Dissertation and Thesis Handbook

Summary and Reminders

• Become intimate with an APA, Chicago, MLA, or whatever style guide is appropriate for your area of study, and use it to format your in-text references and entries for REFERENCES CITED/BIBLIOGRAPHY. But note that spacing and subheading conventions as outlined in this Dissertation and Thesis Handbook take precedence over those of any style guide.

• Throughout the document and in all sections, maintain margins of
  • LEFT 1.5" (master's thesis or doctoral dissertation) or 1" (only doctoral dissertations)
  • Top, bottom, and right 1".

  Everything, including page numbers, must be within these margins.

• A TABLE OF CONTENTS must accurately reflect heading levels and their exact wording and capitalization from the text.

• The TABLE OF CONTENTS—and any LISTS—must have dotted leaders with the section's page number at the right-hand side end of those dot leaders. (Set a right tab at 6" and the page numbers will align.)

• Check order of preliminary pages.  Abstract and Acknowledgments precede Table of Contents.  Table of Contents (TOC) precedes Lists.  But whether they appear before or after the TOC, each of those sections gets listed in the TOC.

• Running heads (i.e., headers repeated on consecutive pages) are not permitted.

• Chapters are necessary, and each chapter begins a new page.

• Chapter 1 always begins on page 1.

• A comprehensive list of sources, must be included at the end of the manuscript. Its format will vary according to discipline.

• All citations that are mentioned in the text must have a full bibliographic entry in the comprehensive list of sources. Irretrievable data (e.g., an oral interview) are excluded.

• Doctoral students must complete a minimum of six credits of Dissertation Research *AFTER* achieving Candidacy and *BEFORE* graduation. This is NOT a new rule, and it does apply to you.

• Registration in the defense/submission semester, whether Fall, Spring, or Summer, is mandatory for both doctoral and masters' students.

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