Formatting Checklist for Theses and Dissertations
Title Page
Is spacing correct?
Is the department name, degree name, and graduation date correct?
Copyright Page
Does your name match the name on the title page?
Is the year correct?
Margins
Are side margins correct? (1 ¼ inches for left and right)?
Are MAIN HEADINGS 2 inches from the top of the page?
Are top (except MAIN HEADING PAGES) and bottom margins 1 inch from the top and bottom of the page? (exceptions BOTTOM MARGIN ONLY: at end of chapter; when a subheading is next and there isn’t enough space for it and 2 lines of text; if a footnote is forcing the bottom line to the next page, creating a gap at the bottom; if an in-text equation, matrix, or algorithm is next and will not fit.)
Preliminary Pages
Are Roman numerals placed at the bottom center of pages without MAIN HEADINGS?
Is the typed Statement of Approval form present with dates?
Did you check Table of Contents for spacing and accuracy (page correct, entries match chapter titles and subheadings exactly in wording, capitalization, and font emphasis)?
Did you check List of Figures and Tables for spacing and accuracy (page correct, entries match the table titles and figure captions exactly in wording, capitalization, and font emphasis)?
Chapters and Text
Is pagination correct and correctly placed? (Arabic numerals top right corner.)
Uniform indentation: Are all new paragraphs uniformly indented?
Are all subheading levels consistently formatted and capitalized?
Are heading spaces all the same size (after main headings, above subheadings, above and below figures and tables embedded in the text)?
Do all figures and tables have textual references; are all textual references sequential in the text?
Do figures and tables placed on a page with text have at least 6 lines of text on the page?
Are all figures and tables correctly placed? (After the first textual mention: at the bottom of the page where it’s mentioned if it will fit there, or at the top of the next page, OR within 3 pages if you’re placing several mentioned in a group together, OR all placed at the end of the chapter in order?)
Are figure and table captions consistently capitalized?
Do subheadings at the bottom of page have at least 2 lines of text?
No gaps or white spaces in the text? For LaTeX, extra space in the middle of the page because of the end of a chapter or section needs to be moved to the bottom of the page (ragged bottom).
References
Are references formatted according to department-approved style guide?
Double spaced between entries and single spaced within entries?