Section-Specific

Table of Contents

Examples: First Page | Continuing Pages | Setting Tabs

About

The Table of Contents is a mandatory and vital section of your thesis/dissertation. While Microsoft Word has some tools to assist with the creation of a TOC, the formatting settings can be extremely difficult to change, so we strongly suggest setting up your TOC from scratch.

If the TOC is being set up manually, the tab stops and formatting should be set before any text is written. This way, the section will automatically format as it is written.

Setting up the Format

Examples: Youtube Video

  1. Create the "Table of Contents" heading (2" from the top of the page, styled as a 1st level heading).
  2. Set page spacing to single-spaced.
  3. Click on the bottom right of the Paragraph tab to open the Paragraph Settings window.
  4. Click on the Tabs button at the bottom left of the window.
  5. Set the first tab to 0.5" (Align LEFT; Leader NONE).
  6. Set the second tab to 1.0" (Align LEFT; Leader NONE).
  7. Continue adding tabs 0.5" further in for additional heading orders that your ETD contains.
  8. Set a final indent to 6.5" (Align RIGHT; Leader DOTTED - if you want to have a dotted leader line).
  9. Click Save on the Tabs window and then close the Paragraph settings window.
  10. Click and move the right indent to 6.0" so that any long headers will wrap to the next line.

Consistency in the Format

  • Major (1st-order) headings represent the main manuscript sections (or chapters).
  • Use single-space spacing within the main sections (No extra lines of space between the subheadings)
  • Add a line of space between the main sections/chapters (There should be an extra line of space before the next Major (1st-order) section/chapter).
  • The style of the headings/subheadings in the TOC does not have to match the style used in the body. Don't use bold, underline, or italics in the TOC.
  • Multi-line headings must wrap (line break) 0.5" from the right margin.
  • Use of tab leaders is optional.

Format

General Formatting
  • Line Spacing: Single-spaced (with mock double-space between chapter listings)
  • Page Number: Lowercase Roman numeral (Begin with 'i')
Section Heading Formatting
  • All 1st-order headings must be 2" from the top edge of the page and must be styled consistently.
Content Formatting
  • All headings must match verbatim (word-for-word) those used in the body of manuscript.
  • Each order of heading should be indented 0.5" from the left to clearly show the hierarchy.
  • Headings should not be closer than 0.5" from the right margin so they do not overcrowd the page numbers.
  • Lines of text that wrap to more than one line: the 2nd line indents an additional 0.25" from the left margin.
  • All page numbers associated with a given heading correspond to the correct location in the body of the manuscript.
  • All page numbers are right-aligned with the 1" right margin.
  • Depending on how you choose to format your Appendices, you have two sets of options on how they are listed:
    • Option A: Appendices as a Single Chapter
      • "Appendices" is listed as a 1st-order heading.
      • All subsections of the Appendices are listed as second-order headings.
    • Option B: Appendices as Separate Chapters
      • Each Appendix and its corresponding title is listed as a 1st-order heading and there is a line of space between each entry.
      • About the Author section is the last item listed in the ToC and is designated by "End Page" instead of a page number.