Thesis Guidelines

The following provides guidelines for the preparation of master's theses. The guidelines are designed to produce documents that are uniform in style, but they also allow for the particular requirements of the various disciplines. Exceptions are to be approved by both your director and the College of Professional Studies. Please read the Master's Thesis Guidelines Memo very carefully!


GENERAL INFORMATION

Registration
Each student must be registered during the semester or summer session in which the degree will be awarded. An application for graduation (available on the Registrars website) must be submitted to the GSPM prior to the deadline for that semester.

Deadlines for Spring 2008 Theses
March 28: Final draft is due to your academic advisor
April 25: Completed thesis is due to your academic advisor


FORM, STYLE AND METHODS OF REPRODUCTION

Paper and Quality
The original copy of the thesis or dissertation should be prepared on high quality, durable, white paper, 8-1/2-by-11 inches in size and twenty-pound in weight. Erasable bond or any other paper with a chemically treated surface is not acceptable. One copy must be submitted in addition to the original. The copy must be on good-quality, twenty-pound white paper. The original and copy may be produced using high-quality, photocopying or computer-assisted reproduction methods as long as the standards for paper quality and image quality are met. Similarly, printing and photo-offset processes may be used for text, illustrations, and tables provided that all copies are legible and capable of being microfilmed. Loose-leaf copies with punched holes are not acceptable.

The pages should be free of obvious blemishes and corrections. Strikeovers, crossed-out words, and inserted words are not acceptable. When special characters and symbols are required and not available on computer, they should be inserted carefully in the manuscript by hand using permanent black ink.

Style
General questions concerning appearance, form, and arrangement are answered in this guide. For more detailed instructions, you may wish to obtain a style manual. The following are available in the University Bookstore: A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (University of Chicago Press) by Kate L. Turabian and MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.

Type Size and Quality
The type must be 10 - 12 points or larger. A ten point Times New Roman or a twelve point Courier are good examples of acceptable type styles; other type styles must be approved in advance by the GSPM. Decorative and ornate fonts are not acceptable. Word processor printers should be letter quality and produce crisp, dark images.

All text, drawings, etc., must be done on one side of the paper only. All textual material should be double-spaced, but long quotations and footnotes may be single-spaced.

Margins
Margin requirements will be enforced without exception. The margins for the text of the thesis should be one and one-half inches on the left (to allow for binding), one inch on the right, one inch on the top (unless it is a title or other heading), and one inch on the bottom. Chapter headings should be two inches below the top margin (or three inches from the top of the page).

All information including titles, footnotes, and illustrative material must conform to the margins specified (except for page numbers). After sewing along the left-hand edge, the bindery trims the other three sides of the thesis/dissertation. Accordingly, insufficient margins will affect the readability and appearance of the document.

Illustrations
When illustrations (photographs, maps, graphs, etc.) are used, they may be scanned and printed in high resolution printers. Photocopies may be submitted in the copy, but not in the original, if perfectly distinct and approved by the director. Photocopies must be on permanent, durable paper. If mounted, photographs and other illustrative material must be dry mounted on good quality, 20-lb. white paper. Rubber cement, other glues, or double-sided tape are not acceptable methods of attachment. Large illustrations must each be preceded by a regular sheet of thesis paper on which is indicated the title or identification and, if necessary, the source or sources. The title or legend page may be oriented in the usual manner or may be oriented so as to face the illustration. Smaller illustrations may have the title or legend placed on the same page. All illustration and legend pages must be numbered.

Illustrative material must fall within the stated margins. If the material is oversized, it may be (a) photographically reduced, (b) enclosed in an envelope or pocket, or (c) prepared (folded) for binding. If reduced in size, the illustrative material must be easily readable. If folded, the material must be arranged on the page to allow the one and one-half inch margin on the binding edge. The illustration should be folded carefully so that there are as few folds as possible and so that the page can be easily unfolded after the thesis is bound. The folded outer edges of the illustration should be one-half inch smaller than the text pages at the top, bottom, and right-hand edges. The overall dimensions of the folded illustration will then be approximately eight-by-ten inches. Please note, however, that oversized pages complicate microfilming and should be avoided whenever possible.

Number Placement and Sequence
Preliminary pages (table of contents, list of illustrations, etc.) are numbered in lowercase Roman numerals (e.g., ii, iii, iv etc.) at the center of the text at the bottom of the page, resting on the bottom margin. The title page is counted as the first page, but does not carry a number. The copyright page, if used, is also not numbered. The first page of front matter carrying a number is "ii." All text pages following the preliminary pages are numbered with Arabic numerals beginning with "1" on the first page of text and continuing to the end of the thesis/dissertation. All text pages, illustrations, and legends must be numbered. The text page numbers are to be placed either at the top of the page, one inch from the right side so that the bottom of the number rests on the top margin, or at the bottom center of the page, one inch from the bottom so that the number rests on the bottom margin.

Page numbers stand alone; do not use periods, hyphens, or other decorative marks with page numbers.

Arrangement of Pages
Pages in the thesis/dissertation should be organized as follows:

Blank page

Title page (A sample title page is available for download here in .pdf format.)

Copyright page (if used)

Dedication page (optional)

Acknowledgment page (optional)

Abstract (optional)

Table of contents

List of tables

List of figures or illustrations

Preface or foreword (optional)

Text

Appendices

Endnotes (if used)

Bibliography

Blank page

The accepted thesis/dissertation is the property of the University. The original and the copy are deposited in Gelman Library for circulation.

The University is to be given credit for material used in the publication of any portion of a thesis or dissertation, whether as a direct quotation or as an adaption. Library copies of theses or dissertations may not be sent to printers for use as "copy" for publication.

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