Format Requirements

If included, the copyright page is an unnumbered page at the beginning of the thesis.

The copyright notice should be centered horizontally and vertically on the page in the following format:

Copyright (year of degree conferral) (name of student as it appears on title page)

Example: Copyright 2026 Jane Doe

If included, the Abstract page (see below) will be numbered with the Arabic numeral three (3).

The Thesis Office strongly encourages you to use one of the title page templates to reduce your time spent formatting the page and streamline your review process. 

General Requirements

• The margins should be 1 inch on all sides of the page.
• All font should be either 10 pt. or 12 pt.
• There should be no page number anywhere on the page.
• The title should be the only boldface type on the title page
• The following items should be in title case (the first letter of each word is capitalized): title, your name, and either Thesis(for master's thesis) or Dissertation (for doctoral dissertations).

Your Name

Your first and last name on your title page should match what appears in the University's system exactly. Your first name can match either your legal name or your preferred name.

• You can check your name in the University’s system through Student Self-Service.
• If you need to change your first or last name, you can do so by following the process on the Office of the Registrar’s website.
• If you would rather have your preferred name appear on the title page, you can add this through Student Self-Service before you submit your thesis.
• The Graduate College will also allow you to list your diploma name on the title page.

Text Block

The text block beneath THESIS or DISSERTATION should appear as follows:

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of <add earned degree> in <add major>

with a concentration in <add concentration>

with a minor in <add minor>

in the Graduate College of the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, <add year of degree conferral>

Fill in the details as follows: 

• Your earned degree is Master of Science, Master of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Education, etc.
• The major must fit entirely onto line 2 of the text block.
• If you have a campus-approved graduate concentration or minor, you will add line(s) 3 and/or 4.
  • The list of campus-approved graduate minors can be found here.
  • Most students do not have a campus-approved graduate concentration or minor.
  • If a concentration or minor cannot be verified by the University’s records, it will not be allowed on the title page.
• The year in line 6 is the year of degree conferral period for which the student will deposit (e.g., if a student deposits in December 2025 for the May 2026 graduation period, the year in the text block should be 2026).

Committee Section

Master's Students

Master’s students will use the heading “Adviser:”, "Advisers:", or “Master’s Committee:”, depending on which is applicable or preferred.

Doctoral Students

• Doctoral students will use the heading “Doctoral Committee:” to list the final examination committee.
• For committees, the committee chair should be listed first, and the director of research should be listed second; all other committee members may be listed in the order preferred by the student or the student’s adviser.
• The committee chair should be indicated by adding a comma and the word “Chair” after the chair’s name. The director of research (if different from chair) should be indicated by adding a comma and the phrase “Director of Research” after the director’s name.
• “Co-Chair” and “Co-Director of Research” designations may be used when applicable.

Faculty Names and Titles

• Faculty members should be listed with their professorial title (i.e., Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, etc.). The professorial title should be spelled in full (do not abbreviate) and listed before the faculty member’s name.
• Please consult the University directory for the titles of University of Illinois faculty members.
• Affiliations should be listed only for committee members who are not University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty (i.e., departmental affiliations should not be listed).

• The abstract must be placed immediately after the title page.
• The page number Arabic numeral two (2) must appear on the first page of the abstract. This Arabic numbering scheme should continue in sequence throughout the document.
• The abstract must be written in English.
• There is no word limit for the abstract.
• No images or footnotes should appear in the abstract.

• If included, these pages are placed after the abstract and before the Table of Contents.

• The Table of Contents is numbered with a Roman numeral page number.
• All entries placed BEFORE the Table of Contents (including the Abstract, Acknowledgments, Table of Contents, etc.) should NOT be included in the Table of Contents.
• All entries that entries that appear AFTER the Table of Contents, (including chapter titles, List of Symbols, Bibliography, Appendix A, etc.) MUST be listed in the Table of Contents.
• Chapter and Appendix titles listed in the Table of Contents must exactly match the wording found in the text and all page numbers must be correct.
• Page numbers must be aligned at or near the right margin of the page.
• Leader dots must be displayed between the final word of each title and the page number.
• Only chapter and first-level headings may be included in the Table of Contents. The goal of the Table of Contents is to give readers an overview of the document’s contents and organization.

• If included, the List of Symbols/Abbreviations should be included in the Table of Contents

Students may not include a List of Figures and/or a List of Tables in the document unless they have an exception that they have previously discussed with the Thesis Office. 

The front matter of the thesis should give the reader a high-level overview of the contents of the document.

Historically, the List of Figures / Tables was originally included when theses were printed and bound to make sure that all elements were accounted for in the final, paper draft of the document. This was particularly important when documents prepared on typewriters required images and table to be reproduced on separate pages. Now that theses are digitally developed and maintained, this section is no longer essential and reduces the accessibility and readability of the document. 

Margins

• All margins must be a minimum of 1 inch on all sides.
• No text (other than page numbers) may extend into the margin.

Fonts

• Font size for body text may be from 10- to 12-point and must be easily legible.
• Font size and type must remain consistent throughout the front matter and main text.
• Font size and type may differ for footnotes, references, and material in an appendix and may be as small as 7-point.
• Script and ornamental fonts will not be accepted.

Line Spacing

• Spacing of the body text may be from 1.5 lines to Double and must remain consistent throughout the main text.
• Single-spacing within the main text is allowed for titles, headings, footnotes, endnotes, references, lengthy quotations, bulleted or numbered lists, figure or table captions, or material in an appendix.

Justification

• The body text must be left-aligned.
• Body text that is fully justified will not be accepted.

Pagination

• All body pages must display page numbers.
• Body pages must be numbered with Arabic numerals continuing from the front matter and not restarting with the main text.
• Each chapter or chapter equivalent must begin on a new page.
• There should be no completely blank pages.

Headings within Chapters

Using Heading Styles (Microsoft Word)

• When using Microsoft Word, headings should be formatted using the styles templates.  Heading styles create a structured outline so that assistive technology can easily navigate documents and jump between sections.
  • Improve accessibility with heading styles (video)
  • Customize or create new styles (video and screenshots)
• Students may use the already defined styles in Word or they may edit these styles.
• When using Microsoft Styles, you will be asked to assign heading levels. This structure is already set-up in the templates available on our website. Whether you are using the template or setting up styles on your own, the hierarchy should be as follows:
  • Heading 1: Dissertation/Thesis Title (on the title page only)
  • Heading 2: Chapter level headings (Abstract, Acknowledgments, Table of Contents, Chapter titles)
  • Heading 3: First level headings (these are the first headings that appear after the chapter titles.
• All other headings should be assigned the next heading style in sequence.

Using Sectioning (LaTeX)

• When using LaTeX, all headings should be created using sectioning commands. When using the uofithesis or article document class, chapters should use \section, headings within a chapter \subsection, and headings inside subsections \subsubsection. This creates the proper structured outline for assistive technology.
  • LaTeX/Document Structure
  • Sections and chapters – Overleaf
• The title page should be created with \maketitle to properly assign it as the title and should NOT be contained in sectioning.

Additional Heading Requirements

• Headings may be numbered, but this is not required. If headings are numbered, they should be done in the decimal style, in which the first digit corresponds to the chapter number and the digit after the decimal point is the heading number within the chapter, starting with 1.
• Each heading should NOT begin on a new page.
• We recommend leaving a full line of blank space above each heading so that they may be easily distinguished from the main text.

A thesis may include tables, figures, photographs, musical examples, charts, graphs, line drawings, maps, and other illustrative materials. In addition, a thesis may include statements such as equations, definitions, corollaries, lemmas, theorems, propositions, and schemes. 

Numbering

• Each type of content (figures, tables, etc.) should be numbered independently.
• All types of content must be numbered consecutively throughout the entire thesis. Students may choose from one of two options:
  • A straight sequence (1, 2, 3, etc.). (Using this method, continue numbering from the previous chapter. Do not re-start the numbering at 1.)
  • The decimal system (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, etc.), in which the first digit corresponds to the chapter number and the digit after the decimal point is the order of the item within the chapter. (Do not number item by section (e.g., 1.2.1, 1.3.2, or the like. Using this method, items in Appendix A, B, C, and so forth would be numbered A.1, A.2, B.1, B.2, C.1 and so on.) 
  • If a chapter or document contains a section for supplementary materials, the items in this section should by labeled "Supplementary" Figure/Table/etc. and be numbered with one of the numbering styles described above. 

Alt Text

Figures, photographs, charts, graphs, maps, line drawings, and musical examples must include descriptive alt text. Alt text allows screen readers to describe images to users. It is usually brief (1-2 sentences) and conveys not only the visual appearance, but also the context of the image or graphic within the document. Your alt text should not duplicate the caption.

• If you are using Microsoft Word, we recommend adding alt text in Word before converting your document to a PDF. View this tutorial for adding alt text in Word (screenshot tutorial).
  • Improve accessibility with alt text  (video)
• If you are using LaTeX, adding alt text to packages with a status of compatible in Tagging Status of LaTeX Packages there is generally an alt option in the command, for example: \begin{tikzpicture}[alt={Alt text goes here}]
  • Packages not compatible can have alt text, but the methods vary. Consult the package’s documentation.
• How to write alt text:
  • Alternative Text for Images (includes examples for images, graphs, and charts)
  • WebAIM Guide to Writing Alt Text (thorough descriptions and many examples)
  • Guide to Writing Alt Text for Musical Examples
  • Note that autogenerated alt text  is typically general, unhelpful, and often inaccurate.

Captions

• Figure captions may be single-spaced and are not required to be set in the same font style or size as that of the main text.
• The font size of figure captions and table data may be as small as 7-point.
• Figure captions should appear on the same page as the figure to which they refer. If a caption continues onto the next page, it will need to have a label such as “Figure # (cont.)".

Figure Placement

• All figures must fit within the minimum 1-inch margins.
• Figures should be placed in the order in which they are numbered.
• If figures are grouped at the end of a chapter or the main text, each figure may be placed on a separate page.
• Figures grouped at the end of a chapter are considered a section, the first page of which should display the appropriate section heading (i.e., “Figures”, “Tables”, “Figures and Tables”, etc.).
• Figures grouped at the end of the main text are considered a chapter, the first page of which should display the appropriate chapter title (i.e., “Figures”, “Tables”, “Figures and Tables”, etc.).

Multiple-Page Figures

• Every page containing part of a multiple-page figure must include at least an abbreviated figure label such as “Figure 2.5 (cont.)”.
• The figure caption is only required to appear once; an abbreviated label may be used on subsequent pages.

Rotated Figures

• Page numbers, headings, captions, and titles may be rotated with the figure.

Tables

• Tables must have at least one row and/or column header, which helps readers understand the information they will find in the table. The row and/or column header needs to be identified in each table so that screen readers can easily navigate the table.
  • Create accessible tables in Word  (video)
  • LaTeX: Handling tables in the document
• Tables should be formatted as simply as possible by avoiding merged or split cells and tables with more than one header row. Screen readers convey information cell by cell from left to right, so it is difficult for them to parse out merged cells.
  • Understanding the difference between simple and complex tables
• Do not create tables without table headers. While this can be an easy way to organize information, screen readers cannot render the information in a way that will be helpful to your audience.

There is no reference style required by the Graduate College Thesis Office. However, departments may require the use of a reference style that is appropriate to the student’s program of study.

• All theses are required to have either a bibliography or a list of references.
• If placed at the end of the document, the heading Bibliography or References should be formatted in the same style as the chapter headings. However, it should not be labeled “Chapter.”
• In some scientific and engineering disciplines, the references may be placed at the end of each chapter instead of at the end of the thesis.

The appendix is a section that is placed at the end of the thesis and may contain material such as tables, figures, maps, photographs, raw data, musical examples, interview questions, sample questionnaires, and many other types of material.

• An appendix is considered a chapter equivalent and the appendix title should be formatted like a chapter title.
• Each appendix should have a title that describes what is contained in the appendix.
• Multiple appendices should be numbered A, B, C, and so on. Each appendix should be treated as a separate chapter equivalent and will therefore start on a new page.
• Page numbers used in the appendix must continue from the main text.
• Avoid including screenshots or scans of documents (such as IRB letters, protocols, survey questions, previously published materials, etc.) as this is not accessible. Screen readers cannot process this information and using alt text is often inappropriate. Some alternative options to consider include:
  • Combine the files, either through merging the PDFs or through Word or LaTeX.
  • Consider uploading these documents as Supplemental Files (see below).

Students may upload supplemental files as part of their thesis or dissertation. These files could include: recordings, code, large spreadsheets, interview questions, sample questionnaires, and many other types of material. These files are considered appendix items, and an appendix page must be included as part of the thesis and should be numbered accordingly. This page should include an appendix title, such as “Appendix A: Interview Transcriptions,” and a brief description of the material along with the name of the file in which the material is contained.

As technology continues to advance, we recognize that theses could include websites, podcasts, and other content. We want to work with you on how to best include this work as part of your thesis. Please reach out to us at thesis@illinois.edu to discuss options and next steps.

It is common practice in research institutions for students to include previously published work in their thesis. The Graduate College recommends that students consult with their committee and department to determine what content should be included and how. 

Students should cite previously published material on the first page of the chapter in which the material appears. The citation should acknowledge the previous publication, cites basic bibliographic information, and states that the copyright owner has provided permission to reprint. 

Working with Collaborators

In some disciplines, it is common for students to include material derived from a published paper with multiple authors. If you are using material that has been published with collaborators, we strongly recommend that you reach out to these individuals to let them know.

Students should also include a citation that acknowledges the contribution of the other authors, including any figures, tables, or data that were not created by the author.

Students with further questions regarding copyright and the use of previously published material should refer to copyright information and resources.

Notes on Formatting

• The formatting of previously published materials must align with the Graduate College formatting requirements. This means you may renumber and reformat portions of your work.
• The numbering of figures, tables, and headings must be in one of the numbering styles outlined in the sections above.