Dissertation layout and formatting, dissertation formatting.

Headers and footers can give your dissertation a very professional look. They also make it immediately clear to readers what document is before them.

1. To ensure that the page numbering doesn’t start on the cover page, but the numbering begins on page 1, place the cursor on the bottom of the page where you want to start with page numbering (if you want to start on page 2, click at the bottom of the first page).
2. Next go to “Page layout” and then “Breaks”. Next, choose the submenu “Next page”.
3. Switch to the side, where the numbering should begin (in this case, page 2). In the edit mode of the header or footer, choose “link to previous”, after that click on “Move to footer” and click on the “Link to previous” again.
4. Now, to add a page number, click on the “Insert” tab, then on the “Header and footer” group, and then click “Page number”. Now you can also choose where the page number should be (top of the page, bottom of the page or page margins) and you can choose a design.
5. Finally select the option “format page number” and enter the page numbers, in what page you want the numbering to begin. After you have pressed “ok”, the page number then begins with the number from the previously selected break.

Once you decide on the scheme you will use, it is important that you apply it consistently throughout your entire dissertation. Using the “Styles” feature of Microsoft Word can be very helpful in this regard. After you have created a heading, just highlight it and select a style (such as Heading 1 or Heading 2) from the home tool bar. Keeping a list may help you keep track of what style to use when.

We also recommend that you use a plagiarism scanner to check for unintended plagiarism.

Headers and footers

Different heading styles are frequently used to help the reader differentiate between chapters, sections, and subsections of your dissertation. For instance, you may choose to bold all chapter headings but to italicize all lower-level headings.

• Your name
• The date
• The name/logo of your home educational institution
• The name/logo of the company or organization where you completed a placement
• The title of your dissertation (which may be shortened if necessary)
• Page numbers

Citing sources in a correct and appropriate manner is crucial in a dissertation, as failing to do so can make you guilty of plagiarism. It is important that these references follow certain standards.

If you are interested in seeing how other students have tackled preparing their theses, you may find it useful to check out these dissertation examples.

Finishing and formatting your dissertation can be a tedious and time-consuming process. Being meticulous about how ‘pretty’ your dissertation looks for the reader will often sap any remaining fragments of unspent energy left after the mammoth dissertation writing process.

One of these resources may be your peers. Recognise however, that peers are generally at the same level as you are, so their comments may not be as valuable or appropriate as the ones you would receive from your tutor. If you choose to have your peers read your work, make sure that any significant changes are carefully thought about prior to implementation.

Much of the discussion below is a general overview for a paper-based black and white printed dissertation. If you are submitting electronically, there may be other things you need to consider that are technology-based. These might include formatting of graphs and tables when converting to PDF, the inclusion of hyperlinks, and an interactive Table of Contents.

This brings us to the two types of feedback that can be provided to you. The first form is specific to your dissertation – the reviewer reads your writing and offers suggestions on how the writing can be improved. This can be provided in a range of different ways, depending on the level of in-depth feedback you are looking for. A more basic response might be: “This section seems a bit unclear. Can you revise the topic sentence to active voice to provide a clearer context?”. A more detailed example is: “This section seems a bit unclear. I would recommend changing your first sentence to the active voice. One way you could do this would be to write [insert example sentence for author]”. Here, the reviewer offers an example phrase to help explain the issue with clarity.

How to do your appendices

One common mistake made by students is to include items in the appendices that do not appear in the actual dissertation. If you have not referenced the document in your dissertation, it should not appear as an appendix.

Sometimes it is helpful to have a head’s up about the weaknesses that exist within your dissertation. Inevitably, every research project has areas of limitations, but knowing the ones related to your dissertation can be helpful when you have to speak to others about it. It is also possible to get feedback on this. In this instance, the reviewer would read your writing and offer up potential weak points in your project and how these might be addressed.

You want to ensure that you include page numbers which actually correspond to your Table of Contents. Other than that, it is really about ensuring that you each chapter starts at the beginning of a new page, that headings/subheadings do not end up being at the very bottom of a page (if this is the case, just move them over to the next page), and that your bibliography is appropriately formatted to meet the referencing requirements outlined by your department (e.g. APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

Nevertheless, when you are buying feedback, you typically get what you pay for. Companies that are reputable and whom work with a wide variety of professional academics are going to be the best option, but likely also the priciest. If you feel that you need this type of support, choosing the right service is essential.

In both of these examples, the reviewer is working specifically on the document, making it better prior to submission. However, this is not the only type of feedback that is useful for improving your dissertation. You may want to also consider paying for feedback that looks at and critiques your dissertation as a whole, in preparation for defending your thesis in the viva.

During this time, remember that your supervisor is only human and they probably have competing priorities. Asking them to read a 200+ page dissertation and make comments in a relatively short period of time is going to make for a very cranky tutor. Instead, ensure that your supervisor has enough time to provide useful feedback. Make sure you ask them about their availability well in advance of providing them with a copy.

There may be times when your supervisor is simply not available to provide feedback within the timeframe that you need. In this instance, you have to find alternative resources to ensure that you are making the most of your dissertation.

Usually every dissertation has an abstract, acknowledgements, and a Table of Contents at the beginning with additional lists for abbreviations, tables, and figures being included if necessary.

Buying feedback

But despite a lack of energy and enthusiasm at this stage in the game, it's important you don't overlook this process. Getting it right can be the difference between appeasing – or really aggravating – your marker, and therefore scraping or losing a few extra marks.

Second, you want to be as specific as possible when requesting feedback. You are likely going to know areas of your dissertation that are weak. So when paying for feedback, you might want to highlight the weak spots and ask the reviewer to suggest ways that these sections could be made better. You are also going to want to make sure that, if possible, you provide the rubric on which you are going to be marked. If the reviewer knows what to look out for, they are more likely to provide relevant and appropriate critique. The more information that you can provide about your work, the better. A reviewer is going to want to know what you had to do, how it is being assessed, and what type of feedback you are looking for.

If you are a native speaker of English, inevitably, there are going to be minor mistakes with language that can be addressed by another individual. If you are a non-native speaker of English, getting your document proofread is almost an essential part of the writing process.

Your tutor is going to be one of the main resources for you as you complete your dissertation. If you have a supervisor who is willing to read and make comments on your entire dissertation you should jump at the chance, as they will likely have the most insight into how your dissertation will be marked. But the final read of your dissertation should not be the first time that your tutor is seeing your work. You should have had feedback on each of the chapters – though this assumes that you finished your dissertation in a timely matter and gave your supervisor ample time to read your dissertation.

• Working through ProQuest, which collects a fee for its service
• Filing a registration of copyright themselves by sending an application form, a nonrefundable filing fee, and a non-returnable copy of their thesis or dissertation to the U.S. Copyright Office

This section just provides some general guidelines for the theses and dissertations. Reading it will help to answer questions about whether the theses or dissertation is collaborative (it is not), how to choose a style guide, who is responsible for judging the acceptability of the thesis or dissertation, and so forth.

This document discusses how to create a pdf. This is the format required for when you submit your document (thesis or dissertation) to the Graduate College for review.

Registering a copyright on a thesis or dissertation is optional. Students may consider it because they want the public record to show they own the work’s copyright

7. Copyright Information

Students with questions about their thesis or dissertation can take advantage of the Graduate College's thesis and dissertation office hours every Tuesday and Thursday from 12-2 p.m. Email grad.td@unlv.edu at least 48 hours in advance to schedule a virtual appointment (via Google Meets or Skype).

More information on copyright is available on the U.S. Copyright Office’s website. Answers to frequently asked copyright questions on the FAQs page.

This section discusses the nature of using previously published material. Please read if you are planning on incorporating such material into your theses or dissertation.

• The copyright page is inserted after the title page
• This page is not numbered
• This page does not have headers or footers in the margins
• The most common copyright page consists of two lines, centered on the page and double-spaced:
  • First line: Copyright by Name (First then Last), YEAR
  • Second line: All Rights Reserved
• If submitting in December, date for January of the following year.

• You’ll get a perfectly formatted paper that follows your school’s dissertation formatting guidelines.
• If you failed to focus on technicalities while writing the content, we can fix the issues. Our editors are trained to provide relevant assistance.
• You’ll save some time. The formatting stage looks easy, but it can take weeks of diligent work. When you outsource it to a pro editor, the process is much faster.

The formatting stage is an independent stage of the project completion process. It’s not covered by dissertation editing services. Editing assistance is focused on the tone, logical flow, grammar, and substance of the content. A thesis formatting service covers other aspects of the process:

Our price chart is transparent, so you can easily see the dissertation formatting rates. The chart even lets you calculate the final price. You’ll enter a few parameters, and you’ll get a final price.

PhD candidates hire an online dissertation formatting service for various reasons, but it’s mostly because they want to unwind before the final presentation. When they outsource the final stage to a professional thesis formatting service, they get enough time to work on the PowerPoint slides and their presentation skills. But you’ll gain other benefits when you work with us:

The Stages of Thesis Formatting

If you’re thinking “I need a pro to format my thesis,” Dissertation-Service.org offers the service you need.

There are several dissertation formatting services online, but none of them can reach the level of Dissertation-Service. Students have been turning to our team for decades. That’s because we offer the best assistance from several aspects:

• Length - Depending on the university’s requirements, the project should be 100-300 pages in length. We will check if the candidate met the specific standard, and we’ll suggest revisions if the paper isn’t within the recommended limits.
• Technicalities - Our dissertation formatting service will check the university’s standards for margins, spacing, page size, recommended fonts, and point size. For example, if you’re a candidate from the University of North Carolina, we’ll analyze the UNC dissertation formatting standards. Then, the editor will format your content in accordance with them.
• Pagination guidelines - For your project to be accepted, it must follow pagination rules. Does the university recommend Roman numerals? Should the preliminary pages be marked? We’ll check and we’ll follow the rules.
• Format of text, captions, figures, and tables - PhD candidates often neglect these aspects when working on their dissertations. We don’t! We’ll deliver a clean format.
• Dissertation chapters - this is the most important aspect of a dissertation formatting service. We will check if you met the school’s requirements on the required chapters and their order in the paper. If there’s a need for revisions, we’ll contact you to discuss them.

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1. Unpublished thesis or dissertation
2. Published thesis or dissertation from a database
3. Thesis or dissertation published online but not from a database

To start things off, let’s take a look at the different types of literature that are classified under Chapter 10.6 of the Publication manual :

All of the guidelines below come straight from the source: the 7 th edition of the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (2020a). If you’d like to follow along, you can find the official guidelines on pages 333 and 334. Please note that the association is not officially connected to this guide.

• Parenthetical citation: (Stiles, 2001)
• Narrative citation: Stiles (2001)

Citing an Unpublished Thesis or Dissertation

American Psychological Association. (2020a). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

• The institution is presented in brackets after the title
• The archive or database name is included

• Parenthetical: (Ames & Doughty, 1911)
• Narrative: Ames & Doughty (1911)