Formatting Aids

Templates and Examples

Information is provided to assist College of Education Master's and Doctoral students in formatting of their thesis or dissertation. Following are files that allow students to view an example and assist with the format of their manuscript.

APA

Chicago

MLA

Turabian

 

LaTeX
LaTeX is a coding language, not a formatting style. You may use LaTeX to code your thesis/dissertation into APA , Chicago, MLA, or Turabian format.

 

Workshop Materials

Each semester, the Thesis Format Office offers a workshop which covers the key points in formatting. Please visit the Workshop web site for our next workshop date. Materials presented during the most recent workshop are to assist Master's and Doctoral students by providing supplementary information to the Template and Format Help discussed above.

Slides from our Workshop (PDF file)

(Note that the handout addresses APA mainly due to a majority of our students using that format style.)

Title Page

It is imperative that you measure out your title page using a ruler to obtain the exact measurements put forth by the Graduate College and enforced by the College of Education. Your title must begin two inches from the top of your paper. BY needs to sit on the 3.5 inch ruler mark. THESIS or DISSERTATION must sit on the 5.5 inch ruler mark. Urbana, Illinois must sit on the 7.5 inch ruler mark. Double space and type Masters or Doctoral Committee 1.5 inches from the left paper's edge. Below this, your ruler measurement needs to be 8 inches. Now indent 2 inches from the edge of your paper and type your committee members names beginning with your chair. Click here for an example (PDF file)

Headings

A quick reference guide to the usage of headings in Thesis/Dissertation manuscripts using APA, Chicago, or Turabian formats is available, click here to download the PDF. This reference sheet includes definitions and examples of each headings as well as the various acceptable patterns.

Deposit Preparation

In order to make your Graduate College deposit smoother, please click on the following topics that pertain to you.

Graduate College Thesis Checklist for Master's Students

Graduate College Thesis Checklist for Doctoral Students

Required forms for doctoral Graduate College deposit

University Library, Technology
Click here to find technology resources available at the University Library

 

Technology Handouts from the College of Education Instructional Computing Laboratory

All handouts are University of Illinois, College of Education copyrighted materials. These handouts may be printed for not-for-profit, educational purposes as long as credit is given to the author and the University of Illinois, College of Education.