Theses Project

Formatting Requirements

Every Honors thesis will be digitally published.  In order for them to look the best, please follow these formatting requirements:

• MARGINS for ENTIRE document (even tables/charts): 1.25″ left and right margins.  1″ margin top and bottom.  Go to File/Page Setup, in either Google Docs or MS Word.
• TYPEFACE AND SIZE: the best typefaces to use are (your choice) Calibri, Cambria, Garamond, Georgia, or Times New Roman.  Others are potentially okay, provided they’re not overly idiosyncratic.  Definitely use 13pt (not 12) for readability
• HEADINGS AND SUBHEADINGS:  ARE recommended. Make sure to be consistent in differentiating primary from secondary headings.  Google Docs and Microsoft Word both have good built-in headers.
• SPACING:  double-spaced throughout for text and bibliography.  Charts, tables, etc. need not be double-spaced
• CHAPTER/SECTION BREAKS: far too many students just hit Enter until they get to the next page.  Don’t do this.  It creates transfer issues to PDFs.  Instead, use hard page breaks.  In Google, go to Insert/Page Break.  In MS Word, to to Insert/Break.
• LENGTH: varies, based on project.  The annual average tends to be around 55 pages.  
• COLOR: you CAN use color in your thesis, where necessary (art work, charts, etc.).  However, given the large price difference between color & B&W copies, please avoid color when it’s not necessary (for example, hyperlinks in your bibliography do not need to be in blue).  
• DIGITAL PUBLICATION: Please communicate with the honors director if you foresee submitting two final, differently formatted theses.  It’s important to know which gets printed — and which gets uploaded for digital publication. Our novelists, for instance, typically upload only their reflective essay and opening chapter to Omeka, not the entire manuscript.
• TITLE PAGE (Click to download editable template)
• TITLES: as long as you need, but remember less is sometimes more