Theses & Dissertations: General Formatting
Page Order:
- The organization of your paper should contain the sections in the order listed below:
| Page | Page Numbering |
| Title Page (no printed page number) | Number is not visible but is assigned Roman numeral one (i) |
| Abstract (one page only) | Beginning of visible numbers Roman numerals (ii) |
| Copyright (one page only) | Roman numerals continued (iii) |
| Table of Contents | Roman numerals continued (iv) |
| Certificate of Approval | Roman numerals continued (varies) |
| Dedication (optional, one page only) | Roman numerals continued |
| Acknowledgments (optional, one page only) | Roman numerals continued |
| List of Tables (when applicable) | Roman numerals continued |
| List of Figures* (when applicable) | Roman numerals continued |
| Content/Chapters** | Beginning of Arabic numerals (start with page 1) |
| References | Arabic numerals continued |
| Appendix/ces (when applicable) | Arabic numerals continued |
| Vita (one page only) | Arabic numerals continued |
* Other approved lists (e.g., List of Acronyms, List of Abbreviations, List of Lists,
etc.) go after the List of Figures.
**Students approved to use manuscript-style formatting should follow the Manuscript Formatting Guidelines.
Headings:
- Follow these instructions to set up and label headings in your document. These heading styles should be used throughout your paper.
- Additional heading information is included in the Content/Chapters section.
Page numbers:
- Do not type in page number manually; use the automatic page numbering function in Microsoft Word. This is easiest to do after you have the rough draft of your thesis/dissertation completed. For detailed instructions, refer to the Page Numbering Guide.
- The Title page has no page number but is included in the page number count.
- Page numbers are centered at the bottom of the page.
- The front matter (Abstract, Copyright, Table of Contents, Certificate of Approval, Dedication, Acknowledgments, and List pages) should be numbered using Roman numerals.
- The rest of the paper should use Arabic numbers. The first page of Chapter 1 should have the page number "1."
Mirrored margins:
- The top and bottom margins will be 1". The left and right margins will be mirrored,
with a 1" margin on the outer edge and a 1.5" margin for the inner edge (the page
gutter).
- Odd-numbered pages according to Microsoft Word (not your page numbers) have a left margin of 1.5" and a right of 1" and will appear on the right page of a printed book.
- Even-numbered pages according to Microsoft Word (not your page numbers) have a left margin of 1" and a right of 1.5" and will appear on the left side of a printed book.
- These mirrored margins allow for bound, print copies to be formatted correctly. You must have mirrored margins even if you do not plan on printing a copy of your thesis/dissertation.
- To set mirrored margins in Microsoft Word, click on Layout > Margins > Custom Margins. Under the dropdown for Multiple Pages, select Mirror Margins. Change the inside margin to 1.5". Be sure to apply it to the whole document. Click OK.
- Large figure/table pages can have between a half inch to one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and unbound edges. However, the side of the page that has the page number must be consistent with the margin used for the other page numbers so that the placement is consistent on every page.
Font:
- Use a common, accessible font such as Calibri, Arial, Georgia, Computer Modern, or Times New Roman. For the body of the paper, use an 11-point or 12-point text size. If a slightly smaller font size is used for any elements of the paper (footnotes, figure captions, etc.), it must be used consistently throughout the paper.
- For computer code, use a monospace font such as Lucida Console or Courier New. 10-point size is usually acceptable for monospace fonts.
Line spacing:
- Double-space everything except:
- Follow the formatting instructions on our website for the Abstract and Certificate of Approval pages.
- Single-spacing is permissible in tables, footnotes, and block quotations.
- Text that needs to be distinguished from the main division of text, such as figure/table captions, should be single spaced.
- To clearly separate a table or figure from the body of the text, an extra line space before or after a table or figure is allowed.
- Mathematical/chemical equations can have extra spacing before and after the equation if it improves readability.
- Do not use extra spacing between paragraphs or before/after lines.
- To be sure there are no extra spaces around your paragraphs in Microsoft Word, click on Layout and in the paragraph section be sure it says "0 pt" in the Spacing Before and Spacing After:
Paragraph alignment:
- Align the text to the left and leave the right margin uneven. Do not use full justification unless otherwise specified (e.g., all text on the Dedication page is centered).
Paragraph indents:
- Indent the first line of every paragraph 0.5" using the tab key (not the spacebar)
Line breaks:
- Do not manually divide words at the end of a line.
- Do not manually insert line breaks into DOI's or URL's; however, breaks in DOI's or URL's applied automatically by a word-processing program are allowed.
Widow/Orphan control:
- Using the Widow/Orphan control option ensures that headings or single lines of a paragraph are not left at the top or bottom of a page.
- To enable this Widow/Orphan control in Microsoft Word:
- Select all text in your document.
- Right-click anywhere on the highlighted text and select Paragraph.
- On the Lines and Page Breaks tab in the popup box, be sure Widow/Orphan control is checked.
Page breaks:
- Each section of your document listed starts on a new page.
- Use the page break function to start a new page. Do not press Enter repeatedly to get to the new page because that will need constant adjustment as you alter your text. Instead, go to Layout > Breaks > Page.
Hyperlinks:
- URL's may have embedded links, but they should not be underlined or in bold. The font should be black.
- Do not manually insert line breaks into DOI's or URL's; however, breaks in DOI's or
URL's applied automatically by a word-processing program are allowed.
Additional Resources:
Our formatting requirements do not always follow APA requirements (e.g., we do not require a running head), so please follow all formatting instructions listed on this website. If you need additional help, these resources can be used in conjunction with the requirements listed on this website:
- APA Style and Grammar Guidelines
- Purdue OWL APA Style 7
- Title Case Capitalization
- Sentence Case Capitalization
The Tech library has additional style resources.
Additional formatting information is included on section pages.
Note: if you paste text into your document, it may bring over formatting from the source document. Therefore, you should right-click where you want to paste, and from the paste options choose either "merge formatting" or "keep text only" to help preserve your destination document's formatting. Which one you choose depends on whether you have source formatting you want to keep like bold, italics, etc. because "keep text only" will eliminate that formatting.
