Formatting Requirements
Students will follow the requirements in the guide. To assist with the requirements, the following resources are available:
- A review checklist- see a sample review form.
- A dissertation template
- A thesis template
New dissertations and theses available in the Library are listed at the bottom of this page; they may serve as examples for students. Keep in mind that formatting changes over time, and some volumes may have been embargoed for a year or longer before being available in the Library.
Preparing Assistance
In addition to the requirements above, there are some suggested formatting guidelines and tools to help as students prepare their documents. See the links below for formatting suggestions and aids.
- Sample Documents—Digital Commons contains all recent documents published by the Library. Note that some volumes may have been embargoed and may not reflect current formatting requirements.
- EndNote—Manage references and bibliographies
- Editing Services—Copy editing is available for a fee through the Center for Teaching and Learning.
- Acrobat Tips—Check and fix documents (popular tips listed below)
- How to determine if fonts are embedded in a PDF file
- How to check PDF conversion settings for images and embedding fonts
- How to check your paper size and page number location—learn how to check those pesky margins and the location of your page numbers so the formatting is right the first time
- How to change color pages to black and white
- How to use a preflight profile—check the image quality or number of color pages in your document
- How to rotate landscape pages in a PDF file
- How to use the TouchUp text tool—fix simple errors in your PDF file
- MS Office Tips—popular tips listed below
- How to check PDF conversion settings for images and embedding fonts—learn how to select the proper settings to embed all fonts and maintain image quality
- Styles—these are the building blocks of formatting in Word.
- How to create bookmarks using Word and Adobe Acrobat
- How to create a hyperlinked table of contents—also describes how to create a table of contents without typing each line in by hand!
- How to turn off image compression in Word
- How to use tabs to align text
- How to view hidden formatting characters
- Tutorial for rotated page numbers on landscape pages
- Digital Tools—Learn about your Degree Progress Checklist, Canvas, ProQuest, and Google Calendar
- Online Seminars—Topics include Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, LaTeX, Great Images, EndNote, and more!
- Turnitin.com—Students can submit documents for plagiarism review. The web site is in the Graduate School Canvas course. Only graduate students will have access to the information needed to access the site. Contact the Graduate School for assistance with accessing the Canvas course or turnitin.com site.
- Turnitin Draft Coach is available for grammar, citation, and similarity checks in Google Docs.
- LaTeX templates—This following resources can assist students using LaTeX. See also
our online seminars for more information.
MS/PhD Template GitHub Repository Direct Link (.zip) Presentation Template GitHub Repository Direct Link (.zip)