University Guidelines Manual Formatting Rules: Front Pages

A Guide for CSULB Master’s Degree Candidates

Thesis and Dissertation OfficeCalifornia State University, Long Beach

University Library, Room 501email: lib-thesis@csulb.edu

phone: (562) 985-4013web:

http://www.csulb.edu/library/guide/serv9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday

Contact us any time! We’ll get back to you by the next business day!

Get the Complete Picture

This PowerPoint slideshow only covers one segment of the many University Guidelines Manual formatting rules. To get the complete picture, you also need to refer to these slideshows.

Electronic Submission and Basic University Guidelines Manual Formatting Rules

University Guidelines Manual Formatting Rules: Chapters, Appendices, and References Lists

These and other materials that can help you format your manuscript are available on the Thesis and Dissertation Office web pages.

Thesis Office Web Pages

University Guidelines Manual Mini-Manuscript Templates for pages PowerPoints Go to http://csulb.libguides.com/thesisformat or click through

from University Library home page: http://www.csulb.edu/library

Big News! Signature Page Is Now Separate from ManuscriptThe procedure for electronic submission requires that the signature page be printed and signed with all signatures and then delivered to the Thesis and Dissertation Office. So, the signature page must be created as a separate item from the PDF manuscript that will be uploaded online. The information on the signature page must match the information on the abstract and title page.

Signature Page Fill page from top margin to

bottom margin Leave enough room for

professors to sign their names The person who signs the last

signature (College Designee) varies by department. The Thesis Office Format Guide web page has a list with names of college designees

Title is centered and in all uppercase letters and bold font

Use inverted pyramid format for title (longest line first followed by progressively shorter lines)

Match wording and line breaks of title on signature page with title on abstract and title page

Your name must match on these three pages too

NO page number Template online

University Guidelines Versus Departmental Style Manuals

The formatting rules in the CSULB University Guidelines Manual ALWAYS take precedence over the style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) or other citation format styles (IEEE, GSA, etc.) required by your department

What Are Front Pages?

Front pages, or front matter, is a term used for the part of a manuscript that gives information to the reader about the content of the manuscript. Basically, anything that comes before the first page of the first chapter can be called front pages

Front Pages Used in CSULB Manuscripts Arranged in Order of

AppearanceTITLE PAGECOPYRIGHT PAGE*ABSTRACTACKNOWLEDGEMENTS*TABLE OF CONTENTSLIST OF TABLES**LIST OF FIGURES**LIST OF WORKS**LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS*PREFACE*

*This section is not required.**This section is only required if numbered items (tables, figures, etc.) are part of manuscript.

Title Page Fill page from top margin to

bottom margin Use double line spacing within

five blocks of text EXCEPT use single line spacing

between names of committee members

Space blocks of text evenly on the page. Reduce size of blank areas if needed to fit information on one page

Title is centered and in all uppercase letters and bold font

Use inverted pyramid format for title (longest line first followed by progressively shorter lines)

Match wording and line breaks of title on abstract and title page

Your name must match on these pages too

NO page number Template online

Copyright Page

This page is not required Text is positioned just

above bottom margin Use double line spacing First line: The word

“Copyright” followed by current year

Second line: Your name Third line: All uppercase

letters—ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

As the author of your manuscript, you own the copyright to your work even if you do not include this page and even if you do not register your work with the Copyright Office

NO page number. This page is not numbered or counted

Template online

Abstract One inch for all margins Uniform double line spacing in title

area and text area Title is centered and in all uppercase

letters and bold font Use inverted pyramid format for title

(longest line first followed by progressively shorter lines)

Match wording and line breaks of title on abstract and title page

Your name must match on these pages too

Page numbering begins with abstract. Use lowercase Roman numeral (ii) for first page of abstract and use lowercase Roman numerals for all pages that follow up to the first page of Chapter 1

Match font style of page number with font style of text

No citations or direct quotations Use paragraph format Template online

Acknowledgements Page This page is not required Use lowercase Roman

numeral for page number Title can be spelled

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS or ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Be sure to match spelling in text and table of contents

Title is centered and in all uppercase letters and bold font

A dedication can be included in the acknowledgements, but a separate dedication page is not allowed

Use uniform double line spacing and paragraph format

If you received funding for your research, you can mention the funder on this page

Table of Contents Use lowercase Roman numeral

for page number Use all uppercase letters and bold

font for title List all major sections of front

matter (except the table of contents itself), all chapter titles, all appendix titles and the references list

Match the wording of listings in table of contents with the wording of titles in text

Double check that page numbers match too

Leave a blank line before and after each listing

If there is only one appendix, use only one line to list the word APPENDIX, then a colon and then the appendix title

Table of Contents—Continued

If there is more than one appendix, use a line with the word APPENDICES and the page number of the APPENDICES title page. Then list the title of each appendix beginning with the appendix letter.

If a listing is longer than one line, use single line spacing and indent lines that follow the first line

Dot leaders extend from the last word of each listing to page number

Page numbers are right aligned along the right margin

Indent numbered and lettered items (indented by default in most programs)

Add a listing for ABSTRACT but do NOT use a listing for TABLE OF CONTENTS

Do not list subheads in table of contents

Template online

List of Tables Use lowercase Roman numerals for page

number Use all uppercase letters and bold font for

title List all numbered tables that appear in text

and appendices Match the wording of listings in list of tables

with the wording of table titles in text Match page number location in text and

page numbers listed in list of tables Use headline style capitalization for table

titles—Capitalize the First Word and All Significant Words

For each listing, indent 3-4 spaces (indented by default in most programs)

List table number and period, then list table title

Leave blank line between table titles If a listing is longer than one line, use single

line spacing and use extra indentation for lines that follow the first line

Dot leaders extend from the last word of each listing to page number

Page numbers are right aligned along the right margin

List of Figures Use lowercase Roman numerals for page number Use all uppercase letters and bold font for title List all numbered figures that appear in text and

appendices Match the wording of listings in list of figures with

the wording of figure captions in text In the list of figures, include all words up to the

first period in figure caption used in the text Begin captions with short descriptive phrase and

end with a period in the text. This keeps listings in list of figures short—one or two lines

Match page numbers in list of figures and text Sentence style capitalization for figure captions—

Capitalize first word and any word that would be capitalized in a sentence such as California

For each listing, indent 3-4 spaces (indented by default in most programs)

List figure number and period, then list figure caption

Leave blank line between figure captions If a listing is longer than one line, use single line

spacing and indent lines that follow the first line Dot leaders extend from the last word of each

listing to page number Page numbers are right aligned along the right

margin

List of Works Use lowercase Roman numeral page

number Use all uppercase letters and bold font

for title List all works that are referred to by

number in text or appendices For each listing, indent 3-4 spaces

(indented by default in most programs) List number of work and period, then

list title or brief description of work Leave blank line between items If a listing is longer than one line, use

single line spacing and indent lines that follow the first line

Add a two inch divider line and then a footnote at bottom of first page

Footnote is indented and single line spaced

Text for footnote: DVD images of these works are available as supplemental files to this PDF. (The acronym CD can be used instead of DVD if needed)

Template online

List of Abbreviations This page is not required Use lowercase Roman numeral for

page Use all uppercase letters and bold

font for title The column of abbreviations or

acronyms is aligned along the left margin

The column of terms is aligned under the word LIST in the title (LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS)

Use one blank line between each item

Use single line spacing for items that continue beyond one line

Template online

Preface This page is not required Use lowercase Roman numeral

page number Use all caps and bold font for

title The title PREFACE is usually

used for a section that precedes the numbered chapters, but the title INTRODUCTION can be used if there is no numbered chapter with that title

There can be only one unnumbered section that precedes the numbered chapters

Use the same formatting for the text in a preface that is used for the text in the chapters

Much, Much More!This is only one part of a three-part series of slideshows covering the major University Guidelines Manual formatting rules. There are specific rules for every section of the document and fundamental formatting rules that affect the entire document. Be sure to go online and check out the other PowerPoint slideshows with formatting rules. Don’t forget the Mini-Manuscript, templates and the University Guidelines Manual itself. All of them can be accessed from: http://csulb.libguides.com/thesisformat

We love questions!

(562) 985-4013lib-thesis@csulb.edu