General Requirements for Formatting and Construction

Required Order of Elements

The contents of the disquisition must be arranged in the following order. No additional elements may be included without prior authorization from the Dissertation & Thesis Coordinator.

Disquisitions must be submitted as a single PDF.

• Title Page
• Disquisition Approval Page (Copy 2)
• Abstract
• Acknowledgments (Optional)
• Dedication (Optional)
• Preface (Optional)
• Table of Contents
• List of Tables (Required if disquisition chapters include tables)
• List of Figures (Required if disquisition chapters include figures)
• List of Schemes (Required if disquisition chapters include schemes)
• List of [_________] (Any other material, such as equations, etc.)
• List of Abbreviations (Required if disquisition includes extensive abbreviations)
• List of Symbols (Required if disquisition includes extensive symbols)
• List of Appendix Tables (Required if appendices include tables)
• List of Appendix Figures (Required if appendices include figures)
• List of Appendix Schemes (Required if appendices include schemes)
• List of Appendix [_______] (Any other appendix material, such as equations, etc.)
• Chapters
• References/Works Cited (Use the heading that is required by the style manual for your field)
• Appendix/Appendices (Optional)

Font

• Font type – All elements of the disquisition (including body text, tables, and headings) must appear in the same font type. Exceptions include the font that is used within figures, illustrations, equations, or other special elements.
• Font color – Use standard (black) font color throughout all body text. Exceptions may be allowed if a single word or phrase within a paragraph or table must use color for descriptive effect (and only if this practice is accepted by your academic discipline).
• Approved list of fonts – To ensure proper conversion to .pdf format, disquisitions must use one of the following fonts. The font size given is the baseline font size (used for most elements, including body text, subheadings, table/figure titles, and page numbers). Certain elements may be in a slightly larger font size (for example, major headings), and these exceptions are outlined in the individual sections of this guide.
  • Arial (size 10)
  • Century (size 11)
  • Courier New (size 10)
  • Garamond (size 12)
  • Georgia (size 11)
  • Lucida Bright (size 10)
  • Microsoft Sans Serif (size 10)
  • Tahoma (size 10)
  • Times New Roman (size 12)
  • Trebuchet MS (size 10)
  • Verdana (size 10)
  • Computer Modern (size 10) (for disquisitions created using LaTeX)

If you are writing a doctoral dissertation or a master’s thesis, ProQuest requests that you embed all fonts when you convert your disquisition to a .pdf file. This is to help ensure the quality of your pdf file. For more information about how to embed fonts, refer to the instructions provided here.

Hyperlinks

When you include a URL (or other linked text) in the document (such as links to internet sources), make sure that it is not underlined or otherwise appearing as a hyperlink.

Additionally, URLs should not contain anchor text or query strings unless they are necessary to access the page. Anchor text is the part of the URL that appears after the “#” sign, and a query string is the part of the URL that appears after the “?” sign. Removing these from URLs decreases the incidence of link rot, and this text can contain personally identifying information.

Paragraphs

All paragraphs in the disquisition must meet the following requirements.

• Alignment – All paragraphs in the disquisition must be aligned along the left margin of the page, except on the Dedication page. Full justification may be used, but it must be applied consistently to all paragraphs in the document.
• Indents – The first line of all body text paragraphs in the disquisition must be indented one-half inch (0.5”). If you include a Dedication section, the Dedication text should be center-aligned, with no first-line indent.
• Spacing – Use double-spacing throughout all body text paragraphs in the disquisition. There should be no extra line spacing between body text paragraphs.
• Widowed and orphaned text – Avoid separating the first or last line of a paragraph from the rest of the paragraph because of a page break. These separated lines are called orphans and widows. In Microsoft Word, you can turn on “Widow/Orphan Control” to automatically prevent this from occurring in your document.

Headings

Headings identify new sections of your disquisition and must be easy to distinguish from the paragraph text. If you use several levels of headings, the different levels must be easily identifiable from both the text and from the various heading levels. Levels can be established by their placement, their font style (bold, underline, italics), or their number. Examples are provided in this section.

• Formatting – All headings of the same level must share the same formatting throughout the disquisition, including in appendices. For example, if a first level subheading in Chapter 1 is bolded, center aligned, and uses title case, then first level subheadings in all other chapters and any appendices must use the same formatting.
• Running headers – Do not use running headers in the margins at the top of each page in the disquisition. Headings should appear only at the beginning of each section.

Major Headings

Major headings are used at the beginning of the main sections of the disquisition, such as on the Abstract page, the Acknowledgments page, and the first page of each chapter.

Major headings must use the following format:

• Location – At the top of the first page of a major section (prefatory section, chapter, or appendix).
• Alignment – Fully centered on the page.
• Case – Use ALL CAPS in the same type of font as the rest of the disquisition.
• Font style – Bold font is optional, but if one major heading is bolded, then all major headings in the disquisition must also be bolded.
• Font size – Use a font size no larger than four points larger than the normal text in the disquisition. For example, if your paragraph text is size 12, then the major headings can be no larger than size 16.
• Major headings must be included in the Table of Contents, including prefatory sections, chapter headings, and each appendix. Note: The Table of Contents should not include an entry for the “TABLE OF CONTENTS”.

Subheadings

Subheadings are used in chapters to subdivide the chapter content into subsections. If you use several levels of subheadings, the different levels of subheadings must be easily identifiable (either through numbering or formatting).

You can distinguish between different levels of subheadings using italics, bold font, underline, or alignment (for example, centered or left). Subheadings of the same level must share the same formatting method throughout the entire disquisition, including chapters and appendices. For example, if the first level subheading of Chapter 1 is bold and center aligned, then the first level subheadings in all other chapters and appendices must also use the same formatting.

Subheadings must meet the following requirements:

• Not begin a new page unless the heading appears at a natural page break.
• Not be orphaned from the first paragraph in the section. If a subheading appears on the bottom of a page and the first paragraph in the section appears on the next page, then move the subheading to the next page.
• Not be in ALL CAPS. Only major headings may be in ALL CAPS.
• For non-numbered headings, each level of subheading must use unique formatting for that level and this formatting must be consistent throughout the entire disquisition. For example, first level non-numbered subheadings must look different from second level non-numbered subheadings.
• All headings of the same level must share the same capitalization scheme. Sentence case capitalizes only the first word and proper nouns. Title case capitalizes all words except conjunctions, articles, and prepositions. Either method is acceptable, but it must be consistent.

See the following section for examples of numbered and non-numbered headings.

Numbered Subheadings vs. Non-numbered Subheadings

Subheading numbers are optional. When using numbered headings, the following apply:

• All subheadings in the disquisition must be numbered, as shown in Figure 1.
• You must number major headings for chapters, but do not number major headings outside the chapters, such as the prefatory pages or appendices.
• The heading number must be followed by a period, both in the text and in the Table of Contents. For example, the first subheading in the second chapter would be numbered “2.1. Title of Subheading”.
• The first number in the heading number must correspond to the chapter in which it appears. Subsequent numbers correspond to the heading level and order of appearance of the heading.

In summary, numbered subheadings can use the same formatting method between levels, because the heading numbers indicate the heading level (as shown in Figure 1). If you use non-numbered headings, then each level of subheading must use a different formatting method to help differentiate between the superior and subordinate subheading (as shown in Figure 2).

Pages

• Appearance – All pages in the document should be sized as American Letter, 8.5" x 11".
• Blanks – Do not include blank pages in the document.
• Margins – Page margins should be 1" on all sides.
• Orientation – Landscaped pages may only be used for tables, figures, or other non-text items. If a heading would precede a table, figure, or other non-text item that is on a landscaped page, the heading should be placed on a portrait page before the table, figure, or other non-text item. That is, the heading should be on an otherwise blank, portrait-oriented page before the landscape page.

Page Numbers

Page numbers must appear on each page of the disquisition, except for the Title page and the Disquisition Approval page. These two pages should not contain page numbers.

• Appearance – In the prefatory material (such as the Abstract, Table of Contents, List of Tables, etc.), page numbers must use lower-case Roman numerals (such as iii, iv, v, etc.). In the body of the disquisition (including Chapters, Tables, References, Appendices, etc.), page numbers must use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.). In the prefatory material, the page numbering should begin at iii on the page containing the Abstract, as the Title page and Approval page are still counted even though they do not contain page numbers. In the main document, the first page of the first chapter must be identified as page 1.
• Font – Page numbers must use the same type and size of font as the text in the body paragraphs.
• Location – Page numbers must be center-aligned in the bottom margin of the page, at three-quarter inches (0.75”) from the bottom edge of the page, and they should not intrude into the text of the body of the disquisition. Likewise, content of the disquisition (such as paragraph text) should not obscure the page numbers.
• Page orientation – If you have a table or a figure that uses landscape page orientation, then page numbers must still appear in portrait orientation. In other words, the page number should appear in the same location as a portrait-aligned page number when the page is printed. This ensures that if your disquisition is printed, all of the page numbers appear consistently throughout the document. For help formatting landscaped pages, see our help page.