Dissertation binding and printing

Binding and Printing your Dissertation

A dissertation refers to a research project that a student is required to complete as part of their undergraduate or postgraduate degree. Dissertations helps pupils to forth their results pertaining to a proposition or question which they select on their own. The primary purpose of a dissertation is to analyse the analytical skills that pupils have gained throughout their tenure at an institution of higher education and the evaluation determines their final grade.

Even though students generally receive some guidance from teachers and professors, the dissertation project is for the most part independent. A dissertation reflects your skills and ability as a budding researcher and is also a method of examining your knowledge of a particular subject.After you have completed writing your dissertation and proofread and checked it for plagiarism,

you would like to print your dissertation that means having to choose between:

1. Kinds of binding
2. Determine whether to print your dissertation in colour or in standard black and white
3. Determining whether your dissertation should single sided or double sided
4. The kind of paper you want to use and its relative thickness

Various Ways of Binding your Dissertation

In addition to holding all the vital pages of a dissertation together, it is very important to bind a dissertation as binding plays a pivotal role in creating a good first impression of your dissertation in front of your professor or supervisor. Students are flooded with a plethora of ways to bind their dissertation that ranges from spiral binding which is economical to hardcover binding which is more expensive.

The type of binding that you choose should be based on:

1. Guidelines set by your university or prescribed by your professor.
2. The version of your dissertation
3. Kind of dissertation i.e. whether you are submitting an undergraduate dissertation or a postgraduate dissertation.

The various type of Binding are as follows:

1. Spiral
2. Comb
3. Fastback
4. Paperback
5. Hardback

Spiral binding (± £7) :-

Spiral bounding: Metal spiral binding is sturdy and evokes a proficient look. At times, one can also choose the metal colour to be used from white, silver and black and one can also select a transparent plastic cover for the front and back of one’s dissertation.

Advantages of Spiral Binding-

1. Professional appearance
2. Perusing through the pages is comparatively easier as it can be completely opened
3. It is comparatively inexpensive.

Comb binding-

Comb binding is more cost effective than spiral binding. The primary advantage of this kind of binding is the fact that you can open the binding to add or get rid of irrelevant pages. This kind of binding suitable is mostly used for drafts. It also supports a crystal clear cover on the back as well as the front of the dissertation. However it does not give out a professional appearance.

Advantages of Comb Binding:

• It is comparatively less expensive and cost effective
• Allows one to browse pages easily
• A dissertation that employs the use of Comb Binding can be closed and opened, but not very easily

Fastback binding:

Fastback binding which refers to softback binding, is another type of binding service that students can avail to bind their dissertations. In Fastback binding, the pages of a dissertation are held together by a linen back with the help of strong glue. Fastback binding is used primarily for books. It emits a professional look apart from being comparatively cheap. The only disadvantage is probably the fact that one runs a risk of the sheets of paper coming loose after a period of time.

Advantages of Fastback Binding:

1. Gives a professional appearance like a book
2. Offers a wide variety of choice as it is available in a plethora of myriad colours

Paperback binding-

This type of binding is usually employed for binding books wherein the pages are attached and organized with strong glue or at times sewn together which leads your dissertation to be protected with the help of a cover which is flexible in nature. This kind of book binding adds and lends durability to a dissertation and ensures that your dissertation is more strong, resilient and durable. Paperback binding also gives a professional look to your dissertation.

In majority of the cases, it is possible to add front lettering as well as spine lettering. However the only disadvantage of paperback binding is that the process of opening your dissertation and browsing through it would be less smooth as compared to opening and browsing with spiral binding or comb binding.

Advantages of Paperback binding:-

1. It is durable, long-lasting and professional
2. It will give your dissertation the appearance akin to a book

Hardback binding-

This type of binding is very similar to paperback binding, with the only major difference being that both the covers of a dissertation are hard rather than being flexible. Resiliency and durabily are the hallmarks of this kind of binding and is essentially used to bind dissertations of post graduate students and other hefty written texts and documents.

The quality of the material as well as the fabric that is used to bind the front as well as the back cover can be customized as per one’s needs, tastes and requirements, including the front lettering as well as the spine lettering.

Advantages of Hardback binding:-

1. It is extremely durable and professional
2. You can customize the cover
3. It is very expensive

Options for printing Dissertation-

You can choose to print your colour Dissertation or print it in Black and White If it is not clearly mentioned by your teacher or written in the guidelines of your university, you can choose if you wish to print your dissertation in black & white or print your dissertation in colour. However it should be kept in mind that printing your dissertation in colour is more expensive than choosing to print your dissertation in black and white.

Usually, a dissertation printed in colour looks way more specialized, however that does not mean that is mandatory. If the dissertation you have written comprises of various graphs, diagrams or numerical figures which depend on the use of colour, it is advisable to at least print these pages of your dissertation in colour.

Single sided or double sided-

It is better to print your dissertation double sided as it is usually less expensive and more affordable than printing single sided. In addition to this, the other benefit of printing double sided is it tends to make your dissertation less thick due to paper savings.

However, there are some universities that require a student to print their dissertation single sided. Hence it is best to check with the university and follow their prescribed guidelines.

If you are using double sided, you should keep the following important points in mind:

1. Fresh chapters ought to begin on right hand side. It is advisable to take this to account while including blank pages during the process of organizing a dissertation.
2. Always add a white page devoid of anything post the title page in order to prevent the acknowledgements or your abstract from being reproduced at the back of your title page.
3. Pay attention to the page numbering. You can use the help of outside alignment to help you with the page numbering.

Paper weight-

A student generally does not pay much attention to the thickness of the paper that is used for binding and printing and this fact often goes unnoticed and unheeded. More often than not, most students do not ponder over it, but it is an essential element to consider as it has a substantial effect on the ultimate feel and appearance of the dissertation of a student.

The Number of copies of dissertation that you want to print:

A lot of students print numerous of one’s dissertation. Based on the prescribed rules of your university, a student may be required to give more than one copy of your dissertation to your professor or teacher. It also helps to have a few copies of dissertation in hand as you may wish to keep a copy of your dissertation for your own family.

Delivery and production time:

Production time which refers to the binding and printing time takes two days, with the delivery taking a day. If you choose to pay an additional amount, (an additional charge that can vary between +20 to +80%), the printing and binding time as well as delivery time may be reduced.

Steps to follow prior to Printing

Before you actually send your dissertation for print, you should keep in mind the following things:

1. Ensure that you save your dissertation as a PDF: By ensuring to save one’s dissertation as a PDF file, the formatting of the text will always be constant on all computers, preventing offsets while receiving the printed dissertation.
2. Check for grammatical errors: Proofread your dissertation in order to mitigate any grammatical errors or language errors.
3. Update the Table of contents page: Prior to saving one’s dissertation, ensure the table of contents is automatically updated.