Dissertation Formatting Rules
Dissertations should follow the following formatting rules:
1. Document will be saved as Last Name_First Name_Today’s Date. Any revisions will
be saved under the current date. Upon final approval from the Ed.D. office and VP for
Graduate Studies, the document will be saved as Last Name_First Name_ FINAL. The
FINAL version will be uploaded to ProQuest.
2. Students will follow APA (6th edition) formatting for the narrative portion of the study.
Students may use the Microsoft Word default settings for spacing and indention. Spacing
and indention must be consistent throughout the study.
a. See Common APA Mistakes (page 3)
3. Templates or further examples can be found on the Current Ed.D. Student page of the
MBU website: http://www.mobap.edu/doctorate
4. If assistance is needed on creating varied headers/footers/page numbers in a single
document, click on the proceeding link to read the instructions following these rules or
view a 5-10 minute virtual tutorial from Microsoft titled, “Headers and Footers for
Document Sections”:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/overview-RZ010239521.aspx?section=1
5. The basic format for the study will be as follows:
If creating from a blank documenta. To begin formatting your dissertation, double-click on the top of your first page
which will include your Approval Statement (Approval Statement is found on the
website and will be added after you receive final approval – THE email – of your
dissertation.)
i. Header and Footer Tools will appear
ii. On the Options menu, select Different First Page in order to prevent any
information from appearing in the header on the first page
b. First page (page 0) is the Approval Statement Page (website)
i. NO Running Head
ii. NO page number
c. Second page (page 1) is the Dissertation Title Page (website)
i. Create a section break and unlink from the previous section
ii. Running head: TITLE on upper left
iii. Page number (1), upper right
d. Third page (page 2) is the Abstract Page (website)
i. Create a section break and unlink from the previous section
ii. Format page numbers starting at page 2
Ed.D. Office, One College Park Drive, St. Louis, MO 63141
Phone: 314-392-2335
Fax: 314-744-7654
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.mobap.edu/doctorate
Page 1
Revised 10/15/2013
Dissertation Formatting Rules
iii. Running head with the TITLE only (no words Running Head)
iv. Page number (2), upper right
v. Go to step 8 (From this page on, there is no need to create any section
breaks)
If editing a document already created- (use the tutorial link should you want a visual)
a. To edit formatting on your dissertation, double-click on the top of your first page
which will include your Approval Statement (Approval Statement is found on the
website and will be added after you receive final approval – THE email – of your
dissertation.)
vi. Header and Footer Tools will appear near the top of your screen
vii. On the Navigation menu, select Different First Page in order to remove any
information appearing in the header on the first page
viii. Highlight the content in the header on the approval page; press ‘Delete’ on
the keyboard
b. First page (page 0) is the Approval Statement Page (website)
ix. NO Running Head and NO page number
x. Place the cursor behind the last letter on your approval page (the ‘r’ in year)
xi. In the Page Layout tab on the toolbar, click the ‘Break’ button to reveal a
drop down menu, then scroll down under ‘Section’ to click ‘Next Page’
(Page Break and Section Break are distinctly different. A Section Break
will give you the advantage of creating varied headers and footers.)
6. Second page (page 1) is the Dissertation Title Page (website)
i. Double-click in the header of this page. The Navigation menu will appear.
Click the ‘Link to Previous’(should not be highlighted) button to ensure the
header from the Approval page is not the same as the header on page 1
ii. Running head: TITLE on upper left
iii. Page number (1), upper right
7. Third page (page 2) is the Abstract Page (website)
i. Create a section break and unlink from the previous section such as
previously done
ii. Format page numbers starting at page 2
iii. Go to step 8 (From this page on, there is no need to create any section
breaks)
8. Fourth Page (page 3) is the Acknowledgements Page
i. Running head with the TITLE only
ii. Page number (3), upper right
Ed.D. Office, One College Park Drive, St. Louis, MO 63141
Phone: 314-392-2335
Fax: 314-744-7654
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.mobap.edu/doctorate
Page 2
Revised 10/15/2013
Dissertation Formatting Rules
9. Table of Contents (website)
i. Each heading level is indented in increments of five
10. Chapters 1-5
11. Appendices
i. Should have page numbers listed
ii. List of Appendices may include, but not limited to
1. Permission letters
2. Raw data
3. IRB letter of approval
4. School District approval letters
5. Surveys, questionnaires
6. Interview protocols
7. Consent forms
12. De-Identifying – If you did NOT receive permission to use the school information in your
study, you must de-identify within the study AND ALL APPENDICES. For the final
publication, you must provide the Ed.D. office an approval letter from the district, giving
permission to use the school district’s name in the study, or you must de-identify the
school district information throughout the entire study, including all appendices.
13. Check paper for subject-verb agreement
14. Margins – at least one inch top, bottom, left, and right of every page (p. 229)
15. Typeface (p. 228) – Times New Roman with 12-pt. font size
16. Commas for introductory phrases or clauses or two complete sentences
17. Prepositions – do not end sentence with prepositions (on, up, out, of, by, through, etc,)
18. Recheck spacing after making corrections
19. Dissertation figures cannot be copied or used without written permission from the
publisher
20. Recheck Table of Contents page numbers after making corrections
Ed.D. Office, One College Park Drive, St. Louis, MO 63141
Phone: 314-392-2335
Fax: 314-744-7654
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.mobap.edu/doctorate
Page 3
Revised 10/15/2013
Dissertation Formatting Rules
Common APA Mistakes
Information derived from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th Edition
Please proofread your final paper for all of these common mistakes BEFORE submitting the final
dissertation to the Ed.D. office.
 Abstract (p. 27)
 Page number 2 of dissertation
 From 150-250 words
 Label Abstract should appear in uppercase and lowercase letters, centered, at the
top of the page
 Single paragraph without paragraph indentation
 Table of Contents – make separate pages for tables and figures
 Running head example (p. 41)
 Typed 12 point font in Times New Roman
 Running head: with the title typed in uppercase
 title page only (all other headers do not require Running head)
 Headings (p. 62-63)
 level of heading will determine format
 5 levels
Level of Headings
Format
Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
1
2
3
4
5
Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph heading ending
with a period.
Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading
ending with a period.
Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a
period.
 Seriation (p. 63-64)
 Separate sentences in a series are identified by an Arabic numeral followed by a
period; the first word is capitalized, and the sentence ends with a period or correct
punctuation
 Spacing after bullets and numbered items should be double spaced
 One space between bullet and sentences
 Complete sentences use punctuation
 Identify elements in a series by lowercase letters in parentheses (i.e. (a), (b), (c)
Ed.D. Office, One College Park Drive, St. Louis, MO 63141
Phone: 314-392-2335
Fax: 314-744-7654
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.mobap.edu/doctorate
Page 4
Revised 10/15/2013
Dissertation Formatting Rules
 Use semicolons to separate three or more elements that have internal commas
 Punctuation (p. 87-96)
 Spacing after punctuation marks
 Spacing twice after punctuation marks at the end of a sentence aids readers of
draft manuscripts
 Comma usage
 Semicolon usage
 Tables
 Title format for tables (p. 134)
 Use Arabic numerals
 Double Space
 Italics
 Citing tables and graphs (p.130)
 Refer to tables by their number
 Do not write “the table above” (or below) or “the table on page 32,”
 Title format for figures (p. 154)
 Dissertation figures cannot be copied or used without written permission from the
publisher
 Graphs, charts, maps, drawings, photos are types of figures but call them
FIGURES
 Title is not italicized
 Direct quotes (p. 171)
 Double-spaced
 40 or more words – block text. Omit parentheses. Create a new line and indent.
Include the page number or paragraph in parentheses after the final punctuation
mark
 Definition of Terms
 Term is indented and italicized. Use complete sentences and reference citations

Basic Citation Style (p. 177)
 Reference examples (pp. 198-208 – APA pp. 193-224)
 Periodicals including DOI
 URLs
 Italicize the name of magazines or journals
 Order of manuscript
 Abstract (separate page)
 Table of Contents
 Tables (separate page)
Ed.D. Office, One College Park Drive, St. Louis, MO 63141
Phone: 314-392-2335
Fax: 314-744-7654
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.mobap.edu/doctorate
Page 5
Revised 10/15/2013
Dissertation Formatting Rules




Figures (separate page)
Text
References
Appendices (separate page)
Ed.D. Office, One College Park Drive, St. Louis, MO 63141
Phone: 314-392-2335
Fax: 314-744-7654
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.mobap.edu/doctorate
Page 6
Revised 10/15/2013