thesis & dissertation...

Thesis & Dissertation Formatting

Instructional Media Center Workshops Thesis & Dissertation Formatting

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Instructional Media Center Workshops


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Illustrations from Microsoft Word 2010 Before you begin you will need to turn off the AutoCorrect features

File > Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options

Click the Auto Format As You Type Tab > Uncheck all options EXCEPT “Straight quotes” with “smart quotes”



Changing Font Default Home Tab > Font Group > Launch Font Dialog Box

Click on arrow to launch font dialog box

Select Times New Roman 12 points for Size Click Set As Default Button

Changing Line Spacing Default Home Tab > Paragraph Group > Launch Font Dialog Box

Click on arrow to launch paragraph dialog box




Changing Line Spacing Default Cont. Spacing > Line Space: > Single Spacing > After: > “0” > Set as

Default

View Rulers View Tab > Check Ruler

The Ruler will appear as below



Margins Page Layout Tab > Margins > Custom Margin Top, Bottom, Right 1 inch Left 1.5 inch




Title Page Show Vertical Page Position by right clicking on the status bar > Check Vertical Page Position

Status Bar Right click in this area

Set Alignment to Center Set Line Spacing to Double

Double Spacing

Set Font to UPPERCASE



Title Page Cont. Enter Down to Vertical Page Position 3.5” from the top of page (choose more spacing rather

than less) Type Title in all CAPS

Lines in the tile are in inverted-pyramid style Enter Down 1 inch Type “By” > Double Space > Type Full Name Enter Down 1.5 Spaces > Type Degree Statement

Degree Statement

The word “in” should not be capitalized if Word tries to automatically capitalize “I” click the “lightening bolt” and uncheck auto capitalization.

1 inch

1.5 inches




Insert Page Break before you leave title page Go to Page Layout Tab > Breaks > Next Page



Approval Page Cont.

Ruler Bar

Click inside table to make it active > Drag “Row Border Guides” in aligning the left on the left side of the word “By” and the right one on the right side of the word “By”

Your table should now appear like the one below. Your middle column is now centered below the word “By”

You may also need to adjust the right outer border by dragging it to the right and lining it up with the right margin.




In the table type the person’s name, title, and role(s) who are approving the thesis or dissertation

Approval Page Cont.

Once all members have been added to the table you will need to remove all borders and add back the top border for each cell. Select the table by clicking the table select button at the top right of the table

Click this button on top left of table to select entire table

Table select > Click Border Button Click No Border

Once all borders are removed click in each cell and add a top border for each

Signature lines are now created for each member

Insert a Section Break before you leave the Approval page

See Page 9 for instructions



Abstract Page Set Spacing to “Single” before you begin Type

Name (All categories should be double space with the exception of “Title of Study” hit “enter key” twice after each)

Date of Degree Institution Major Field Major Professor Title of Study (should be single spaced hit “enter key” once) Pages in Study

Formatting the “Title of Study” in BLOCK FORMAT 1. Type the “Title of Study” using single spacing 2. Set a hanging in by using the “hanging indent” feature on the ruler bar 3. Grab the bottom triangle and drag until the guide line goes just past the first letter of the first word

of your title of study 4. Position the cursor right before the word of your title and hit the tab key

1.

Hanging Indent Ruler Bar

Drag bottom triangle to position just past the first letter of your first word of title on first line

Position cursor in front of first word of title and press the tab key on your keyboard

Title of Study is now in BLOCK FORMAT

2. & 3

4.

This section of the Thesis or Dissertation has NO PAGE NUMBERING. You should now save this section as “Part I” so that you can later combine this part with following sections (“Part II” and “Chapters” which require different types of page number) in a PDF for final submission.




Part II Create a new document File > New > Blank document > Create

Set Margins Page Layout > Margins > Last Custom Setting (Top, Bottom,

Right = 1 inch, Left = 1.5 inches

Start 2 inches from the top (Vertical Page Position = 2.1”) Center Text Select “UPPERCASE” from Fonts Type “DEDICATION”

Dedication Page (this page is optional)



Copyright Page This page is optional. The text should be page centered (vertically and horizontally). Double spacing is used between lines of text. The copyright page is not numbered. Page Layout Tab> Launch Page Set Up Box > Click Layout Tab > Vertical Alignment > Center > Apply to this point forward > OK >

Click to launch Page Set Up

Insert Section Break (takes you to the next page)

Set Page Vertical Alignment back to “TOP” in Page Setup/ Layout




Committee Approval Page Enter down to vertical page position 2.1 inches (you will see this on the status bar) Type (or copy & paste from title page) your title just as it appears on Title Page. Add 1-inch of space between Title and the word “By” Enter on blank line between “By” and “Author’s Name” The author’s full name is centered on the page. The author’s name must match the name on the title, copyright, and abstract pages.

Change to single spacing Home Tab > Paragraph>

Change Alignment to “Left” Enter three blank lines (hit enter key 4 times) Type “Approved”

Insert Table Insert Tab > Table > 3 x 4

1 inch

DS



Dedication Page Cont.

Left Align Text Set Line Spacing to 2 Set a first line indent at .5 on the ruler bar before you begin typing Grab the top inverted triangle on the ruler bar and drag to the .5 ruler mark

Double click at the bottom of your page to open the “Footer Edit Area”

Drag to .5 mark

First Line Indent

The Dedication Page (if included) is the beginning of page number for your document. The page numbering for this section will be lowercase roman numerals.

The Footer Edit area should appear like this.

Click the Header Footer Tools Design Tab

Set the “Footer from Bottom” margin at 1 inch




Click the Home tab Click “Center Alignment”

Click the Header Footer Tools Design Tab Page Number > Current Page Number > Plain Number

Page Number > Format Page Numbers > Number format: i, ii, iii,… > Page number > Start at ii (2)

Close Header & Footer

Insert a Section Break before you leave the Dedication page




Acknowledgements Page Page numbering will continue with Lowercase Roman Numerals Scroll to the bottom of the blank Acknowledgements page Double click in the footer area (at the bottom of the page) to open the footer formatting options Click the “Footer” button > Edit Footer > Click Page Number button > Format Page Numbers Number format will be i, ii, iii… > select “Continue from previous section” > OK

Center & Type “ACKNOWLEDGMENTS” in all caps 2 inches from the top of the page >

“FIRST LINE INDENT”

Drag to .5 mark

Set line spacing to “Triple” > Hit the “Enter Key” Left Align > Change Spacing to “Double” > Set a “First Line Indent” on ruler bar >Enter Acknowledgment Text

Line Spacing

Insert a Section Break before you leave the Acknowledgments page





Table of Contents Page Remove “First Line Indent” on ruler bar Drag upper triangle back to “0”

Enter down to the 2 inch mark

Center & Type “TABLE OF CONTENTS” in all caps Set Triple Line Spacing (refer to previous page) > hit enter key Set Double Line Spacing (refer to previous page) Change Alignment to Left

Setting Tab Stops DO NOT USE THE PERIOD KEY FOR DOT LEADERS YOU MUST SET TAB STOPS FOR THE TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE

Open the Tabs Format option by double clicking on the ruler bar to the left side of the .5 mark

Double click here

1. Type .38 in Tab stop position

2. Select “Decimal” under Alignment

3. Leader = None 4. Click “SET” 5. Repeat 1-4 for .68” Left tab 6. Repeat 1-4 for 6” Right

Leader

Click OK once tabs are set

Tabs will appear on Ruler Bar. You can click on tabs and drag them to reposition. You can also click once on ruler to created additional tab stops.



Set Line Spacing to Double Spacing Type DEDICATION > hit tab button on keyboard > type page number (ii, iii, iv, 1, 2, 3, etc.) Continue with the other sections of your document in this manner

Decimal Tab

Left Tab

Right Dot Leader Tab

Setting Tabs for Headings and Sub-level Headings First level headings are lined up with the “I” in “INTRODUCTION” Click on the Ruler Bar approximately in the location of the “I” and you will see a left tab marker

appear with a black dotted line (shown below as a red dotted line) that follows down the page to help you position the tab inline with the “I”.

You will follow the same steps to set Sub-level headings about .5 inches apart

Single Line Spacing

1.5 Spacing




List of Tables Page and List of Figures Page would be set up using the same tab procedures you used for the Table of Contents Page. At the end of the Table of Contents page (s) , List of Tables page (s), List of Figures page (s) insert a section break. Save this section as Part II

CHAPTERS will be Part III Center Align and Type CHAPTER I (II, III, IV, etc.) on line 2.1 in. Double Space and Type the name of the chapter

Double Line Spacing

Triple Line Spacing

Double Line Spacing

Set “First Line Indent” for the body of your chapters

Drag to .5 mark

Double click at the bottom of your page to open the “Footer Edit Area”

The Footer Edit area should appear like this.



Click the Header Footer Tools Design Tab

Set the “Footer from Bottom” margin at 1 inch

Chapter Pages Cont.

Click Home Tab and Align Center Click Header & Footer Tools Tab Click Page Number > Current Position > Plain Number Format Page Numbers > Number format 1, 2, 3, … Start at : 1 Click “OK”

Continue all chapters using this format and numbering. Save Chapters as PART III




Combining Part I, II, & III as a PDF for Submission You will need Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro for this section, if you don’t have access to this software visit the Instructional Media Center and use our copy. 1. Open Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro 2. Click Combine > Merger Files into a Single PDF 3. Add Files > Locate your files to combine (for this it will be Part I, Part II and Part III) 4. Click Combine Files button



Combining Part I, II, & III as a PDF for Submission Cont.

Once the files are combined you will be asked to save the file Use Last Name__FirstName (the file name you give will be seen by others so name

it something appropriate Click Save




NOTES

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