Dissertation Formatting Rules
All doctoral students will follow APA (6th edition) formatting for the narrative portion of the
dissertation. Refer to this guide for rules specific to Missouri Baptist University dissertations.
*Instructions in this guide were created in reference to Microsoft Word 2013; if you have an alternate
version of Microsoft Word or a comparable word processing application, instructions may vary.*
Basic Format
The dissertation will follow this basic format. It will be to your advantage to set up these pages,
even as placeholders, upon starting your proposal. Templates and Examples can be found on the
Current Doctoral Student webpage.
1. Approval Statement
a. Inserted after the final approval, during the Polishing and Publication stage
b. See instructions on page 2 for help inserting the approval page
c. No Running head
d. No Page Number
2. Dissertation Title Page
a. Upper left: Running head: TITLE (shortened version)
b. Upper right page number: (1)
3. Abstract
a. Upper left running head: TITLE (shortened version) only (no words Running
head)
b. Upper right page number (2)
4. Acknowledgements Page (Optional)
a. Upper left: TITLE (shortened version) only
b. Upper right page number: (3) – Follow this pattern going forward
5. Dedication Page (Optional)
6. Table of Contents
a. Each heading level is indented in increments of five
b. See separate Table of Contents Example document for specifics
7. Chapters 1-5
8. References
9. Appendices
a. Raw Data
b. Surveys, Questionnaires
c. Interview Protocols
d. Consent forms
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
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Revised 8/19/2016
Dissertation Formatting Rules
General Guidelines
1. Numerous revisions can lead to confusion finding the most recent document. To ease
this confusion, the document should 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 4)
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, “Add Headers, Footers,
Margins, and Rulers to a Page” for Word 2013 and, “Headers and Footers for Document
Sections” for Word 2007:
Word 2013: https://support.office.com/en-US/article/Video-Add-headers-footersmargins-and-rulers-to-a-page-1c0170f4-33db-4740-bda9-272832523169
Word 2007: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/overviewRZ010239521.aspx?section=1
5. Dissertation figures and tables cannot be copied or used without written permission from
the publisher. At publication, inform the Ed.D. Office if you have any figures not your
own creation. Refer to the APA manual for examples of figures and tables and how to
cite each.
6. 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. If you do not
wish to de-identify, then you must provide a signed letter from each district referenced in
the dissertation giving permission to use the name and data of the school and data in the
publication of your named dissertation. (This is different from the letter obtained at the
IRB approval to conduct research.) This letter is not inserted into the appendices, but
kept on file in the Ed.D. Office.
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 8/19/2016
Dissertation Formatting Rules
How to Insert the Approval Page:
Microsoft provides good tutorials including how to insert pages, headers, and footers. Look for
“Add Headers, Footers, Margins, and Rulers to a Page” for Word 2013 and, “Headers and
Footers for Document Sections” for Word 2007.
Word 2013: https://support.office.com/en-US/article/Video-Add-headers-footersmargins-and-rulers-to-a-page-1c0170f4-33db-4740-bda9-272832523169
Word 2007: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/overviewRZ010239521.aspx?section=1
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
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 (shortened version) 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
iii. Running head with the TITLE (shortened version) 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 createda. 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 the oral defense.)
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
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 8/19/2016
Dissertation Formatting Rules
b.
c.
d.
e.
viii. Highlight the content in the header on the approval page; press ‘Delete’ on
the keyboard
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.)
Second page (page 1) is the Dissertation Title Page (website)
xii. Double-click in the header of this page. The Navigation menu will appear.
Un-click the ‘Link to Previous’(should not be selected) button to ensure the
header from the Approval page is not the same as the header on page 1
xiii. Running head: TITLE (shortened version) on upper left
xiv. Page number (1), upper right
Third page (page 2) is the Abstract Page (website)
xv. Create a section break and unlink from the previous section such as
previously done
xvi. Format page numbers starting at page 2
xvii. Go to step 8 (From this page on, there is no need to create any section
breaks)
Fourth Page (page 3) is the Acknowledgements Page
i. Running head with the TITLE (shortened version) 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 4
Revised 8/19/2016
Dissertation Formatting Rules
Do’s and Don’t’s
1. Check paper for subject-verb agreement. The word “data” is plural. Data were, not data was.
2. For the proposal, use the future tense in chapters 1 and 3; chapter 2 is past tense when
referring to authors’ works. After IRB approval, change the proposal to past tense, and
continue chapter 4 in past tense. Chapter 5 is a combination of past and present tense.
3. Margins – one inch top, bottom, left, and right of every page (p. 229)
4. Typeface (p. 228) – Times New Roman with 12-pt. font size
5. The entire document is double spaced with the exception of sections in the Approval
Statement and Title Page
6. Use commas for introductory phrases or clauses.
7. Prepositions – do not end sentence with prepositions (on, up, out, of, by, through, etc,)
8. Recheck spacing and table of contents after making corrections.
9. Often Word defaults to a paragraph setting that adds spacing after each paragraph,
making it more than double space. Select all of the text, then go to Page Layout,
Paragraph, and in the Spacing section, you will see Before and After. Change the default
10 to 0 pt.
10. Use computers that are the same year and kind of software. Using different computers
with a different year of software may change margins, font, and spacing.
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 8/19/2016
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)
o Page number 2 of dissertation
o One page only
o From 150-250 words
o Label Abstract should appear in uppercase and lowercase letters, centered, at the
top of the page
o Single paragraph without paragraph indentation

Table of Contents
o make separate pages for tables and figures
o see separate Table of Contents Example page

Running head example (p. 41)
o Typed 12 point font in Times New Roman
o Running head: with the title typed in uppercase
o title page only (all other headers do not require Running head)

Headings (p. 62-63)
o level of heading will determine format
o 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)
o 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
o Spacing after bullets and numbered items should be double spaced
o One space between bullet and sentences
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 8/19/2016
Dissertation Formatting Rules
o Complete sentences use punctuation
o Identify elements in a series by lowercase letters in parentheses (i.e. (a), (b), (c)
o Use semicolons to separate three or more elements that have internal commas

Punctuation (p. 87-96)
o Spacing after punctuation marks
o Spacing twice after punctuation marks at the end of a sentence aids readers of
draft manuscripts
o Comma usage
o Semicolon usage
o Tables

Title format for tables (p. 134)
o Use Arabic numerals
o Double Space
o Italics

Citing tables and text (p.130)
o Refer to tables by their number
o Do not write “the table above” (or below) or “the table on page 32,”

Title format for figures (p. 154)
o Dissertation figures cannot be copied or used without written permission from the
publisher
o Graphs, charts, maps, drawings, photos are types of figures but call them
FIGURES
o Title is not italicized

Direct quotes (p. 171)
o Double-spaced
o 40 or more words – block text. Omit quotation marks. Create a new line and
indent. Include the page number or paragraph in parentheses after the final
punctuation mark

Definition of Terms
o 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)
o Periodicals including DOI
o URLs
o Italicize the name of magazines or journals
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 7
Revised 8/19/2016