- Page numerals need to be at the 1-inch level, i.e., there needs to be 1-inch of white space from the bottom of the paper to the page number. Making this happen involves re-setting MS Word's header/footer default settings and may also require re-setting the size of the text block on the page.
- The permission-to-copy page and the signature page should not have page numbers. The first page with a number should be the Abstract, with the Roman numeral iii. This too can be tricky to set up in MS Word.
- Some students also have difficulty setting the margins and tabs to line up the numbers in table of contents and lists of figures/tables. I often need to have them correct this. The main difficulty is lining up numerals at the right with a tab setting for "right-justification," so the ones line up with the ones, the tens with the tens, etc. If you just insert a normal tab, it is left-justified and the lining up goes wrong. The correct tab symbol for lining numbers up in tables looks like a leftward-pointing capital T rather than a rightward-pointing one.
Students and their advisors may refer to the Requirements for Theses and Dissertations guide which can be downloaded [in pdf format] here for specific formatting information and sample pages.
