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Body Format

General Formatting Information

Students are to follow the style manual recommended by their academic program.
  • Save as: “research.pdf”
  • Margins
    • Left Margin – 1.5 inches
    • Top, Bottom, and Right Margins – 1 inch
  • Line Spacing
    • All standard text should be double-spaced.
    • References, bibliographic works, and endnotes should be consistent with the formatting standards of your selected style manual.
  • Headings
    • Chapter headings and subheads should be consistent throughout the research paper.
  • Figures & Tables
    • Landscape figures and tables should be placed with the top of the figure or table to the left side of the page.
  • Font Type
    • The font used should be a commonly available font, such as Arial, Veranda, Times New Roman, etc.
  • Font Size
    • Use 10-point or 12-point fonts for regular text.
    • Headings may be 14-point or 16-point.
    • Tables, figures, etc., may be smaller than 10-point.
  • Page Numbers
    • The pages preceding the main body of the thesis/dissertation should use Roman numerals (ii, iii, iv, etc.) for page numbers.
    • Standard Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) should be used to number the main body of the document.
    • Page numbers should be placed consistently throughout your document.
    • Page numbers on landscape-oriented pages need to be placed and aligned consistently with page numbers on portrait-oriented pages.
      For example, if you were to print both a landscape-oriented page and a portrait-oriented page from your document, the page numbers would print in the same place and would be aligned correctly on both pages.

Page Order and File Name

In the file named “research.pdf,” the order of content must be:
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page (optional)
  3. Approval Page
  4. Dedication Page (optional)
  5. Acknowledgements Page
  6. Table of Contents
  7. List of Illustrations, Figures, Tables, Nomenclature (if necessary)
  8. Academic Abstract
  9. Main Research Content
  10. Vita Page (optional for theses, required for dissertations)