The thesis format guideline is available at the IPS website. This guide is to facilitate the processes involved in the submission of the thesis. The format of the thesis should include the following;

USM upholds the policy of ensuring that all students pursuing higher degrees are trained to practice the highest standards of intellectual honesty and integrity. This means that the ideas and data of other researchers that you used must be duly acknowledged in your thesis by citing the quoted materials and providing the full references in the reference list. Failure to do this will make you liable for plagiarism. Please remember that a writer may unconsciously commit plagiarism, but nonetheless it does not absolve him/her from the charge. 

Masters or PhD student is required to submit the Notice of Submission of Thesis form, at least three (3) months prior to submitting copy of the draft thesis. A student’s status must be active during the submission of this notice.

Submission of a thesis must be made after a candidate has fulfilled the minimum period of candidature. IPS will not accept any thesis that has not been written following the prescribed format. Format checking must be made at the IPS before submitting the draft thesis.

Students are required to submit a soft copy of the draft thesis, from the first to the last chapter, for Turnitin screening to the respective School, Centre, or Institute.

The Draft Thesis Submission Form must be completed properly.

Should there be any changes to the thesis title, written confirmation from the main supervisor and approval from the respective Dean/Director of the School/Centre/Institute need to be obtained before the thesis is submitted to the IPS on the respective campus.

Payment of the Thesis Examination Fee must be made, and a copy of the receipt should be submitted to IPS together with the draft thesis.

For more information on submission of draft thesis in softcopy, please refer to https://ips.usm.my/index.php/download/viva-voce

In general, the purpose of the viva-voce is to demonstrate the originality of student’s work and to ensure understanding of the research and defend it verbally. The student must answer question(s) in such a way as to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the subject to pass the viva-voce.

Students must attend the viva-voce to defend their research. It is compulsory for students to be ready at least 30 minutes prior to the scheduled viva-voce session.

Viva-voce results are as follows:

Scale 1 – Pass A student is awarded a Doctor of Philosophy/Master’s Degree

Scale 2 – Pass with minor corrections A student is awarded Doctor of Philosophy/Master’s Degree subject to changes/corrections to the thesis as listed in the Viva-voce Panel Report.

Scale 3 – Pass with major changes/corrections A student is awarded Doctor of Philosophy/Master’s Degree subject to changes/corrections to the thesis as listed in the Viva-voce Panel Report. The thesis MUST be revised and verified by the Viva-voce Panel after the student has made the changes/corrections.

Scale 4 – Re-examination (Re-viva) A student is allowed to re-submit the thesis for re-examination after the candidate has made the changes/corrections to the thesis as required in the Viva-voce Panel Report. The thesis MUST be re- examined and the candidate MUST attend another viva-voce. The result will be only PASS or FAIL.

Scale 5 – Fail A student is not eligible to be awarded a Doctor of Philosophy/Master’s Degree and is not allowed to re- submit the thesis for examination.

After the viva-voce, a student must obtain the result of the viva-voce and report for making the necessary corrections and improvements from the viva-voce Secretary. Student will be given a specific period to correct and complete the thesis before submitting the final copy. The period given for correction includes checking for corrections, endorsement by the assigned Panel, and submission of the final copy to IPS.

In any case, if a student is required by the Viva-voce Panel to resubmit the thesis for re-examination, student must complete the Re-submission of Thesis Form to IPS.

When all corrections have been made and incorporated into the thesis, a student is required to complete the Final Thesis Submission Form to IPS. 15 Postgraduate Student Handbook For more information on submission of final thesis in softcopy, please refer to https://ips.usm.my/index.php/download/viva-voce

The copyright to a thesis belongs to the student. However, as a condition of being awarded the degree, the student hereby grants to the University, a free, ongoing, non-exclusive right to use the relevant work and/or thesis for the University's teaching, research and promotional purposes as well as free and the non-exclusive right to retain, re-produce, display and distribute a limited number of copies of the thesis, together with the right to require its publication for further research and archival use.

Plagiarism is defined as the act of presenting, quoting, copying, paraphrasing or passing off of ideas, images, processes, works, data, own words or those of other people or sources without proper acknowledgement, reference or quotation to the original source(s). The acts of plagiarism include, but are not limited to, the following;

• Quoting verbatim word for word replication of work of other people.
• Paraphrasing another person’s work by changing some of the words, or the order of the words, without due acknowledgement of the source(s).
• Submitting another person’s work in whole or part as one’s own.
• Auto-plagiarising or self-plagiarising one’s own previous work or work that has already been submitted for assessment or for any other academic award and pass it as a new creation without citing the original content.
• Insufficient or misleading referencing of the source(s) that would enable the reader to check whether any particular work has indeed been cited accurately and/or fairly and thus identify the original writer’s particular contribution in the work submitted.

Any other acts, which in the opinion of the University, fall into the plagiarism definition.

For more information on USM Policy on Plagiarism, please refer to https://ips.usm.my/index.php/current-student-v2/others/usm-policy-on-plagiarism

• Fulfill the minimum duration of candidature;
• Pass the pre-requisite courses (if any) as determined by the School/Centre/Institute;
• Must obtain minimum grade C for Malaysian Culture and Malay Language (LKM111). This course is compulsory for all international students;
• Pass the Research Methodology course;
• Fulfill the publication requirements as below;

Publications accepted must be published with the supervisor(s). The candidate must be the first student author. Only the first student author is allowed to use this article to fulfil his/her graduation requirement.

Plagiarized article will not be accepted for graduation requirement.

Publications accepted must be related to his/her thesis/dissertation.

When all corrections have been made and incorporated into the thesis, a student is required to complete the Final Thesis Submission Form to IPS. 15 Postgraduate Student Handbook For more information on submission of final thesis in softcopy, please refer to https://ips.usm.my/index.php/download/viva-voce

The copyright to a thesis belongs to the student. However, as a condition of being awarded the degree, the student hereby grants to the University, a free, ongoing, non-exclusive right to use the relevant work and/or thesis for the University's teaching, research and promotional purposes as well as free and the non-exclusive right to retain, re-produce, display and distribute a limited number of copies of the thesis, together with the right to require its publication for further research and archival use.

Plagiarism is defined as the act of presenting, quoting, copying, paraphrasing or passing off of ideas, images, processes, works, data, own words or those of other people or sources without proper acknowledgement, reference or quotation to the original source(s). The acts of plagiarism include, but are not limited to, the following;

• Quoting verbatim word for word replication of work of other people.
• Paraphrasing another person’s work by changing some of the words, or the order of the words, without due acknowledgement of the source(s).
• Submitting another person’s work in whole or part as one’s own.
• Auto-plagiarising or self-plagiarising one’s own previous work or work that has already been submitted for assessment or for any other academic award and pass it as a new creation without citing the original content.
• Insufficient or misleading referencing of the source(s) that would enable the reader to check whether any particular work has indeed been cited accurately and/or fairly and thus identify the original writer’s particular contribution in the work submitted.

Any other acts, which in the opinion of the University, fall into the plagiarism definition.

For more information on USM Policy on Plagiarism, please refer to https://ips.usm.my/index.php/current-student-v2/others/usm-policy-on-plagiarism

Publications accepted must be related to his/her thesis/dissertation.

Publications accepted must carry Universiti Sains Malaysia affiliation.

Publications in the following journals are NOT accepted: https://lib.usm.my/index.php/academicians-researchers/scholarly-publishing guide?view=article&id=293&catid=35

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