epscgrads template

Hints for Dissertation Formatting

So you're thinking it's time to write your dissertation. First thing to do is to check out the Doctoral Dissertation Guide (DDG) written by the Graduate School Office. Once you look at the DDG, you might think "how do I ___?" Here are some tips to get your dissertation into the proper format. You can download this MSWord document example to help you along.

Page Numbers

The DDG tells you that page numbers have to conform to their specifications. They say that the title page (and copyright page) cannot be numbered and that any pages prior to the abstract must have lower-case Roman numerals, but all other pages should be simple numbers. This is somewhat difficult to do in Microsoft Word if you do not know how... The trick is using "Section Breaks" versus "Page Breaks". A "page break" simply breaks the page, a "section break" breaks the page AND makes a new section. New sections are the key to different kinds of page numbers. Here are some simple steps:

Type your title on page one of the document
Type one or two cariage returns
In the toolbar, click "Insert", "Break", "Page Break"
On the second page of the document, type your copyright information
Type one or two cariage returns
In the toolbar, click "Insert", "Break", "Section Break (Odd Page)"
On the third page of the document, type your acknowledgements paragraph
Type one or two carriage returns
In the toolbar, click "Insert", "Break", "Page Break"
On the fourth page of the document, type "Table of Contents" for your ToC heading
Type one or two carriage returns
On the fifth page of the document, type "List of Figures/Tables" for your Figure List heading
Type one or two carriage returns
In the toolbar, click "Insert", "Break", "Section Break (Even Page)"
On the sixth page of the document, type your "Abstract"

Now you are ready to insert page numbers according to their specifications.

Put cursor on the Acknowledgements page (page 3 of document).
In the toolbar, click "Insert", "Page Numbers".
In the Page Numbers dialogue box:

"Position" should be "footer", "alignment" should be "centered", CHECK the box in front of "Show number on first page"
Click "Format" button
"Number format" should be "i, ii, iii, ..."
"Page numbering" should "Start at" "i"
Click "ok"

Now you should have lower-case Roman numeral page numbers only for the Acknowledgements page, the ToC page, and the Figures List page. Also, page numbers should start at "i" on the Acknowledgements page. For the rest of the document:

Put cursor on the Abstract page (page 6 of document, page number 4!)
In the toolbar, click "Insert", "Page Numbers".
In the Page Numbers dialogue box:

"Position" should be "footer", "alignment" should be "centered", CHECK the box in front of "Show number on first page"
Click "Format" button
"Number format" should be "1, 2, 3, ..."
"Page numbering" should "Continue from previous section"
Click "ok"

Your dissertation should now have page numbers in agreement with what the Graduate School requires... No page numbers for Title and Copyright; lower-case Roman numerals for Acknowledgements, ToC, and Figure List; and normal page numbers after the Figure List page.

The nice thing about MSWord is that it will do your Table of Contents (ToC) for you! You just need to make sure to format everything correctly so that it will automatically update... This is fairly easy to do:

In the toolbar, click "View", "Toolbars", "Formatting" - now you have an easily accessible dropdown list for "Style"
Put cursor within the word "Acknowledgements" on your Acknowldegements page
On the dropdown "Style" list, select "Heading 1"
Highlight the words "Table of Contents" on your ToC page
On the dropdown "Style" list, select "Heading 1"
Highlight the words "List of Figures" on your figure-list page
On the dropdown "Style" list, select "Heading 1"
Highlight the words "Abstract" on your abstract page
On the dropdown "Style" list, select "Heading 1"

Now you're ready to create the actual ToC

Put cursor where you want your ToC to go (1-2 lines below "Table of Contents"...)
In toolbar, click "Insert", "Index and Tables...", and click on the "Table of Contents" tab
Pick a "format" you like best
In "options", you can select or deselect different Heading Levels (subheadings) you want to see in the Toc
Click "ok"

If you have several subheadings, you might not want them all to appear in the ToC. For example, your Introduction chapter has a subsection of Geological Description with two further sub-subsections (Northern Geological Description and Southern Geological Description). You would make the style of "Introduction" "Heading 1", "Geological Description" would be style "Heading 2", and "Northern" and "Southern" would both be style "Heading 3". Then in the ToC-options pop-up box, you would select only "Heading 1" and "Heading 2" to show in the ToC.

Once you create the ToC successfully, you can update it at any point by right-clicking anywhere in the ToC and click on "Update field" on the little pop-up menu. On the pop-up dialog box, click "update everything" instead of "update page numbers only".

NOTE: Once you've finished writing your dissertation, you might notice that the Roman Numerals in the ToC are UPPER-case instead of lower-case. If so, change it manually. I haven't figured out how to make this not happen. You can change it whenever you want, but it will reset every time you update the ToC.