Honors Thesis Formatting

Honors Program Nomination Procedures | Honors Program Requirements | Honors Thesis Formatting

Style

See the Library Services for Honor Students

There is no official style for Austin College Honors theses.  Each thesis director or department should determine the proper style for the specific thesis: the Honors Committee assumes that the thesis director will make sure that the student is writing in a style and format appropriate to the discipline or sub-discipline. Hence, the Committee will check only for consistency, not for a particular style.

Whatever standard is chosen, the thesis writer must turn in the name of the style manual or an article from the chosen disciplinary journal as a guide for the Honors Committee when checking the style.  Again, the Honors Committee is not interested in a specific style, but we do want to ensure that the style adopted is consistent throughout the thesis.

Format Checklist Before Submitting Thesis

Below is a list of style requirements that the Honors Committee will be looking for in the thesis.  The student and his/her thesis director should check the thesis for these requirements prior to submitting it to the Committee for approval.

The specifics of these guidelines are outlined below.

• The text is double-spaced in a standard font, such as Times Roman, Courier, etc.  If you have questions about a font you would like to use, please bring a sample of it to the Honors Director for approval.  You may use 10-pt. or 12-pt. type.
• The margins are correct (see below)
• The pages are in the correct order (see below)
• The title and name of the thesis writer are in all capitals on the Title Page
• The page numbering on the front matter pages begins on the Signature Page with ii and continues in lower-case Roman numerals through the Abstract
• The page numbers of the front matter pages should be included in the Table of Contents
• Every page of the text should be numbered
• Footnotes should appear on the same page as they are cited in the text

Specific Guidelines for Formatting Thesis

Font

The text is double-spaced in a standard font, such as Times Roman, Courier, etc.  You may use 10-pt. or 12-pt. type.

If you have questions about a font you would like to use, please bring a sample of it to the Honors Director for approval.

Pagination, Margins, Spacing

The first page of the thesis text is page one. All pages must be numbered (unless you choose to leave page numbers off pages with a title or chapter heading on them). Page numbering must be consistent throughout the thesis.  You should number the front matter pages (except the Title Page), including Signature Page, Acknowledgments, Table of Contents, List of Tables, and List of Figures, with lower-case Roman numerals starting with ii on the Signature Page.

Margins:

• Top:  1 1/2 inches
• Bottom:  1 inch
• Left Side:  2 inches (to allow for binding)
• Right Side:  1 inch

It will be your responsibility to measure the results of your formatting with the printer you use so that the margins are actually in line with the measurements given above.

Use double spacing in all the regular text (or space-and-a-half spacing if your advisor permits), not single spacing.  The thesis director should decide whether block quotations should be single-spaced or double-spaced.

Order of Pages

Blank Page
Title Page (see below for sample)
Signature Page (see below for sample)
Acknowledgments (if any)
Table of Contents
List of Tables (if any)
List of Figures (if any)
Abstract
Text
Endnotes (if internal citation or footnotes are not used)
Bibliography
Appendices (if any)
Blank Page