Dissertations & projects: Formatting
- Research questions
- The process of reviewing
- Project management
- Literature-based projects
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You are not being examined on your ability to use Microsoft Word. The Skills Team have therefore provided you with a template that already has most of the formatting work done for you. This has been approved centrally by the university.
This page has links to the template, guidance document and videos to support you with using the official University of Hull MS Word templates for creating undergraduate dissertations or independent projects or taught masters dissertations. This is not a mandatory template, but using it will streamline the formatting of such a long document.
University templates
The University has created templates which can help take the stress out of formatting your dissertation or final year project.
Students studying any subject other than those listed below can use the general template provided:
Download the undergraduate final year project or dissertation template here
Download the taught masters dissertation template here
Modified versions
In some disciplines, the undergraduate template has been modified and is available via your dissertation or independent project module's Canvas site. Currently this is the case for the following subject areas:
- Biomedical Sciences
Guidance document
Templates guidance document
It includes information on:
- Working with template files
- Working with text (styles, table of contents)
- Working with images and tables (captions)
- Adding landscape pages
Whilst this says it is for undergraduate dissertations, it is also relevant to the taught masters template.
Video support
We have created a set of videos to support you with using the template. These can be accessed below.
The videos below cover the following (click or tap to jump to video):
- Downloading the template and filling in the title page.
- Using styles and updating the table of contents.
- Labelling your figures and tables.
- Using the cross-referencing tool to refer to figures and tables.
- Adding a landscape page to your document.
Please note that there is a separate playlist for using the History template: Using the UoH undergraduate dissertation template for History .
Video 1: Downloading the UG dissertation or independent project template and filling in front matter
Note that if you have downloaded the template already from the link above, you can skip to 1 min 30 sec.
Video 2: Using styles and updating the table of contents
Video 3: Labelling your figures and tables
Video 4: Using the cross-referencing tool to refer to figures and tables
This is an optional feature - if you don't have many tables or figures you may wish to do this manually.
Video 5: Adding a landscape page to your document
Not everyone will need this feature but it is useful for large tables or some figures.
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- Last Updated: Nov 10, 2024 5:39 PM
- URL: https://libguides.hull.ac.uk/dissertations
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Theses: Templates
- Finding theses @ Soton
- Data Plan for your PhD
- Deposit - Faculty Office
- Deposit - PGR Manager & Pure
- Thesis Data Deposit
- Restricting Access
- Using your own publications in your thesis
- Info. for Faculty Admin
- Info. for Supervisors
Useful Links
Library Research Services home page
Guidance from Quality Handbook :
- Producing and submitting your thesis
- Submission of a Research Paper PhD Thesis: Guidance
- Declaration of authorship form example
- Intention to submit research thesis form
- Permission to Deposit Thesis Form
- Permission to Deposit Thesis - Guidance
There are also examples of the thesis title and abstract pages in submission and completion section of the Quality Handbook .
Data Management Plan for your PhD
Data Management Plans for Doctoral Students (Blackboard Course)
Data Management Plan guidance
For open access and institutional repository enquiries [email protected]
For research data management queries please email [email protected]
Need further help? Use our L ibrary Research Skills support service
Thesis Templates
The University provides templates in Word and LateX which meet the requirements set out in the Regulations.
Training : iSolutions also offer sessions on using Word to work with text, graphics and page layout in your thesis and turning your thesis into a PDF/A. The full course schedule and booking links can be found in the PGR Development Hub
Word or LaTeX?
LaTeX is extensively used by engineers and scientists because it handles maths and equations brilliantly, and by linguists because it can cope with multiple (and obscure) languages. The University now offers Professional Accounts via Overleaf. Sign up for an account via the University of Southampton portal .
Word is the most widely used word processing software in the university. Unless you will be including lots of special character sets or equations, we would recommend using Word.
Whole thesis template
Use this to produce the whole thesis in one long Word document. It contains all of the required sections from title page to bibliography, with refreshable Tables of Contents, Table of Figures and Table of Tables.
- Word template help
- Always use in conjunction with the Quality Handbook Producing your thesis guidance
Separate Chapter, Front Matter & End Matter templates for Word & Mac
If you don’t wish use the whole document template then use these to create each chapter of the thesis and the front matter. It comes ready made with usable styles that meet the University’s thesis Guidance requirements
- Chapter template for Word 2007 /2010 /2013 /2016 (PC) or 2008 /2011 /2016 (Mac)
- Front matter template for Word 2007 /2010 /2013 /2016 (PC) or 2008 /2011 /2016 (Mac)
- End Matter for Word 2007 /2010 /2013 /2016 (PC) or 2008 /2011 /2016 (Mac)
Copyright Statement coversheet
All e-theses require the University thesis copyright statement is included in front of the main title page in the final e-version submitted. The wording of the statement should not be altered in any way.
The Word template (PC or Mac) above has the statement included but earlier versions did not. Should the statement be missing from your file it should be:
- added before creating the final pdf version
- located in front of the main title page using the document below
- should not be included in the numbering of the thesis.
LaTeX templates currently do not include instruction on how to add the statement so it will need it to be added individually as a single double-sided page. Alternatively, add the pdf version into your final pdf file using Adobe Acrobat Pro.
The statement is not required in the print copies submitted for examination or as a final copy.
- Thesis Copyright Statement Thesis copyright statement cover sheet
- Thesis Copyright Statement PDF version of the thesis copyright statement to be included in every thesis
The following guides outline how this can be done in Word documents.
- Adding copyright statement in Word (PC) Guide to adding the statement in Word on a PC
- Adding copyright statement in Word (Mac) Guide to adding the statement in Word on a Mac
Visual guides are also available on YouTube:
Using UoS Thesis Templates
iSolutions have created a training guide to introduce the Word template for theses and show you how to use a range of useful Word features to make creating and working with your thesis easier. These also direct you to relevant LinkedIn Learning.com videos on the use of features in Word.
- Thesis guidance
iSolutions also offer sessions on using Word to work with text, graphics and page layout in your thesis. The full course schedule and booking links can be found in the PGR Development Hub
LaTeX Templates
Support for the use of LaTeX can be found on the Overleaf website . LaTeX is also supported by a wide online community - see LaTeX Project .
How to make sure your thesis is an archival PDF/A
Your final University e-thesis must submitted in an accessible and archival format so that it will be readible in years to come, currently this format is PDF/A-3 .
- Mac users If you are using Word for Mac then start by using the Save As PDF facility. This produces a really good baseline file to continue working on in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. If for any reason you are not happy with the output as this process, then try converting the file by using Adobe Acrobat Pro's own 'Create a PDF from'. If you are still not happy with the result then contact serviceline to discuss other options.
- PC users For PC users the Adobe Acrobat Pro DC facility will produce the best output. You'll find the steps below under the heading Create the PDF for PC below.
- LaTeX to PDF/A-3 If you are using Overleaf, the automatic pdf conversion will be create a PDF/A file. Overleaf have created instructions on how to make sure your LaTeX PDF conforms to the archival standards . Please note we would prefer that you chose a-3b (propritising display) or a-3u (prioritising searchability) rather than a-1b. You may find the following paper helpful: Moore, R. (2014). PDF/A-3u as an Archival Format for Accessible Mathematics . In: Watt, S.M., Davenport, J.H., Sexton, A.P., Sojka, P., Urban, J. (eds) Intelligent Computer Mathematics. CICM 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 8543. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08434-3_14 , also available as an ArXiv pre-print .
Checking you PDF/A accessibility: You can check how well your PDF meets the PDF/A accessibility standards using the Abode Acrobat Pro preflight checker and the accessibility checker .
How to download Abode Acrobat Pro: Details of how to access or download Adobe Acrobat Pro DC can be found at iSolutions' How to install Adobe Acrobat DC Advice page .
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- URL: https://library.soton.ac.uk/thesis
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