Thesis Abstract, Declaration and Front Pages: Getting the Preliminaries Right

13 August 2026 · 6 min read

Every university in Nepal prescribes a set of front pages for a thesis, and every year students reprint bound copies because a signature page was missing or the page numbering was wrong. These pages take an afternoon to get right once you know what each one is for.

The usual order

Front pages are numbered in lowercase roman numerals; the main text restarts at Arabic 1 from Chapter 1. Getting this wrong is the single most common formatting correction.

The abstract is a miniature thesis

In 150–300 words, an abstract covers five things: the problem and purpose, the method, the main findings with actual numbers where possible, the conclusion, and the implication. Write it last, when you know what you found. Avoid citations, avoid "this study will attempt to", and avoid vague findings — "a significant positive relationship was found (r = 0.62, p < 0.01)" is worth more than "the relationship was found to be significant".

Keywords

Most formats ask for four to six keywords below the abstract. Choose terms someone would actually search for: your main variables, your population and your context. These are also what make your thesis findable in a repository later.

Declaration and acknowledgement

The declaration follows your university's fixed wording — do not paraphrase it. The acknowledgement is the one personal page in the document; keep it brief and professional, thanking your supervisor, department, any organisation that gave you data access, and your family. One page is plenty.

Before you bind

Finishing a thesis and want the abstract and front pages checked against your university's format before binding? Assignment Nepal can review them — message us on WhatsApp at +977 9768768340.

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