Our thesis formatting tutorial steps you through the process of formatting your thesis from our template file. Note: Rules/guidelines for thesis formats are developed by the Graduate School. Questions about the guidelines, or interpretation of them, should be directed to the Office of Degree Requirements at (413) 545-0025.
Tutorial
Download a PDF version of the thesis-formatting workshop OIT offers each semester. This document includes all the directions and explanations for using the other files.
- Typing Dissertations for UMass Amherst in Word 2000 [PDF, 1202 K]
Using Template & Example Files
The following are files for formatting a thesis or dissertation to meet the requirements of the Office of Degree Requirements of the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst with Word 2000 for Windows.
The Graduate School rules permit three different formats of headings and Table of Contents. To provide support for the greatest possible number of students, these files help you use either of the two most-frequently-used formats. Please see the tutorial before deciding which format you want to use.
Simple Formatting |
Numeric Formatting |
Details |
Brief handout (PDF, 36 KB) describing template & example files. Open it directly in your browser. |
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The preliminary pages contain the Title Page, Signature Page, etc; substitute your titles, names, dates in the appropriate pages. Save the Prelim file on your computer in the folder where you store your other thesis documents. |
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Template files. Use these documents with your chapters for formatting the styles of paragraphs, headings, captions, Table of Contents, etc.These files do not contain visible text: they content style definitions. Download these files on your computer * and store them in the folder where you keep your other Word templates. Learn how to find the My Templates folder in the tutorial. |
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Sample dissertations illustrating the proper format for the document. Save this file on your computer in the folder whree you store your other thesis documents. |
Download these files to your computer as binary files. Open the prelim00 or thesis00 documents in Word.
* To download template files to your hard drive:
- Right-click the link and select Save target as ... (if you use Internet Explorer) or Save Link As ... if you use Netscape.
- Save umass00simple.dot (or umass00numeric.dot) in the \Microsoft Office\Templates folder. Where this folder is depends on how your system is set up. If you need help finding it, see the tutorial.
- Select umass00simple.dot (or umass00numeric.dot) as the template to create your thesis Word file (see below).
Use the template files (umass00...dot):
- Make sure the template file is in the My Templates folder on your computer.
- With a new file, simply select umass00simple.dot or umass00numeric.dot as your template when you create the file.
- With an existing Word file:
- Go to Tools > Templates and Add-Ins..., then click Attach...
- Select the umass00simple.dot or umass00numeric.dot file from the list of available templates, then click Open.
- Select Automatically update document styles, then click OK.
Need Help?
If you encounter problems, submit an online Help Request.
- or -
Contact the OIT Help Desk at 545-9400.
