TU MA English Thesis Format: FOHSS Structure, Length and Referencing

22 September 2026 · 9 min read

Tribhuvan University's Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FOHSS) governs the MA in English along with the other Central Department and constituent-campus MA programmes — sociology, rural development, journalism and the rest. Its thesis guideline is written to cover all of them, which is why an MA English thesis looks structurally similar to a sociology one on the contents page even though the two are built on completely different kinds of evidence: close reading, textual criticism and theoretical framework instead of a survey or a field visit.

The FOHSS chapter structure

Chapter 1 — Introduction: the text or texts under study, the critical problem, your research questions, the significance of the study, and its scope and limitation.
Chapter 2 — Review of Literature: prior criticism on the text and the theoretical framework you are applying — the theorist, the concept, and why that lens fits your argument rather than a competing one.
Chapter 3 — Research Methodology: not a data-collection method in the social-science sense, but your critical approach — the theoretical lens, the analytical tools you will use to read the text, and how the chapters are organised to build the argument.
Chapter 4 — Presentation and Analysis: the close reading itself, organised thematically or chapter-by-chapter through the primary text, applying the framework from Chapter 2 with textual evidence quoted and analysed line by line.
Chapter 5 — Summary, Findings and Conclusion: what the reading has established, restated as a claim, with its implications for how the text or the theory is understood.
References, then Appendix where relevant.

The department that runs your programme — the Central Department at Kirtipur or a constituent campus — can add to this skeleton, most often by specifying how explicitly the theoretical framework has to be separated from the review of prior criticism. Ask for the current departmental notice rather than working from an older classmate's thesis, since the wording of these notices is revised between batches.

How long it needs to be

FOHSS's own guideline sets a minimum length of 60 pages excluding the reference list — a floor, not a target. An MA English thesis reaches that length through the depth of the close reading in Chapter 4, not through padding the review of literature with plot summary. A common weakness examiners flag is a Chapter 4 that retells what happens in the text rather than analysing it against the stated framework — assume your reader already knows the plot, and spend the pages on the argument instead.

Referencing: MLA is the working convention, but confirm it

Literary studies departments in Nepal, including TU's English programmes, conventionally reference in MLA style — parenthetical author-page citations and a Works Cited list — because MLA is the format built for quoting and analysing literary text closely, which is most of what an English thesis does. FOHSS's general guideline does not lock every discipline under it to one referencing style the way, say, a medical faculty does with Vancouver, so treat MLA as the strong departmental convention rather than an unbreakable rule, and get it confirmed in writing by your supervisor before you commit a full draft to it. Whichever style applies, keep every in-text citation and every Works Cited or reference-list entry in exact correspondence — a source cited in the text and missing from the list is the single most common formatting flag on submitted humanities theses.

Title-page conventions if you are writing in Nepali

Some FOHSS programmes accept a thesis written in Nepali rather than English. Where that applies, the title page carries its own conventions distinct from the English-medium template: the student's name, the topic, the research title also rendered in Roman script, the submission date given in AD rather than only in BS, and the viva date recorded once it has been fixed. Confirm with your department whether your specific programme and topic are eligible to be submitted in Nepali before you start drafting, since not every MA English topic is.

The viva and the clock that runs after your exams

Under TU's general FOHSS timeline, a candidate is expected to complete the viva voce within 90 days of the fourth-semester result being published in order to be treated as a regular candidate rather than falling into a later, slower batch. That clock starts from the result date, not from when you finish writing, so a thesis that is still being drafted when results are announced is already working against a deadline. Plan the last round of supervisor feedback to land well before results, not after.

What gets an MA English thesis sent back

A methodology chapter that describes the theory in the abstract without saying how it will actually be applied to the text in Chapter 4.
Chapter 4 written as plot summary with the theoretical framework mentioned only in the introduction and conclusion.
A review of literature that lists prior critics without saying where your reading agrees, departs from, or extends theirs.
Quotations from the primary text left unanalysed — quoted, then moved past, rather than read closely.
Referencing style mixed between MLA and APA conventions within the same document.
A conclusion that introduces a claim not supported anywhere in Chapter 4.

Working on an MA English thesis and want the argument, chapter structure or referencing reviewed before you submit? Assignment Nepal works with FOHSS candidates across TU's constituent and affiliated campuses — message us on WhatsApp at +977 9768768340.

Thesis subjects in Nepal — Where English and the other humanities and social science subjects sit among every faculty.
Master's thesis help — Feasibility, structure, method and draft review across TU, KU and PU.
TU MA social science thesis format — The same FOHSS skeleton, built around fieldwork instead of close reading.
Literature review writing support — For the chapter that establishes your critical framework and gap.