Section-Specific

Main Body

Example: Main Body

About

This is the main body of your manuscript. You have more freedom with formatting here, but you need to be consistent and follow the requirements that are described below.

The Office of Graduate Studies does not specify a specific structure or organization for the main body. This includes the number of chapters, chapter organization, format of subheadings, and more. Some schools require specific style guides be used, and students should follow those guidelines, except where the Office of Graduate Studies specifies differently.

Format

General Formatting

• Line Spacing: Double-spaced
• Page Number: Arabic numerals (Begins at "1" on the first page after the Abstract)

Section Heading Formatting

• All 1st-order headings must be 2" from the top edge of the page and must be styled consistently.
• All subheadings (of each order) are in the same style and location throughout the manuscript.

Content Formatting

• No isolated lines of text or subheadings at the end of pages. (Widows)
• No single lines of text at the end of paragraphs at the start of new pages. (Orphans)
• Do not leave large gaps of space (1/2 of the entire page or 5.5") at the bottom of pages except at the ends of chapters. If a table or figure is causing the gap, use text from after it to fill in the space. You can refer to the table/figure with a note - '(See page ##)'.
• Be sure to watch for inconsistencies with spacing before and after paragraphs, headings, and the like. If it looks inconsistent, click on the bottom right of the Paragraph tab to open the Paragraph Settings window. Verify that "Spacing Before" and "Spacing After" is 0, unless you are using 6 pt in one of those consistently throughout the document. This tends to happen more when you copy and paste from other Word documents, since it's also copying the formatting. Word also defaults to having a 6 pt "Spacing After", so you may want to watch for that too.