Dissertation and Thesis Handbook
| [Signature Page] | Acknowledgments and/or Dedication |
| Title Page | Table of Contents |
| Copyright Page | List of Tables/Figures/Illustrations |
| In-text |
OFFICIAL SIGNATURE PAGE for Dissertations
The Graduate School requires submission of one signature page with original signatures of committee members. Do not fill in the line "Date Submitted to Graduate Board" or anything beneath it. From the information on your defense announcement, we enter the author's name, dissertation title, date of defense, and the left column of Examining Committee Members.
The Signature Page will be delivered to your Doctoral Advisory Committee Chair when your defense announcement is received and approved by the Graduate School office. White-out, corrections, cross-outs, tape, etc. are unacceptable on signature pages. Your name, as it appears on your Temple transcript, must be used on all documents. If you need to change your name, check OWLnet or contact the Office of Academic Records (www.temple.edu/registrar).
The Signature Page will NOT be included as part of the dissertation's pdf but you do have to submit it (hard copy) to the Graduate School with your Survey of Earned Doctorates and CV after defense.
OFFICIAL SIGNATURE PAGE for Master's Thesis
The Graduate School requires submission of one signature page with original signature(s) of committee member(s). The Signature Page will NOT be included as part of the pdf; the Graduate School will record it as received and file it. See Appendix.
E-TITLE PAGES (DOCTORAL AND MASTER'S)
See the Appendix for an example of the title page format for inclusion in your e-dissertation or e-thesis. This version, with typed names replacing signatures, will be uploaded as part of your pdf.
On the title page, supply the month and year of your diploma date, not of your defense and not of your school/college ceremony. The ONLY options are January, May, or August.
The title of your dissertation or thesis must have word substitutes for formulae, symbols, superscripts, Greek letters, etc. While these are acceptable within the text of your document, they may not appear in the title because they cannot be used in computerized keyword searches and Temple's computer system cannot accommodate them.
See Appendix E and Appendix F. The wording is the only remaining difference between doctoral and master's title pages. Neither has signatures for the upload file.
If you paid the
copyright fee when filing for graduation, then include a "copyright notification page" in your dissertation. It should read, centered top to bottom and left to right:
In Appendix G of this Handbook, a sample copyright page can be found.
IN-TEXT ABSTRACT (Master's Thesis and Doctoral Dissertation)
The abstract should state briefly the problem discussed in the manuscript, describe the research procedures or methodology, and summarize major findings and conclusions. It may not contain graphs, charts, tables, illustrations, subheadings, or reference notes. The previous 350-word limit no longer exists. Page numbers continue the roman numeral pagination of the front matter.
The abstract, like the text, should be double-spaced and follow the same margin requirements. (See Print Quality, and Type Size and Style.) The former 6-line heading requirement no longer exists because with the ETD, the information is contained in the meta data.
The Acknowledgments and Dedication pages are double-spaced with the same margins as the text. The heading format must be identical to that of your major heading level (e.g., your chapter titles). Page numbers continue the roman numeral pagination of the front matter.
The front matter headings (e.g., ABSTRACT, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, LIST OF TABLES, etc.) must be listed in the Table of Contents if these sections exist in your manuscript. In the Table of Contents, these headings are placed at the far left. Do not include a line entry for the "Table of Contents" or "Copyright Page" within the Table of Contents. Do list the major headings that precede, as well as those that follow, the Table of Contents.
Below the front matter entries, still at the far left, is the column header "Chapter" and under that, the chapter numbers (arabic) and chapter titles. There is no requirement to include subheadings but if you choose to, then your most important level of subheading should be indented, usually a half-inch, from the chapter title. Remember, this is in the Table of Contents, not in the text. Each lesser level of subheading is indented more than its preceding level. Do not list more than 3 levels of subheadings; and if you list a level from one chapter then logic dictates that you list that level from every chapter in which it exists.
Chapter numbers should be uniformly separated (i.e., tabbed) from the chapter titles. The chapter titles and subheadings should be uniformly separated from the page numbers. In other words, none of the sections/columns should overlap (still discussing the TOC). To accomplish this, split longer headings into multiple, single-spaced lines. If you have a multi-line heading, do not progressively indent each line, maintain the same left tab. This helps distinguish, at a glance, the relationship between sections. (See SECTIONS C and D.)
If using Microsoft Word, you can use the "Style" feature to automatically generate a Table of Contents, List of Tables, and List of Figures. For the Table of Contents, choose "Insert," "Index and Tables," "Table of Contents." Check the boxes "Show page numbers" and "Right align page numbers." For the "Tab leader" choose dots; for the "Format" choose classic; for "Show levels" choose, at most, "4."
The REFERENCES CITED (or BIBLIOGRAPHY) and APPENDIXES are major headings, but, like the ACKNOWLEDGMENTS or ABSTRACT, are not chapters. Therefore, they are listed in the Table of Contents in all capital letters, at the left margin, and without a chapter number. If there is more than one APPENDIX, however, each would be identified by a capital letter assigned according to the order of mention in the text. Chapters are labeled as 1, 2, 3...Appendixes are labeled as A, B, C.
The Table of Contents page numbers continue the consecutive pagination of front matter Roman numerals.
Use dotted leaders to connect headings and subheadings to their respective page numbers. What follows might be outdated and of no use. Please, let us know if it is and we will delete or replace the section. Thanks.
Figure out how many levels of subheadings you will include in the Table of Contents--this correlates to the number of tabs you will need. Then add one tab for the page number reference. (example:, I will include two levels of subheadings [not including my chapter titles]; therefore, I need 2 tabs plus 1 for the page number = 3 tabs.)
Highlight (with your cursor) the area in which the Table of Contents will be typed (or if you've already typed it, highlight what you've typed).
Go to the "Format" menu; select "Tabs." In this box, you will create individual tabs for this page.
Let's say you want to include two levels of subheadings below your chapter title. Your level 5 headings (e.g., chapter titles) should be on the left margin (and they don't need a tab), but each additional level should be indented 1/2 inch (one tab). Therefore, initially you need to set up two tabs.
There is an easy way to do this:
In the "Tab Stop Position" box, type in ".5" (for your first subheading).
In the "Alignment" box click "left"; and in the "Leader" box click "none."
Finally, you must click the "Set" button on the bottom.
Don't close out of the menu yet. Follow the same pattern beginning with "1.0" inch in the "Tab Stop Position" box. Again, don't close out yet.
In order to align the page number on the right margin and to create the leading dots, continue with these steps.
In the "Tab Stop" box, type in "6.0" (right margin).
In the "Alignment" box click "right".
In the "leader" box click "....." (that's the doted leader).
Don't forget to click "Set" on the bottom.
Now you're finished; click "Ok" and you're on your way to a perfectly aligned Table of Contents.
Now What??
If you haven't typed the Table of Contents yet, type the level 5 headings on the left margin and use the "Tab" key to indent each subheading, as well as to get to the right margin for the page numbers. Magically when you hit that third tab, the dotted leaders will appear!
If you have typed your Table of Contents and find that nothing has changed, you need to take out each of the spacebars and individual periods that you put in and replace them with the tabs that you just established. You can see the "invisible" spacebars and tabs by choosing the "paragraph" symbol on your menu (it looks like a backwards "P").
Hints: NEVER use the space bar to align text, numbers, or
characters. ALWAYS use tabs.
Separate lists (LIST OF TABLES, LIST OF FIGURES, LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, etc.) are necessary if there are tables, figures and/or illustrations in your manuscript.
A pre-formatted version of this page is available for you to download and use in your manuscript. This document is in Microsoft Word and is already formatted with: margins; level 5 heading; leading dots; and correct spacing (See SECTION D.) All you need to do is: (a) type in the titles, (b) type in the page numbers on which the Tables/Figures/Illustrations can be found in the text, and (c) insert a page number. If you use both Tables and Figures in your manuscript, you can download two copies of this pre-formatted form, one to use as your LIST OF TABLES and the other to use as your LIST OF FIGURES. There is no limit to the number of times you can download and use this form.
The wording, capitalization, abbreviations, punctuation, etc. of the table and figure titles in these lists must match exactly the titles in the document. However, do not copy underline (except in the case of statistical abbreviations) or bold to the Lists. The purpose of these lists is to allow the reader to locate easily the embedded table or figure rather than having to page through the entire document.
The labels "Table," "Figure," and/or "Illustration" must appear as the left column headers in the respective lists. The table/figure/illustration's title or caption appears as the second column. The right column consists of the word "Page" and each entry's corresponding page number right-aligned. The format is similar to that of the Table of Contents. If the list takes more than one page, do not repeat the column header. Also, please include dot leaders.
If a title comes within 1/2 inch of its page number reference, then split it into two or more single-spaced lines. Between each title, use 1.5 spaced or double spaced lines in the LIST OF ______.
Page numbers continue the consecutive pagination of the front matter Roman numerals.