HOME

Style Guide

Since practices vary greatly in different disciplines, you are expected to learn the styles of the respective fields and are advised to follow the recommendations of your advisors and committee members on all matters not covered here. The content of the thesis or dissertation manuscript is outside the province of this guide.

It is the responsibility of your committee to judge your thesis or dissertation from all standpoints, including neatness, mechanics, and technical and professional competency. Therefore, continuing current practice, it is important that you provide them a copy of your ETD before your defense.

In the past, the printed thesis or dissertation was the public display of the quality of work acceptable to the student's department and to the graduate school for meeting graduate degree requirements. The ETD will assume the same role.

Preparing an ETD is similar to the process of preparing a manuscript for publication. For both, the student must prepare the information for the document, present it in an orderly fashion, undergo a review cycle, and achieve publication. For the ETD, however, the student must complete the electronic publication process (usually the responsibility of the publisher) by submitting the ETD according to the rules that follow.

Formal Style

Each department should specify or develop an acceptable formal style or styles for ETDs prepared by its graduate students. Generally, the style should conform to the professional journals or style manuals in the student's area of study. The department may wish to specify a style directly; otherwise the department may develop its own or suggest a journal whose style is acceptable. The student should learn the accepted style and how it applies to various word processors before preparing the ETD.

If the college/school or department does not specify points of style, you should consult one of the following published manuals:

• The Chicago Manual of Style 13th edition, University of Chicago Press, 1982.
  
  
• Form and Style in Thesis Writing, by William G. Campbell.
  
  
• Form and Style: Research Papers, Reports, Theses by Carol Slade, 10th edition, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997.
  
  
• MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers by Joseph Gibaldi and Walter S. Achtert, 3rd edition, Modern Language Association of America, 1988.
  
  
• MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, by Joseph Gibaldi, 2nd edition, Modern Language Association of America, 1998.
  
  
• A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, by Kate L. Turabian.
  
  
• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 5th edition, Lancaster Press, Inc., 2001.
  
  
• Writing the Doctoral Dissertation:  A Systematic Approach, by Gordon B. Davis and Clyde A. Parker, 2nd edition, Barron's, 1997.

You may also refer to a style manual published by the professional society of the student's field of study or a general guide such as:

• The Council of Biology Editors Style Manual: A Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers in the Biological Sciences 5th edition, Bethesda, MD, 1983.

Any questions concerning style that is not covered in these notes should be addressed to your Committee.