Your thesis/dissertation must include the required sections, listed in order. Please view the example.
Title Page
The title page will be your first page. Keep in mind that the title approved by your committee is the title that must appear on the title page.
* The month and year is the date when all requirements have been completed for the awarding of your master’s/doctoral degree by the University Graduate School. This is not necessarily the month in which you submit your thesis/dissertation.
Acceptance Page - Required
The acceptance page confirms the committee's approval and acceptance of your thesis/dissertation.
Master's
The acceptance page should be a separate page and no longer than one page. The first sentence should be centered, “Master’s Thesis Committee” should be left-justified, and all other content should be right-justified.
Have your committee sign the page when they approve the thesis.
When uploading the format-approved document to ScholarWorks, the acceptance page will not contain signatures. A copy of the signed acceptance page will be submitted separately to the University Graduate School at gradrec@iupui.edu.
Doctoral
The acceptance page should be a separate page and no longer than one page. The first sentence should be centered, “Doctoral Committee” and the date of dissertation should be left-justified, and all other content should be right-justified.
Have your committee sign the page when they approve your dissertation.
When uploading the format-approved document to ProQuest, the acceptance page will not contain signatures. A copy of the signed acceptance page will be submitted separately to the University Graduate School at gradrec@iupui.edu.
Copyright Page–Optional
The copyright page should be a separate page and no longer than one page. All content on this page should be centered. Please view the example.
© [year]
[Student's name as it appears on the thesis/dissertation title page]
Dedication, Acknowledgements, or Preface–Optional
Depending on your personal inclination, you may wish to include a dedication, a preface, or a set of acknowledgments. The latter is designed to recognize people or agencies to whom you feel grateful for any academic, technical, financial, or personal aid in the preparation of your thesis/dissertation. As a matter of courtesy, you would ordinarily mention the members of your committee here, as well as institutions that provided funding or anyone else who helped.
Abstract–Unsigned
Your name and the thesis/dissertation title should be centered, while the rest of the content format will match your document, and is limited to 350 words. The title will be Title case and underlined, or all capital letters.
Many people will learn about your work through your abstract published in the ScholarWorks Repository (master's) or ProQuest ETD Administrator (doctoral), so take care in the composition of both the abstract and the title. Try to convey the flavor of your work, not just the bare bones of your findings. You should also phrase your title so that it truly describes the contents and will be easily found in the index of the database. The index is based on key words, so be as specific as you can be about your subject.
Table of Contents
Include a table of contents to guide readership of your thesis/dissertation. The table of contents will contain the material occurring after the table of contents. The curriculum vitae entry will not have a page number.
Supplemental Materials–If Appropriate
Supplemental materials will include lists of tables, figures, appendixes, abbreviations, or other materials, if appropriate.
Curriculum Vitae
Include your Curriculum Vitae at the END of the thesis/dissertation. The Curriculum Vitae entry will not have a page number.
Footnotes: (if used)
- Same font as document.
- Font size no smaller than 10 pt.
- Place at the bottom of the page.
- Single-spaced is common.
Headings:
- Same font and size as document.
- Be consistent with layout.
Hyperlinks:
- Same font and size as the document text.
- Color must be black.
Symbols:
- Verify the character code
- Font and style should complement that of the document text.
- Color must be black.
Labeling, consistency in text, chart, figure, table, etc.:
- Table or table.
- Figure or figure, Fig., or fig.
- Et al, or et al.
Quotes:
- Long quotes will be single-spaced.
- Indented on left side AND right side by 0.5".
Punctuation:
- Be consistent with spacing after periods/colons.
Spell Check:
- Do not assume the word processing program is 100% correct.
Theses/dissertations should be written in English, unless you and your department/committee have decided otherwise.
The dots are called Leaders, and often are referred as leader Dots.
The dots can be created by using the table of contents template. However, this will import Word's font, size and style, which will not match your document layout. If using Word's template, you will modify the setup of choose the correct font and size.
- Verify the margins are Left 1.5" and Right 1.0".
- Verify the table of contents is Left Aligned. If not,
- at the top of your screen, on the Home tab, is the box Paragraph. Select Left Aligned.
- Turn on Show/Hide. This reveals the spaces surrounding your titles and extraneous spaces.
- Highlight the table of contents.
- At the top of your screen, on the Home tab, is the box Paragraph. Select this.
- At the bottom of the front tab labeled Indents and Spacing is a box labeled Tabs. Select this.
- Select the box labeled Clear All.
- Select OK.
- You have returned to the table of contents and the material is still highlighted. Keep this material highlighted.
- Go back to Paragraph, then to Indents and Spacing, and then to Tabs.
- Enter the number 6 in the Tab stop position box. This represents six inches from the left margin.
- Move to the section labeled Alignment. Select Right.
- Move to the section labeled Leader. Select 2.......
- Select the box labeled Set.
- Select OK
- You have retrned to the table of contents. The material is no longer highlighted.
- At this moment, your material may have moved to the right edge of the paper and there are dots to the left of that material.
- Move your cursor to the end of your title. Press the Tab key one time. The dots should stream to the right margin. Place the page number immediately beside the last dot. The dots will adjust automatically for the numbering and spacing.
- Place the cursor next to the material that was tabbed/offset to indicate subheadings.
- At the top of the screen; on the Home tab; return to the box labeled Paragraph. Select the function Increase Indent. Select this function one time for one indentation. The indent is defaulted to 0.5". If the document used less than 0.5" for the tab, you may change the indent stop to match the original set up.
This process may also be applied to the list of tables, list of figures, and list of abbreviations.