Intro and Guides
Upcoming Electronic Thesis & Dissertation (ETD) Workshops
For weekday ETD workshops on the Lawrence campus, click here for the KU Information Technology calendar.
For Saturday workshops on the Lawrence or Edwards campuses, click here for the Writing Center's Graduate Research and Write-In Information page.
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Formatting Guides
- ETD for Word, 2016 (PC)This guide, and the four below, contain step-by-step, how-to instructions for formatting a thesis or dissertation in Word. Screenshots from the ETD workshop are also included.
ETD Practice Document
Ready to Submit your Thesis or Dissertation?
Link to Submit Final Thesis or Dissertation
If you're ready to submit your final thesis or dissertation, click the blue text above to link over to ProQuest/UMI from the KU Graduate School. When you get there, click on Submit my Thesis or Dissertation then create a new student account or log in to an account you have already created. This is a separate account from KU so your KU login will not work.
ETD Formatting Guides for Older Systems
- Thesis and Dissertation Helpful InformationThis print-able guide book contains links intended to connect readers with sources for more information about department requirements, requirements of the KU Graduate School, the Graduate Studies calendars for the 2016-17 school year for both KUMC and KU Lawrence, and provides additional information on topics such as copyrights, embargoes, the KU Doctoral Completion Survey, the ETD Release Form, and more.
- Submitting Thesis or Dissertation WorkshopThis ETD workshop is generally given only once per semester (near the end of the semester) and covers a broad range of final tasks for thesis and dissertation completion, with a specific focus on how to submit the thesis or dissertation to ProQuest and the kinds of questions and screens you will see along the way. To find information for the next upcoming live workshop, visit the KU Graduate Studies News and Events page at https://graduate.ku.edu/upcoming-events.
Advanced Formatting Guides
- Managing Footnotes in WordA step-by-step guide for working with footnote spacing, separator lines, breaks across pages and fonts.
- Formatting third level (APA) run-in subheadings (PC)Run-in headings are those that share the same line with the main body paragraph text. Third- through sixth-level subheadings in APA style and fifth-level subheadings in Chicago and Turabian styles currently make use of run-in heading formats.
- Formatting third-level (APA) run-in subheadings (Mac)Run-in headings are those that share the same line with the main body paragraph text. Third- through sixth-level subheadings in APA style and fifth-level subheadings in Chicago and Turabian styles currently make use of run-in heading formats.
- Adding, Captioning and Listing Equations in WordWorking with equations may be tricky in Word, especially if you need to caption them and list them in a "List of Equations" somewhere in your document. This video link and brief instructions sheet presents a work-around.
- Easy Document NavigationTired of scrolling up and down through your 300-page dissertation? Use the Document Map/Navigation Pane features to jump through your document with one click. (Note: You will need to have set up your heading styles to use this function.)
- HELP!! -- Document Style Randomly Reverts, Destroys FormattingDocuments originally formatted in Word 2007 or earlier sometimes can appear, when opened in later versions of Word, to have randomly relocated all text and formatting. Here are some tips for handling this frustrating phenomenon.
- Creating Hyperlinks in WordCreate click-able bookmarks within your document, or across documents, or add links to web pages or e-mail to your document.
- Outline Style HeadingsShawna Kelly provides a nice how-to guide for creating numbered, outline-style headings in Word. Outline style headings can be very tricky to work with, however, and she provides links to some caveats at the bottom of this guide. One additional note: although your department has the final say on the style of your thesis or dissertation, APA style specifically disallows the use of outline-style headings (see https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/16/).
ETD @ KU: Grad School Links
- Complete Formatting Requirements -- KU Graduate StudiesTheses and dissertations must conform to the formatting requirements for both the KU Graduate School and ProQuest, where the final document will reside. Complete formatting requirements for KU Graduate Studies are located here.
- Complete Formatting Requirements -- ProQuestTheses and dissertations must conform to the formatting requirements for both the KU Graduate School and ProQuest, where the final document will reside. Complete formatting requirements for ProQuest are located here.
- KU College Office of Graduate AffairsComplete Master's Degree and Ph.D. Degree checklists for finishing up
- KU Grad School: Preparing to GraduateA first stop for becoming acquainted with the final steps in finishing your degree.
- Thesis/Dissertation Embargo PolicyAn embargo allows you to keep your thesis or dissertation from appearing in ProQuest's public listings after you submit it. There is special paperwork that your advisor must complete in advance, however.
Subject Guide
Guide translator
Now Available by Skype
GIS and LaTeX Links
- GIS and MappingAssistance with ArcGIS (ArcMap, ArcInfo Workstation), AutoCad, GoogleEarth Pro, Maple, R, SAS, SPSS
- LaTeX, LyX and Sweave NotesKU Prof. Paul Johnson's guide to getting started on LaTeX and LyX
- LaTeX/BibTeX LibGuideTips for getting started with LaTeX or BibTeX.
Other Helpful Thesis and Dissertation Links
- Library Research Tutorials and HelpGeneral info about the KU libraries including video tours, information about InterLibrary Loan, instructions on how to use the databases and library catalog, library equipment you can use, plus finding, evaluating and citing sources (and much more!).
- GIS and MappingAssistance with ArcGIS (ArcMap, ArcInfo Workstation), AutoCad, GoogleEarth Pro, Maple, R, SAS, SPSS
- EndNote, Zotero and other Citation ToolsFor more information about:
- comparing and choosing citation tools
- installing and using EndNote
- installing and using Zotero