Paper - twenty-pound (20#) white paper, 81/2 by 11 inches in size is required for all bound pages in all copies as well as the original. For materials too large for binding and contained in a pocket, e.g., charts and maps, a suitable high quality paper must also be used.
Type - Fonts of 12 or 10 characters per inch are acceptable for text and for figure/table captions. The preferred font is Arial 12-point. No letter is smaller than 2 millimeters. Where necessary, smaller type may be used in figures and tables but never less than a font of 8. If there is any question as to whether or not a particular type is acceptable, the student should bring a sample of the type to the Graduate Office for examination and approval.
Pagination - For preliminary pages, e.g. Table of Contents, List of Figures & Tables and Abstract, lower case Roman numerals must be placed in the center, one inch from the bottom edge of the page. For pages containing primary headings, e.g. Chapter, Bibliography, and Appendix, Arabic numerals must be placed in the upper right corner, 1 inch from the top and 1 inch from the right edges of the page. As an option, the student may place all page numbers in the center, one inch from the bottom edge of the page (see sample form C).
Spacing - Text must be double-spaced. Footnotes, captions, and figures should be single-spaced. Appendix materials also may be single-spaced. In the Bibliography/References section, citations are single-spaced with double space between citations.
Margins - All pages of the thesis must have the following margins: 1 inch on the right and bottom, 1½ inches on the left and top. If optional pagination is used where the page number is centered at the bottom of each page, the bottom margin should be 1½ inches throughout the manuscript. For pages bearing a primary heading, the top margin is 2 inches (see sample forms C and D). The first line of each paragraph and footnote should be indented 5 spaces from the left margin. Equations, formulas, and other such notations should be centered.
Headings - Major divisions of the thesis, e.g., Introduction, Bibliography, and Appendix, require primary headings and must begin on a new page. Primary headings are centered 2 inches from the top edge of the page and typed in all capital letters. The first line of text below the heading should be triple spaced beneath it. Secondary headings are centered, with the first letter of each word capitalized, and do not require a new page. Triple space should be above and below secondary headings. Tertiary headings are capitalized, underlined, and begin at the left margin. Double spaces should be above and below tertiary headings (see sample forms C and D).
Figures and Tables - Line drawings and diagrams, maps, charts, halftones, photographs, etc. are considered as figures and should be of professional quality. Photographs and figures may be either color or black and white. Original photographs or high-resolution reproductions are acceptable; photocopies are not. If photographs are pasted to the page, a high quality, long-lasting cement must be used. Figures and tables require captions, which should be single-spaced. If there is insufficient space within the required margins for both the figure/table and caption, the caption may be placed on the facing page, the back of which is blank except for the page number properly located in the upper right hand corner or bottom center. Captions must be in the same type as the text and listed as written in the List of Figures and List of Tables sections of thesis. No text or number on a table or figure should be (after reduction) smaller than the equivalent character in a character set whose shortest letters are 2 millimeters high (see Figure 1). An illustration that is wide must be placed broadside on the page, with the top at the binding (left) side.
Reference Citation - Style and manner of reference citation and bibliographic format are determined by academic discipline. The style manual or journal used must be acceptable to the discipline and stated on the bottom of the Vita page preceding the identification of the typist (see sample form E). The AARC (Academic Assistance and Resource Center) Writing Program currently employs graduate and undergraduate tutors who have been trained in most of the commonly accepted documentation styles. AARC graduate tutors are engaged in similar writing, so their experience may prove useful in the evaluation of resources and their proper documentation.
Although style manuals will govern the way electronic sources should be cited, citations from web-based resources raise special concerns due to the transitory nature of the data. While electronic versions of scholarly articles appearing also in print or refereed electronic journals may be expected to persist in online form, the same is not true of conventional web sources. Thesis writers should take this into account when preparing their theses by including copies of cited text in an appendix to their work for review by the thesis committee. Sufficient material should be provided to enable the thesis committee to determine whether the sources have been used appropriately. In cases in which conventional web sources form a significant foundation for a thesis, consideration should be given to binding the appendix with the thesis to the extent this can be done without violating copyright.
