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Dissertation Online Handbook

Sections of the Professional Dissertation

Order of Sections

The prescribed order of dissertation sections is given below. Sections with an asterisk are optional except that lists of figures and tables are required when they appear in the text. Professional Dissertations that do not follow the prescribed order will be rejected for improper format.

Title Page

The title page must conform exactly in spacing and capitalization to the sample provided in the Forms section of this handbook.  Your name should be given in full and must be followed by previous degree(s). The date should indicate the month and year in which your degree will be conferred. The title should clearly describe the contents of the Professional Dissertation. If possible, word substitutes should be used for formulas, symbols, superscripts, Greek letters, and so on. Margins of the title page must conform to the margin requirements provided below.

Copyright

A copyright gives the author of a dissertation the right to exclude others from reproducing or displaying one's original work. If you are interested in applying to copyright your dissertation, you should visit the U.S. Copyright Office's official website at http://www.copyright.gov/ for information and downloading forms. The

Forms section of this handbook contains a sample copyright page.

In cases where a patent, copyright, or other intellectual property issue is involved, the student and advisor can request a publication delay, or embargo, of the electronic dissertation from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for any length of time as mutually determined.  In this case, the ETD is placed on a secure OhioLINK server and is not released to an OhioLINK public server until approved by the OAA.

Approval Sheet

The approval sheet should conform to the sample provided in the Forms section of this handbook. Use capital letters for the dissertation chair’s statement and use boldface type for the author’s name and title of the dissertation.

An approval sheet, signed by the Dissertation Chair and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, must be submitted on bond quality paper by July 15th to the OAA. The approval sheet may be duplicated, but all signatures must be originals. This document will be kept in the student’s academic file.  NOTE: The approval page for the ETD must not contain signatures. Approval sheets are prepared by the student and are not supplied by the OAA..

Margins of the Approval Sheet

The margins of the Approval Sheet should conform to these requirements: 2 inch top margin, 1.5 inch left margin, and 1 inch right margin.

Abstract

The abstract should succinctly summarize the contents of the Professional Dissertation, stating the problem, procedure or methods used, results, and significant conclusions. It should not exceed 350 words.

Table of Contents

The inclusion of a Table of Contents is optional. Guidelines for the format of a Table of Contents are not provided in the APA Publications Manual. For this reason, students should consult with the Dissertation Chair concerning format of the Table of Contents.

Preparation of the Manuscript

Final Dissertation

As a starting point, students should adhere to the guidelines specified in this handbook.  For all other matters, students should refer to the APA Publication Manual (6th edition).

The final dissertation manuscript must be prepared and submitted in Portable Document Format (.pdf) as prescribed elsewhere in this handbook.  Care should be taken to maintain consistency of style and format throughout the dissertation. Students should contact the Student Technology Assistance Center (STAC) in Dunbar Library for assistance in preparing the final dissertation.

All final Professional Dissertations submitted to the OAA and the OhioLINK ETD Center must meet the following formatting standards.

Spacing and General Format

The general text must be double-spaced. The spacing and general format of tables, figures, headings, captions, quotations, footnotes, bibliographies, etc., must conform to the specifications in the APA Publication Manual. 

Margins

Margins should be consistent throughout the dissertation. All pages should have approximately 1.5" margins on the left and approximately 1" margins on the right, bottom, and top of each page. The only exception is the first page of a chapter or section which should have a 2" margin at the top. Supplementary materials (printouts, tables, photographs, questionnaires, etc.) should also meet these margin requirements.

Pagination

Preliminary pages: The pages preceding the text, or body, of the Professional Dissertation (e.g., abstract, table of contents, dedication, etc.) are to be numbered in lower case Roman Numerals (i.e., iii, iv, etc.) and centered approximately 3/4" above the bottom of the page.The title page and the approval sheet are considered as preliminary pages, but they are not to be numbered.Preliminary pages are numbered consecutively, beginning with "iii" on the first page of the abstract. If a copyright page is used, then page numbering begins with "iv" on the first page of the abstract.

Text and reference pages: Starting with the first page of the text, or body, of the Professional Dissertation, the remaining pages (including the bibliography and appendices) are numbered consecutively in Arabic numbers (i.e., 1, 2, 3, etc.). Page numbers on the first page of a chapter or a section are to be centered approximately 3/4" above the bottom of the page. In the same manner, all succeeding page numbers in the chapter or section are to be centered approximately 3/4" above the bottom of the page. Do not use punctuation marks before or after page numbers, do not use the word "page" with the number, and do not underline the page number.

Typeface

The preferred typeface is Times New Roman with 12-point font size.  The typeface must be consistent throughout the manuscript.

Corrections

All corrections, including typographical errors, to the Professional Dissertation must be made prior to final electronic submission to the OhioLINK ETD Center.