Every thesis or dissertation must include a preface describing the student's role in the work as presented. The
three extended samples below illustrate good practice; they are taken verbatim from real UBC theses. In
simpler situations, a preface could consist of just one or two sentences. We begin with two synthetic examples
that show acceptable possibilities. Each write-up is tightly focussed on expressing who did what. Readers
should be able to find details of what was achieved elsewhere in the thesis, so there is no need to repeat them
in the Preface.