Q. How do I format my thesis or dissertation?

When preparing your thesis or dissertation, your document must be correctly formatted. Pay special attention to the first five pages (your title page, copyright page, signature page, abstract title page and abstract page). To learn about requirements for headers, margins, fonts, etc., check the university thesis formatting guide or ask your advisor if they have a template that you can use. We also suggest visiting the Writing Center to check your general formatting and citations. You can even view samples of a Thesis/Dissertation title Page, copyright page, signature page, and abstract/title page at this link.

If you need to format your work with LaTeX, each department has its own requirements, so we suggest asking your advisor if your department has a template that you can use.

As you work on your project, be sure to check the submission deadline FAQ page to help budget your time. Once you’ve finished writing and formatting, visit the library’s guide to submitting your thesis or dissertation to learn about your next steps.

We also encourage you to watch our recorded livestream session about submitting your thesis or dissertation for answers to the most common questions about this process.

If you have any questions, please send an email to etdadmin@uml.edu.