How to Build a Manuscript SandwichConstructing a Thesis from the Bottom Up Using the University Guidelines Manual

The Chef Staff

Grad. Studies, ES, Dept., Comm., IRB, TDO, and the Elusive College Designee

• Graduate Studies oversees all activities of CSULB graduate students• Enrollment Services will not release grades until all requirements for your

manuscript are complete• The graduate advisor in your department should be familiar with manuscript

requirements of your department• Your committee chair plays the most important role during the thesis

process. Choose carefully• Institutional Review Board must be consulted if your research involves

working with people or animals• The Thesis and Dissertation Office helps with formatting rules (fine tuning).

Content and composition should be taken care of by the time you work with us

• The college designee signs the final signature on your signature page. Be sure you know his or her identity before it’s time to capture that precious final signature

Thesis Office Webpage

• University Guidelines Manual (revised version due in February)• Mini-Manuscript (samples of formatting for all pages of document)• Templates for signature page, title page and much more• PowerPoints about formatting rules• Go to http://csulb.libguides.com/thesisformat or click through from

University Library home page

The Cookbooks

Print and Online Formatting Resources

• Thesis and Dissertation Office website, particularly Format Guide web page, has University Guidelines Manual, mini-manuscript, PowerPoints, and other formatting aids. The easiest way to access this page is through the University Library homepage—look for a link on the list at the left side of the page

• APA Manual, 6th edition, particularly Chapter 7, has examples of citations

• Cite Right, by Charles Lipson (2011), has easy-to-follow explanations of APA style with lots of examples

• Form and Style, by Carole Slade and Robert Perrin (2009), covers writing, documenting and formatting for theses and project reports

• Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL; http://owl.english.purdue.edu/) has a major section on APA formatting as well as well-structured advice on the process of writing

The Appliances

Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Databases and More

• Microsoft Word—Get familiar with techniques like positioning page numbers, setting page breaks, and adjusting line spacing

• Microsoft Excel—If you use this program to create tables, be sure the font is set to match the font used in your text

• Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)—Good for manipulating data in surveys to create tables, but requires tutorial to understand

• RefWorks—Citation generator available free through the homepage of University Library, which also offers workshops on how to use it

• Evernote or OneNote—Programs to help organize notes and chapters• Never underestimate the power of battery-free technology—Use a

small notebook or 3 x 5 index cards for jotting down inspirations or experimenting with arrangement of sections

The Recipe

Typical Features of a Thesis

Remember that your manuscript is not typical. Use these parameters as a springboard. Do not let them limit you.

• Number of pages (abstract to final guard sheet)—from 48 to 171; average page count = 106

• Number of pages in references list—from 3 to 9• Number of tables—from 0 to 22• Number of figures—from 0 to 4• 5 Chapters—Introduction or Overview, Literature Review,

Methodology, Results, Discussion or Conclusions• About three fourths of students include an acknowledgements

page

The Outer Layers

Bottom Layer—References List

• Selecting the best sources for your references list is part of the process; a shorter list is easier to format and obscure in-text citation rules are less likely to come into play with a shorter references list

• Citation generators are most effective if you input sources directly from other databases, but citation generators are not 100% accurate. Be sure to proofread your references list

• When creating a citation, answer these questions: Who created the work? When was it created? What is its title? How can it be accessed?

• All sources cited in your text must be listed in the references list• Use hanging indent format for each citation: first line begins at left margin and all

other lines are indented• Use single line spacing within each citation and leave one blank line between

citation• Check the last citation on each page to be sure it is not split onto two pages. Move

the part at the bottom of the page to the top of the next page if needed• Use a title page before the first page of the references list with REFERENCES (all

caps) centered on the page and a page number. The page number of this title page is the page number used in the table of contents

Top Layer—Title Page and Signature Page

• Take a break from your writing to create a title and format a title page• Templates for a title page and a signature page are available at the

Thesis and Dissertation Office web pages• On title page, signature page, and abstract, the title of your thesis

must match exactly, not only word-for-word but also line-for-line• Format the title with the longest line first followed by progressively

shorter lines (an inverted pyramid)• Your name must also match on title page, signature page, and abstract • The title page and the signature page have blocks of text arranged

between blank areas to fill the pages from the one inch top margin to the one inch bottom margin and neither of these pages has a page number

• Remember: The signature page is NOT part of the PDF of the manuscript. It is printed out so committee members can sign it, and then you deliver it to the Thesis Office

The Juicy Extras

Appendices

• Appendices are used for material that is difficult to conform to the many University Guideline rules for text. Tables, figures, flyers, outlines, curriculum guides, handbooks, survey questions, extended interviews, and computer code are often included in appendices

• Material in appendices must fit within the standard margins—1 ½ inch left margin and 1 inch top, right and bottom margins

• All pages in appendices must have page numbers in sequence following the last page of the text

• Title pages are used to introduce appendices. The text on these title pages is centered on the page and uses all uppercase letters and double line spacing. Title pages have page numbers, and it is the page number of the title pages that is listed in the table of contents

• If there is only one appendix, use the word APPENDIX as the first line and then the title of the appendix on the next line

• For more than one appendix, begin with a separate APPENDICES title page followed by the first appendix title page which contains the words APPENDIX A, then a blank line and then the title of Appendix A on the next line

The Meat

Formatting Essentials

• Only these 4 font styles allowed: Times Roman, Times New Roman, Courier, or Courier New in 12 point font size

• Margins: 1 ½ INCH LEFT MARGIN IS USED THROUGHOUT THESIS; one inch margin on top, right, and bottom except on the first page of every major section where a two inch top margin is used

• Use TWO SPACES AFTER PERIODS and other punctuation ending sentences and TWO SPACES AFTER ALL COLONS

• Center page numbers just ABOVE the one inch bottom margin (footer setting between 0.7 and 0.9 inch for good placement) and match the font size and font style of page numbers with text

• Use paragraph format with uniform double line-spacing (one empty line between two lines of text) with no additional line space between paragraphs and around chapter titles or subheads. Select text above and below wide blank space and set line spacing to “0 pt.” to eliminate wide gaps

Chapter Format

1. Some important restrictions in the text: no bold font, only black color

font, no contractions, no outlines, no bullets, no right justification

2. Format enumerated items with the first line (including the number)

indented the same indentation as the first line of a paragraph with all other

lines beginning at the left margin

3. Chapters can be divided into sections by using first level subheads and

those sections can be divided into subsections by using second and third level

subheads. First level subheads are centered on a line without text and

underlined, and they use headline style capitalization (first word and all

significant words capitalized).

4. University Guidelines has many rules about the format of tables and

figures as well as the placement of tables and figures. Because of these

restrictions, it is a good idea to create the text chapter and then decide on

placement of tables and figures rather than attempting to force the text to

immediately precede the table or figure it describes

The Toppings

Table of Contents, List of Tables, List of Figures, Etc.

• Include all major sections, chapter titles and first level subheads in the table of contents. Match the wording of chapter and subhead titles in table of contents with the wording of titles in text; double check that page numbers match too. If you choose to include even one second level subhead, then ALL second AND third level subheads must be included in the table of contents

• Column of page numbers must be right aligned (set a right-aligned tab at 5.95”)• Dot leaders end in alignment 3-4 spaces before the longest page number (set a right-

aligned tab at 5.6” with Leader set to 2)• The Thesis and Dissertation Office Format Guide web page has links to templates for the

table of contents page and other lists, and don’t forget the example of a table of contents in the mini-manuscript. Seeing is believing!

• Include headers—CHAPTER (on left margin) and Page (on right margin). On the first page, they are located within the other elements. On all other pages, they are located at the top of the page

1 inch top marginfor second and

subsequent pages

The Finishing Touches

Abstract

• If an abstract is one page, do NOT include a page number• If an abstract is more than one page, use Arabic numerals (1, 2) for

page numbers• Use uniform double line spacing between introductory lines and

within text. The introductory lines are centered and arranged in this order: (a) the word ABSTRACT in all uppercase letters, (b) the title of the thesis in all uppercase letters and inverted pyramid format, (c) the word By with an uppercase B, (d) your name, and (e) the date line indicating the last month of the semester in which you submitted the thesis and the year

Order of Elements

Abstract—If only one page, do NOT use page number, otherwise use Arabic numerals (1, 2) for page numbers; 2 inch top margin for first page Title PageCopyright Page (optional)Acknowledgements (optional)—Use lowercase Roman numerals (iii) for page numbers; 2 inch top margin for first pageTable of Contents—Use lowercase Roman numerals (use iii if there is no acknowledgements page); 2 inch top margin for first pageList of Tables, List of Figures, List of Works, and so on (as needed)—Use lowercase Roman numerals; 2 inch top margin for first page of eachChapters—Use Arabic numerals for page numbers from here to the end of the manuscript (Chapter 1 starts with page 1); 2 inch top margin for first page of each chapterAppendices (optional)—Each one begins with a title page; if there is more than one appendix, begin with a title page with APPENDICES centered on the page followed by title page for APPENDIX AReference List or Bibliography—Begins with a title page with REFERENCES or BIBLIOGRAPHY centered on page; 2 inch top margin for first page

The Delivery

Submission Process

• Have your signature page fully signed with all signatures • Have your manuscript formatted to the best of your ability and

complete in one PDF file• Deliver your signature page to the Thesis and Dissertation Office

before 5 p.m. of the submission deadline date. At that time, the Thesis Office will email you the Internet address of the ProQuest database website to use to upload your PDF manuscript

• You must upload your PDF to the ProQuest database website within 5 business days of the date that the email is sent

Evaluation Process

• Formatters read through PDFs on a first come first served basis as they are uploaded. Corrections are added to the PDF. The student is emailed when read-through is done. The annotated PDF can be downloaded from the ProQuest website

• Using a version of the manuscript that’s easy to revise (usually a Microsoft Word version), the student makes revisions based on the annotated PDF. After making a PDF of the revised manuscript, the student uploads it to ProQuest website. Setting a 2 week turnaround time for this initial revision ensures completing the submission process within the term deadline

• Formatters read through revised PDF and contact the student within a week. There are three possibilities: (1) Second correction—another PDF is uploaded with notes about corrections needed; (2) Cleared pending—Email is sent with list of a few (15 or fewer) corrections still needed; (3) Cleared—No further corrections needed

• Once the formatting of a student’s PDF manuscript is cleared, meaning there are no more corrections needed, the Thesis Office releases the PDF for publication on the ProQuest database.

• The student will receive an email “clearance letter” from the Thesis Office to confirm that the submission process is complete. A copy of the email is also sent to the student’s committee chair, the department graduate advisor and Enrollment Services.