GUIDELINES FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

OF

HAWASSA UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE

ON

STUDENT ADMISSION, RESEARCH PROPOSAL

AND THESIS WRITING

PREPARED BY:

1. ABERRA MELESSE (PhD, Associate Professor)

2. HUSSEIN MOHAMMED (PhD, Associate Professor)
3. HENOK KURABACHEW (PhD, Assistant Professor)
4. AYELE TESSEMA (PhD, Assistant Professor)

HAWASSA

AUGUST, 2011

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 GUIDELINES FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS OF HAWASSA
UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE ON STUDENT
ADMISSION, RESEARCH PROPOSAL AND THESIS WRITING

1. ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS TO THE MSc PROGRAMS

1.1. Criteria for screening candidates for graduate studies

The screening criteria comprised of the following points:

a. CGPA from Undergraduate program (minimum of 2.0 or above)

b. Entrance examination score

c. Relevance of the previous training received to the candidate’s choice of specialization.

This includes both major field of specialization pursued during the BSc training as well as
short-term training received for duration of 3 months or more.

d. Service year and relevance of the candidate’s work experience to the indented field of
specialization after obtaining the BSc degree.

e. Gender: meant to encourage female candidates (if two students have equal points by all
other criteria, female students are given 5 points).

f. Reference letter from previous instructor or employer.

g. Age of the applicant should not exceed 40 years.

The points (percent) allotted to each criterion are depicted below. Reference letter and age
limit of 40 years are required, but are given no points.

Selection criteria %
CGPA 40
Entrance examination 30
Service year & relevance of the candidate’s work experience to the intended field 10
of specialization after BSc.
Relevance of the previous training to the selected field
- Major field of specialization 10
- Short term training (computer literate ,data analysis publication) 5
Gender 5
Reference letter (mandatory)
Total 100%

Best performing student will be selected by the weighted average of the above criteria.
Eligibility is based on the number of space and resource available for a program. However,
the minimum and maximum number of students to be enrolled in the regular program should
be 3 and 25, respectively. On the other hand, the minimum and maximum number of students
to be enrolled in the Kiremt/CEP/Weekend programs should be 12 and 25, respectively.

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1.2. Special Requirements for Screening Scholarship Applicants

The criteria that were set for selecting the prospective candidates for HU scholarship were
• The candidate should have a minimum CGPA of 2.00 in the undergraduate program;
• The candidate should fulfill all the requirements of the graduate program and pass the
entrance exam in good standing and score;
• The age of the applicant should not exceed 40 years;
• Scholarship could only be awarded to top applicants depending upon number of
scholarship available;
• Depending upon the nature of the scholarship additional criteria could be considered with
the approval of the appropriate bodies of HU;
• HU staff can be given a scholarship without competition when the competition is with
other institutions. Within HU system competition will exist if there are large number of
applicants and limited spaces.

1.3. Time of Application, Entrance Examination and Registration

In each academic year, the deadline for application is set to be May 1, and entrance
examination will be given on May 30 of the same academic year. Closing date for application
is May 15. Newly accepted graduated students will be enrolled during the first semester of
every academic year. Upon approval by DGC, departments could commence a graduate
program any time during an academic year and in which case they will have their own time of
application, entrance examination and enrollment.

1.4. Application Forms

Any student who wishes to apply for a graduate program should complete the following
application forms and submit them to the Registrar office of the respective department.

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 APPLICATION FORM NO. 1

HAWASSA COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE

UNIVERSITY

(To be filled out by the candidate) please complete and send this form to:

OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR

Hawassa University college of Agriculture

P.O.BOX 5, Fax:251-6-205421,E-mail:aca@telecom.net.et, Tel: 251-6-206073

HAWASSA, ETHIOPIA

PERSONAL DATA (please write in block letters)

Full name................................................................................................................................

Postal address..........................................................................................................................

City................................................................ Country..........................................................

Place and date of birth............................................................................................................

Telephone (office)........................................ (Home)..........................................................

Fax .....................................E-mail................ Nationality....................................................

Sex................................................................ Marital status...............................................

FOR OFFICE USE ONLY

File number................

Fellowship/source of fund..................................

Specialization....................................................... B.Sc degree..............................................

Transcript..................................................................................................

CV +Relevant documents...........................................................................

Date............................................................................................................

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 APPLICATION FORM NO. 2

HAWASSA COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE

UNIVERSITY

SOURCE OF FUND (Check in the boxes)

I will pay all expenses myself
Fellowship support is required but has not yet been granted
Fellowship has already been awarded

Please write the name of the sponsor and attach on official letter

Graduate program (Please check in the boxes)

I. ANIMAL AND RANGE SCIENCES

Animal Production
Animal Nutrition
Animal Breeding
Dairy Science
Poultry Science
Fisheries and Aquaculture

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 HAWASSA COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE
UNIVERSITY

II. PLANT SCIENCES

Agronomy
Plant Breeding
Horticulture
Soil Science
Agriculture Entomology
Crop Protection

III. INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENT, GENDER & DEVELOPMENT

STUDIES

Rural development

IV. INSTITUTE OF NUTRITION, FOOD SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY

Food Science Technology

Nutrition

Academic Records
University Country Major field Diploma Year of attendance
/college of study Degree From To

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 HAWASSA COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE
UNIVERSITY

Employment Records (Start With the Recent Employer)

Name of Address Present Present Service year

employers position Work From To

Publications
List articles you have published & write name of journal(s) and year (use additional paper in
necessary)
1._________________________________________________________________________
2._________________________________________________________________________
3._________________________________________________________________________

Documents Submitted (check in the boxes)

Completed application form

Copy of BSc./diploma
Copy of transcript of academic records
Curriculum vitae
Supporting statement of the candidate’s sponsor
Reference letter from previous instructor/employer
Other credentials (short term training, computer skills, data analysis skills, etc.)

Date......................................... Signature...............................................

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 APPLICATION FORM NO. 3

HAWASSA COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE

UNIVERSITY

REFERENCE LETTER
(To be filled out by the candidate)
FULL NAME OF APPLICANT (in block letters)
.....................................................................................................................................................
(to be filled out by a University instructor, employer or by a member of a professional
association)
The above-mentioned candidate has applied for admission into the school of Graduate studies
of Hawassa University. The office of the registrar will greatly appreciate your assistance in
assessing the applicant by answering the following questions. The information supplied will
be held confidential.

1. How long and in what capacity have you known the candidate?
______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
2. Give your evaluation of the applicant’s academic potential to pursue graduate studies
_______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

3. State the candidate’s special points of strength and /or weakness in his/her area of
specialization
_______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

4. State how the graduate program in the area of the candidate’s specialization will equip the
candidate to serve the best interest of the country better than with the education he/she now
has ________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

5. Describe the candidate’s personality respect to work with others in harmony and bearing
responsibility for assignments given
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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 HAWASSA COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE
UNIVERSITY

Name:_________________________________
Position:______________________________________
Date:_______________________________Signature:_______________________________
_
Organization: _______________________________________________________________
P.O.Box/Street: ____________________________________________________________

Town/city:__________________________
Country:__________________________________________
Fax:________________________________________
E-mail: _______________________________

Please seal and sign on the postage and mail the completed form directly to the following
address:

OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR (Indicate the respective department)

HAWASSA UNIVERSITY
P.O.BOX 5, FAX: 2516-205421,E-MAIL:aca@telecom.net.et
HAWASSA, SNNPRS
ETHIOPIA

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 APPLICATION FORM NO. 4

HAWASSA COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE

UNIVERSITY

LETTER OF SPONSORSHIP FOR GRADUATE STUDY

(To be filled out and signed by the Head of the Organization)

The office of Registrar appreciates your assistance in filling out (2 copies) and
sending this form to

THE OFFICE THE REGISTRAR

HAWASSA UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE
P.O.BOX 5, HAWASSA

On behalf of ____________________________________________the Organization

of which I am a head, I am committing the said Organization top grant a financial
support to Mr/MrS/Miss ________________________________________ in the
course of his/her post graduate training in
_______________________________________. The financial support will fully
cover_____________________ (Living expenses) and_________________________
(Research expenses) of the graduate student and will be maintained until the
completion of the programme of study. Moreover, I express the organizations
agreement to refrain from obligating the graduate student to undertake extra work
assignments, which may jeopardize his/her, program of study. I am, therefore, aware
that this specific training my organization is sponsoring must be geared towards
fulfilling a definite national purpose.

Date: __________________ Signature: ___________________

Official seal _________________
Name: _________________________________________________
Position: ________________________________________________
Organization:_____________________________________________
Address:_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

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2. GUIDELINES FOR WRITING MSC THESIS PROPOSAL AND THESIS

2.1. Guidelines for writing the MSc research proposal

2.1.1. General

All graduate students of Hawassa University (HU) are required to write an MSc thesis
proposal before embarking on their research work. It is essential that there is uniformity in
these proposals in the main structure of the proposal, although some minor variations are
accommodated depending on the specific requirements of the different fields of study; for
example social sciences vs. natural sciences. The length of the MSc proposal (from the
Introduction to the last page of the Reference list) may vary from 6 to 10 pages.

The MSc proposal serves to justify the student’s planned research to those who will fund it,
to the student’s research advisors, to the graduate program of the respective department, and
also forces the graduate student to consider exactly how, where and when the research will
be carried out, what resources it will require and what the expected outcome is. It facilitates
the smooth sailing of the various research operations, thereby making the research as efficient
as possible yielding maximum information with minimal expenditure of effort, time and
money. Preparation of the research proposal should be done with great care as any error in it
may upset the entire project. A strong thesis proposal makes a strong thesis; and conversely, a
weak proposal generally speaking yields an equally weak thesis. The graduate student
prepares his/her MSc proposal in close consultation with his/her advisor. The proposal should
be defended through oral presentation to the Department Graduate Committee (DGC) before
the student starts the research.
The research proposal constitutes the firm foundation of the entire edifice of the research
work. The research proposal is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of
data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in
procedure. In fact, the research design is the conceptual structure within which research is
conducted; it constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis of data.
As such, the design includes an outline of what the researcher will do from writing the
hypothesis and its operational implications to the final analysis of data. More explicitly, the
proposal decisions happen to be in respect to following points:

- The text of the proposal should be written using Times New Roman font size 12 with line
spacing of 1.5. All other formats of the proposal are similar to the format of the MSc
thesis explained in section 2.2.2. It has to be noted that most parts of the MSc proposal is
written in the future tense, while most parts of the MSc thesis is written in the past tense.

- This document is intended to lay down the main principles to be followed during MSc
thesis proposal writing, such as the Ethical aspects of research, and the step-by-step
development of the proposal (main components of the proposal). These are presented in
the following sections.

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2.1.2. Components of the MSc proposal

There are different formats of proposal writing depending on the requirements of the
organization funding the research. The MSc proposal of graduate students of Hawassa university
has the following components. The length in pages of each section, beginning from the
“Introduction” are also given in brackets.

1. The Cover page (Title page)

2. Table of contents
3. List of tables
4. List of Figures
5. List of Appendices
6. Abbreviations (Acronyms)
7. Introduction (2-4 pages)
8. Literature review (6-10 pages)
9. Materials and Methods (5-8 pages)
10. Work plan (1-2 pages)
11. Logistics (Budget Breakdown) (1-2 pages)
12. References (2-4 pages)
13. Appendix
14. Approval Sheet

A brief description of the most common components of the MSc proposal is given below.

2.1.2.1. The Cover Page (Title Page)

The title page should contain the title of the research, name of the graduate student, names of the
Major advisor and the co-advisor, name of the university, the graduate school and the
department, the place and date (month and year) of submission. Title case letters should be used
for the text of the cover page; however, the name of the university must be written in upper case
letters. A model of the cover page is given in Appendix I.

2.1.2.2. Table of contents

The Table of contents includes all the headings, sections, sub-sections, etc., and their page
references. All the headings or entries in Tables of contents should correspond exactly in
numbering, wording, font, and case with headings and entries as they appear in the text of the
proposal.
Sections are usually sub-divided using the decimal (Judicial) method of sub-dividing. Too many
sub-divisions should be avoided, with an absolute maximum of three, with the lower sub-division
indented one “Tab” or 1.27 cm below the upper. To have a numbered sub-heading, there must be
at least two subheadings; the same is true about sub-sub-headings.
Only the main text (Introductions, Literature Review, Materials and Methods, Work Plan,
Logistics) is numbered. The Table of contents, List of tables and Figures, References, and
Appendixes are not numbered. A sample of the “Table of contents” that illustrates
capitalization, indentation, line spacing, and numbering of the headings, sub-headings and sub-
sub-headings is given in Appendix II.

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2.1.2.3. List of Tables

The list of tables comes after the Table of contents and contains the list of tables and the
respective pages on which each table is to be found. Once the word Table is written at the top
left margin of the page there is no need to repeat it for each table. The word Page is put at the top
right margin to indicate the page on which the table is found. A sample List of Tables is given in
Appendix III.

2.1.2.4. List of Figures

This least is prepared in a similar way to how the list of Tables is prepared. A sample List of
Tables is given in Appendix IV.

2.1.2.5. List of Appendices

List of Appendices is not a common part of an MSc proposal. However, some models, formula,
secondary data on climate of the study area, the interview questionnaire and other procedures of
analyses can be put in the List of Appendices. List of Appendices is a common part of an MSc
thesis and samples of such lists, which can be divided into List of Tables in the Appendix and
List of Figures in the Appendix, are given in Appendix V and Appendix VI of this document.

2.1.2.6. Abbreviations (Acronyms)

All abbreviations and Acronyms used in the text of the proposal should be ordered alphabetically
and explained in this section. Common abbreviations such as m for meters, cm for centimeters,
Kg for Kilograms, g for grams, 0C for degrees Celsius, etc., which are known by most people,
should not be included in this list. Students should use standard SI units (never use lb for pound,
quintals, inch, feet, etc.). Abbreviations coined by the author and explained in the text and in
Tables and figures should not also be included in this list. A sample List of Abbreviations
(Acronyms and Abbreviations) is given in Appendix VII.

2.1.2.7. Introduction

This section can be divided into background and justification, and objectives.

2.1.2.7.1. Background and Justification

The proposal should begin with analysis of the problem that the project sets out to solve. The
rationale for carrying out the project should be clearly stated. Sufficient background information
has to be provided so that those who evaluate the proposal get an adequate insight into why the
project is needed and how it is expected to make an effective contribution to the relevant
objective.
Try to place your research question in the context of either a current “hot” area, or an older area
that remains viable. Secondly, you need to provide a brief but appropriate historical background.
Thirdly, provide the contemporary context in which your proposed research question occupies
the central stage. Finally, identify “key players” and refer to the most relevant and representative
publications. In short, try to paint your research question in broad brushes and at the same time
bring out its significance.

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The background typically begins with a general statement of the problem area, with a focus on a
specific research problem, to be followed by the rationale or justification for the proposed study.
The background generally covers the following elements:

- State the research problem, which is referred to as the purpose of the study.
- Provide the context and set the stage for your research question in such a way as to show its
necessity and importance.
- Present the rationale of your proposed study and clearly indicate why it is worth doing.
- Briefly describe the major issues and sub-problems to be addressed by your research.
- Identify the key independent and dependent variables of your experiment. Alternatively,
specify the phenomenon you want to study.
- State your hypothesis or theory, if any. For exploratory or phenomenological research, you
may not have any hypothesis. (Please do not confuse the hypothesis with the statistical null
hypothesis).
- Set the delimitations or boundaries of your proposed research in order to provide a clear
focus.
- Provide definitions of key concepts (This is optional).

2.1.2.7.2. Research Objectives (Research hypothesis)

The objectives an MSc research can be expressed as a research hypothesis, as a research purpose
or as research questions. The objectives should be presented clearly and precisely. A research
hypothesis is a prediction of the outcome of a study. The prediction may be based on an educated
guess or a formal theory. A simple research hypothesis predicts a relationship between two
variables. The prediction states that the two variables are related. Example: It hypothesized that
liming will improve grain yield of finger millet in Najo area. Here the independent variable is
liming and the dependent variable is grain yield. This is a directional hypothesis; We predict
which groups will be higher or have more of something. Sometimes we have a non-directional
hypothesis.
Example: It is hypothesized that the child nurturing practices of tribe A are different from those
of tribe B. Here it is stated that there will be difference, but the direction of difference is not
indicated. The hypotheses should state what the student expects to find, given the available
literature, state of the research problem and method of analysis. It refers to the predicted outcome
of the research. A hypothesis should be posed such that it can be clearly accepted or rejected, and
it must be falsifiable! We may substitute a research hypothesis by a research purpose. Example:
The purpose of this study is to explore the difference in child-nurturing practices between tribe A
and tribe B.
A research question may also be substituted for a non-directional hypothesis. Example: The
research question is, “How do the child-rearing practices in tribe A and tribe B differ?” Be
careful not to state a question that can be answered with a simple “Yes or “No” , as for example:
The research question is “Do the child-rearing practices in tribe A and tribe B differ?
The choice between a non-directional hypothesis, a research purpose, and a research question, is
purely a matter of personal taste – all are acceptable in the scientific community. Of course,
when we are willing to predict the outcome of a study, we should state a directional hypothesis –
not a research purpose or question.
We have to distinguish the difference between a research hypothesis and the null-hypothesis,
which is a statistical hypothesis. The research objectives can also be divided into General
objective and Specific objectives, if these are relevant.
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2.1.2.8. Literature Review

Formats on literature review, materials and methods should be the same as in the thesis writing
format. However, students could also use the following as entry point during the writing of the
Literature Review.

The literature review serves several important functions:

- Ensures that you are not ‘’reinventing the wheel’’.

- Gives credits to those who have laid the groundwork for your research.
- Demonstrates your knowledge of the research problem (its source and relevance).
- Demonstrates your understanding of the theoretical and research issues related to your
research question.
- Shows your ability to critically evaluate relevant literature information. You do not simply
copy and paste information from various sources, but you are able to compare and contrast
different ideas and synthesize them into a coherent review.
- Provides new theoretical insights or develops a new model as the conceptual framework for
your research.
- Convinces your reader that your proposed research will make a significant and substantial
contribution to the literature (i.e., resolving an important theoretical issue or filling a major
gap in the literature).

Most students’ literature reviews suffer from the following problems:

- Lacking organization and structure;

- Lacking focus, unity and coherence;
- Being repetitive and verbose;
- Failing to cite influential papers;
- Failing to keep up with recent developments;
- Failing to critically evaluate cited papers;
- Citing irrelevant or trivial references;
- Depending too much on secondary sources.

There are different ways to organize your literature review. Make use of subheadings to bring
order and coherence to your review. For example, having established the importance of your
research area and its current state of development, you may devote several subsections on related
issues as: theoretical models, measuring instruments, cross-cultural and gender differences, etc.
It is also helpful to keep in mind that you are telling a story to an audience. Try to tell it in a
stimulating and engaging manner. Do not bore them, because it may lead to rejection of your
worthy proposal.

2.1.2.9. Materials and Methods

This should set out what approaches or methods will be used to produce the desired outputs. The
Method section is very important because it tells the reader how you plan to tackle your research
problem. It will provide your work plan and describe the activities necessary for the completion
of your project.

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The guiding principle for writing the Method section is that it should contain sufficient
information for the reader to determine whether methodology is sound.
- Location of the study: If the experiment is to be conducted in the field, the main features of
the site at which the experiment is to be conducted has to be defined. The main agro-ecology,
the average rainfall, temperature, the main soil types have to be explained.
- Materials: The materials (animals, plants, etc.) used for the study have to be thoroughly
explained. If it is plant material their source, whether they are random sample from any
population, etc., has to be explained. Here the treatments to be used are specified.
- Design of the experiment: The appropriate design for the experiment has to be given with
the number of replications, plot size and other necessary details.
- Cultural practices: The cultural practices such as animal husbandry, animal feed
conservation, land preparation, planting, seeding rates and spacing, fertilizer application,
weeding or herbicide application, with the anticipated dates should be given. The equipment
used for these should also be given.
- Data to be collected: Data which have to be collected to answer the main research question
have to be specified. The exact method of taking data of a certain variable is referred to as
“The operational Definition of a Variable” and should be written unambiguously. Methods
of data collection should be elaborated. Time at which a specific variable is to be measured
has to be given. Instruments used to collect the data have to be given.

Statistical analysis: - Depending on the design of the experiment and the data collected the
researcher knows which analytical tools will enable him/her to answer the main research
question. These analytical tools have to be given.

2.1.2.10. Work plan

The work plan gives details of the activities entailed by the approach adopted and their phasing.
It may not be possible to give detailed time table or bar chart before the project begins; however
it is often the first task of the project manager to complete this task, usually in the form of a
Table. Nevertheless, it is desirable that indications be given of the duration of the project, the
beginning and the end of each project activity target dates for each of the outputs in a concrete
timeline. The detailed work plan should contain adequate designs for experimental work if this is
envisaged. Budgeting the whole time of the research assists in systematizing the whole work and
avoids unnecessary delays, assisting the graduate student to schedule himself/herself, ensuring
smoothness of operation, the monitoring of the project, and reviewing its progress. The work
plan should consider the time for writing of the proposal, getting land for the experiment, land
preparation, planting, conducting all necessary cultural practices, data collection and analysis and
writing the thesis and its defense.

2.1.2.11. Logistics (Budget Breakdown)

This section sets out the financial resources required for the implementation of the research
project. This ensures that the necessary personnel, travel, per diem, equipment, materials and
associated services and expendable supplies (paper, stencil, ribbon, literature, etc.) will be
available for the project. The student should summarize towards the end all the expenditure under
various headings that may include unforeseen expenditure (contingency of 5 to 10% of the
proposed budget) as well. The budget estimate must, therefore, be prepared with utmost care and
16
thoroughness. It must be realistic, as both overestimation and underestimation should be
scrupulously avoided.

A careful analysis has to be made of the manpower resources required, what skills are needed
and over what period. Also the necessary equipment has to be listed, ex., transport, laboratory
equipment (especially any new equipment), etc. A budget must be included showing the
financing required and its phasing year by year.

2.1.2.12. References and their organization

The researcher looks for information in different documents (text and reference books, scientific
journals, workshop documents, reports, newsletters, newspapers, the internet, etc). The first
extensive literature survey is during proposal writing when information on the problem is sought
and methodologies of research are investigated. The researcher also compares his results with
already obtained ones and extensive survey of literature is conducted also during thesis wiring.
All referred literature has to be recorded as soon as it is read.
References should be selected based on relevance; as much as possible recent references should
be cited (not more than 10 years old), and the majority of these should be articles published in
journals. Too much dependence on text and reference books, newsletters, annual and progress
reports, and other unpublished materials are highly discouraged except in special cases. Although
there are different styles of literature citations, for sake of uniformity, all MSc students should
use the reference style format explained in the Journal of Science and Development (JSD) of the
Hawassa University as stated hereunder.
There are two places where authors of the articles or references are mentioned: in-text
referencing and the Bibliography, the list at the end of the report. The list at the end of the report
will be written using all the three parts of the author’s name (first, middle and last), the first two
abbreviated. In the in-text referencing only the last name of the author and the date of publication
are included. Both types of reference writing are explained below. Both types of referencing are
explained below.

2.1.2.12.1. In-text References

In the text of the proposal or the thesis, author’s names can be put at the beginning or at the end
of a sentence. If author’s names are mentioned at the beginning of a sentence, then the year of
publication is written in brackets. If the authors are mentioned at the end of a sentence, then the
whole reference is within brackets, not only the years.

Example:

Moser and Kalton (1971) have concluded that ..........

Nitrogen was found to be deficient in Ethiopian soils (Mesfin, 2000).

If more than two sources (articles) have to be referenced within a bracket, they should be
arranged in alphabetical order and date.

17
Example:

(Allard and Bradshaw, 1965; Campbell and Lafever, 1980; Cecarelli, 1987a, b; Cecarelli, 1988,
1990, 1995; Cecarrelli and Grando, 1991; Ceccarelli et al., 1991, 1992,1993; Hamblin et.
al.,1980).

Note the following in the above referencing:

- There is a comma (,) between the author’s name and the year of publication.
- There is a semicolon (;) between two references.
- If the article is written by only two authors, both are mentioned: If more than two authors are
involved, then only the first author is mentioned, followed by et al. and the year of
publication. Note that in the references (Ceccarelli et al., 1991, 1992, 1993) the authors that
collaborated with Ceccarelli to publish the articles in 1991, 1992 and 1993 may be different.
This can only be seen in the list of references at the end of the document.
- If a single author has published several articles in different years, then the author is
mentioned only once followed by years of publication in ascending order, as in (Ceccarelli,
1988, 1990, 1995).
- If more than one article published by the same author in the same year are referenced, the
author's name is written only once, followed by the year of Publication and the letters a,b,c
etc. as in (Cecarelli, 1987a, b).

If you have encountered an article in which the author of the article quotes another author, then
you mention this as follows.

Bassey (1981) quoting woodley (1960) has suggested that.... or

The main insect pest of maize around Awassa is the maize stalk borer (Hussein, 2002 quoting
Assefa, 1989).

In the examples given above only the author of the main article is mentioned in the Bibliography;
the one quoted is not included in the bibliography, for example in the second example only
Hussein (2000) will be in the bibliography. Assefa (1989) will not be in the bibliography.
However, such citations are highly discouraged unless the quoted reference could not be
accessed by the students.

2.1.2.12.2. The bibliography (List of references)

This refers to an alphabetized list of references at the end of the document. All references cited in
the text should be put in the references. References acknowledge the work of others and provide
the reader with information on the sources that you used. The list should include all those sources
cited in the body of the paper. Authors are arranged in alphabetical order by the last name of the
major author and by the year of publication. Only one Bibliography (Reference list) is prepared,
not separated bibliography for each section. The first and second names of authors are
abbreviated. The way in which each reference is written depends on the type of the reference
material; note that articles taken from textbooks are not written in a similar manner as those from
scientific journals. The various ways of listing are explained in the following sections.
18
In the bibliography, articles written by the same author are written consecutively according to the
years of publication. The lines after the first one should be indented for readability. Students
must make sure that all references in the text have been listed in the Bibliography and conversely
all references listed in the bibliography have been cited somewhere in the text. It is also to be
noted that excellent computer softwares exist which can assist the student in preparing the
bibliography; examples are EndNote, Reference Manager and others.

Citations from scientific Journals

Nadar H. M. 1984. Maize yield response to row spacing and population densities under different
environmental conditions. E. Afr. Agric. For. J. 44:157-165.
Aberra Melesse, Bulang M. & Kluth H. 2009. Evaluating the nutritive values and in vitro
degradability characteristics of leaves, seeds and seedpods from Moringa stenopetala. J.
Sci. Food Agric. 89 (2): 281-287.
Oaka H.W. 1967. The analysis of a diallel cross of heterozygous or multiple allelic lines.
Heredity 22:83-95.
Ribaut J. M., Jiang C., Gonzalez- de- Leaon, Edmedes G. O. & Hoisington D.A. 1997.
Identification of quantitative trait loci under drought conditions in tropical maize 2. Yield
components and marker assisted selection. Theor. Appl. Genet. 94:887-896.

Note in the above that the initials are after the surname for all authors. In the bibliography, all the
authors of the article are mentioned, none is left out. If there are two authors, they are connected
with “&”. If more than two, then a comma separates the authors, while the last two are
connected by “&”. If abbreviated, Journal names should be abbreviated using international
abbreviation systems such as Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (CASSI). Note how the
journals “East African Agriculture and Forestry Journal” and “Theoretical and Applied Genetics”
are abbreviated. The same abbreviation is used for these journals in all other citations.

Citations from Books

Whitmore T.C. 1996. An introduction to tropical rain forests. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 226 pp.
Steel R.G.D. & Torrie J.H. 1980. Principles and procedures of statistics. 2nd ed. McGraw- Hill
Book Co., New York. 633 pp.

Contribution as a chapter in books (Book chapter)

Dubin H.J. & Grinkel M. 1991. The status of wheat disease and disease research in warmer areas.
In: Lange L.O., Nose1 P.S. & Zeigler H. (eds.) Encyclopedia of plant physiology. Vol.
2A Physiological plant ecology. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. pp. 57-107.

Citations from conference/workshop/seminar proceedings

Aberra Melesse & Tegene Negesse. 2009. Study on the characterization of local chickens found
in Southern Ethiopia. In: Proceedings of Annual Research Review Workshop, May 2009,
Pp. 16-17, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia,.
19
Demel Teketay. 2001. Ecological effects of eucalyptus: ground for making wise and informed
decision. Proceedings of a national workshop on the eucalyptus dilemma, 15 November
2000, Part II: Pp. 1-45, Addis Abeba.
Daniel L.E. & Stubbs R.W. 1992. Virulence of yellow rust races and types of resistance in wheat
cultivars in Kenya. In: Tanner D.G. & Mwangi W. (eds.). Seventh regional wheat
workshop for eastern, central and southern Africa. September 16-19, 1991. Nakuru,
Kenya: CIMMYT. pp. 165-175.

Note that Ethiopian names are neither inverted nor abbreviated. In the above example Aberra
Melesse & Demel Teketay are given in full names.

Citations from organizations

WHO (World Health Organization). 2005. Make every mother and child count: The 2005 World
Health Report. WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
CSA (Central Statistical Authority). 1991. Agricultural Statistics. 1991. Addis Ababa. 250 pp.
SAS Institute. 1989. SAS/ STAT Guide for Personal computer, version 6 edition. SAS institute.
Inc. North Carolina. Pp. 250-278.

Citations from thesis/dissertations

Roumen E.C. 1991. Partial resistance to blast and how to select for it. Ph.D Thesis. Agricultural
University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. 108 pp.
Gatluak Gatkuoth 2008. Agroforestry potentials of under-exploited multipurpose trees and shrubs
(MPTS) in Lare district of Gambella region. MSc. Thesis, College of Agriculture,
Hawassa University, Hawassa. 92 pp.

Citations from websites (URLs)

FAO 2000. Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission to Ethiopia. FAOIWFP. Rome.
(http://www. fao.org/GIE WS). (Accessed on 21 July 2000).
Aberra Melesse Maak S. & vonLengerken G. 2010. Effect of long-term heat stress on egg quality
traits of Ethiopian naked neck chickens and their F1 crosses with Lohmann White and
New Hampshire chicken breeds. Livestock Research for Rural Development 22, Article
#71. http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd22/4/mele22071.htm (Accessed on March 2011).

2.1.2.13. Appendix

As already noted earlier, there might be no or very few appendices in the proposal. However, all
the Tables and Figures listed in the List of Appendix Tables and List of Appendix Figures should
be put in this section. The way how Tables and Figures are organized is explained in detail in
section 2.2 of “Writing the MSc Thesis”. Sample Table in the Appendix and Figure in the
Appendix are given in Appendices V and VI.

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2.1.2.14. Common mistakes in research proposal writing

The following are some common mistakes in research proposal writings:

- Failure to provide the proper context to frame the research question;
- Failure to limit the boundary conditions for your research;
- Failure to cite landmark studies;
- Failure to accurately present the theoretical and empirical contributions by other researchers;
- Failure to stay focussed on the research question;
- Failure to develop a coherent and persuasive argument for the proposed research;
- Too much detail on minor issues, but not enough detail on major issues;
- Too much rambling – going “all over the map” without a clear sense of direction (The best
proposals move forward with ease and grace like a seamless river);
- Too many citation lapses and incorrect references;
- Too long or too short proposal;
- Failing to follow the required style;
- Slopping writing.

NB.: All research proposals should be approved by the DGC prior to presentations. The
DGC/Department shall assign an internal assessor who has the expertise and knowledge to the
field to critically evaluate the research proposal prior the approval of the DGC.

2.2. Guidelines for writing the MSc thesis

2.2.1. General

One of the tasks of the students in the Graduate Program at Hawassa University, College of
Agriculture, is the production and compilation of an MSc thesis. This guide is produced to assist
them in the preparation and submission of the thesis. It is intended to provide uniform standards
for the preparatory requirements that stipulate several basic principles of presentation and format
that must be followed to ensure acceptance of the thesis. Any deviation from the form described
in this guide would be rejected automatically by the DGC.
Please note that the student is solely responsible for any infringements of copyright, patent, or
other claims, which may arise from his/her thesis. Under these circumstances, the department
reserves the right to review granting the degree for which the thesis was a requirement. The
accuracy and validity of the findings within the thesis are sole responsibility of the student.
He/she is also responsible for conforming to regulations governing format and pertinent
deadlines.
In the following sections the general structure of the MSc thesis and details of formatting (font
type and size, letter case, margins, page numbering, paragraph format, line spacing and other
details) are given.

2.2.2. General structure and contents of the MSc thesis

The following sections describe the structure, styles and and contents of the MSc thesis.

1. COVER PAGE
2. TITLE PAGE
21
3. APPROVAL SHEET
4. DEDICATION
5. STATEMENT OF THE AUTHOUR/DECLARATION
6. ACKNOWLEDGMENETS
7. ABBREVATIONS (ACRONYMS)
8. TABLE OF CONTENTS
9. LIST OF TABLES
10. LIST OF FIGURES AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
11. APPENDIX
11.1. LIST OF TABLES IN THE APPENDIX
11.2. LIST OF FIGURES IN THE APPENDIX
12. ABSTRACT
13. INTRODUCTION
14. LITERATURE REVIEW
15. MATERIALS AND METHODS
16. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
17. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
18. REFERNCES
19. APPWNDICES
20. SKETCH OF BIOGRAPHY

All components preceding the “Introduction” whose page numbering in Roman numerals may be
considered as Preliminary sections and are not included in the fixed page count of the thesis.

2.2.2.1. The Cover page

The cover page is the first page of a thesis that is shall be printed out on a green color hard cover
materials that carry the logo of Hawassa University. It includes the title of the study, the full
name of the candidate, names of the major and co-advisors, the designation of the faculty or
college/school and the university to which the thesis is submitted and the place, month and year
in which the thesis is submitted. This is the only page of the thesis for which a page number is
not assigned. Please refer attached sample Cover page in Appendix VIII. Moreover, it should be
noted that the total number of words of the title should be in the range of 10-30 and should be
written using title case, font size of 14, with a single space, while the name of the university
should written in upper case with font size of 14. In addition, the title of the thesis should be
informative, address the key variables and indicate the study area.

2.2.2.2. Title page

The "Title Page” is the second page of the thesis but the first page for which a Roman page
number (i) begin. It includes the title of the thesis, the full name of the candidate, names of
advisor and co-advisor, thesis submitted, in partial in fulfillment of the requirements for Master
of Science degree in field of specialization, the place, month and year and the degree is to be
granted. A sample of title page is shown in the Appendix IX.

2.2.2.3. Approval sheet

The school of Graduate Studies will provide the APPROVAL SHEET to all graduate students.
Please refer to Appendix X for sample of it.
22
2.2.2.4. Dedication
Please refer to Appendix XI for a sample DEDICATION page.

2.2.2.5. Statement of the Author

This is the place where the candidate solemnly declares that the thesis represents his /her own
work and is not submitted to any other institution elsewhere for the award of any degree, diploma
or certificate. The candidate also acknowledges here the various sources of information, ideas,
views, and opinions and the like that he or she borrowed and used in the thesis. A sample of
STATEMET OF THE AUTHOR is shown in the Appendix XII of this manual.

2.2.2.6. Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements recognize the persons and/or the author is indebted to for guidance,
assistance received, and those to whom he /she remain thankful for a special aid or support. Good
taste calls for acknowledgments to be expressed simply and tactfully. A sample of
acknowledgment is found in Appendix XIII.

2.2.2.7. Abbreviations (Acronyms)

This is the same as described in the Guideline in the preparation of the research proposal.
Appendix XIV.

2.2.2.8. Table of Contents

The Table of Contents follows the abbreviations. The following guidelines will make it more
rational and persuasive:
- All heading or entries in the Table of Contents should correspond exactly in wording
(including fonts and cases) with the headings as they appear in the text;
- The relationships between main headings and sub-headings and between divisions and sub-
divisions must be shown by appropriate use of indentation and capitalization;
- The main headings of the Table of Contents are the components of the preliminaries and the
major division (sections) titles of the text of the thesis, reference and appendix (ces) must be
written in full capitals as they appear in the text;
- Except that of the preliminaries, the main headings in the thesis must be consecutively
numbered with Arabic numerals and sub-headings;
- The second and/or third line of a heading requiring more than one line must be indented to
the position of the initial letter of the first line;
- Line between main headings and between a main headings and its subdivisions must be
double-spaced, whereas between subheadings and between subdivisions are single spaced;
- The sub-headings of the main heading and subdivisions of the sub-heading are indented with
appropriate spaces to show that they are sub-headings and sub-divisions;
- The initial letters of the first word and all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs of
the sub-headings are capitalized, whereas in the sub-divisions only the first letters of the first
and of the proper nouns are capitalized both in the text and in the Table of Contents;
- No terminal punctuation is used for headings and their sub-divisions;
- The page number on which each of these begins is shown in the column at the right-hand
margin.

Please refer Appendix XI for a sample “Table of Contents"

23
2.2.2.9. List of Tables
The LIST OF TABLES is captions of the tables included in the thesis. The major points to be
observed in preparing the List of Tables include:
- In the text, all Tables are numbered consecutively (with Arabic numerals) starting with
"Table 1" for the table which appeared in the first thesis, and the captions apart from being
short and descriptive, must appear on the top of each table
- In the list of table, the number of the table, in the caption (or title) with all entries
corresponding exactly in wording (including fonts and cases) with that in the text and the
page number of the manuscript on which each table occurs are centered;
- Only the initial letters of the first word and of proper nouns are capitalized both in the text
and list of tables;
- No terminal punctuation is used for the heading or after any title listed therein;
- The words Table and Page with their initial letters in capitals head their respective columns,
flush with margin.
A sample of List of Table is shown in Appendix XVI.

2.2.2.10. List of Figures

This section shall constitute the captions of the Figures and/or Illustrations included in the thesis.
The major points to be noted in preparing the List of Figures/Illustrations include:
- In the text, all Figures and illustrations are numbered consecutively (with Arabic numerals)
and captions apart from being short and descriptive, must appear on the bottom of each
Figure;
- List of Figure or Illustrations, the number of the Figure, the captions (or title) with all entries
corresponding exactly in wording (including fonts and cases) with that in the text and the
page number of the manuscript on each Figure occurs are entered;
- Only initials letters of the first word and of the proper nouns are capitalized both in the text
and in the List of Figures;
- No terminal punctuation is used for the headings or after any title listed therein;
- The words "Figure" and "Page" with their initials letters in capitals head their respective
columns, flush from the margin.
For detailed information, please refer Appendix XVII.

2.2.2.11. List of Tables in the Appendix

This section presents the captions of the tables included in the appendix along with their
respective page numbers in thesis. The major points to be noted in the preparation of the list of
Tables in the Appendix include:
- In the appendix section of the text ,each Appendix Table is numbered consecutively (with
Arabic numerals) starting with "Appendix Table1" for the table, which appeared first in the
appendix section of the thesis and has a caption which is short and descriptive and that
appears on the top of each Appendix Table;
- In the List of Appendix Tables, the number of Table, the caption (or title) with all entries
corresponding exactly in wording (including fonts and cases) with that in the appendix
section of the thesis and the page number of the manuscript on each Appendix Table occurs
are entered;
- Only the initial letters of the first word and of proper nouns are capitalized both in the
Appendix part and in the List of Appendix Tables;
- No terminal punctuation is used for the headings or after any title listed therein;

24
- The words "Appendix Table" and "Page" with their initial letters in capitals head their
respective columns, flush with the margin.
A sample in this regard is shown in Appendix XVIII.

2.2.2.12. List of Figures or List of Illustrations in the Appendix

This section is constituted of the captions of the figures included in the Appendix. The major
points to be noted in preparing the List of Appendix Figures include:
- In the appendix section, each Figures and/or Illustrations is numbered consecutively (with
Arabic numerals) and has a caption that is short and descriptive and that must appear on the
bottom of the Figure;
- In the List of Appendix Figures or Illustrations, the number of the Figure, the caption (or
title) with all entries corresponding exactly in wording (including fonts and cases) with that
in the appendix section and page number of the manuscript on which each Appendix Figure
occurs are entered;
- Only the initial letters of the first word and of proper nouns are capitalized both in the text
and in the List of Appendix Figures;
- No terminal punctuation is used for the headings or after any title listed therein;
- The words Appendix Figure and Page with their initial letter in capitals head their respective
columns, flush with the margin in the List of appendix Figures.
A sample that is shown in Appendix XIX.

2.2.2.13. Abstract
The Abstract is the last component of the preliminaries of a thesis manuscript. Accordingly, the
abstract appears on a new page just before the "Introduction” of the thesis. On the top of the page
where the abstract starts, the title of the thesis, the name of the author and the advisor (s) shall be
written in title case. The abstract shall be written in single space and italics. If scientific names
appear in the abstract, they should be underlined. Furthermore, the maximum number of words
allowed in the abstract is 300.

2.2.2.14. Introduction (2-4 pages)

The thesis begins with very first page of Introduction that follows the preliminaries stated above
and shall end in list of References. The minimum and maximum size of the body of the text
should be 40 and 70 pages, respectively.
The introduction provides the background information and rational for the thesis, and should
establish the framework for the research. It should briefly provide a description of the larger
context in which the problem is found. Draw attention to topic's applicability and give your thesis
question, outlining how you will investigate this issue. The introduction should provide
background information related to the need for research. Also relate key studies that constitute
the state of knowledge about the topic. At the end, the introduction should lead into and set the
stage for the problem statement.
The introduction is the first of the five or six main chapters discussed under the text of a thesis.
This chapter is usually brief giving only the most relevant and pertinent background information
about the graduate research project under consideration.
This section, among others, provides:
a. background information on the subject (supported with brief review of literature) and clear as
well as complete statement of the problem investigated

25
b. validation/justification of the problem or underlying hypothesis for undertaking the study,
which, by discussion of discriminately selected reasons, establishes the significance of the
problem
c. the general and major but specific objectives of the investigation written clearly and
precisely. The objectives of the present research should be defined clearly; stringently
derived from the state of knowledge as presented in the literature review. The hypotheses
should state what the student expects to find, given the available literature, state of the
research problem and method of analysis. It refers to the predicted outcome of the research. A
hypothesis should be posed such that it can be clearly accepted or rejected, and it must be
falsifiable!

2.2.2.15. Literature review (6-10 pages)

The review of literature incorporates theoretical and empirical literature that has relevance for the
study. The literature review should be an in-depth, exhaustive look at the present research on the
proposed topic. The main thrust of this chapter is a review of relevant work by other authors and
the relationship between this and your own work. If several other people have done closely
related work in a different way, then the reasons for your approach should be summerised here.
The paper you cited should be compared and contrasted. In reviewing the literature, the challenge
is to be up-to-date on the specific area of study. There is an assumption here that the student has
substantial knowledge of the topic which enables him to describe and discuss the status of current
scientific knowledge in the topical field. Therefore, the student should specify the theoretical
framework from which the problem is being approached based upon theories and principles
described in the literature. The review should be organized according to key concepts or
variables, types of samples used, methods employed or experimental facts gathered that focuses
the information on the proposed topic. Place the literature citations in order of their importance.
The review should end with a summary statement about the research problem which includes
what is known and not known about the topic and, if appropriate, why the latter is the case.

2.2.2.16. Material and methods (5-8 pages)

Methods are intimately involved in the production and analysis of data. The research methods
should comprise of the procedures used for generating, collecting and evaluating data. Detailed
description of the source and availability of the data, proposed field methods, type of survey
instruments or laboratory experiment should be included in this section. A brief and concise
description of the conditions under which the investigation was carried out and the materials,
procedures, techniques, treatments, experimental design/techniques and the treatments and inputs
used should be indicated under this heading.
Methods and procedures employed in analyzing and completing the thesis research should be
clearly stated, including, where appropriate, a justification of the specific methods applied. Note
that a precise presentation of the procedures used is vital in establishing the validity and
reproducibility of the results.

2.2.2.17. Results and discussion (20-35 pages)

Results and discussion section should be presented together. However, each specific result
should be first presented and then followed by discussion. Data should be presented as clearly
and simply as possible. Do not hide contradictory results. However, attempts have to be made to
provide appropriate explanations for obtaining contradictory findings.

26
To discuss the results adequately, you must clearly understand their significance. This requires
that you have mastery of the theory pertaining to your field and broad knowledge of the
information already available from work in this and allied fields. The discussion must clearly
point out the exact contribution made to the existing fund of knowledge by the new data. It
should explain and compare the results with that of similar works by other investigators. The
major results and the conclusions, normally stated in the concluding section, must be clearly
established here. Any new or unusual result should also be explained. In addition, the discussion
part should present the professional relevance of the results for policy and the public interest,
implications for future research, etc. The student, therefore, takes great pains to present clearly
his/her major findings, assess the significance of the results and discuss the possible practical
implications with reference to the problems indicated and the objectives stated in the introduction
section. Citations that the author feels that they would strengthen the results as well as those
contradicting the present findings should also quoted. However, attempts have to be made to
provide appropriate explanations for obtaining contradictory findings with the findings of
previous studies.
Illustrations (tables and figures) are one of the best means of emphasizing your research results
and supporting conclusions. They can be arranged to emphasize the significant part of your
research results. Present the data as simply and straightforwardly as possible so that the
significant points can be grasped easily. A table or figure must normally be placed on the same
(or just next) page where it is cited in the txt for the first time. No vertical lines in the table and
no horizontal lines other than the one at the top one at the bottom and one separating the column
heading from contents of the Table. The footnote for the level of significance, abbreviations or
any other footnote can be given at the bottom of the table.

2.2.2.18. Conclusions and recommendations (2-3 pages)

Conclusion should be presented in statement form. Conclusions should be derived from the
findings related to each research question. The conclusion should address significant findings of
the investigation by indicating he theoretical and practical implications of your work. It
summarizes major findings by drawing all arguments and findings together. Try to specify the
main factual results, usually in short sentences. Present the conclusions in their order of
importance. The conclusion should leave the reader with a strong sense that the work you set out
to do has been completed, and that it was worthwhile. The conclusions are a mixture of major
facts and your opinion of them. Do not repeat word for word the abstract, introduction or
discussion.
Recommendations should be presented in numeral form. In the recommendation part the student
gives her/his views and speculations based on the information provided by the investigation. It
suggests directions for future research to fill in gaps in our understanding and ends on a strong
note. State if your work suggests any interesting further avenues for investigation and if there are
ways in which your work could be improved by future workers.

2.2.2.19. References (5-10 pages)

Students should use the reference citations styles and other important directions indicated in sub-
section 2.1.2.12 herein.

2.2.2.20. Appendices
Appendixes are optional. The appendices should contain information, which can be missed in the
txt body but are relevant for the understanding of the research or important steps of it. They
27
contain extra, relevant material such as questionnaires, surveys, tables, figures, further detailed
statistical analysis, etc. These optional appendixes must be included in the Table of Contents,
conforming to the format used there. They must also be formatted in the document in such a way
that they are consistent with the other main divisions. Note that also the appendix pages should
be numbered consistently with general text.

2.2.2.21. Biographical sketch

This section comes after appendices. The candidate is not expected to write too large
biographical sketch (should not exceed one page). It would suffice if the student includes
information on the following: date and place of birth; educational background and
qualifications obtained; work experience and marital status.

2.2.3. Rules common to different parts of the MSc thesis

The following rules are followed all through the MSc thesis document. For the sake of clarity,
these are divided further into sub-sections as indicated below:

2.2.3.1. Margins and font

- Left margin: ≥ 3.5 cm

- Right margin:≥ 2.0 cm
- Top margin: ≥ 2.5 cm
- Bottom margin: ≥ 2.5 cm
- Spacing: Double
- Side: One side of the paper (front single)
- Paper format: A4 (normal)
- Font size: 12
- Font type: Times New Roman
- Font style: Regular
- Font color: Black
- Breaking a word on 2 lines: Not allowed
- Corrections with fluid after print: Not allowed
- Overwriting after print: Not allowed
- Crossing out words after print: Not allowed
- Typing machine: Computer
- Printing quality: Laser or letter quality
- Copies: High quality photocopy

2.2.3.2. Starting on new pages

Each of the components of the preliminaries, each of the first order titles of the text and the
reference and appendix pages of the thesis must start on the new page. As a rule, each component
of the preliminaries is expected to be short and not exceeding a page. Exceptions may be the
Table of Contents and perhaps the list of Abbreviations, List of Tables and List of Figures and
Illustrations. In case the Table of Contents and/or the List of Tables or Figures if there are more
than one page the title followed in bracket with the word "Continued" must appear on every
additional page as for example TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued). The "Appendix" section

28
comes after the "Reference" and the title "APPENDIX "appears on the center of a plain sheet
paper that has a page number on it and placed next to the last page of the reference.

2.2.3.3. Letter Cases and Numbering of Headings

Each of the titles of the preliminaries and the major titles of the text as well as the titles:
References and Appendix (ces) must be written in bold upper case letters and align left. Each
section of the text opens with one or two paragraph (s) that discusses general issues of the section
so that sub-headings do not occur just below the section heading.
The second order titles (sub-headings) of the text are numbered consecutively with fractions of
the Arabic numeral of the respective chapters (e.g. 1.1, 1.2, etc or 2.1 etc) and must be written in
bold title case letters (that is only the first letter of all major words of the headings written in
uppercase letters), flushed to left and should not run with text. Moreover, all the third order
headings are numbered consecutively with fractions of the Arabic numeral of their respective
sub-heading or divisions (e.g. 1.1.1, 1.1.2, etc or 2.1.1, 2.1.2, etc) and written in bold case letters
(except the first letter of the first word and proper nouns), flushed left margin and should not run
with text. No titles or headings of any division and headings (captions) of either Tables or
Figures are under-lined, punctuated or italicized.

2.2.3.4. Spacing and Indentation

The spacing between lines in the text as well as in the tables is double. New paragraphs should
begin in a new line with an indentation of 1.27cm.

2.2.3.5. Page Numbering

Every page has a page number typed on it except the "Cover Page". The use of two different
series of page numbering is recommended. In the first series, small Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, etc)
shall be used for all the pages starting from the pages next to the "Cover Page" and ending on the
last page of abstract section. In the second series Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) are used from the
first page of Introduction and continued till the end of the Appendix section. However, Arabic
page numbering after the last page of the reference list will not be considered as part of the fixed
number of pages of the main body of the thesis. In addition, page number should be located at the
bottom center of the page throughout the document.

3. GUIDELINES FOR ORAL PRESENTATIONS AND BINDING THE FINAL MSc

THESIS

3.1. General

Oral presentations are an important means of communicating scientific information, not only in
research defense but also at scientific meetings. Hence, students should carefully prepare their
presentations in order to gain positive experience with oral presentations. A presentation should
start with a title slide, then the introduction of the topic, followed by a clear presentation of the
objectives and hypothesis followed by materials and methods. In the case of thesis presentations,
results are showed and discussed.
The standard presentation tool nowadays is PowerPoint. This powerful program offers many
opportunities but also many dangers. The following points should be carefully considered:
- the individual slides should not contain too much information;
- only clearly legible fonts should be used (see below specifications);
29
- colors and color combinations should be selected cautiously;
- bullet lists should not be overused;
- animations are highly discouraged and should be used to emphasize specific results.
For more details students are referred to the paper of Roper and Gilgen (2004,
http://www.ashs.org/authors/forms/impr_ppoint.pdf)

The preparation should be started early enough to practice several times before the colloquium, if
possible within the working group.
In the presentation, it is important that the speaker
- speaks clearly and loudly;
- holds eye contact with the audience;
- does not read long parts from the slides;
- uses the pointer in a calm manner.
3.2. Guidelines for MSc proposal presentations

The advisors should check and agree on the power point presentations prior to presentations. The
total amount of time required for presentation is 25 minutes in which 15 minutes shall be used for
presentation and 10 minutes for discussion. The maximum number of slides should be 20. Font
size of power point presentation should be 28 with aerial font. However, the title should be
written with 36 font size. Simple and concise presentation are encouraged. Students should not
waste much of their time on Introduction and Literature review parts, rather they should focus on
materials and method part of their proposal.
The department heads and advisors should make sure that all comments given by the assessor as
well as audience during presentation of the proposal are incorporated in the final document.

3.3. Guidelines for MSc thesis presentations

The advisors should check and agree on the power point presentations prior to presentations. The
total amount of time allotted for thesis presentation is 30 minutes, followed by 60 minutes of
introgression by board of examiners. The number of slides should between 30 and 40 with
aerial font size of 28 pt. However, the title of each slide should be 36 pt. During presentations,
students should give much emphasis on the statement of the problem and objectives of the work,
major results along with discussions, conclusions and recommendations.
After defense, the department and advisors or delegates by the board of examiners should check
that all comments given by the board of examiners have been properly incorporated in the final
corrected thesis. A thesis, which is approved by board of examiners with “minor modifications”,
the corrected version should be submitted to the respective department within one month of
defense. A thesis, which is approved by board of examiners with “major modifications”, the
corrected version, should be submitted to the department within 2 to 3 months, i.e. should not be
submitted before 2 months and after 3 months of time after the day of defense.

3.4. Binding the thesis

The thesis should be bind in a very proper way and should bear the logo of the HU by
considering the points stated in sub-section 2.2.2.1 herein. The final and corrected thesis should
be compiled by the College of Agriculture and enough copies should be available in the Library.
Moreover, students should submit their corrected and final thesis in soft copy to their respective
departments.

30
 APPENDIX I

TITLE PAGE OF THE MSc PROPOSAL

Integrating livestock production into water resources development:

Assessment on livelihood resilience and livestock water productivity at
Alewuha and Golina Rivers

By

MEKETE BEKELE

ADVISOR: GIRMA ABEBE (PhD)

CO-ADVISOR: AMARE HAILESILASSIE (PhD)

A Proposal Submitted to the Institute of Nutrition, Food Science Technology

HAWASSA UNIVERSITY
College of Agriculture

In partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of the Master of

Science in Food Science Technology (Specialization: Nutrition)

Hawassa, Ethiopia
June, 2001

31
 APPENDIX II

TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THE MSc PROPOSAL

Content Page

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of crop rotation research 1
1.2. Important soil pathogens in potatoes 4
1.2.1. Potato cyst nematodes 4
1.2.2. Free-living nematodes 5
1.2.3. Wilt diseases 6
1.2.4. Rhizoctonia 7
1.3. Objectives of the research 8
2. LITERATURE REVIEW 8
2.1. Colloidal Properties of Na/Ca Soils 9
2.2 .Use of Chemical Amendments for Reclaiming Sodium Affected Soils 9
2.2.1. Theory and Background of Reclamation 10
2.2.2. Gypsum versus langbeinite in reclaiming sodium
affected soils 11
2.2.2.1. Reclaiming using gypsum 12
2.2.2.2. Reclamation using langbeinite 14
2.3. Crop Response to Reclamation of Sodic Soils
3. MATERIALS AND METHODS 15
3.1. Experimental set-up 17
3.2. Cropping measures 18
3.3. Crop analysis 19
3.4. Mycological research 20
4. WORK PLAN 21
5. BUDGET BREAKDOWN 22
6. REFERNCES 24

32
 APPENDIX III

LIST OF TABLES IN THE MSc PROPOSAL

Table Page

1. Descriptions of the study sites 16

2. List and descriptions of linseed genotypes studied at eight location in 2007 17
3. Separate analysis of variance model for each location 20
4. Combined analysis of variance model over locations 20
5. The joint regression analysis according to Eberhart and Russell (1966) 23
6. Mean seed yield (kg/ha) of 12 linseed genotypes tested at eight environments 25
7. Mean oil content (%) of 12 linseed genotypes tested at eight environments 30
8. Mean oil yield (kg/ha) of 12 linseed genotypes tested at eight environments 30
9. Combined ANOVA for 18 traits of 12 linseed genotypes 33
10. Percent contributions of different variance components for 10 characters 40
11. Wricke’s ecovalence value of seed and oil yields for 12 linseed genotypes 42
12. Eberhart and Russell’s analysis of variance for seed yield 44
13. Eberhart and Russell’s analysis of variance for oil yield 44

33
 APPENDIX IV

LIST OF FIGURES IN THE MSc PROPOSAL

Figure Page

1. A cross section of a coffee fruit 10

2. Dendrogram showing hierarchical clustering patterns of 49 Coffee
Accessions for 16 Quantitative Traits 55
3. Dendrogram showing hierarchical clustering patterns of 49 coffee
accessions (UPGMA) based on Qualitative characters 60

34
 APPENDIX V

LIST OF TABLES IN THE APPENDIX OF THE MSc

PROPOSAL

Appendix Table Page

1. Mean annual rainfall of the study area 25

2. Soil chemical composition of the study area 27
3. ANOVA table for the data of individual locations 29
4. ANOVA table for the data combined over locations 30
5. ANCOVA table for the data of individual locations 31
6. ANCOVA table for the data combined over locations 32

35
 APPENDIX VI

LIST OF FIGURES IN THE APPENDIX OF THE MSc

PROPOSAL

Appendix Figure Page

1. Mean minimum and maximum temperature of the study area 23

2. Rainfall distribution of the study area during the year of study 28
3. Dynamics of soil organic matter content of the study area 29
4. Proportion of Sand silt and clay in the soil of the study area 33
5. Soil composition of the main Cations in the study area 31

36
 APPENDIX VII

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS OR ACRONYMS IN THE

MSc PROPOSAL

AMMI Additive Main effects and Multiplicative Interaction

ANOVA Analysis of variance

CSA Central Statistical Authority

EARO Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization

EIAR Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

IPCA Interaction Principal Component Axis

HARC Holeta Agricultural Research Center

ICARDA International Center for Agricultural Research in Dray Areas

KARC Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center

MOARD Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

NORAD Norwegian Agency for International Development

37
 APPENDIX VIII

COVER PAGE OF THE MSc THESIS

Integrating livestock production into water resources development:

Assessment on livelihood resilience and livestock water productivity at
Alewuha and Golina Rivers

MSc Thesis

MEKETE BEKELE

HAWASSA UNIVERSITY

College of Agriculture

Hawassa, Ethiopia

June, 2011

38
 APPENDIX IX

TITLE PAGE OF THE MSc THESIS

Integrating livestock production into water resources development:

Assessment on livelihood resilience and livestock water productivity at
Alewuha and Golina Rivers

MEKETE BEKELE

ADVISOR: GIRMA ABEBE (PhD)

CO-ADVISOR: AMARE HAILESILASSIE (PhD)

A Thesis Submitted to the Institute of Nutrition, Food Science Technology

HAWASSA UNIVERSITY
College of Agriculture

In partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of

Science in Food Science Technology (Specialization: Nutrition)

Hawassa, Ethiopia

June, 2011

39
 APPENDIX X

APPROVAL SHEET OF THE MSc THESIS

Department of Graduate Committee

HAWASSA UNIVERSITY

As members of the Examining Board of the Final MSc Open Defense, we certify that we
have read and evaluated the thesis prepared by ………………………………entitled
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………and
recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the thesis requirement for the degree of
:……………………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………… ..…………………….. …..……………….

Name of Chairman Signature Date
………………………………… ..…………………….. …..……………….
Name of Major Advisor Signature Date
………………………………… ..…………………….. …..……………….
Name of Co-advisor Signature Date
………………………………… ..…………………….. …..……………….
Name of Internal Examiner Signature Date
………………………………… ..…………………….. …..……………….
Name of External Examiner Signature Date

Final approval and acceptance of the thesis is contingent upon the submission of the final
copy of the thesis to the Department of Graduate Council (DGC) of the candidate's major
department.

I hereby certify that I have read this thesis prepared under my direction and recommend that it
accepted as fulfilling the thesis requirement.

………………………………… ..…………………….. …..……………….

Name of Thesis Advisor Signature Date

40
 APPENDIX XI

DEDICATION PAGE IN THE MSc THESIS

I dedicate this thesis manuscript to Kerstin Jhon, food technologist, teacher, scholar, woman
of arts, world citizen, etc

OR

I dedicate this thesis manuscript to my father ABEBE HAILE, and my mother ZEWDITU
AYELE for nursing me with affection and love and for their dedicated partnership in the
success of my life.

41
 APPENDIX XII

STATEMENT OF AUTHOR IN THE MSc THESIS

I declare that this thesis is my bonafied work and all sources of materials used for this thesis
have been duly acknowledged. I solemnly declare that this thesis is not submitted to any other
institution anywhere for the award of any academic degree, diploma or certificate.

Name:……………………………... …………………….Signature:……….……………

Place: College of Agriculture, Hawassa University, Hawassa

Date of Submission:………………………………………….

42
 APPENDIX XII

LIST OF ABBREVATIONS OR ACRONYMS IN THE

MSc THESIS

AAU Addis Ababa University

AHI African Highland Initiative
AU Alemaya University
BOA Bureau of Agriculture
CSA Central Statistical Authority
DF Days to Flowering
EPA Environmental Protection Authority
EARO Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization
HI Harvest Index
LAI Leaf Area Index
LF Leaf Rust
MOE Ministry of Education
RCBD Randomized Complete Block Desgin
TSP Triple Super Phosphate
WFP World Food Program

43
 APPENDIX XIV

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IN THE MSc THESIS

The author is highly indebted to his /her advisor, Prof/Dr. /Mr. /Ms. XXXXXX as

with out his/her encouragement, insight, guidance, and professional expertise the

completion of this work would not have been possible. His/her special appreciation

also goes to Prof/Dr. /Mr. /Ms. XXXXXXXXX who had advised his/her on matters

pertinent to the thesis. The author also takes this opportunity to thank his/her parents

for their moral and financial support. A special word o thanks goes to Mr./Ms.

XXXXXXXXX who meticulously typed the thesis.

44
 APPENDIX XV

TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THE MSc THESIS

Content Page

STATEMENT OF AUTHOR i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABBREVATIONS iii
LIST OF TABLES iv
LIST OF FIGUERS AND ILLUSTARTIONS v
LIST OF TABLES IN THE APPENDIX vi
LIST OF FIGUERS IN THE APPENDIX vii
ABSTRACT viii
1. INTRODUCTION 1
2. LITERATURE REVIEW 4
2.1. Colloidal Properties of Na/Ca Soil 4
2.2 .Use of Chemical Amendments for Reclaiming Sodium Affected Soil 6
2.2.1. Theory and Background of Reclamation 9
2.2.2. Gypsum versus langbeinite in reclaiming sodium
affected Soil 10
2.2.2.1. Reclaiming using gypsum 15
2.2.2.2. Reclamation using langbeinite 19
2.3. Crop Response to Reclamation of Sodic Soil 23
3. MATERIALS AND METHODS 25
3.1. Determination of Cation Exchange Capacity 25
3.2. Evaluation of Gypsum & langbeinite in Sodic soil reclamation 26
3.2.1. Different time application of Gypsum 28
3.2.2. Different time application of langbeinite 29
3.3. Determination of Soil Sodicity 30
3.3.1. Quantification Sodium amount in the Sodic Soil 32
3.3.2. Quantification of Aluminum 33
3.4. Determination of Soil Alkalinity 35
3.4.1. Quantification of Magnesium 36
3.4.2. Measuring the pH status of the Soil 37
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 39
4.1. Cation Exchange Capacity and Soil Reclamation 41
4.1.1. Soil reclamation with Gypsum and langbeinite 42
4.2. Treatment of Sodic Soil 46
4.2.1. Concentration of Common Cation in the Soil 49
4.3. Alkalinity Status of the Soil 52
4.3.1. The Acidic and Basic of Status of Soil 64
5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMENDATIONS 67
5.1. CONCLUSION 69

45
TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED)

5.2. RECOMMENDATIONS 70
6. REFERNCES 71
APPENDIX I 81
APPENDIX II 83
APPENDIX III 84
APPENDIX IV 86
APPENDIX V 87

46
 APPENDIX XVI

LIST OF TABLES IN THE MSc THESIS

Table Page
1. Physical and chemical properties of the soils in the study area 20
2. Mean exchangeable sodium (meq/100g soil) replaced due to application of
gypsum as a chemical amendment and leaching with varying pore volumes
of irrigation water 29
3. Hydraulic conductivity (mm/hr) as affected by volume of leaching water 32
4. Seed germination (%) of lima bean as affected by applied gypsum 34
5. Effect of applied gypsum and langbeinite on the dry matter yield (kg/ha)
of lima bean 40

47
 APPENDIX XVII

LIST OF FIGUERS OR ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE MSc

THESIS

Table Page
1. Physical and chemical properties of the soils in the study area 30
2. Mean exchangeable sodium (meq/100g soil) replaced due to application of
gypsum as a chemical amendment and leaching with varying pore volumes
of irrigation water 34
3. Hydraulic conductivity (mm/hr) as affected by volume of leaching water 39
4. Seed germination (%) of lima bean as affected by applied gypsum 43
5. Effect of applied gypsum and langbeinite on the dry matter yield (kg/ha)
of lima bean 48

48
 APPENDIX XVIII

LIST OF TABLES IN THE APPENDIX OF MSc THESIS

Table Page
1. Physical and chemical properties of the soils in the study area 20
2. Mean exchangeable sodium (meq/100g soil) replaced due to application of
gypsum as a chemical amendment and leaching with varying pore volumes
of irrigation water 29
3. Hydraulic conductivity (mm/hr) as affected by volume of leaching water 32
4. Seed germination (%) of lima bean as affected by applied gypsum 34
5. Effect of applied gypsum and langbeinite on the dry matter yield (kg/ha)
of lima bean 40

49
 APPENDIX XIX

LIST OF FIGUERS OR ILLUSTRATION IN THE

APPENDIX OF THE MSc THESIS

Table Page
1. Physical and chemical properties of the soils in the study area 30
2. Mean exchangeable sodium (meq/100g soil) replaced due to application of
gypsum as a chemical amendment and leaching with varying pore volumes
of irrigation water 34
3. Hydraulic conductivity (mm/hr) as affected by volume of leaching water 39
4. Seed germination (%) of lima bean as affected by applied gypsum 43
5. Effect of applied gypsum and langbeinite on the dry matter yield (kg/ha)
of lima bean 48

50