Charles Sturt keeps nearly all of its higher degree by research (HDR) requirements in two policy documents: the Higher Degree by Research Procedure and the Higher Degree by Research Policy. Between them they cover word limits, formatting, declarations, ethics, editing and examination.
A word of caution before you start searching the policy library. Charles Sturt has repealed several older HDR documents, including a separate one on the presentation of printed components. Those repealed pages still appear in search results and still look authoritative. Check the status line on any policy page before you rely on it, and work from the current procedure.
Word limits
| Award | Recommended | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Doctor of Philosophy | 80,000 words | 100,000 words |
| Professional doctorate | 50,000 words | 60,000 words |
| Master by Research | 40,000 words | 50,000 words |
Two special cases sit alongside these.
For a thesis by publication, the integrating essay and any other text supporting the publications is capped at 20,000 words.
For a thesis including creative work, the written component is capped at 40,000 words at PhD level and 25,000 words at master's level.
The procedure does not state what counts toward the word limit. There is no published rule at Charles Sturt on whether references, appendices, footnotes or tables are included or excluded. Settle this with your principal supervisor and record the answer, because a 20,000 word difference in counting convention is the difference between a compliant and a non-compliant thesis.
Presentation
| Element | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Paper | ISO A4 white bonded paper, printed double sided (ISO B4 permitted for oversized diagrams or maps) |
| Gutter margin | Minimum 4 cm |
| All other margins | Minimum 2 cm |
| Font | Clearly legible 12 point, for text and footnotes |
| Body spacing | One-and-a-half lines |
| Single spacing | Quotations, footnotes, references and captions |
| Page numbers | Consecutive throughout |
| File format | A word-processed document submitted electronically, such as a single PDF |
The 4 cm gutter is the specification most often missed, because word processors default to something much narrower. Set it in your template at the start rather than reflowing a finished thesis and discovering that your page breaks, figure placements and table of contents all moved.
Abstract
Approximately 500 words for a doctorate or professional doctorate. Approximately 350 words for a Master by Research. Write it once the argument has settled, not as a placeholder you forget to revisit.
What goes at the front
The first page identifies the work as a thesis submitted to Charles Sturt University for the named degree, and carries your name, the qualifications you hold, the full thesis title, and the month and year of submission. The table of contents follows the title page. The Certificate of Authorship comes after the table of contents.
The Certificate of Authorship does more than one job
At many universities the authorship declaration is a single sentence about originality. At Charles Sturt it carries several obligations at once. The signed certificate states that you understand the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgement is made, and it also confirms your ethics approvals and your compliance with University requirements for a thesis, including requirements around the use of AI.
That means the certificate is not something to sign quickly at the end. Read what you are attesting to, and make sure the ethics section of your thesis matches it.
Ethics
If your research involves humans, biological materials or animals, your thesis must contain an Ethics approval section. The procedure is specific about what it has to record: the name of the relevant Charles Sturt ethics committee, or the name and organisation of the relevant external ethics committee, plus the approval date and approval number or numbers.
Keep those numbers somewhere you can find them. Candidates routinely spend a frustrating afternoon in their final week hunting for an approval number from three years earlier.
Approval has to be in place before data collection starts. Charles Sturt's human ethics pages describe alternate review pathways depending on risk: lower-risk applications can go to the HREC Executive in a low-risk meeting ahead of the scheduled panel meetings. The realistic outcomes of a first submission are approval, a further information response where you answer the committee's questions, or a resubmission. Plan for one of the latter two rather than assuming a clean first pass. Applications and enquiries go to [email protected], and the committee publishes guidance material aimed specifically at HDR candidates.
Thesis by publication: decide early
Charles Sturt runs one of the earliest decision points in the country for this format.
- Your principal supervisor's endorsement is needed more than twelve months before you submit the thesis.
- Final endorsement is needed by six months before submission.
- Publications must be published or submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal or by a scholarly publisher.
- The format normally ranges from a single long monograph up to six papers. More than six requires approval.
- The integrating essay and other supporting text are capped at 20,000 words.
You also include a declaration specifying each work's details and your contribution to specific elements of each published paper, including your percentage contribution to the writing of each section of each paper. That level of granularity is unusual and it is easier to record as you go than to reconstruct from memory across four years and five co-authors.
If you think this route might suit you, raise it in your second year at the latest. The twelve-month endorsement deadline quietly closes the option for anyone who leaves the decision until write-up.
Creative works
Where the thesis includes non-written components, it must also contain a piece of critical writing or exegesis that describes how the work developed, explains how the components address the research objectives, justifies the hypotheses through a literature review, and synthesises the conclusions. Physical works require four copies to be submitted alongside the written component.
Editing and proofreading
The rule is permission first. You need written permission from your principal supervisor before obtaining paid or professional editorial assistance.
What an editor may then do is bounded by the Australian Standards for Editing Practice: editing is limited to formatting, grammar and style. Substantive content cannot be altered. An editor may provide examples of structural change, but may not make those changes for you.
All theses are also run through similarity checking, as required by the Academic Integrity Policy.
The distinction worth internalising is between language editing at the end, which is tightly bounded, and developmental support on structure and argument earlier in candidature, which is a different activity done with your supervisors. If you want structured help thinking through chapter architecture before the language pass, our thesis writing support works at that earlier stage.
Examination
Charles Sturt appoints three external examiners to each HDR thesis. That is one more than most Australian universities, and it changes the arithmetic of your examination: three sets of comments to reconcile, and a broader range of disciplinary perspectives to satisfy.
Your principal supervisor discusses potential examiners and advises the Dean or Director, through the Sub Dean (Graduate Studies), of suitable names and credentials. You complete an appointment of examiners form when you submit.
Two rules protect the integrity of the process. The University communicates with examiners only through the Office of Research Services, and examiners must not collaborate in preparing their reports or deciding their recommendations. Their names are included when reports are released to you, unless an examiner asks not to be named. That transparency is worth knowing about in advance, because it is not universal.
The five outcomes
| Recommendation | What happens next |
|---|---|
| Passed with no amendments | Degree conferred |
| Passed subject to minor amendments | You make changes, approved by the Sub Dean |
| Passed subject to substantive amendments | You submit a detailed report of changes to the examination committee; the thesis is not re-examined |
| Re-submitted | Substantial revisions, then re-examination |
| Failed | Degree not conferred |
You receive a response to the examiners' reports within six months. You may prepare your own response in consultation with your principal supervisor, and the policy is explicit that your response need not reflect their views or anyone else's. Where resubmission is required, the deadline is six months unless something else is approved.
Appeals run through the University Student Appeals Policy, and service complaints through the Complaints Management Policy.
Candidature timeframes
Doctoral candidates submit after a minimum of three years full time or equivalent part time, and within a maximum of four years. For master's degrees the range is one to two years. Those are the boundaries the examination timeline hangs off.
After examination
HDR candidates must upload the final version of the thesis to Charles Sturt Research Output (CRO) before they can graduate. The preferred format is a single PDF file. The Library's Adding a Thesis to CRO guide walks through the process.
The University may approve a full or partial embargo on circulation, copying and electronic access where the thesis involves national security, commercial confidentiality, copyright restrictions or safety risks. The standard embargo is two years, unless the Dean approves a longer period or a permanent restriction.
Pre-submission checklist
- Word count is within the maximum for my award, and my supervisor and I agree on what counts toward it.
- Gutter margin is at least 4 cm and every other margin is at least 2 cm.
- Text and footnotes are in a clearly legible 12 point font.
- Body text is one-and-a-half spaced; quotations, footnotes, references and captions are single spaced.
- Pages are numbered consecutively throughout.
- Title page names Charles Sturt University, the degree, my qualifications, the full title and the month and year.
- Table of contents follows the title page; Certificate of Authorship follows the table of contents.
- Abstract is approximately 500 words (doctorate) or 350 words (master by research).
- Ethics approval section names the committee and gives the approval date and number.
- Thesis by publication only: supervisor endorsement obtained on time, integrating essay within 20,000 words, contribution percentages declared per section per paper.
- Creative work only: exegesis complete and four copies of physical work ready.
- Written supervisor permission obtained before any paid editorial assistance.
- Thesis compiled as a single PDF.
- Appointment of examiners form completed.
What Charles Sturt does not publish
Three genuine gaps, stated plainly so you do not go looking for rules that are not there.
No prescribed referencing style. The HDR procedure does not name one. Your style comes from your discipline and your supervisors. Apply the current edition of whatever you choose, consistently.
No word count inclusion rule. As noted above, whether references and appendices count is not published. Ask, and get the answer in writing.
No published notice-of-intention deadline separate from examiner appointment. The procedure ties the timing to the appointment of examiners form and supervisor discussions rather than naming a number of weeks. Ask your Sub Dean (Graduate Studies) how far ahead your faculty wants notice, because faculties run this differently in practice.
Where to get help
Your principal supervisor and the Sub Dean (Graduate Studies) in your faculty are the right first contacts for anything about candidature, examiner nomination and submission timing. The Office of Research Services manages examiner communication. The ethics team at [email protected] handles HREC questions and publishes HDR-specific guidance. The Library covers referencing, copyright in theses and depositing the final thesis in CRO.
The two dates to put in your calendar today are the twelve-month thesis by publication endorsement deadline, if that format interests you, and the point at which you will lock your document template to the 4 cm gutter. Everything else in the procedure is easier to comply with once those two are handled.
