FORMATTING OVERVIEW GUIDELINES FOR YOUR THESIS OR DISSSERTATION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL

Transcription

1 FORMATTING OVERVIEW GUIDELINES FOR YOUR THESIS OR DISSSERTATION FOR SUBMISSION TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL NOTE: Please be sure to check with your advisor for specific guidelines for submitting your thesis/dissertation. Your department may have different requirements than the ones listed below. MARGINS: Margins should be 1 inch from the edge of the paper regardless of the content of the page. The page numbers are the only exception and should be at least ¾ inch from the bottom of the page in the center of the footer. See our section on inserting page numbers for more specific details. FONTS: Standard fonts, such as Times New Roman or Arial, should be used for your thesis/dissertation. If you are using a different formatted font, you have to use embedded Type 1 or TrueType fonts so ProQuest can view the font easily for publication. To embed a font in Microsoft Word, choose Tools at the top of the page, Save and check Embed TrueType Fonts to make the font viewable when you save it in PDF format. Font styles that do not need to be embedded are Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Times, Symbol, and ZapfDingbats. LINE SPACING: Double spacing should be used for your entire paper. The only exceptions to double- spacing should be footnotes/endnotes and lists in appendices, which should be single-

2 spaced. On the Reference page, you can either use single space for your citation entries and double space between entries OR double- space the entire Reference section. USING COLOR: PDF and printed reproductions of your paper will be in color; however, if your thesis/dissertation is reproduced in Microfilm, your thesis/dissertation will lose all color and instead will be in grayscale. If you want to make sure your document is visible in all formats, make sure your graphics are visible in grayscale. USING EQUATIONS: Word s Equation Editor will not work with the PDF formatting and should not be used. Instead, use Times New Roman and Symbol fonts in italics along with superscripts and subscripts to create equations. This can be done through the font options in Microsoft Word. GRAPHICS: Graphics are best incorporated into your document by using EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) files instead of bitmaps, GIF s, or JPEG images. Resolutions higher than 600 dpi s are better for viewing the graphic in your document. Graphic editors that are part of a word processor should be avoided when editing your graphic. MULTIMEDIA OBJECTS: To add multimedia objects into your document, you can Copy and Paste the object into your document. Make sure to reference the figure in the text and provide a figure number and title you can reference in the text of your document. If you have multiple figures in your paper, consider making a list of figures (or tables if you have multiple tables) to follow the main Table of Contents page. SPACING, ALIGNING TEXT, AND COLUMNS:

3 Some general tips on how to get things to line up without too much effort: To align text, use tabs instead of multiple spaces. This will help you line up your text with the ruler. To show the ruler, go to the view options and next to Ruler select the check box. You can force a new line instead of starting a new paragraph by using line breaks. Page breaks will help you break your document where your next line will start on a new page. Section breaks can change the format between pages in the document, such as when you change from Portrait to Landscape orientation. If you have information you would like neatly organized into rows and columns, inserting tables without borders can align your text or numbers into formal columns. TABLE OF CONTENTS: MS Word can make a Table of Contents automatically by using heading styles while you are writing your document; however, you may add a Table of Contents to an existing document. See our help document on How to make a Table of Contents for information on how to add a Table of Contents to an existing document. The Prefatory pages, all pages before the body of the thesis or dissertation, should not have any page numbers on them, but are numbered as needed on the Table of Contents as Roman Numerals (i, ii, iii) starting with the Signature Page (blank) listed as page i. The only pages within your document that are not listed or numbered on your Table of Contents are your Abstract and Blank pages. Your Title and Copyright pages are counted along with your Signature page as page i of your document. Page numbers for all pages after the start of the body of the text of the Thesis/Dissertation should be in standard Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3). There should be dot leaders (periods or dots) between the section title and the page number.

4 List needed Prefatory pages, sections, chapter titles, reference section, appendices section, etc. on your table of contents. If you have many figures, tables, symbols, or abbreviations, consider making a List of Tables, List of Figures, List of Symbols, or List of Abbreviations pages as appropriate following the Table of Contents page in a similar format to the Table of Contents page. Do not include the lists of Tables and Figures on your Table of Contents page. Even if your Thesis/Dissertation is not divided into chapters, you still need to divide your paper into sections and put these section titles in your Table of Contents. PAGE NUMBERS A BRIEF OVERVIEW: Though normally we insert page numbers at the beginning of documents, the graduate school has special requirements regarding page numbers. They require that Arabic page numbers are placed after the Prefatory pages. In which case, the first page number appearing in the document will be on page number 2 of the main body of your Thesis/Dissertation (the second page of the first chapter). See our handout on Page Numbering for more specific information. Page numbers should be ¾ inch from the bottom of the page in the center. The Prefatory pages (all pages from the Title Page to the first page of the body of the thesis or dissertation, i.e., the title page, copyright page, signature page acknowledgement page, etc.) should NOT have any page numbers on them, but are numbered on the Table of Contents as Roman Numerals (i, ii, iii) starting with the Signature Page (blank) listed as page i. The only pages within your document that are not listed or numbered on your Table of Contents are your Abstract and Blank pages. Your Title and Copyright pages are counted along with your Signature page as page i of your document. Page numbers for all pages after the start of the body of the text of the Thesis/Dissertation should be in standard Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3). The first page of each section, including the body of the text, Reference section, and Appendices, should NOT have a page number on it. You can use

5 section breaks for each section, then selecting Different First Page in Header and Footer options to clear the page number for the first page of the section. The first page number appearing in the body of the text will be page number 2 (second page of the first chapter. Although counted as pages, NO page number appears on the first page of any chapter or section (References, Appendices, etc.). Landscape pages will be printed in Portrait Orientation. If you have Landscape pages in your document, center the page numbers at the left hand side of the Landscape page so that when printed, the page numbers line up with the other Portrait orientated pages. If you have a graphic or table that would appear better in Landscape format, consider rotating the graphic or table so it appears on a Portrait page instead of having to re- orientate the page numbers to fit the Landscape pages. You could also print off the Landscape and Portrait pages, arrange them in order, then scan them into a single document for submission. For your Thesis/Dissertation, you cannot have page numbers on the first page of each chapter, reference, or appendices sections. To achieve this, you can simply use section breaks in MS Word to start a new section so that the first page header/footer is different. See our handout on Page Numbers for more information. PDF FORMATTING: In order for the Graduate School to accept and publish your thesis/dissertation, you will need to save your final draft into a single PDF format document for submission. Microsoft Word allows you to save your document in PDF format. 1. PC instructions a. Click Save As from the File tab b. Under the Save as Type section access the drop down menu c. Choose PDF from the drop down menu d. Click Save to save the document in a separate PDF version 2. MAC instructions a. Under the File menu at the top of the page

6 b. Click Save As c. Under the Format: section access the drop down menu d. Choose PDF from the common or specialty formats available e. Click Save to save the document in a separate PDF version Note: You will not be able to edit the finished PDF version, so make sure this is your final step before submission to the Graduate School. If you cannot condense your Thesis/Dissertation into one file, consider printing the documents, line up the pages in the order you need for submission, and then re- scan the pages so you can save them as one PDF document.