Thesis Guidelines Quick Checklist

THE FOLLOWING IS INTENDED AS A QUICK CHECKLIST OF THE AREAS THAT PRESENT THE MOST PROBLEMS FOR STUDENTS.  PLEASE REFER TO THE UNIVERSITY STYLE AND FORMAT GUIDELINES FOR MASTER'S THESES AND PROJECT REPORTS FOR COMPLETE GUIDELINES.

Paper – Standard 20 lb. copy paper in a 8½ x 11 lidded box (suitable boxes available at the Bookstore).

FONT

Use 12 point Courier, Courier New, Times Roman, or Times New Roman font; use one size and one style only.

Italics may be used to replace underlining in bibliographies, genus and species names, and statistical symbols.

Smaller or condensed fonts may be used in tables/figures where space is an issue. The smallest acceptable font size is 8 point Courier or Courier New and 10 point Times Roman and Times New Roman.  The table/figure number and title/caption must remain in 12 point.

Special symbols for mathematics, the sciences, engineering, electronics, music, languages, and so forth, should be set in a type font as similar to the basic text as possible.

Italicize statistical symbols.

Colored materials require one copy of each colored page per copy of the thesis.

MARGINS / LINE SPACING

Double space throughout except where single or more than double spacing is required.

Margins are: 1.5” left margin, 1” right margin, 1” bottom margin, 1” top margin, except for the following which have 2” top margins, first page only

• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements, Preface
• first page of each major section such as Chapters, List of . . . , and References

Single lines of text at the top or bottom of a page are not allowed (2 lines of text required).

Headings at the bottom of a page must be followed by at least 2 lines of text.

Use a left margin justification with a ragged right margin; except for chapter titles and level one subheadings, which use center justification.

PAGINATION

Abstract – is not numbered if only one page; if two pages, it is numbered with Arabic numerals.

Preliminary Pages – include in order Title Page, Approval Page, Acknowledgements/Preface (optional), Table of Contents, and the List of . . . (optional).

Page count begins on the Title Page, but it is not numbered, nor is the Approval Page. Using lower case, Roman numerals, actual numbering will begin with page “iii” on the Acknowledgements or Preface and continue in sequence throughout the remaining Preliminary Pages. Otherwise, the actual numbering will begin with the Table of Contents first page as “iii.”

Copyright Page – it is not counted nor numbered.

Text Pages - main body of text including all Appendices, References and half-title sheet pages are counted and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals.

Half-Title Pages – required for the Appendices introduction, each Appendix and Bibliography/References with the title printed half way down the page in capital letters; number the pages.

Page numbers are centered at the bottom of the page in the same font and size used for the body. Page numbers cannot intrude into the prescribed 1” bottom margin.

GUARD SHEETS - ABSTRACT - TITLE PAGE - APPROVAL PAGE

Two blank pages called “Guard Sheets” are not counted or numbered; one sheet comes after the Abstract; the other is at the end of the thesis.

Abstract, Title Page and Approval Page

• thesis title must be identical, in capitals and in the inverted pyramid style (upside down pyramid).
• student’s name must appear exactly the same, use full legal name.
• Thesis date is standardized (fall = December 2008, winter = January 2009, spring = May 2010). 

Abstract

• numbers are formatted as numerals
• may not exceed 150 words
• no quotes or citations

Approval Page

• committee signatures must be in black felt tip or ball point pen and original.
• committee degree designation and department must follow established guidelines.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dot leaders end and align 3-4 spaces before the longest page number; align all page numbers to the right.

LIST of TABLES (etc.) optional - is listed before any Chapters, the list itself follows the Table of Contents and uses Roman numeral page numbers.

All chapter titles and subheads must match exactly with titles/headings in the text.

CHAPTER and APPENDIX titles must all be in capitals.

Subheadings

• all first level subheads must be listed in the Table of Contents. 
• listing of second and third level headings in the Table of Contents is optional, but if you list second level, you must list third level.
  • indent all subheads appropriately, 3-5 spaces with each level.
• first and second level subheads are in Headline Style Capitalization and indented 3-5 spaces at each level.

APPENDICES - Indented to align with chapter number, each is assigned a letter, capitalize letter and title.

REFERENCES -  Follows appendices wtih page number to reflect half-title page in text.

CHAPTER HEADINGS and SUBHEADINGS in TEXT

Chapters begin on a new page, with chapter number in Arabic numerals, centered, with the title on the next double space line and centered in capitals with a 2” top margin on page.

Subheadings

• First Level are in headline style capitalization, centered and underlined.
• Second Level are in headline style capitalization, flush left and underlined.
• Third level are indented at the beginning of the paragraph, underlined, using sentence style capitalization. Text immediately follows heading after the double space following the period.

Headings are to go all the way across the page before they are wrapped to a second line or more.

CITATIONS / FOOTNOTES and REFERENCES / BIBLIOGRAPHY

Refer to the approved style manual/journal citation style for your department.

References includes all sources that are cited in the text; Bibliographies include sources in addition to those cited.

References

• hanging indent format (first line is left justified with subsequent line indented) using single spacing within each individual source, and double line spacing between sources.

Citations:

• all citations must be in the Reference/Bibliography List.
• in parenthetic citations, list the author(s) and year the first time used; omit the year from subsequent citations after the first citation within each paragraph.
• spelling and date of citation must match the Reference/Bibliography List.

Footnotes:

• begin on the page they are referred to in the text.
• are formatted in the same style and size font as text.
• are single spaced within and double spaced between.
• indent first line of each.
• are placed 2 lines below the separator line.

Sources follow terminal punctuation in block quotations.

APA:

• if a work has 3, 4, or 5 authors, list all authors’ surnames for the first citation. In subsequent citations, list the first author’s surname followed by “et al.” and the year.
• if a work has 6 or more authors, cite only the surname of the first author followed by “et al.” and the year.
• join the last names in multiple-author citations by an ampersand in parenthetical citations and references, and by the word "and" in the text.

SPELLING

Make sure apostrophes are used appropriately, for possessive forms.

Accents and diacritical marks must be included.

Contractions may not be used unless in a direct quotation.

PUNCTUATION

Dashes are formatted as double “--” or “em” ( — ) dashes, no space before or after.

Ditto marks may not be used for repetition.

Bold and bullets are not allowed (bolding is permitted in Mathematics).

Borders and boxes are not allowed around text.

Abbreviations such as etc., e.g., and i.e., are confined to parenthetic material.

Ellipses are typed as 3 period dots with a space before and after each dot.

Periods and commas go inside quotation marks.

Double space after all colons and periods, except for abbreviations and initials.

Do not mix "straight" and “smart” apostrophes and quote marks.

NUMBERS

All numbers beginning a sentence are written out in full.

Add commas between groups of 3 digits in figures of 1,000 or more except for page numbers.

Align all numbers in Tables on the assumed or visible decimal point.

APA:

Percentages (100%) are written as numerals followed by the symbol unless they begin a sentence (Fifty-five percent . . . ).

Numbers that represent time, dates, ages, sample/sub-sample/population sizes, specific numbers of subjects/participants in an experiment or study, scores/points on a scale, exact sums of money or grouped in comparison are formatted as numerals. This includes all numbers below 10. Numbers 10 and above are written as numerals (10, 11, 12, . . . ). Numbers 9 and below are written out in full (nine, eight, seven, . . . ; APA Publication Manual, pages 122-130).

TABLES & FIGURES

Each table and figure must have a number and a title or caption.

The title and number of a Table (e.g., TABLE 1. Demographics) may be flush left or centered, just be consistent. The caption and number of a Figure is always flush left.

Table titles are placed above the table and are formatted in headline style capitalization.

Figure captions are placed below the figure and are formatted in sentence style capitalization followed with a period.

Tables, figures, graphs, illustrations, etc., must be legible and of sufficient size and resolution to be reproduced effectively.

Outlined or shadowed material is not acceptable.

Tables may be single or double spaced.

Tables can be continued on another page; figures cannot.

If a table is on a page with no other text, center the table top to bottom on the page.

MEDIA (see pages 25-26) and COPYRIGHT(see pages 13-14)

The above does not address issues related to candidate requirements, fees, and the approval process. Those are all covered in CSULB's University Style and Format Guidelines for Master's Theses and Project Reports (revised 2007).

 

This page maintained by the Thesis Office
lib-thesis@csulb.edu
University Library
California State University, Long Beach
Please send questions, comments, and suggestions to the webgroup at the address above.