ku thesis guidelines

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Formatting Specifics

Ku thesis and dissertation formatting: formatting specifics.

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This libguide provides helpful hints and quick tutorials in regards to most aspects of thesis/dissertation formatting.

For specific requirements, please see the KU Office of Graduate Studies Thesis or Dissertation Formatting Guidelines. These can be accessed by visiting https://graduate.ku.edu/formatting

Formatting FAQ

Q: What citation and formatting style (e.g. MLA, APA, Chicago) should I use? A: This a decision that you are allowed to make, keeping in mind what style is common in your field, and what style your chair/committee thinks is most appropriate. The important thing is that you use your chosen style consistently.

Q: Which sections do I need to include in my thesis/dissertation? A: See below.

Q: What should my margins be? A: Margins should generally be one inch on all sides. Margins can be wider, but they cannot be smaller. If you are unsure if you need standard or wider margins, consult with your chair/committee.

Q: What font should I use? A: The Office of Graduate Studies recommends 11- or 12-point Times New Roman. However, students can generally work with other, non-Times New Roman fonts as long as they are commonly-used (e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Garamond). If you are unsure as to what fonts to use, or if you need to use a non-standard font for a specific purpose, consult with your chair or your committee. If you use a non-standard font, make sure you embed it before submitting.

Q: How should my lines be spaced? A: Double-spacing is preferred, although single-spacing in the table of contents, footnotes, endnotes, charts, graphs, tables, block quotations, captions, glossary, appendices, and bibliography is acceptable. If you need to use single-spacing throughout your thesis/dissertation, you must secure prior written approval from your dissertation committee and your graduate division.

Q: How should my headers be formatted? Footers? A: Your dissertation—even if it is formatted according to APA rules—should not have any headers. Likewise, the only thing that should appear in the footer is a page number.

Q: Do I include faculty signatures when I upload my PDF to ProQuest? A: To decrease the risk of identity theft, do not upload pages with original signatures to ProQuest. Committee members' signatures will instead be included on the physical copy of your thesis or dissertation that is turned in to your department upon completion.

Q: Should I include spaces in my filename? A: Do not include spaces in your filename. Underscoring is allowed.

Thesis and Dissertation Content

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Submitting Your Thesis or Dissertation Electronically

The following guidelines, resources, and templates are here to support graduate students as they format their theses and/or dissertations for ProQuest submission, which is required for graduation.

Please direct all questions about Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) submissions that are not addressed here to your school-level ETD contact, which you can find listed below.

The University of Kansas requires that all students whose degree programs require the defense of a thesis or dissertation must publish their research in order to fulfill degree requirements. The publication requirement is satisfied by submitting the Electronic Thesis or Dissertation (ETD) to UMI/ProQuest. You may review the policies governing  master's theses  and  doctoral dissertations  for more information.

Your thesis or dissertation should meet all of the  formatting requirements  laid out in KU's ETD Formatting Guidelines. 

Please note:  The final document you submit electronically must contain only your thesis or dissertation and the scholarly apparatus as described in these formatting guidelines. It must not include any prior publications or other scholarly or creative works.

Before you submit your thesis or dissertation, make sure you have gathered the following:

• The Subject Category or Categories under which your research falls— Click to view ProQuest's list of Subject Categories
• Between 6 and 8 keywords to be used as search terms within ProQuest
• Your abstract
• Any documentation of copyright permissions you have been granted, if necessary
• Your credit card, if you would like ProQuest to file your copyright on your behalf (optional)
• ETD Release Form (pdf)
• ETD Release Form for Creative Writing MFA/PhD students ONLY (pdf)

The following materials may also be helpful as you prepare your final submission:

• KU ScholarWorks — You can check here to see whether your work has been posted
• Video of Spring 2023 Workshop

ETD Contacts

School of architecture & design.

Jordan Wade [email protected]

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Lauren Chaney [email protected]

School of Business

Charly Edmonds [email protected]

School of Education

Kim Huggett [email protected]

School of Engineering

Tracy Rockers [email protected]

School of Journalism & Mass Communications

Jammie Johnson [email protected]

School of Music

Anna Paradis [email protected]

School of Pharmacy

Patti Steffan [email protected]

School of Social Welfare

Georgiana O'Connor [email protected]

ProQuest ETD Administrator

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Theses and Dissertations

As you embark upon this important element of your academic career, you should be aware of what a dissertation or thesis looks like. After all, how can you write a dissertation chapter if you've never read one before? Advisers often focus on the content of your dissertation or thesis since this is the culmination of a stage of your academic career and as such should showcase your writing, research, and critical thinking skills-but the form of a dissertation or thesis is also important, and commensurately more difficult to teach.

For every discipline there are differing expectations as to what a dissertation or thesis should include, as well as how it should be formatted. Even though as a writer you have control over how to explain your ideas and how to organize them within the text, scholars in your field have agreed upon how a dissertation/thesis should be organized: what types of chapters you should include, the minimum number of chapters a dissertation or thesis should have, and how those are formatted. This is where seeing and reading what other writers within your discipline and department have done will be helpful. You should do this sooner rather than later.

Getting Started: 

• Start by asking your adviser if they have any suggestions of dissertations or theses you should look at. They may point you to things like the writings of an ex-advisee or a certain literature review article in a journal.
• After speaking to your adviser, you can seek out either a reference librarian or a subject librarian to find other dissertations or theses in your subject area. Find out more about how to access completed dissertations and theses at Dissertations and Theses at KU . 
• Reading not just for content but also for form will help you understand better how to put together your dissertation or thesis. Learn about thesis and dissertation formatting via  KU Libraries: Thesis and Dissertation Formatting . 
• Think about how the project as a whole is organized as well as how the individual chapters are organized: how do they separate their literature review from their discussion of their results, for example? Do they utilize headings and subheadings or bulleted lists at any point?
• Moreover, take notes about elements of the project that stand out to you: use of tables, inclusion of photographs, striking introductions, chapter titles.
• Based on what you know so far, brainstorm ideas for what to include in your project and how those ideas can be organized. See Prewriting Strategies.  

Finding and Synthesizing Sources: 

Produce a research question that you hope your research will answer. If you are at the beginning stage of this process, you may have a general or vague question or set of questions. Eventually you want to create a set of questions that focus on a specific problem within your area of interest and join an existing academic conversation. 

Begin researching. The KU Libraries has many guides and tutorials for how to use the library resources. You can also set up a meeting with a librarian . 

Compile a list of sources that seem to approach your subject of interest. In the beginning you may want to compile at least a list of 10 sources and to organize them in a matrix or an annotated bibliography where you note the subject matter of the source, its novel argument, its theoretical relationship to the subject and field, and what may be lacking within the analysis. At a later stage, you may want to synthesize what is different between each source and similar to all the sources you compile and decide on the specific problem you want your research to cover based on the existing viewpoints and conversations on the topic. Find more information on Annotated Bibliographies in our Bibliographies guide. 

Find data and a data source that is appropriate and compatible with your research problem and question. If you are collecting your own data, make sure that you complete the appropriate protocols to ensure that your project will be completed within the intended timeframe.  

Keep track of your sources through citation management tools like EndNote and Zotero. See How to Select and Use Citation Management Tools . 

Additional steps will depend on the kind of project you are completing. At this point it may be a good idea to meet with the Graduate Writing Coach for more guidance on additional steps.

Literature Reviews: 

The point of the literature review section of your thesis or dissertation is to demonstrate an understanding of the ongoing conversations, disagreements, and conceptualizations of your topic of interest. As a form of writing that tends to be highly technical, it will probably undergo several changes before you are able to reach a draft that closely resembles your final product. Your literature review should directly correspond to your research questions, research purpose, and may be used to justify the methodology of the study. Learn more through our Literature Reviews guide. 

Getting Feedback: 

Stuck in your writing process? You may benefit from a consultation with our graduate writing director. To schedule a meeting and for more information see the following: Graduate Writing Coaching | KU Writing Center  

Faculty Feedback: Throughout your thesis and dissertation process you will have to keep consistent communication with your advisor/chair and committee members. It is important to view all faculty feedback throughout this process as a conversation that will allow your research to both improve and reach the required conventions of research in your field. If you find yourself stuck with contradictory comments or unclear questions, you may want to reach out to your advisor for additional help. If you have questions throughout this process, you may also want to consider making a coaching appointment with the graduate writing director at the link above.   

Time Management: 

It is important that you learn and intentionally prioritize your thesis and dissertation research and writing.  

Set aside a direct weekly block to complete your thesis/dissertation hours.  

Use SMARTER goals to help you keep track of your progress and to split the larger semester goal into weekly goals that can be measured, are concrete, and remain specific.  

Time-block your calendar so that you can set aside concrete time to finish your weekly writing goal and to block off time to complete your other responsibilities.  

Find an accountability buddy within your department, have consistent check-in sessions with your advisor or committee member, and/or join a KU writing group to help you stay on track.  

References: 

Foss, Sonja K., and Waters, William Joseph Condon. Destination Dissertation: a Traveler's Guide to a Done Dissertation. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007. 

(Updated July 2022)  

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Thesis Guidelines

A thesis should be the culmination of course work completed in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications by a student in the MSJ program. A thesis is theoretically based, scientific research directed and critiqued by an academic committee selected by the graduate student in accordance with the guidelines in this Handbook, which reflect the guidelines of KU’s Office of Graduate Studies.

Thesis Proposal

The proposal outlines the capstone research to be conducted as part of completion of the Master’s degree. The proposal must be shared with the student’s academic committee and approved by that committee before the start of primary data collection. The proposal includes:

• An  introduction  that outlines the problem that will be examined, the purpose and importance of the research, a brief introduction of the theory and method used in the study, and an overview of work’s chapters. (5-10 pages)
• An exhaustive  literature review  outlining the previous research conducted on the subject, an extensive explanation of the theory being used in the study, and research questions and/or hypotheses. (20-25 pages)
• A  methodology  of the data being used in the study. The methodology will include the sample and how it will be collected, operationalization of definitions used in the study, measurements used in the study, timeline for gathering/analyzing data, and other materials pertaining to the validity of the data collection. The methodology is the most important aspect of research design. Be thorough in explaining plans for data collection. Fail in the methodology and the research fails. (5-10 pages)
• A  plan of action  will outline the timetable for the thesis, beginning with a proposal approval date and ending with a thesis defense. Be specific with dates about data collection, writing the results and conclusions. (1-2 pages)
• References  of all materials used in the proposal (pages as needed)
• Thesis proposal total: About 30-45 pages (+ references)

The thesis generally consists of five chapters: the introduction, literature review, and methods, each revised in accordance with committee recommendations; and the results and discussion/conclusion chapters. Other organizational schemes may be more appropriate for some topics. The complete thesis must be presented to the student’s academic committee and formally defended in front of that committee. The thesis generally includes:

• A revised  introduction . (5-10 pages)
• A revised  literature review . (20-25 pages)
• A revised  methodology . (5-10 pages)
• Results  of the research that answers the research questions or addressed the hypotheses. Analysis of data should be explained. A clear understanding and summation of the results are to be included. Charts, tables and graphs are to be included in the results section. (7-10 pages)
• A  discussion  provides context to the results and explains why the results are what they are. The discussion can also introduce additional results that are not addressed in by the RQs or Hs. The discussion should circle back to the literature review and explain how and why this study added to the theory, and the practical implications. The discussion should incorporate the results of the current study into the results from previous work. The author should be able to contextualize what it all means to the larger research. The discussion should include the study’s limitations and questions for future research. (10-15 pages)
• Conclusions  summarize the key points of the research and its implications. (3-5 pages)
• References  of all materials used in the proposal. (pages as needed)
• Thesis total: about 50-75 pages (+ references)

(NOTE : Page numbers are rough estimates. Actual length of each thesis chapter will vary depending on each student’s research questions and research approach.)

• KU Thesis and Dissertation Formatting Guidelines.
• Thesis Style Guide.