Revised 2016 New Rules Powerpoint for Electronic Submission and Essential Format Rules
- 1. A Guide for CSULB Master’s Degree Candidates
- 2. Contact us any time. We’ll get back to you by the next business day!
- 3. Role of the Thesis and Dissertation Office We’re here to help you prepare your manuscript according to the University Guidelines Manual and the formatting style guide approved by your department. Please call or email us whenever you have questions or problems regarding your manuscript.
- 4. Electronic Submission—Fast and Easy Students can now submit their manuscripts via a website set up by ProQuest, the database company that has maintained electronic theses and dissertations for CSULB since 2008. You can submit documents and revisions any time from anywhere You save time and money since no printing of documents is needed
- 5. Submission Process—Get Ready! Have your signature page fully signed with all signatures AND Have your manuscript formatted to the best of your ability and complete in one PDF file
- 6. Submission Process—Get Set! Deliver your signature page to the Thesis Office by 5 p.m. of deadline date AND The Thesis Office will email you the Internet address to use to upload your PDF manuscript
- 7. Submission Process—Go! You must upload your PDF within a week of the date that the email is sent AND A fee of $95 is required for Open Access Publishing at the time of upload AND Make a note of your User Name and Password so you can access PDFs for revisions
- 8. Revision Process—First Evaluation 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
- 9. Revision Process—First Corrections 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
- 10. Revision Process—Second Corrections Formatters read through revised PDF and contact the student within a week. There are three possibilities: Second correction—another PDF is uploaded with notes about corrections needed Cleared pending—Email is sent with list of a few (15 or fewer) corrections still needed Cleared—No further corrections needed
- 11. Clearance Letter 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.
- 13. University Guidelines Versus Departmental Style Manuals The formatting rules in the CSULB University Guidelines Manual ALWAYS take precedence over the style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) or other citation format styles (IEEE, GSA, etc.) required by your department
- 14. Thesis Office Web Pages University Guidelines Manual 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: http://www.csulb.edu/library
- 15. Signature Page NOT in PDF Create your signature page as a separate document for the committee members and college designee to sign. Do not include a signature page as part of the PDF that you upload to ProQuest More information about the signature page is available in the PowerPoint about University Guidelines Manual rules for front pages
- 16. Title Page Comes First • The title page is the first page of the manuscript • The abstract is now a page within the manuscript. Use lowercase Roman numeral— ii—for first page of the abstract • Include a listing for the abstract in the table of contents • More information about the order of pages is available at the end of this slideshow and in the PowerPoint about University Guidelines Manual format rules for front pages.
- 17. Table of Contents Simplified • List the major sections of the document in the table of contents—the major sections use all uppercase for the titles, for example: ABSTRACT, LIST OF TABLES, and LIST OF FIGURES • Include the title of each chapter beginning with a number and the title of each appendix beginning with a letter • Use dot leaders at the end of each item leading to the page numbers aligned along the right margin • NO subheads! NO headings! (in the table of contents, that is) • More information about the table of contents is available in the PowerPoint about University Guidelines Manual format rules for front pages
- 18. Font Requirements Font Style Times New Roman Courier New Font Size = 12 point Exceptions: Within a table, font style must be consistent for all tables and font size may be 10 to 12 point Within a figure, font style is unrestricted and font size must be legible Within the appendices, font style and font size are unrestricted as long as all text is legible Times New Roman is the most widely used font style. Courier New comes in second.
- 19. Margin Requirements Use 1 inch for ALL margins—top, right, left and bottom. This is a major change from previous rules.
- 20. Spacing Within Text Requirements Within the text of the abstract, acknowledge- ments and all chapters, spacing at the end of sentences and after colons can be one space or two spaces. The spacing used should be consistent throughout the text. The is a major change from previous rules.
- 21. Paragraph Format Requirements Text should be formatted as paragraphs with consistent indentation for the first line and left justification only. It is recommended that, if bullet point lists and numbered items are used in the text, they should be used sparingly. If bullet point lists or numbered lists are used, the default indentation in Microsoft Word should be used; that is, numbered or bulleted lines are indented one quarter inch and other lines are indented one half inch so that the bullets or numbers stand out from other lines.
- 22. Titles, Subheads and Captions—The Bold New Look Bold font is now used for all titles—the title of your manuscript as well as titles of sections, titles of chapters, and titles of tables All subheads and figure captions use bold font as well This is a major change from previous rules More information about the subheads is available in the PowerPoint about University Guidelines Manual format rules for chapters, appendices and references lists
- 23. Uniform Double Line Spacing Requirements Spacing between lines of text should be uniform with no extra blank space between paragraphs or before and after titles and subheads. For instance, the line spacing between these sentences is not uniform. To create uniform double line spacing, select text above and below the gap in the text. Then click on the Page Layout tab and click on the little arrow underneath the spacing settings to bring up the Paragraph dialog box. In the Paragraph dialog box, set Line spacing to “Double” and set the Spacing boxes (marked Before and After) to “0 pt”
- 24. Page Number Placement Requirements Page numbers are centered at the bottom of the page and positioned between .75 inch and 1 inch from bottom of page To change the position of page numbers, go to the Insert tab and click on Footer. Then click on Edit Footer near the bottom of the dialog box that pops up. A new menu bar, “Header & Footer Tools,” will appear at the top of the screen. Look for the Footer from Bottom setting and change setting to 0.8 inch. While in the Header & Footer Tools mode, you can select a page number and right click for a dialog box to change the font style or font size of the page number (which should be the same as the text).
- 25. Order of Elements and Page Numbers Required Title Page—NO PAGE NUMBER Copyright Page (optional)—NO PAGE NUMBER Abstract—Use lowercase Roman numerals (begin with ii) for page numbers Acknowledgements (optional)—Use lowercase Roman numerals for page numbers Table of Contents—Use lowercase Roman numerals for page numbers List of Tables, List of Figures, List of Works, and so on (as needed)—Use lowercase Roman numerals for page numbers Chapters—Use Arabic numerals for page numbers from here to the end of the manuscript (Chapter 1 starts with page 1) Appendices (optional)—Each one begins with a title page. Use title page with APPENDIX and its title for one. If there are two or more appendices, begin with a title page with APPENDICES centered on the page followed by title page for APPENDIX A References List or Bibliography—Begins with a title page with REFERENCES or BIBLIOGRAPHY or WORKS CITED centered on page
- 26. Much, Much More! These are only the fundamental formatting rules that must be used in your manuscript. There are specific rules for every section of the document. Be sure to go online and check out the other PowerPoint slideshows with formatting rules. Don’t forget the Mini- Manuscript, templates and the University Guidelines Manual itself. All of them can be accessed from: http://csulb.libguides.com/thesisformat