The thesis should follow requirements set forth by the home department or developed in consultation with the thesis advisor. Generally, one of the formats described in the Modern Language Association (MLA), Chicago Manual of Style, American Psychological Association or other standard style manuals should be used. See Style Guides.
The thesis page size must be 8½ × 11 inches, unless there is approval by the departments because of a need for a different format.
To facilitate printing and binding, the left margin must be at least 1½ inches wide. All other margins must be at least 1 inch wide and consistent. The text should be double-spaced, but extended quotations may be single-spaced if indented slightly from each margin. Text should be in a standard font, no larger than 14 points and no smaller than 10 points.
For preliminary pages (table of contents, etc.), use lower case Roman numerals at the bottom center of the page. Include the title page in the count but do not number it.
For the text (thesis, appendices, etc.), use Arabic numerals at the bottom center of the page. Include the first page of the text in the count but do not number it. First pages of new sections (bibliography, chapters, etc.) should also be numbered at the bottom center. If you’re not using the template this can be difficult; please see this guide from Microsoft Office Support.
Other styles of pagination such as MLA or APA may be used if approved by the department or thesis advisor.
Digital images, maps, charts, and graphs, unless otherwise specified by your academic department or thesis advisor should have a resolution of a minimum of 300 dots per inch (dpi) and should be in TIFF (preferred) or JPEG file formats. Librarians can help with creating, scanning, formatting or otherwise preparing images, maps, charts, or graphs.
Supplementary media materials should be included with the thesis deposited with the library. Files can be uploaded at the same time as the thesis PDF/A. Media contents shall be formatted in accordance to guidelines set by the academic department and/or thesis advisor. The library strongly encourages formatting that facilitates long term preservation and use. Additional questions on special materials may be referred to the Archivist & Head of Digital Services at archives@whitman.edu.
The usual make-up of the thesis is as follows:
1. Title Page
In order to ensure consistency among Whitman theses, the title page should closely follow the sample with respect to order, spacing, and capitalization. In general, abbreviations should not be used. The author’s name must be typed in full as it will appear on the commencement program.
2. Certificate of approval
The completed thesis must be approved by the professor under whose direction the work was done. Use the sample certificate of approval form as a guide. The certificate of approval must be signed by the thesis advisor, it will be extracted from the PDF you submit once it has been approved and sent to your advisor to be signed digitally. Please make sure to fill in your name (same as it appears on the title page), major, advisor's name (below the line), and the date of Reading Day. NOTE: This is not the same form as the Honors in Major Study Application for the department/committee chair due to the Registrar’s Office immediately after the October break.
3. Table of contents
Depending on departmental requirements, most theses must have a table of contents immediately following the certificate of approval. It must list all the principal topics or subdivisions of the thesis and their initial page numbers.
4. Abstract
An abstract in your thesis helps users identify, retrieve, and use the thesis. See the appropriate style guide for your discipline for instructions on writing an abstract. An abstract is not required. When you are submitting your thesis, you can either copy and paste this into the digital submission form, or, if you do not have one already in your thesis, you can provide us with keywords for your thesis. This description will be shown on ARMINDA.
5. List of illustrations
All figures, tables, charts, graphs, drawings, plates and other illustrations are to be listed on a page following the table of contents, numbered consecutively in either Arabic or Roman numerals in the order in which they appear in the thesis. The number of the illustration(s) should appear at the left of each entry, and the page number on which each illustration appears should be indicated at the right of the entry.
6. Text Format (Discipline Specific)
Text should follow the style (APA, Chicago, MLA, etc.) of the thesis discipline.
7. Bibliography
The bibliography shall be placed following the text in a form approved for use by the academic department. See our Citation Style Guide. Librarians can help you format your citations, but we do not need to review them as a matter of approving your thesis formatting.
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