Writing a thesis is the culmination of months, often years, of dedicated research and hard work. It represents a significant academic achievement, and the final presentation, particularly the binding, plays a paramount role in reflecting the quality and value of your work. When submitting your thesis, proper binding is important, as it not only protects your research but also enhances its professional appearance.
However, the binding process is often fraught with potential pitfalls that can lead to costly mistakes. According to Cambridge LibGuides, around 200 theses are added to the institution’s repository each year in printed form, underscoring the importance of getting this final step right. A well-bound thesis leaves a lasting impression on faculty, researchers, and other academics, ensuring your work is taken seriously.
Let’s dive into the common errors in thesis binding and how to avoid them so you can present your research in the best possible light.
What Is a Hardbound Thesis?
According to The Document Centre, the hard binding of a thesis refers to a bookbinding style which is more like traditional hard-cover books. In this kind of binding, the spine and cover of the publication are kept very rigid and strong. However, the internal pages are quite securely kept in place. Just like the hardback books that you can see in a bookstore, the cover of your hardbound thesis will extend slightly further than the internal pages.
Common Mistakes to Avoid While Choosing Hard Binding Thesis
When preparing for the hard binding of your thesis, students need to evaluate various binding options carefully. The final selection should meet all the university’s specified requirements. If you are struggling with the writing or researching process, avail yourself of thesis writing help online for professional guidance. However, during the binding process, students must take personal care to avoid common mistakes that could compromise the final presentation.
You have spent a lot of effort, emotion, time and energy on the longest document of your life. When it’s ready to be printed finally, ensure not to commit the following mistakes:
1. Ignoring the Thesis Formatting
Before you dive into options for binding and printing, it’s a great idea to ensure that the formatting of your thesis is in place. The right formatting makes it incredibly easy for the printer to create your masterpiece. There is no established format that you should follow; however, these are some of the guidelines:
- Keep a 25 mm margin on the binding side and at least a 5mm margin on the other sides.
- If your university has not specified a page size, go for an A4 size of paper for printing.
- The university may clearly specify the features, such as foiled lettering on the spine and front and cover colour, so be sure to follow that.
- The common file formats that people bring to the print and binding shops are XPS and PDF.
Again, if you have other requirements from your department or supervisor, ensure to follow those when working on your papers. It will save you from going back and changing your papers all over again when the binding time is near.
2. Picking the Wrong Print Options
The final decision will be about the printing style that you have to choose. Again, this may or may not be specified by your university or the course. If it is not specified by the university always, you can go for your own choice. You may pick colour binding or black-and-white printing.
The black and white one costs quite less, but the coloured one has a higher visual impact and is more expensive. You should keep the following guidelines in mind when going for the printing of your dissertation:
- Double-sided printing is preferable as it uses less paper and is kinder to the environment.
- Keep the weight of paper in your mind.
- For PhD dissertations, use paper that has 100-130 gsm of weight.
- For the bachelor’s or master’s thesis, use a paper with 75- 90 gsm of weight.
Students usually get 2-5 copies of their dissertation printed, and the number depends on the courses they have to submit those papers. A lot of students also keep a copy of the completed dissertation for them to keep at home.
3. Choosing the Wrong Binding
The binding of your thesis is supposed to keep everything together, and experts recommend different kinds of binding options for different kinds of papers. The top five types of bindings that are currently being used all over the world, as mentioned by SBS Printers, are the following:
- Softback
- Plastic spiral
- Magazine or booklet binding
- Metal spiral
- Hardback
Spiral bindings are used for the draft documents, while the PhD dissertations usually need soft or hardback binding. Plastic, metal, soft, and hardback are usually common for bachelor’s, master’s, and other bindings for documents of similar kinds.
4. Not Keeping the PDF File
Writing a dissertation takes a lot of time; hence, you must also know how to guard your documents. If you save your thesis or dissertation in a PDF file, it will be a lifesaver. It’s because when you pick this file format for saving your thesis, it is the same no matter on what PC or laptop you open it. Below is what you get when you save your thesis file in the PDF format:
- The font and size orientation stays the same.
- The page setup is entirely the same.
- There is no disorientation in the papers.
However, before saving the file in this format, you should make sure to proofread it fully and look for punctuation, grammar and language mistakes. However, if you have not saved a PDF file already, it will be a huge mistake.
5. Not Checking the Table of Contents Page
As you save your thesis in PDF format, do not forget to update the Table of Contents page. You might have made some changes in the arrangement and placement of several paragraphs and other charts in your work when finalising the thesis for submission.
It is incredibly important to check and update the table of contents page to make sure that all the page numbers are in the right place. To keep track of all the data, you can save it in a separate PDF file or document.
6. Ignoring the University Requirements
Each university has dedicated guidelines for students for almost all aspects of their thesis-binding process. Before you go out to that printing shop, be sure to read the university’s guidelines for the binding process in detail. Don’t miss the instructions related to the following factors:
- Margins
- Cover of the dissertation
- Margins
- File format
- Any other guidelines
If your university has already specified this, it would be great if you would follow all the instructions. If it has not, you should follow the guidelines that we have mentioned in this article. You can also ask your supervisor for further help.
7. Ignoring the Print Setting
Now that you are completely set to do all the binding work, think about how you want the inside of your dissertation to look. After designing the exterior of the papers, it is important to pay attention to the inside of the papers. If your thesis has some images or other data, you can choose to print those parts in colour.
Here are our two brief instructions about it:
- If you add too much colour to all the data, the dissertation will look less professional.
- You can also keep it all in simple black and white.
What Is the Best Binding for a Dissertation?
For a dissertation, the most common binding is the spiral binding, which is also known as the wire-o binding. You should always choose the university guidelines and other requirements for binding when choosing what style to pick.
Here is why you should choose spiral binding for your dissertation:
- It provides a professional look to your papers.
- It allows you to lay the pages flat for easy reading.
- You can make it work for a long time and keep it there for frequent usage.
However, if you do not feel comfortable with it and want to try something else as a binding option, you can check some of these options:
Hardback Binding: It gives your thesis a more book-like presentation and PhD dissertations are mostly bound like that.
Comb Binding: This is a cheaper alternative for spiral binding but may not look aesthetically appealing to viewers.
Softback Binding: In this type of binding, you will have to spend less money, but the final shape may not be as sturdy.
Conclusion
Now that you know all about it, you must avoid making these mistakes when it comes to the hard-binding dissertation process. Always check if your institution has specific requirements regarding the design covers, formatting requirements, and the type of binding you prefer. If you’re unsure about the process, custom dissertation writing companies can offer guidance or even assist with the formatting and binding of your papers to meet institutional standards.
Also, you should consider how you want your dissertation to look and what your individual preferences are. You can even ask for the opinions of your friends and fellows and ask them what looks better on your work. The bottom line is that a helical or spiral binding is an ideal option for the thesis or dissertation. It will keep the pages together through a wire or plastic coil, and the pages will be able to be rotated 360 degrees, making them easier to read.
