The University of St. Thomas

School of Education

OL&D Dissertation Guidelines

Complete Final Editing

The candidate will make any changes in the dissertation specified by the committee and update the abstract. The candidate will submit changes for approval by the committee chair.

Font

Per APA, the font for the body of the text should be one with a serif, such as Times New Roman or Courier, and at least 10 point depending on the font – it should be easy to read. Other fonts may be used to set off quotations, titles, tables and figures.

Margins

Margins are to be 1.5 inches on the left, and 1 inch on top, bottom and right. Make sure that no headers, footers, page numbers, tables or figures intrude into the margins.
In what order should the pages of my thesis appear?
The pages of the manuscript should be assembled in the following order. For further information, see APA Publication Manual Fifth Edition pp. 322-326.

Preliminary pages (which use lowercase roman numerals for page numbers)

  • Title page (no page number appears on this page
  • Signature page (includes names of chair and committee members) (no page number appears on this page)
  • Copyright page (optional, recommended) (no page number appears on this page)
  • Acknowledgements page (optional) (Start roman numeral
    i here)
  • Abstract (maximum of 350 words - summary of manuscript)
  • Table of contents
  • List of tables (if needed)
  • List of figures (if needed)

Body of the work

  • Chapters 1 – 5 (in Arabic numerals, starting with 1)
  • References
  • Appendixes

Bind Copies for the Department

OL&D requires students to bind two copies for its reference libraries and one copy for the committee chair. The binding specifications are:

  • It is the student’s responsibility to have the pages of the text in correct order when it is submitted to the bindery.
  • The printing should be on a single side of each page.
  • The doctoral dissertation should be produced on a high quality, white bond of standard letter size (8.5 by 11 inches) paper. Specifically, the final copy of the doctoral project must be printed on good quality 20 lb. bond paper with at least 25 percent rag content. Requirements for the rag content and weight of paper are established to provide durable copies of doctoral projects for the library and the University. Higher rag content is desirable. Erasable bond is not acceptable. Photocopies must be sharp and clean in appearance.
  • All volumes must be sewn either on an oversewing machine or by hand whipstitching.
  • Bound theses must not exceed two inches in thickness after binding. If the dissertation will be thicker, it must be bound in two or more volumes, each not to exceed two inches. The spine lettering on each volume must include the volume number (Vol. I, Vol. II, etc.), which must also appear on the title page of each volume, as described. Each volume must include a complete table of contents.
  • All doctoral theses are to be bound in black heavy weight buckram.
  • Spine lettering must be in gold and must specify your full name, the degree award (Ed.D.), the year of degree award, and volume number (if you have more than one volume). Example: John Smith   Ed.D.  2008

Obtain Signatures of Committee Members

The doctoral candidate is responsible for obtaining signatures of her or his committee chair and committee members on at least one copy of the dissertation signature page.

Other Information

Deliver three bound copies and one unbound copy of the dissertation to the OL&D department.

The UST libraries offer their guidelines below. Where there is a discrepancy between the library and OL&D, use the OL&D guidelines. If you have any questions, talk to your dissertation chair.

UST Libraries Dissertation Guidelines

Sample title and signature pages (pdf)