Templates for Master's thesis dissertations and presentations at the Madras School of Economics, Chennai IN.
The dissertation guidelines are communicated to students via email by the thesis committee; a copy can also be found in the documents folder of the project.
\begin
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% Contributed by Ritwiz Sarma, MA General Economics 2023-25. Github at https://github.com/RitwizSarma/mse-thesis-templates. Edits welcome.
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% REQUIRED PACKAGES
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\usepackage{setspace} % For line spacing control
\usepackage{titlesec} % For customizing chapter titles
\usepackage{fancyhdr} % For header and footer customization
\usepackage{tocloft} % For table of contents customization
\usepackage{amsmath} % For equation formatting
\usepackage{graphicx} % For figure handling
\usepackage{caption} % For caption customization
\usepackage{enumitem} % For list customization
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\usepackage{bookmark} % For bookmarks in PDF
\usepackage{hyperref} % For hyperlinks in PDF
\usepackage{bm} % For bold math symbols
\usepackage{footnotebackref} % For footnote back references
\usepackage[style=apa,sorting=nyt]{biblatex} % For bibliography management
\usepackage{tfrupee} % For rupee symbol - use \rupee
% SETTING UP
% This long preface is required to change the vanilla LaTeX report structure to MSE's complex dissertation formatting guidelines. Don't change anything unless you know what you're doing.
% Bib file
\addbibresource{assets/references.bib}
% Hyperlink setup
\hypersetup{colorlinks=true, linkcolor=blue, urlcolor=blue, citecolor=blue} % Hyperlink colors
% Page numbering and header/footer setup
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhf{}
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% Redefine the plain page style for chapter pages
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% Title formatting for chapters, sections, and subsections
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\titlespacing{\subsubsection}{20mm}{*2}{*2}
% Define spacing
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\setlength{\parskip}{2mm} % Space between paragraphs
% Suppressing
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% Custom command for long quotes
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% Equation, Table and Figure numbering per chapter
\numberwithin{equation}{chapter}
\numberwithin{table}{chapter}
\numberwithin{figure}{chapter}
% Increase headheight as recommended by fancyhdr
\setlength{\headheight}{14.5pt}
% DOCUMENT STARTS HERE
\begin{document}
% Set page numbering to Roman for preliminary pages
\pagenumbering{roman}
% TITLE PAGE
\begin{titlepage}
\newgeometry{top=15mm, bottom=30mm, left=40mm, right=40mm} % Adjust margins for title page to center content
\begin{center}
\vspace*{0.5cm}
{\bfseries TITLE\\[0.25mm]SUBTITLE IF NECESSARY\par}
\vspace{1cm}
{\bfseries STUDENT NAME\par}
\vspace{1.5cm}
{ \bfseries\textit{A project report submitted}\par}
\vspace{0.5cm}
{ \bfseries\textit{in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of}\par}
\vspace{2cm}
{\bfseries MASTER OF ARTS\par}
\vspace{0.25cm}
{\bfseries IN\par}
\vspace{0.25cm}
{\bfseries GENERAL ECONOMICS\par}
\vspace{1.5cm}
\includegraphics[width=4cm]{assets/mse_logo.png} % You'll need to have the MSE logo image file in the assets folder
\vspace{1cm}\\
{\bfseries May 2025\par}
\vspace{0.5cm}
{\bfseries MADRAS SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS\par}
\vspace{0.5cm}
{\bfseries Chennai- 600025\par}
\end{center}
\end{titlepage}
\restoregeometry % Restore original margins
\newpage
\newgeometry{top=15mm, bottom=30mm, left=40mm, right=40mm} % Adjust margins for title page to center content
\thispagestyle{empty}
\begin{center}
\vspace*{2cm}
{\bfseries\large\underline{CERTIFICATE}}
\end{center}
% Certificate
\vspace{2cm}
\begin{tabular}{@{}p{6cm}@{ }l@{ }p{8cm}@{}}
\bfseries\textit{Degree and Branch} & : & \textbf{MASTER OF ARTS} \\
& & (GENERAL ECONOMICS) \\
& & \\
\bfseries\textit{Month and Year of Submission} & : & \textbf{MONTH YEAR} \\
& & \\
\bfseries\textit{Title of the Project Work} & : & \textbf{TITLE} \\
& & \\
\bfseries\textit{Name of the Student} & : & \textbf{NAME} \\
& & \\
\bfseries\textit{Registration Number} & : & \textbf{GE/1776-77/069} \\
& & \\
\bfseries\textit{Supervisor Name and Designation} & : & \textbf{DR SUPERVISOR} \\
& & ASSISTANT PROFESSOR \\
& & MADRAS SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS \\
& & Chennai- 600025 \\
\end{tabular}
\restoregeometry
% Bonafide Certificate (ii)
\chapter*{BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE}
\thispagestyle{plain}
\begin{doublespace}
Certified that this Project Report titled ``\textbf{TITLE}'' is the bonafide work of \textbf{NAME} who carried out the project under my supervision. Certified further, that to the best of my knowledge the work reported herein does not form part of any other Project Report of the basis of which a degree or award was conferred on an earlier occasion on this or any other candidate.
\vspace{2cm}
\noindent\begin{tabular}{p{7cm}@{\hspace{2.4cm}}rp{7cm}}
DR DEAN & DR SUPERVISOR\\
Dean (Academics) & Assistant Professor\\
Madras School of Economics & Madras School of Economics\\
Chennai-600025 & Chennai-600025\\
\end{tabular}
\end{doublespace}
% Abstract (iii)
\chapter*{ABSTRACT}
\thispagestyle{plain}
Write your abstract here.
% Acknowledgement (iv)
\chapter*{ACKNOWLEDGEMENT}
\thispagestyle{plain}
\begin{doublespace}
Write your acknowledgements here.
\end{doublespace}
% Table of Contents (v)
\chapter*{CONTENTS}
\thispagestyle{plain}
\begin{onehalfspace}
\tableofcontents
\end{onehalfspace}
% List of Tables (vi)
\chapter*{List of Tables}
\thispagestyle{plain}
\begin{onehalfspace}
\listoftables
\end{onehalfspace}
% List of Figures (vii)
\chapter*{List of Figures}
\thispagestyle{plain}
\begin{onehalfspace}
\listoffigures
\end{onehalfspace}
% List of Symbols, Abbreviations and Nomenclature (viii) - optional
\chapter*{LIST OF SYMBOLS, ABBREVIATIONS AND NOMENCLATURE}
\thispagestyle{plain}
\begin{onehalfspace}
\begin{tabular}{p{3cm}p{12cm}}
NSS & National Sample Survey \\
NSSO & National Sample Survey Office \\
\end{tabular}
\end{onehalfspace}
% Chapter 1: Introduction
\chapter{INTRODUCTION}
\pagenumbering{arabic} % Reset page numbering to Arabic for main content
\section{SECTION 1} % All section names in capitals, as per guidelines
Some text here.
% Chapter 2: Literature Review
\chapter{LITERATURE REVIEW}
This is an example of a cite in LaTeX \parencite{hayek1945}.
% Chapter 3: Data
\chapter{DATA}
The general model is as follows:
\begin{equation*}
Y_{it} = \alpha + \beta (Post_t \times T_i) + \bm{X'}\bm{\theta} + \eta_i + \gamma_t + \epsilon_{it}
\end{equation*}\\[2mm]
where:
\begin{itemize}
\item $Y_{it}$ is the outcome variable.
\item $Post_t$ is 1 for observations after the treatment and 0 otherwise.
\item $T_i$ is 1 for the treatment group and 0 otherwise.
\item $\bm{X'}$ is a vector of controls.
\item $\eta_i$ is group fixed effects.
\item $\gamma_t$ is year fixed effects.
\end{itemize}
% Chapter 4: Results and Discussion
\chapter{RESULTS}
\section{SECTION 1}
More text.
% Chapter 5: Conclusion
\chapter{CONCLUSION}
This chapter provides a summarization of our empirical results and their implications.
% Appendices
\appendix
\chapter{FIRST APPENDIX}
\chapter{SECOND APPENDIX}
% References (APA style)
\chapter*{REFERENCES}
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{REFERENCES}
\begin{singlespace}
\printbibliography[heading=none] % Print the bibliography without a heading
% \begin{enumerate}[label={}, leftmargin=0pt, itemindent=0pt, labelwidth=0pt, align=left, itemsep=\baselineskip]
% \item Author, A. A., Author, B. B., \& Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. \textit{Title of Journal, volume}(issue), page-range. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy
% \item Author, A. A. (Year). \textit{Title of book}. Publisher.
% \item Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor (Ed.), \textit{Title of book} (pp. xx-xx). Publisher.
% \end{enumerate}
\end{singlespace}
\end{document}