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Formatting your thesis in Word

This guide is primarily intended for those who use the Library's thesis templates in Word, but may also be useful for those who have chosen not to use the templates.

The template you downloaded has pre-formatted styles for body text, heading 1–5, quotes, lists etc. Make sure you state a format for each body text, title, etc. in your thesis. This will make it easier to create a neat layout when you have finished writing. To state a format for e.g. Heading 1, click or mark a heading in your text, then go to format templates and click on Heading 1. Heading 1 now has the correct size, typeface and spacing before and after.

You can see all the styles of the template in the styles gallery by opening the Styles dialog box (click on Button image) under the Home tab. The menu contains all formats for headings, body text, lists, images and tables. When you use a format from the format list, the text will have the correct font, size, and space above and below the text.

Highlighted style in the Styles gallery

  1. Go to Start > Styles
  2. Open the Style Templates dialog box.
  3. Place the cursor in the text on the first page for which you want to select a format.
  4. In the list, click on the style that you want to apply to your text (eg Heading 1).
  5. The text is now formatted according to the selection you made (eg Heading 1).

Apply the Reference list format. The font size is set to 10 pt.

TIP: If you are using EndNote or another reference management system, you should use the Reference list format in the Word template after you have updated your references.

NOTE: If you have a version of Word other than Word 2019 for Windows, the layout may look slightly different, but the principle remains the same.

Body text - Normal, Normal (indented) and Normal (space)

Size: 11 pt
Line spacing: (Minimum) 13 pt 

There are three formats for body text: Normal, Normal (indented) and Normal (space). The size is 11 points (pt) and the text is aligned with straight margins on both the left and right sides.

Normal is only used for the first paragraph under a heading. When you press the Enter key to create a new line after a heading, this style is automatically applied to the empty line. Note that you should not leave a blank line after a heading.
Normal (indented) is the standard body text style and should be used for most of your text. When you press the Enter key to create a new line after either Normal or Normal (indented), this style is automatically applied to the blank line. Please note that you should avoid leaving empty lines between paragraphs.
Normal (space) should be used after figure text, lists, quotes, graphs, illustrations, equations and tables.

Footnote reference

Size: 9 pt
Effect:  Superscript

Footnote text

Size: 9 pt
Line spacing (Exact): 10 pt

  • The formats "Heading 1" down to "Heading 5" are available, and should be used hierarchically. Depending on your needs, it may not be necessary to use all heading levels in your text; three or four levels often suffice.
  • Headings 1 to 3 are visible in the table of contents (TOC).
  • You should use Heading 1 for chapter headings. The heading is automatically placed at the top of a new page.
  • Do not leave a blank line after a heading.

  Heading 1 Heading 2 Heading 3 Heading 4 Heading 5 Heading 1 - Not in TOC
Font group: Normal Normal Normal Bold Italic Normal
Font size: 18 pt 15 pt 13 pt 11 pt 11 pt 18 pt
Line spacing (At least): 20 pt 17 pt 15 pt 13 pt 13 pt 20 pt

Spacing before:

 0 pt 30 pt 20 pt 11 pt 11 pt 0 pt
Spacing after: 84 pt 5 pt 4 pt 2 pt 2 pt 84 pt

 

 

Heading 1 - Not in TOC

Heading 1 - Not in TOC looks the same as a chapter heading (Heading 1), but will not be included in the table of contents (TOC).

Remove spacing before Headings 3, 4 and 5

If you have a heading 3, 4 or 5 that comes directly after a higher-level heading, you can manually remove the space left between them:

  1. Place the cursor on the heading you want to change (e.g. heading 3).
  2. Go to Start > Paragraph.
  3. Open the Paragraph settings dialogue box (Button image) > Indent and spacing.
  4. Under Spacing, change the Before value to zero (0).
  5. Click on OK.

Multi-level numbered headings

You can number headings so that top level headings (Heading 1) are numbered for example 1, 2, 3, and second level headings (Heading 2) are numbered 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and so on.

  1. Open your document and select the first heading with the Heading 1 format (e.g. Introduction).
  2. Select the Start tab
  3. Select the multi-level list in the ‘Paragraph’ group.
  4. Select the numbering style ‘1 Heading 1’ under the List Library that you want to use in your document.

NOTE: If you have a version of Word other than Word 2019 for Windows, it may look slightly different, but the principle is the same.

Images are saved as JPG and have a resolution of 300 ppi in the final format. If you are unsure, please send the image to us so that we can check if it is suitable for printing.

Image format

Image format centres the image in the paragraph and adds spacing above the image. You can insert an image before or after applying the Image format style.

Before:

  1. Place the marker on a new empty line.
  2. In the Style list choose Image format. Now you can see that the marker is centred.
  3. Insert the figure.

After:

  1. Select the inserted image
  2. In the Style list choose Image format. Now you can see that the image is centred.

If you need to insert a figure/image, use the Word tool Insert > pictures.

Insert pictures

Use ‘insert picture’ – it is the easiest way to place images correctly.

See instructions on Microsoft's website: 

Figures created in PowerPoint

  • Figures created in PowerPoint are grouped, copied, and then pasted into the Word file. If that does not work, you can try to save the figure as a PNG file, and then place it into the Word file via “insert picture”.
  • Figures created in Excel are saved as EMF files and then placed into a Word file.

Tables

Tables are best created directly in Word.

Insert table

If you need to insert a table, use the Word tool Insert > Table

See  further instructions on Microsoft's website: 

Cellformat

Use this style to format the text inside the table.

Footnote text and footnote references in table

If you need to insert footnotes to a table, you can use the styles footnote text under table for the text below the table, and footnote references in table for the reference symbol within the table. Word does not apply these styles automatically.

Insert captions

If you want to insert a caption describing figures, tables, equations, or another object:

  1. Right click on the image or table, 
  2. Choose insert caption 
  3. In the Label list, select the label that best describes the object, such as a figure or a table. If the list does not include the label you want, click New Label, type the new label in the Label box, and then click OK.
  4. Type any text, including punctuation, that you want to appear after the label.

  5. Click OK.

NOTE:  Figure captions are always placed under figures. Table captions are always placed above tables.

See  further instructions on Microsoft's website: Add, format, or delete captions in Word.

Create list

  1. Select all the text lines to be included in the list you want to create.
  2. Select the list format you want to use (Simple list [without dots or numbers], Numbered list, Roman list or Point list).

Create spacing before the list

  1. Place the cursor on the first line of the list.
  2. Select the Home tab, then Paragraph and the Paragraph Settings dialogue box (Button image) > Indent and Spacing.
  3. Under Spacing, change the Before value to 13 pt.
  4. Click OK.

Create spacing after the list

Use the Normal (space) format on the first paragraph after the list paragraphs.

  • Quotes longer than three lines are usually inserted as separate paragraphs instead of using quotation marks. To visually separate the quotes from the body text, use the Quotes format.
  • The text is indented from the left margin; the text size is set to 10 points (pt), with a space above the quoted paragraph.
  • Note that if the quote has more than one paragraph, you should use the Quotes (indented) format for the second paragraph. Use Normal (space) on the paragraph after the quoted paragraph to complete the separation of the quote from the body text.