Thesis Requirements: Overall Layout and Specifications

The Library's publication requirements vs. publication style guides (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.)

Whether you follow APA, MLA, Chicago, etc., there are two specifications for publication style involved. 

1. The first is the publication guide's style is for submission purposes--that is, it's the way you format your article or chapter to submit to a publisher or journal with the hope that it will be accepted for publication.  The double-spacing requirement is so reviewers can write comments on the pages.  
2. The second is the publisher's specifications, which differs from publisher to publisher and is for the finished product. 

When you compare the two you will see that the formatting has changed (double-spacing has become single-spacing ot 1.5-line spacing, the font and font-size may have changed, headings may be numbered or un-numbered, endnotes are now footnotes at the bottom of the page, etc.). 

• You and the Library are publishing a book together and the Library needs it formatted as a camera-ready copy--that is, as the finished product ready for publishing.  The Library's template has been formatted with this--and your readers--in mind, and it has been created to help students format their documents as easily as possible.
• The way your cite and reference is what needs your attention and, with APA, there are other conventions that need to be adhered to (e.g., when you use numbers in your text in numberical or word form)--check with your Senior Supervisor into the depths with which you need to follow the style-guide you have chosen to follow.  

Margins

• 1.25" left/right and 1" top/bottom is the current standard--the template takes care of this for you, so we're looking at the eyeball method one this one.  For example, pages with chapter headings have more space above them and this is ok.   
  OR
  1.5 on left and 1" top/right/bottom is also acceptable however, when hardcopy submissions end, this option will go. 
• page number must be greater than .5" from the edge of the page/paper.
• Make sure that nothing stretches out past these margins (no tables, figures, images, etc.)—that is, make sure nothing goes past where the text falls naturally on other pages and, if anything does go past these margins, fix this before submitting.

Font

• Text. For the text in your document, Arial 11 point (pt) is preferrable, and this is the default in the templates.  Most theses now-a-days are read onscreen and, for this, san serif fonts are best on the eyes (rather than serif fonts, such as Times Roman).  If you feel strongly about Times Roman, until we go completely digital, we will accept it--but you must use 12pt and change the font in the Normal style rather than select your text and make the change (see the template insturctions on how to do this).
• Figures. Use Arial 12 (11pt minimum) for figures--larger if/when the figure is going to be reduced from it's original size (there is a 6" maximum width on images). 
• Tables often require the data to be sqeezed in--so Arial Narrow 10pt is the default in the templates.  No less than Arial Narrow 9pt is accepted.  If you wish to change the font-size changed for tables, this should be modified in the 7_TableRow_Normal style.

Page Number locations

• must be greater than .5" from the edge of the page.
• bottom middle (is the easiest and, therefore, the default in the templates),
• bottom right, or
• top right
• NB. The bottom left is not appropriate as the left margin is the side on which the thesis is bound.

Line-Spacing

• Text. The body of your document is 1.5 line-spacing--except for blockquotes, bullets, a series of numbered paragraphs, references, and appendices.
• Tables. Single-spaced with space between (7_TableRow_Normal and other TableRow styles).
• References are single-spaced with space between paragraphs (5_References_Normal style).
• Appendix(es) are be single-spaced with spacing between paragraphs (6_Append_Normal style), but can be 1.5" if desired.
  
  See explanation: My supervisor says that my thesis should be double-spaced and 1.5 for block quotations...
  

No blank pages

• No pages without content on them (e.g., content means text, images, tables, etc.).
  Check both the Word and PDF documents.

Rules of Thumb

• Change fonts and/or paragraph formatting globally through the styles (rather than selecting text and changing fonts and line-spacing).
• When creating figures / flowcharts / tables / appendices, think of your reader.
• All the above has been included in the Library templates--however students need to recheck the points under Step 1 in the 3-Steps to Submission before submitting.