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This page will hopefully serve as a hub of information for those writing their theses or dissertations at Drew.  

Drew Technology compiled these instructions for Drew Graduate and Theological School students as help for formatting theses and dissertations. The instructions here do not replace nor supersede any requirements or instructions provided by the Graduate or Theological Schools or by individual faculty members. Graduate and Theological students are encouraged to use these instructions, and the provided templates, as a tool that will teach you how to do your own formatting. We cannot offer support for following these instructions. 

To return to this page or share it with a friend, use this link: tinyurl.com/DrewFormatting

Step 1: Make a Back Up Plan

You've decided to write an honors thesis or dissertation. Congratulations!

Many people are intimidated by the process of writing, editing, and defending a long paper. We in University Technology are here to make the formatting part of the process as stress-free as possible!

You will find links to documentation we find useful below, as well as a few suggestions. Please contact the University Technology Service Center at 973-408-4357 with additional questions, or to schedule an appointment with the Student Lab for more assistance.

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Starting to Write

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Step 2: Download a Drew Dissertation Template

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Step 3: Write - Guidelines and Resources

Step 4: Format (Margins, Page Numbers, Headings, Etc)

Keep formatting in mind throughout your writing, and leave yourself time to work on any formatting concerns.

• It is important to know that you must start working from this template before typing any text.
• When you open a template, it will be blank. You will be providing the text!

Specific Formatting Challenges

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Please bear with us during "construction". Warning The following formatting instructions identify specific requirements for papers submitted for the Drew DMIN program. Please consult your advisor for the specific formatting requirements that apply to your paper and adjust the directions where needed.   Text Expand Your entire document has the same font, so apply these settings before you write. Your text should be set to Times New Roman, size 12. Image Removed Spacing should be double (2.0). Image Removed   Page Margins Expand   Your entire document should have the same page margins, so set the page margins before you write.     Go to Page Layout > Margins > Custom margins…. Image Removed Set the margins as follows: 1” margins top, bottom, right; 1.5” left Image Removed   Title Page Expand     Body Paragraphs Expand     Chapter Titles Expand     Adding Section Breaks (for page numbering and footnotes) Expand     Footnotes Expand     Page Numbering Expand     Table of Contents Expand

Page Numbering

Word has built-in functionality that allows you to create a "different first page", so that you can have a page number bottom center on the first page and top right on the following pages. 

Having a different first page in each chapter can be done either by saving different files for each chapter, or by using section breaks. Please contact the University Technology Service Center at 973-408-4357 with any questions about these options.

Microsoft provides the following information on page numbers:

• Word 2007: Start page numbering on page 2 http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/start-page-numbering-on-page-2-HP001227657.aspx?CTT=1
• Word 2010: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/add-or-remove-headers-footers-and-page-numbers-HA010372690.aspx?CTT=1
  • If you use different sections in a single document, this page may be useful: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/number-pages-differently-in-different-sections-HA101832542.aspx?CTT=1
• Word 2011: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/mac-word-help/add-or-remove-page-numbers-HA102928583.aspx?CTT=1
• Word 2013: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/add-page-numbers-HA102809692.aspx?CTT=1

Table of Contents

Word has a feature which will use heading styles from your document to automatically create a Table of Contents.

The instructions below are written assuming you are using one of our dissertation templates. We recommend you use the Chapter Title style for each chapter, to ensure proper formatting. You can then tell Word to look for that style when identifying what should be included in your Table of Contents.

1. Place your cursor where you would like your Table of Contents to appear
2. Click on the References tab
3. Click Table of Contents
4. Click Insert Table of Contents... (near the bottom of the menu)
5. Click the Options... button
6. In the list of Available Styles, find Chapter Title and type a 1 in the box to the right (under TOC level)
7. Click OK
8. Click OK again

If you are not using our templates, but are using Heading styles to mark your chapter titles, you can refer to the following information from Microsoft Office support to generate a Table of Contents.

Self-paced courses:

• Word 2007: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/table-of-contents-i-create-an-automatic-toc-RZ010261698.aspx?CTT=1
• Word 2010: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/create-and-customize-a-table-of-contents-RZ102634105.aspx?CTT=1
• Word 2013: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/video-introduction-to-tables-of-contents-VA104034697.aspx?CTT=5

Articles:

• Word 2007: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/create-a-table-of-contents-or-update-a-table-of-contents-HP001225372.aspx?CTT=1
• Word 2010: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/create-a-table-of-contents-or-update-a-table-of-contents-HP010368778.aspx?CTT=1
• Word 2011: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/mac-word-help/create-or-edit-a-table-of-contents-HA102929533.aspx?CTT=1
• Word 2013: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/format-or-customize-a-table-of-contents-HA102809789.aspx?CTT=1

Footnotes

You can watch videos or download entire courses about working with footnotes in Word here:

• Word 2010: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/video-footnote-and-endnote-numbering-VA102447796.aspx?CTT=1 
• Word 2011: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/mac-word-help/training-working-with-citations-sources-and-bibliographies-RZ103796348.aspx?CTT=5&origin=HA103525723
• Word 2013: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/footnotes-in-word-2013-RZ104168662.aspx?CTT=1

Articles with instructions can be found at the following links:

• Word 2010: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/insert-or-create-footnotes-and-endnotes-HA101854833.aspx?CTT=1
  • These instructions also apply to Word 2007
• Word 2011: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/mac-word-help/add-or-change-footnotes-or-endnotes-HA102929529.aspx?CTT=1
• Word 2013: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/add-footnotes-and-endnotes-HA102809783.aspx?CTT=1

Section Breaks

If you are saving your entire thesis or dissertation as one document, you will need to use section or page breaks to allow you to format the first page of each chapter properly. Information about this feature can be found at the following links:

• Word 2007: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/insert-a-section-break-HA010031073.aspx?CTT=1
• Word 2010: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/insert-a-section-break-HA010368780.aspx?CTT=1
• Word 2011: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/mac-word-help/insert-delete-or-change-a-section-break-HA102929536.aspx?CTT=1
• Word 2013: Page numbering with section breaks http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/start-page-numbering-later-in-your-document-HA102841427.aspx?CTT=1

Note: You will want to use "Next Page" section breaks between chapters.

You can follow the instructions at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/number-pages-differently-in-different-sections-HA101832542.aspx?CTT=1 to number the pages for each section of the document. Remember to use the "different first page" option!

Bibliography

The following information may be helpful when you are ready to create your bibliography:

• Word 2007: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/create-a-bibliography-HA010067492.aspx
• Word 2010: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/create-a-bibliography-HA010368774.aspx?CTT=1
• Word 2011: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/mac-word-help/add-or-change-sources-citations-and-bibliographies-HA102929528.aspx?CTT=1
• Word 2013: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/create-a-bibliography-HA102809686.aspx?CTT=1

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Miscellaneous Tips

• Use the template provided, with built-in styles
• Be cautious copying and pasting text in Word, even from one Word document to another
• Watch your white space: What you see as empty Word may see as information
  • To start a new page, use the Insert>Blank Page option (or CTRL+ENTER on the keyboard) rather than simply hitting Enter until you reach the page you want
• Remember to save constantly as you work, and to save copies of the updated file(s) to all of your backup locations after each time of working on your document
• Don't worry about page numbers until you are mostly finished writing
• You can use PDF-XChange Editor, found in the Office Applications folder in CloudPC, to combine multiple PDF files into one PDF document (see "Using PDF-XChange Editor", above)
• If you feel more comfortable hiring someone to do the formatting for you, consider hiring a professional editor. A Google search for "professional editor" and your location should yield a few options.

Helpful Links and Pages

• EndNote Web
  • Endnote Basic aka Endnote Web Bibliographic Software

• Internet Searching - The Library has put together a page with links to information about using the internet to research.
• Thesis Formatting Guidelines.pdf
  
  • This document includes a summary of formatting notes important to your paper, with references to the 8th Edition of A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate Turabian, as well as a sample title page and sample abstract page
• Library Lightning Round - An issue of the Library's "Library Graffiti" with a list of some of the best places to look for information.
• The Drew University Center for Writing Excellence is an excellent resource for those who have questions about the writing and editing process. Please visit their website for more information: https://www.drew.edu/writingstudies/writing-center

Step 5: Defend

Step 6: Submit Your Approved

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Paper

You can submit your completed, approved paper at httphttps://walterdigitalcollections.drew.edu/etdUniversityArchives/ThesesAndDissertations/#how2publish. You can will find instructions on that page.

Step 7: Celebrate!

We knew you could do it!

Reviewed 9/18/23