Auburn University Graduate School

The provisions of this Guide become effective for spring semester, 2005, but may be used sooner if desired. This Guide supersedes all previous Auburn University manuals and guides for the preparation of theses and dissertations. This Guide can be found on the Graduate School web page.

Auburn University requires a dissertation for all Ph.D. and Ed.D. degrees and a thesis for many master's degrees. The dissertation or thesis demonstrates creativity, dedication, and ability to work independently. It should make a significant scholarly contribution. A dissertation or thesis must be the result of the student's own research, analysis, and writing, and generally must be the work of a single author. When at least two articles prepared for publication in a professional journal or journals are included in a dissertation or thesis, multiple authorship may be permitted if the student is the primary author. In such cases, the student must demonstrate to the Graduate School that the secondary author or authors made a significant contribution.

All dissertations and theses must meet the requirements of the Graduate School. The purpose of this Guide is to explain and demonstrate those requirements, to direct the student in following the required steps, and to help the student comply with the necessary deadlines.

This Guide includes several examples from actual theses and dissertations on file at Ralph Brown Draughon Library.

Universities require thesis and dissertation students to publish the results of their research. Traditionally this has been done through University Microfilms International (a division of ProQuest). Recently, however, more and more universities are requiring or allowing such students to publish the results of their research (the thesis or dissertation) on the World Wide Web. Publishing theses and dissertations electronically makes research results known around the world easier and faster, while reducing the cost of publishing research results for the authors of theses and dissertations.

Auburn University graduate students are required to demonstrate competency in electronic publication and must submit their theses/dissertations/projects through AUETD (the Auburn University Electronic Thesis and Dissertation library). AUETD allows a student's work to be viewed freely by anyone on the World Wide Web, or he or she may choose to limit access for up to three years.

The Graduate School follows calendars printed in the Graduate School section of the University Bulletin and also available separately at the Graduate School in Hargis Hall. The calendar for each semester lists deadlines for the submission of theses and dissertations and for meeting other requirements. Students who expect to graduate must request a graduation check in the Graduate School no later than the last day of the semester prior to the semester of graduation (Plans of Study must be on file in the Graduate School). Also, students must register for at least one course during the final semester. These deadlines are important and exceptions to them seldom will be permitted. Failure to meet them will result in postponement of graduation.

Students must obtain permission from the author or publisher of copyrighted materials used in a thesis or dissertation beyond the limits of the "fair use" doctrine. The student includes appropriate acknowledgment in the manuscript, and is responsible for any payment. For dissertations, University Microfilms International requires the author to sign a certificate that use of copyrighted material beyond brief excerpts has the written permission of copyright owners and that the student is responsible for any copyright violations. An explanation of copyright law and fair use, along with a guide to obtaining written permission from copyright owners, may be found in The Chicago Manual of Style. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

The general fair use practice is that quotation of a brief prose passage or several lines of verse does not require permission. However, fair use nowhere is spelled out exactly. In any case, the student must quote accurately and credit the source.

All theses and dissertations written at Auburn University must contain the following sentences on the approval page: "Except where reference is made to the work of others, the work described in this thesis is my own or was done in collaboration with my advisory committee. This thesis does not include proprietary or classified information."

In addition to this Guide, the student follows the style appropriate to the field of study. Information on the proper style manual, journal, or computer software should be obtained from the major professor.

The student must indicate the manual or journal and the computer software used. This is done on a separate page which follows the Acknowledgment page.

Photocopiers may slightly enlarge material, usually by about three percent, causing even the most carefully prepared manuscript to violate margin requirements. The student may include extra space on left and right margins and an extra line or two at top and bottom to allow for this enlargement. Alternately, the printing firm providing the final copies can be asked to reproduce the manuscript at slightly reduced size.

The student works under the guidance of a major professor with a committee of faculty members. However, the obligations of research, accuracy, writing, and quality rest with the student.

Thorough and original research and analysis.
Organizing and presenting well-written material accurately and usefully in clear and correct English. Only students majoring in a foreign language may prepare a thesis or dissertation in a language other than English, and then all prefatory material must be in English.
Following correct form in quotations, footnotes or endnotes, bibliographical entries, and illustrative materials.
Presenting a manuscript meeting the requirements of the department as well as the Graduate School.
Making all corrections suggested by the examining committee and required by the Graduate School.
Checking final copy for errors before the final examination.
Seeing that all steps toward final approval are taken on time, including the filing of the necessary forms as outlined in this guide.
Insuring that the work is entirely the student's own except where reference is made to the work of others.
Ensuring that the work does not include proprietary or classified information.

The student should not use a previously approved dissertation or thesis as a model because requirements may have been changed since its approval, leading the student to incorrect work that will have to be redone.

The major professor will guide the student on research, analysis, writing, and other scholarly aspects of the work. Members of the student's committee contribute, but the primary responsibility is that of the major professor. Submission of a thesis or dissertation is defined as the time at which the first complete draft of such is submitted to the major professor for review. The major professor and all committee members read the manuscript critically. Each may suggest improvements and refuse approval pending additional work. When committee members and the major professor sign the Approval Page, they certify that the thesis or dissertation is clear and accurate, that it represents an original and worthwhile contribution, that the suggestions made by them are incorporated into the final work, and that the work conforms to the standards of Auburn University and to Graduate School specifications.

No faculty member will sign a dissertation or thesis until it is of foremost quality and meets all requirements.

The major professor and committee members must sign their names personally. There can be no temporary substitute members and no other person may sign a committee member's name on an Approval Page, even with the authorization of the committee member involved and the major professor. Any exceptions occasioned by unusual circumstances require Graduate School approval.

The evaluator in the Thesis and Dissertation Office of the Graduate School assesses overall quality of each thesis and dissertation. The evaluator sees that all necessary steps are taken and deadlines met.

The signature of the Graduate School dean, or a representative appointed by him, is required on approval pages of all dissertations and theses to signal final approval by Auburn University. The signature is obtained by the thesis and dissertation evaluator.

The student must present a well-written and error-free manuscript. The unbound final required copies provided to the Graduate School must be of professional quality with text and illustrations clear, sharp, and suitable for microfilming. If the student is choosing between WordPerfect© and MS Word©, the student should be advised that a WordPerfect© document is easier to format.

The three required final copies must be on white bond watermarked paper of at least 16 pound weight and at least 25 percent cotton content. The paper must be 8 1/2 by 11 inches. Tear-away or tractor-feed computer paper is unacceptable for final copies.

The copy must be printed on one side only. It must not have overstrikes, crossed-out material, defective type, lines from paste-ups, shading in the background, smears, or mistake covers leaving a discernible film or smudge. Use of photo-mounting corners, staples, or transparent tape is not permitted in any final copy. Rubber cement or a dry adhesive such as provided by a glue stick may be used.

Regular style type of 10-point or 12-point type size (10 or 12 characters per inch) should be used. Times New Roman 12-point font is always preferred. Type such as italics should be limited to commonly accepted usages, including foreign phrases, symbols, book or article titles, and the names of vessels. Italics are preferred to underlining. Italics and underlining for such uses should not be used in the same thesis or dissertation. Italics cannot be employed for chapter titles, subheads, and similar items. Boldfaced material is unacceptable in the preliminary pages.

For help with formatting margins and page numbers in either MS Word©, WordPerfect©, or LaTeX©, see the Appendix.

Bottom and right margins: one inch (page numbers must be above the one inch margin).
Left margins: one and a half inches. The extra space on the left is necessary for binding.
Top margins: on Preliminary pages with titles and on the first page of a major division such as a chapter, the Bibliography, etc., the top margin is two inches; all other top margins are one inch.
All tables and figures must conform to the margin requirements even if photographic reduction is necessary.
An exception to the bottom margin requirement may be made when a subhead is near the bottom of the page. The subhead must have at least two full lines of type below it. Otherwise, the page should be left short and the subhead placed on the next page.
An exception to the bottom margin rule also may be made when a paragraph begins near the bottom of a page. The paragraph must include at least two lines of type on that page and two lines of type on the following page. Otherwise, the paragraph should begin on the following page, which will leave the previous page short of copy.
One other exception involves hyphenation. The last word on any page cannot be hyphenated. The line should be left short of the right margin and the whole word typed on the following page.

Spacing

Double spacing should be used in the general text and the Vita, the Abstract, and Acknowledgments. Spacing on other prefatory pages such as the Approval Page, the Title Page, and the Copyright Page should follow the examples for the:

For the remainder of the thesis or dissertation, the student will use the spacing required by the appropriate style manual, journal, or computer software. (See note in Organizing the Manuscript - Standard Format.)

The student researches and prepares the thesis under the guidance of the major professor and with the advice of members of the committee. The first draft is submitted to the major professor, who may deem it adequate or may order corrections, further research, or other work. When the major professor is satisfied with the thesis, a copy is circulated among the committee members, who may request additional corrections or work. The student then prepares a draft incorporating all changes and corrections.

The student should have the Thesis and Dissertation Office conduct a format check. A student ready to defend the thesis should download a Form 9, "Report of Master's Thesis Candidate Examining Committee," from the Graduate School web site. The student may also obtain a Form 9 from the Graduate School. This form is necessary to proceed to the final oral examination. The student must turn in the signed Form 9 to the Graduate School by the deadline required for graduation each semester.

Upon the student's successful completion of the oral examination and a final draft of the thesis that meets their approval, the major professor and the committee members formally approve by signing the thesis Approval Page. There must be three original copies of the Approval Page. Each member of the committee must sign all three.

The major professor and the committee members normally will sign approval pages at the final oral examination. However, they may delay signing if they determine that additional work still is required. In that case, it will be necessary for the student to obtain the signatures when all work is completed to the satisfaction of the major professor and the committee. The student must remember that there can be no substitute committee members and no one may sign for an absent committee member or copy a committee member's signature without the permission of the Dean of the Graduate School.

When all work is completed and the signatures obtained, the student takes the three approved final copies to the Thesis and Dissertation Office for the final format check and approval.

Three copies of the corrected thesis must be delivered to the Thesis and Dissertation Office for binding, one to be retained by the department, one by the major professor, and one by the student. The official university copy is submitted electronically through AUETD. The three copies to be bound must be turned in to the Thesis and Dissertation Office and must include an Approval Page with original signatures. The student is responsible for any additional bound copies, which can be acquired through CopyCat or copy/binding services. To prevent identity theft, please include signature and copyright pages without actual signatures in your AUETD PDF file when you submit your electronic thesis.

The evaluator in the Thesis and Dissertation Office obtains the signature of the Dean of the Graduate School on approval pages, signifying final approval by the University.

Each of the three copies must be delivered to the Thesis and Dissertation Office in its own file folder or, if too thick, in its own box.

The student bears the responsibility and expense for the three copies of the thesis and pays a modest fee ($21 in 2005) at Student Financial Services for binding.

Following written examinations, the student obtains Form A--application for the general oral examination--from the Graduate School and returns it filled out to the Graduate School at least one week--five working days-- before the day on which the examination is to be held.

After passing these examinations, the student researches and prepares the dissertation under the guidance of the major professor with the advice of members of the student's committee. The first draft is submitted to the major professor, who may deem it satisfactory or may make corrections and suggestions for further work. When the major professor is satisfied with the dissertation, a copy of the manuscript is circulated among the committee members, who also may suggest corrections or further work. The student then prepares a draft incorporating all the suggested changes. The committee approves it by signing the Dissertation First Draft Approval Form, a form the student may download from the Graduate School website.

The student takes the approved dissertation, including the approval form, to the Thesis and Dissertation Office along with a memorandum from the major professor recommending three to five nominees to serve as the outside reader. The Graduate School will select an outside reader as its representative to review the dissertation and to serve on the student's committee during the final examination. The outside reader normally is chosen after the student presents the dissertation to the Thesis and Dissertation Office, but one will be appointed by the Graduate School at any time the major professor desires, including at the beginning of the student's program. For more information, see "Outside Readers for Dissertations" on the Graduate School website.

When the outside reader returns the dissertation to the Graduate School, the thesis and dissertation evaluator will review the format. The student will be notified when to pick up the dissertation so that the outside reader's comments and suggestions and any format errors may be addressed. Along with the dissertation, the student then will be given a Survey of Earned Doctorates and a booklet on publishing dissertations, which includes the microfilming agreement form.

Form X, which will be mailed to the major professor, must be completed and returned to the Thesis and Dissertation Office at least one week--five working days--before the day the final examination is to be held. The final examination should be scheduled after the first draft of the dissertation has been approved by the Graduate School and before the deadline required for graduation.

The student prepares the three final copies incorporating all required changes and submits them to the Thesis and Dissertation Office. There must be three original copies of the approval page. Each member of the committee must sign all three.

The Survey of Earned Doctorates and the microfilming agreement form are returned with all three corrected final copies of the dissertation. The microfilming agreement is mandatory.

The Graduate School requires three copies of the dissertation to be bound. One will be retained by the department, one by the major professor, and one by the student. The official university copy is submitted to ProQuest electronically through AUETD. The student is responsible for any additional bound copies, which can be acquired through CopyCat or copy/binding services. The student bears the responsibility and expense for the three copies of the dissertation and pays a modest fee ($21 for binding and $60 for ProQuest processing in 2005) at Student Financial Services for binding and processing. To prevent identity theft, please include signature and copyright pages without actual signatures in your AUETD PDF file when you submit your electronic thesis.

Each of the three copies delivered to the Thesis and Dissertation Office must be its own file folder or, if too thick, in its own box.

If the student intends to copyright through ProQuest, the copyright data on the microfilming agreement form must be filled out and signed, and a certified check or money order for $65 payable to ProQuest must accompany the form. An extra copy of the title page and abstract must be included.

One of two possible formats may be used in the writing of the dissertation/thesis: a standard format or a publication format. Either format may be used, but these guidelines should be considered as establishing minimum requirements and many disciplines/departments have additional preferences or requirements. Students should clarify these preferences with their advisory committee prior to beginning to write the dissertation/thesis.

The standard format is for a thesis/dissertation in which no portions have been published or contracted for publication in a book or journal.

There are three variations of the Approval Page. The Approval Page is not numbered but is understood to be page Roman numeral i when totaling the number of typed pages for the Abstract. The following statement must be included under the thesis or dissertation title:

Except where reference is made to the work of others, the work described in this [thesis/dissertation] is my own or was done in collaboration with my advisory committee. This [thesis/dissertation] does not include proprietary or classified information.

For any committee member formerly employed at Auburn University, the department in which the member was employed and the academic title held at Auburn are used. For any committee member not employed at Auburn University, the institution employing the person and the name of the city and state, if appropriate, also should be given, along with the individual's academic rank or position. All signatures must be in black or dark blue ink.

Example 4 and Example 5 ( are samples of thesis Title Pages and dissertation Title Pages, respectively. The Title Page is not numbered. However, it is understood to be page Roman numeral ii when counting the total number of pages for the Abstract. If two or more lines are required for the title, they must be in inverted pyramid style and double-spaced. The date on the Title Page must be the date of graduation. A title should be a meaningful description of the content. Avoid oblique references, formulas, symbols, superscript, subscript, and Greek letters.

Example 6.1 shows a copyright page in a thesis. The Copyright Page is numbered iii in theses and is the first page on which a number appears. The signature must be original and the date must be the date of graduation.

Copyrighting of dissertations usually is handled formally through ProQuest. The Copyright Page (Example 6.2) should be inserted after the Title Page and is numbered iii. It is the first page on which a number appears. The signature must be original and the date must be the date of graduation.

Example 7 shows an optional Vita page. The Vita, if used, will be on page number iv in a thesis or a dissertation. The Vita may contain the full name of the student, the parents' names, the date and place of the student's birth, and a brief summary of academic training and experience. The student's non-academic training may be included if relevant to the field of specialization. The Vita also may contain information regarding marriage and children. It must be written as one long paragraph, in the third person, and on one page.

Example 8 shows a thesis abstract page and Example 9 shows two pages of a dissertation abstract page. The Abstract will begin on page number iv (or v if Vita page is used) in a thesis or a dissertation. The Abstract is a concise summary and is limited to two pages. None of it should be copied from the text. It should report only the essential characteristics of the study, describing the problem, procedure or method, results, and conclusions. In behavioral research the numbers and kinds of subjects must be indicated. References should not be included in the Abstract.

Degrees earned should be listed in reverse chronological order, single-spaced, with the degrees previously earned enclosed in parentheses. The date for the degree being conferred is the date of graduation, which is listed in the calendar for the semester of graduation. The total number of typed pages includes the prefatory pages such as the Approval Page, the Title Page, the Copyright Page, the Vita, the Abstract, the Acknowledgments Page, if used, as well as the text, Bibliography or other reference list, and appendices.

An Acknowledgments Page, if used, follows the Abstract. Example 10 is a sample Acknowledgment Page. Only one page is permitted and it continues the Roman numeral numbering sequence. The page must be included in the draft copy if it is to be accepted in the final copies. The Acknowledgments Page is optional. Appropriate comments might include a statement acknowledging the contributions of others, including the advisory committee and collaborators. It is particularly important to acknowledge co-authors of manuscripts submitted, or to be submitted, for publication (see the section "Organizing the Manuscript - Publication Format").

The Style Manual page follows the Acknowledgment Page. The student must indicate the manual or journal and the computer software used. This is done on a separate page which follows the Acknowledgment Page. Example 11 is a sample.

The Table of Contents must accurately reflect the outline and organization of the thesis or dissertation. It continues the Roman numeral page numbering sequence.

These lists provide the exact titles and page locations of all illustrative material. These lists continue the Roman numeral page numbering sequence.

The first page of the main body of the manuscript is numbered with the Arabic 1 and all subsequent pages are numbered with Arabic numerals. These include the Bibliography or other references, and appendices.

Introduction: The introduction should include a clear statement of the student's purpose or hypothesis to be tested, an overview of the problem or subject as it is known from the literature, and a broad statement summarizing the findings of the student's study.
Literature review: The literature review should be composed of a comprehensive review of all background knowledge and circumstances pertinent to the subject of the dissertation/thesis. It should include a thorough discussion and full literature review (normally considered too long and unnecessary in journal articles and other academic publications). Presentation and mastery of this material is a critical component of the student's development as a scholar and it is important to the growth of the discipline. The review should provide a unique and valuable reference resource for other scholars in the field of study.
Statement of research objectives (if not explicitly stated in the literature review): This statement should consist of a concise series of specific objectives to be addressed by the research published in the dissertation/thesis. They should follow as natural questions to be posed given the preceding review of the current literature and the state of knowledge in the discipline.
Body of the work (methods & materials, results and discussion in scientific disciplines)
Overall conclusion (if not explicitly stated in the discussion): The discussion/body or last chapter section should be followed by an overall conclusion. The section should be composed of a brief restatement of the important conclusions presented in the dissertation/thesis. This section is particularly important and should be somewhat longer if a chaptered format is selected as this is the only section that will describe the importance of the work in a comprehensive manner.
Cumulative bibliography (if required): The bibliography should appear in one location at the end of the dissertation/thesis ahead of any appendices and should be cumulative for all cited references. All citations in the bibliography should be listed alphabetically and should conform to a single format that is accepted as standard within the student's discipline, as determined by the student's advisory committee (numbered citations in the text are not acceptable). Separate bibliographies for each chapter should not be included.
Appendices (as required): Appendices may be included as a means to publish relevant ancillary data or discussion that is not directly related to the unifying theme of the dissertation/thesis. The majority of such work must still represent the work of the student and can include supporting data, materials or discussion not included in the body/chapters or other work completed by the student that is not included in the main dissertations/thesis. The format can include individual figures with legends, text alone or whole chapters. The same format rules apply to the rest of the dissertation/thesis also apply to appendices. Any references included in the appendices should be included in the comprehensive bibliography.

The Appendix consists of material related to the text but not suitable for inclusion in it, such as lengthy tables, figures, documents, and computer printouts. Photographic reduction of material to conform to margin requirements is permitted if the material remains clear and legible.

The publication format is for a thesis/dissertation in which portions have been published or contracted for publication in a book or journal.

A majority of the actual research and the writing of each published paper used in the thesis/dissertation must represent the efforts of the primary student author and not collaborators. The research should represent work performed while in the graduate program at Auburn University. The student must be the primary author of each manuscript and normally would share authorship only with the major professor. Papers that include other authors can be used provided the efforts of the other authors represent less than half of the total effort. The primary (student) author's effort should represent, in the judgment of the faculty supervisor and the student's advisory committee, a majority of the total effort expended in performing the research and preparing the manuscript (51 percent or more).

These are variations of the Approval Page. The Approval Page is not numbered but is understood to be page Roman numeral i when totaling the number of typed pages for the Abstract. The following statement must be included under the thesis or dissertation title:

Except where reference is made to the work of others, the work described in this [thesis/dissertation] is my own or was done in collaboration with my advisory committee. This [thesis/dissertation] does not include proprietary or classified information.

The statement must be followed by the student's signature and typed name. All committee members' names and the name of the Graduate School dean must be included. The names of the committee members and the dean must be typed below the signature lines. Academic title and department follow. There should be no commas at the end of the title lines, and administrative titles, such as "Head" or "Dean," should not be used for committee members. Information below the line cannot be longer than the line. The name of the committee chair goes in the upper right position, followed by the word "chair." If there is an even number of signatures (Example 1), the Graduate School dean's name goes in the lower right position. The dean's name, however, is in the lower center position if there is an odd number of signatures (Example 2). The Graduate School Dean is the only administrative title used.

Example 4 is a thesis Title Page and Example 5 is a dissertation Title Page. The Title Page is not numbered. However, it is understood to be page Roman numeral ii when counting the total number of pages for the Abstract. If two or more lines are required for the title, they must be in inverted pyramid style and double-spaced. The date on the Title Page must be the date of graduation. A title should be a meaningful description of the content. Avoid oblique references, formulas, symbols, superscript, subscript, and Greek letters.

See Example 6.1. The Copyright Page is numbered iii in theses and is the first page on which a number appears. The signature must be original and the date must be the date of graduation.

Example 7 is a sample Vita Page suitable for either a thesis or a dissertation. The Vita is optional. The Vita, if used, will be on page number iv in a thesis or a dissertation. The Vita may contain the full name of the student, the parents' names, the date and place of the student's birth, and a brief summary of academic training and experience. The student's non-academic training may be included if relevant to the field of specialization. The Vita also may contain information regarding marriage and children. It must be written as one long paragraph, in the third person, and on one page.

Example 8 shows a thesis abstract page and Example 9 shows two pages of a dissertation abstract page. The Abstract will begin on page number iv (v if Vita page is used) in a thesis or a dissertation. The Abstract is a concise summary and is limited to two pages. None of it should be copied from the text. It should report only the essential characteristics of the study, describing the problem, procedure or method, results, and conclusions. In behavioral research the numbers and kinds of subjects must be indicated. References should not be included in the Abstract.

An Acknowledgments Page, if used, follows the Abstract. See Example 10. Only one page is permitted and it continues the Roman numeral numbering sequence. The page must be included in the draft copy if it is to be accepted in the final copies. The Acknowledgments Page is optional. Appropriate comments might include a statement acknowledging the contributions of others, including the advisory committee and collaborators. It is particularly important to acknowledge co-authors of manuscripts submitted, or to be submitted, for publication

The Style Manual page follows the Acknowledgment Page. The student must indicate the manual or journal and the computer software used. This is done on a separate page that follows the Acknowledgment Page. Example 11 is a sample.

The Table of Contents must accurately reflect the outline and organization of the thesis or dissertation. It continues the Roman numeral page numbering sequence.

These lists provide the exact titles and page locations of all illustrative material. These lists continue the Roman numeral page numbering sequence.

Introduction: The introduction should include a clear statement of the student's purpose or hypothesis to be tested, an overview of the problem or subject as it is known from the literature, and a broad statement summarizing the findings of the student's study.
Literature review: The literature review should be composed of a comprehensive review of all background knowledge and circumstances pertinent to the subject of the dissertation/thesis. It should include a thorough discussion and full literature review (normally considered too long and unnecessary in journal articles and other academic publications). Presentation and mastery of this material is a critical component of the student's development as a scholar and it is important to the growth of the discipline. The review should provide a unique and valuable reference resource for other scholars in the field of study.
Statement of research objectives (if not explicitly stated in the literature review: This statement should consist of a concise series of specific objectives to be addressed by the research published in the dissertation/thesis. They should follow as natural questions to be posed given the preceding review of the current literature and the state of knowledge in the discipline.
Body of the work (methods & materials, results and discussion in scientific disciplines): Each chapter represents a single manuscript (usually a paper or manuscript submitted or to be submitted to a peer-reviewed scholarly journal). A paper can be used (fully or in parts) only in one thesis/dissertation at Auburn University or elsewhere and should be included in the bibliography. If a paper is published originally as a multi-authored publication, the additional authors should be acknowledged on the acknowledgments page. Each manuscript should be written according to the guidelines of the publication or journal to which it was or is to be submitted with the following exceptions.
1. Each chapter should begin with a title page that includes the chapter title and continues with the text. No other information, such as author's names, should be included on chapter title pages. The format for the title page for each chapter should be identical.
2. The figures and legends (if included) should be inserted into the text in accord with the format rules described below.
3. All references to published literature should be cited by author's name(s) and year in one cumulative alphabetical list after the conclusions as described below.
4. Only full papers can be included as a chapter of a dissertation/thesis. Chapters that have been submitted as rapid publications, short papers, brief reports or letters are not sufficiently detailed for inclusion in the dissertation/thesis chapter format and must be rewritten as full papers to be included as chapters. The abbreviated styles accepted by some journals should be expanded to include sufficient detail to replicate the research presented.
5. The inclusion of one or more additional chapters of material, in the format described, that are unlikely to be published separately, is permitted provided that the same rules regarding format are observed.
Overall conclusion (if not explicitly stated in the discussion): The discussion/body or last chapter section should be followed by an overall conclusion. The section should be composed of a brief restatement of the important conclusions presented in the dissertation/thesis. This section is particularly important and should be somewhat longer if a chaptered format is selected as this is the only section that will describe the importance of the work in a comprehensive manner.
Cumulative bibliography (if required): The bibliography should appear in one location at the end of the dissertation/thesis ahead of any appendices and should be cumulative for all cited references. All citations in the bibliography should be listed alphabetically and should conform to a single format that is accepted as standard within the student's discipline, as determined by the student's advisory committee (numbered citations in the text are not acceptable). Separate bibliographies for each chapter should not be included.
Appendices (as required): Appendices may be included as a means to publish relevant ancillary data or discussion that is not directly related to the unifying theme of the dissertation/thesis. The majority of such work must still represent the work of the student and can include supporting data, materials or discussion not included in the body/chapters or other work completed by the student that is not included in the main dissertations/thesis. The format can include individual figures with legends, text alone or whole chapters. The same format rules apply to the rest of the dissertation/thesis also apply to appendices. Any references included in the appendices should be included in the comprehensive bibliography.
References: All theses and dissertations must include references to document the text.

Margins. The key to getting MS Word to keep page numbers above the 1" bottom margin is to realize that Word treats page numbers as footers independent of any margins that have been set in the document. You must set page number (footer) margins separately.

First, set Word document margins. Click File, Page Setup, Margins tab, and then set the margins as follows:

Next, click the Layout tab under the Page Setup menu. Set the Footer to 1". This will force MS Word to maintain the 1" bottom margin when inserting page numbers.

Page breaks. The secret to formatting with MS Word is understanding how "Next Page" and "Continuous" section breaks work. Printed matter between two section breaks of either type can have different margins and page numbering from the rest of the document. If your document has only ordinary page breaks then any margin change affects every page in the document. If you have a single section break, and your cursor is past the section break, then any margin change affects only the part of the document after the section break. The difference between a "Next Page" section break and a "Continuous" section break is that "Next Page" forces the material immediately after the "Next Page" section break to start at the top of a new page. The "Continuous" section break does not start a new page but, like the "Next Page", serves as a barrier to the spread of format changes. If you add more text to, or increase the margins of, a page with a "Continuous" section break, some of the text at the bottom of the page will slip past the Continuous section break and become part of the next section. This is what you want to happen within a chapter.

Type everything first and then format. It will be convenient to organize into three separate documents: the preliminary pages that do not have page numbers, the rest of the preliminary pages, and the main body of the thesis/dissertation. Save your documents without the formatting adjustments. Sometimes the errors are so extensive that it is easier to just start all over. When you are finished formatting, do not merge the unnumbered pages with the numbered; MS Word has a bad habit of numbering the pages anyway, section break or no section break.

b. Page Break, Next Page section break, or Continuous section break: Click Insert, then Break, then choose the type break wanted. The break will be placed at the cursor location.

c. To identify and locate breaks: click View, then Normal. (Note: older, and perhaps future, MS software may use other words under View for this utility. If Normal isn't there or doesn't work, you may need to try other menu items under View.)

d. To delete any of the three types of breaks: click View, then Normal. Put cursor on the dotted Break line, hit the Delete key (on the keyboard).

e. To see the manuscript as it will print: click View, then Print Layout. ( Again, you may need to try other menu options under View.)

Step 1. Install margins for the two documents of Preliminary Pages by putting the cursor on the first page of each document and setting these margins: top 2", left 1.5 " , bottom 1", and right 1".

Step 2. Put your cursor on the preliminary page that will be page iii (the first page to be numbered), then:

Step 3. Get in Normal mode (part c above). Place the cursor at the end of page iii and insert a Next Page section break (part b above). Remove any ordinary Page Break that might be there. (Otherwise you will have a blank page between the two breaks in your document.) Put the cursor just past the Next Page section break, then :

Step 4. Place the cursor at the end of each preliminary page (except for page iii that has already been done but including the pages in the first document that will have no numbers) and insert a Next Page section break. Remove all Page Breaks.

Step 5. Now that the preliminary pages are numbered and sectioned off, adjust the margins as necessary on each page. Remember not to merge the two documents of preliminary pages.

Step 6. Install temporary margins for the Main Body document by putting the cursor on the first page and setting these margins: top 1", left 1.5 ", bottom 1", and right 1".

Step 7. Get in Normal mode (part c above) and insert a Next Page section break just before the start of the main body of the document. If there is an ordinary page break there already, remove it. (Otherwise you will have a blank page between the two breaks in your document.) Part way down the first page of the main body of the document, insert a Continuous section break.

Step 8. Put your cursor on the first page of the main document between the two section breaks just inserted and:

Step 9. Put your cursor just past the Continuous section break on the first page of the main document and:

Step 10. Work through the document from front to back adjusting the margins of each part (chapter, table of contents, bibliography, appendix, etc.) as you go:

Step 11. The main body should now have correct margins, correct page numbers, and have no blank pages. Get in View , Print Layout mode to check. A blank page indicates a problem with too many Breaks. Get in View, Normal to find the problem.

Error check. To see that the formatting is correct (or not), under File, click Print Preview to quickly scan the entire document.

Margins. Put the cursor at the very beginning of the document on the first page to set the margins for that page and for all of the pages that follow.

Under File, then Page Setup, then Margins/Layout, set Top, Bottom, and Right at 1" and Left at 1.5". Set the "Increase margin for binding feature" at 0, and set the Two-sided printing at "off". Click OK.(Some of the top margins are temporary and on those pages that begin new sections, the margins will be changed to 2".) WordPerfect respects the margins you have established when adding page numbers. WordPerfect will print the page number 1" above the bottom of the page if the bottom margin is set at 1".

Page Breaks. Put the cursor at the end of each section or preliminary page and hit Control/Enter. (Hold down the Ctrl and Enter keys at the same time.)

Margin Adjustments. On each page that requires a 2" top margin, place the cursor on the top line and hit the Enter key just enough times for the line number reads at least 2".

Page Numbers. Page numbers for the preliminary pages must be set before setting the page numbers for the main body of the document.

To number the preliminary pages, put your cursor on the first page that will be numbered (for example, page iii). Under Format, then Page, then Numbering, choose bottom center for the Position and a plain numeral for the Page Numbering Format. Click OK.

Now under Format, then Page, then Insert Page Number, select Page, then click on the Value/Adjust box. Select i , ii, iii for the Page number method, and choose 3 (or whatever is correct for your document) for the Set page number. Be sure to click " Let number change as pages are added or deleted." Click OK, and then click Close. This process numbers your entire document with roman numerals; you will change the numbers in the main document next.

To number the pages in the main part of your document, put your cursor on the first page of the main part. U nder Format, then Page, then Insert Page Number, click on the Value/Adjust box. Select 1, 2, 3 for the Page number method, and choose 1 for the Set page number. Be sure to click " Let number change as pages are added or deleted." Click OK, and then click Close. This should correctly paginate the entire document.

Error check. To see that the formatting is correct (or not), under File, click Print Preview to quickly scan the entire document.

Many students writing theses and dissertations with technical equations or diagrams may use some form of LaTex. The style files below are templates into which a student inserts the text of her/his document and the program does the formatting. These Style files for writing theses and dissertations, developed by Professor Darrel Hankerson and maintained and updated by Professor Ed Slaminka, can be found at:


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