MANUAL OF BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR THESES AND DISSERTATIONS
Manuals of Style
The student should consult with the committee chair and members of the research committee to determine the textual arrangement and reference format of the dissertation or thesis. It may be helpful to select a journal, in which portions of your research will likely be published, to use as a style model. The selected style must be consistent throughout the document (Be sure to note that all examples given in this manual are just samples. Check with your department for the style they prefer.).
Additional assistance in the proper use of a particular style may be provided by either Joyner Library or Laupus Library. The libraries may provide access to Bibliographic Citation software which can aid in the proper citation and documentation of research. Currently, the libraries provide access to RefWorks (by Cambridge Scientific Abstracts) or EndNote Web (by The Thomson Corporation). Either citation software is available via either library electronic resources page. Also, tutorials for RefWorks may be found on the RefWorks website. Finally, librarian assistance with citations as they appear in the thesis or dissertation can be found at either library.
RefWorks
RefWorks Tutorial
EndNote
Copyright Issues
Before copyrighted materials are included in the thesis or dissertation written permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. Signed copyright forms must be included in the appendix. Students should consult University Microfilms International to determine if copyrighted material was used and if permission is required to use this information in a dissertation or thesis. http://www.umi.com/umi/dissertations/copyright. A sample permission letter is shown below in Appendix B. The student may want to consult with the committee chair on this issue.
Preparation of the Thesis and Dissertation
The Graduate School has specific guidelines for the presentation and writing of the thesis or dissertation. All paper used for required copies of theses and dissertations to be submitted to the Graduate School should be white; of good, durable quality 100% cotton content; twenty-pound bound; acid free; and 8 1/2 by 11 inches. The Graduate School also requires a specific page order and formatting of each page. Listed below is the suggested page order for the dissertation or thesis. The components to be included in any given thesis or dissertation should be determined by mutual agreement between the student and his/her advisory committee. For each component of the thesis there is a prepared format to ensure that the student complies. Below are prepared templates formatted according to Graduate school guidelines. These are to be used as samples only so that the student has all the required information for that item. The departments should provide the student with the format/guidelines they should follow for each of the items below:
