captions follow a fixed rule at UMT’s School of Pharmacy and at Mehran: table captions go above the table, figure captions go below the figure, and both are numbered by chapter, such as Table 4.1. The difference is style. UMT asks for captions that are not bold, whereas Mehran asks for bold captions. So the safest habit is to copy the format your own department has already approved.

Abstract, references and similarity report

Abstract length changes by university. UHS allows 400 words for a doctoral thesis and 250 for other degrees. Karachi sets 350, Mehran sets 350 for a PhD thesis, UMT’s School of Pharmacy sets 300, and Turbat accepts 300 to 500.

Referencing style belongs to the department, not to the thesis format. Mehran asks for Harvard, UMT’s School of Pharmacy and Sargodha ask for APA, Karachi accepts APA or Chicago, and Malakand uses numbered references.

The similarity report also needs planning. UMT puts it among the front pages, signed by university officials, and Karachi attaches it at the end. The HEC Graduate Education Policy 2023 says references and the table of contents should be removed before a thesis goes into Turnitin, because they push the index up. HEC’s Anti-Plagiarism Policy v2.0 treats a 19% index as indicative of the possibility of plagiarism, and UMT and Turbat state 19% as their limit. For the full picture, read how the HEC similarity index is read by supervisors.

Position correct as of October 2026; check HEC and your university’s quality enhancement cell for the current requirement.

Printing, copies and binding

Most manuals ask for single-sided A4 paper of at least 75 to 80 gsm. Copy counts and colours differ widely, so confirm them early.

UHS asks for six copies, with PhD theses bound in maroon and MPhil theses in olive green.
Malakand asks for three ring-bound copies first, then five hard-bound copies in maroon for PhD or black for MPhil.
UMT’s School of Pharmacy asks for ring binding first and blue hard binding with silver lettering after a successful defence.
Mehran asks for dark blue hard binding with gold lettering.

Do not order hard binding until your supervisor and department have signed off the final copy.

A six-step check before you print

Download the latest manual from your department, the controller of examinations or the quality enhancement cell.
Ask your supervisor for a recently approved thesis from your department, and match its front pages.
Build the Word template first, with styles, margins and section breaks, before pasting chapters in.
Generate the table of contents and lists of tables and figures from styles, never by typing dots.
Print one chapter, measure the margins with a ruler and check the left edge after binding allowance.
Export a PDF and scan it for font changes, stray page numbers and tables that run past the margin.

If formatting is eating into your writing time, support with thesis formatting and proofreading can be arranged through our order form. Delivery date is agreed before work starts, and you get progress updates.

Mistakes that cost time before submission

Copying a friend’s PDF from another university. The margins and front pages may belong to a different manual. Always match your own department’s approved sample.
Typing the table of contents by hand. Page numbers then drift when text moves. Build it from heading styles instead.
Pasting chapters from different files. Fonts and spacing often change silently. Use “Keep Text Only” when pasting, then apply your styles.
Running the similarity check on the full file. References and the table of contents raise the index, so remove them first, as HEC’s policy describes.
Forgetting the binding allowance. Tables and figures that sit inside the margin on screen can look cramped once bound.

Questions students ask before printing

Should I choose 1.5 or double spacing if my manual allows both?

Pick one and use it throughout. If your department has approved theses on its shelf, follow their choice, because it shows how the department applies the manual. Double spacing also adds pages, so check any minimum length rule too.

Is a thesis written in APA format?

Not completely. APA is a referencing and citation style, while the page layout comes from the university’s manual. Some departments ask for APA references, others ask for Harvard or Chicago, and a few use their own numbered style.

Can the same format work for a BS final-year project report?

Sometimes, but not always. Departments often publish a separate template for undergraduate reports, so ask your project coordinator before you reuse a postgraduate layout. A research proposal follows a different layout again, as the research proposal sample and format guide shows.

When a second pair of eyes helps

Students across Pakistan and abroad have used our support. Several years of working through real supervisor comments, university formats and marking criteria. Support is available 24/7, every day of the year, on WhatsApp, email and live chat, and doctoral students can read how PhD thesis help works. Anyone who wants to see what other students say can read the student reviews, and more thesis guides are on the blog. All support is for guidance and learning, so use any model or edited work according to your institution’s policy.