Formatting

Dissertations or
Theses for UMass
Amherst
WITH WINDOWS WORD 2016

IT User Services
UMASS AMHERST |
January 2017

Formatting Dissertations or Theses for

UMass Amherst with Windows Word 2016

Quick Tips:
1. Read the Graduate School’s Guidelines and follow their rules. See:
https://www.umass.edu/gradschool/sites/default/files/thesis_and_dissertation_guideli
nes.pdf
2. To save your time, you could download the thesis templates and this tutorial at UMass IT
website below. Find your version of Microsoft Word and the format (Numeric or Simple) you
want to use to download.
https://www.it.umass.edu/support/workshops-training/format-a-thesis-or-dissertation-
microsoft-word
Template or File Name Template or File Name Description
Numeric Simple
Prelim2016Numeric.docx Prelim2016Simple.docx This file contains preliminary pages: title,
copyright, signature, acknowledgement,
abstract, table of contents, list of table, and
list of figures. Put all your chapters together
by copying or inserting them, in turn, into the
end of this file. Substitute your name,
committee members’ name, dates, etc. for the
phony ones that were used in this document.
Thesis2016Numeric.docx Thesis2016Simple.docx This document demonstrates an example of a
dissertation that contains preliminary pages
and sample chapters. You can substitute your
work into this document and use this file for
the whole dissertation if you want it all in one
file.
umass2016Numeric.dotx umass2016Simple.dotx This is a blank template that has all of the
needed formatting already incorporated into
the styles. Use this template to start from
scratch. Type the text of each chapter of your
dissertation, using the various heading styles
provided by this template. You may change
the default font to another font. You will later
put all the chapters together into the end of
the file with the preliminary pages in it.

PDF copy of this tutorial: Formatting

Word2016-handout.pdf Dissertations or Theses for UMass
Amherst with Mac Word 2016.
UMass IT Help Center
[email protected] (413) 545-TECH
January 2017
3. Choose some basic formats, then use them for everything:
Font and Size A common 10- to 12- point True Type font. Most
standard fonts are acceptable, such as Times
New Roman, Cambria, Helvetica or Courier.
Margins The margins for each page:
left 1.5 inches
right 1 inch
top 1 inch
bottom 1 inch
Paragraphs for chapters Double-spaced, first line indented 0.5 inch, widow
and orphan protection on, no hyphenations; left-
justified or full-justified
Block quotes Indent the left margin of your paragraph

4. Use the Spelling checker – put technical words for your discipline in its dictionary.
5. Make sure all tables and figures fit within the required margins. If some don’t you will have to
rotate them or place them on landscape-oriented pages. If you can, keep landscape pages
together, preferably at the end, rather than switching back and forth between landscape and
portrait.
6. Use styles to make your headings within chapters consistent (see section IV in this document).
7. Bibliography: single-spaced with a blank line between entries. Word can keep each entry on the
same page, as required.
8. Double space between new levels of subheading in the Table of Contents.
9. Some things to avoid:
a. Do not attempt to put dots in a list by pressing the period key repeatedly. Set a tab stop
(Format > Tabs) and under Leader choose #2, dots.
b. Do not attempt to line things up by pressing the tab key repeatedly. Set a tab stop where
you want it.
c. Don’t type your Table of Contents yourself – let Word do it. If you use the Heading styles in
your document, Word can create a Table of Contents for you.

In this handout, we use capital letters for those menus that are in the menu bar (at the top of the
screen) such as FILE, EDIT, VIEW.

UMass IT Help Center

[email protected] (413) 545-TECH
Contents

I. the template files .............................................................................................................................................. 4

Importing the UMass template to your existing document ................................................................... 4
II. general formatting of chapters ........................................................................................................................ 7
A. the font and style we use in UMass templates ........................................................................................ 7
NOTE on the relationship between the font in Normal style and other styles: ..................................... 7
how styles are defined............................................................................................................................ 7
to modify a style ..................................................................................................................................... 8
B. the Page Layout....................................................................................................................................... 11
C. page numbering ...................................................................................................................................... 13
D. adding words to the dictionary ............................................................................................................... 15
E. the format for paragraphs in the text ..................................................................................................... 16
III. references ..................................................................................................................................................... 18
A. citations in the text ................................................................................................................................. 18
B. footnotes or endnotes ............................................................................................................................ 19
C. bibliography ............................................................................................................................................ 21
using Word’s citation feature ............................................................................................................... 21
typing the Bibliography......................................................................................................................... 22
paragraph formatting ........................................................................................................................... 22
IV. headings and captions .................................................................................................................................. 23
A. headings in chapters ............................................................................................................................... 23
B. captions for tables and figures ................................................................................................................ 24
V. finishing ......................................................................................................................................................... 25
A. adding a portrait page number to a landscape page.............................................................................. 25
To make landscape page(s) in your document:.................................................................................... 25
B. put chapters into the same file as preliminary pages ............................................................................. 32
C. preliminary pages .................................................................................................................................... 33
page numbers ....................................................................................................................................... 33
D. create lists of tables and figures ............................................................................................................. 34
E. create the table of contents .................................................................................................................... 36
fix the table of contents........................................................................................................................ 40
updating page numbers ........................................................................................................................ 43
Appendix: styles ................................................................................................................................................. 44

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I. the template files
There are two different template files in order to meet the needs of different graduate students.
The Graduate School permits three different formats of headings and Table of Contents entries.
This handout includes, and the templates support, the two most commonly used formats: the
“simple” and the “numeric” formats.

Select the template that uses the styles of Headings and Table of Contents that you prefer to use.
You can change your mind later.

Download the 2016 Numeric or 2016 Simple.zip file according to your preferred format from the
UMass IT website: https://www.it.umass.edu/support/workshops-training/format-a-thesis-or-
dissertation-microsoft-word. Double-click the file to unzip it. The template files will now appear in
a folder with the same name as the .zip file. In the folder, you will find the
umass2016numeric.dotx, Prelim2016Numeric.docx and Thesis2016Numeric (or
umass2016simple.dotx, Prelim2016Simple and Thesis2016Simple) files. Double-click the file you
want to use to begin.

Importing the UMass template to your existing document

With the document open, go to File; choose Options, which is near the bottom.

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On the Word Options screen, in the left panel, choose Add-Ins.
At the bottom of the dialog box, in the Manage pane, select Templates then click Go…

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 Word brings up the Custom Office Templates dialog box. Navigate to the UMass templates
(umass2016Numeric or umass2016Simple) where you saved them. Click on the one you want,
and then click Open (The example below is umass2016Numeric).

After you click Open, Word presents you with the Templates and Add-Ins screen. Be sure to click
for Automatically update document styles. Then click OK.

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II. general formatting of chapters
A. the font and style we use in UMass templates
We use Times New Roman, 12 point, Microsoft Word’s default font, as our default style (which is
called Normal):

The Normal style is also single-spaced, left justified, turns on Widow/Orphan Control and turns off
Hyphenation.

NOTE on the relationship between the font in Normal style and other styles:
If you change the Normal font to something else, you must check and may need to change the
other styles you use as well – headings, caption, page number, endnote or footnote and their
references, etc.

how styles are defined

You can see which styles are used and what they are called by looking on the Home ribbon; to see
all of the style names at once, click on the “styles dialog box launcher” in the Styles group (the
downward-pointing arrow to the right of the word “Styles”).

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to modify a style
In the list of styles as shown below, select the style you want to change (in this case, Normal); click
on the little arrow pointing down (or right-click); Word brings up a screen listing choices, choose
Modify.

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Word then displays a screen where you can modify the Font or the Format of the style. Format
includes tab setting and paragraph characteristics, as well as other things we don’t use in theses.

In Word 2016, you can change the spacing of the Normal style another way: on the Design ribbon,
in the Document Formatting group, select Paragraph Spacing.

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From the choices Word offers, select No Paragraph Space which will make the Normal style actual
single space – spacing of 1, with no extra space before or after a paragraph. Then choose Set as
Default

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B. the Page Layout
On the Page Layout ribbon, Page Setup group, choose Margins:

At Margins, hold your cursor down on the arrow; when the Margins dialog box opens, move your
cursor to the bottom to Custom Margins and click on it:

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On the Page Setup dialog box, the margins should be 1 inch on the top, right and bottom and 1.5
inches on the left.

Be sure that Apply To: is set to Whole Document. Or that you set these margins in all sections of
your document (except for Landscape-oriented pages).

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C. page numbering
Set the page numbering: on the Insert ribbon, in the Header & Footer group; click Page Number;
choose Bottom of Page and then choose Plain Number 2.

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Page numbering is at bottom center (in the footer). It is supposed to be 0.5 inch from the bottom
of the page and about that from the last line of text. Word usually inserts an extra blank line under
the page number, which moves the number up too high in the margin. Check for that extra blank
line (you will need to have “Show hidden characters” turned on to see it) and, if it exists, select the
paragraph mark and delete it.

Return to the Page Number menu and select Format Page Numbers.

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On the Page Number Format dialog box, set the Number Format to Arabic (1,2,3, etc). Within the
first chapter, select Start at 1. In all subsequent chapters, use Continue from previous section.

Two things to look out for:

1. Word 2016 often put an extra blank line in the footer below the page number; remove the line
or the page number will not be in the right place.
2. The font for page numbers is not based on the Normal style. If you change the Normal style,
change the Page Number style as well.

If you have pages in landscape orientation, see the section on adding a portrait page number later
in this document.

D. adding words to the dictionary

The Spelling and Grammar checker can find typing mistakes for you. But you need to add the
technical terms for your discipline or Word will mark those too, even if they are correctly typed.

On the Review ribbon, in the Proofing group, select Spelling and Grammar. When the program
finds a word it does not recognize, it opens a dialog box with suggestions and several options; if
you are sure the word is correct, choose Add to Dictionary.

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E. the format for paragraphs in the text
Within the chapters, most of the text is double-spaced, either left-justified or fully justified, no
hyphenation, and with a consistent indent on each first line. In the templates, the style called
Paragraph-text provides those settings; it is left-justified.

To use the paragraph-text style:

Type a paragraph for the text, without any formatting. Then select that paragraph by clicking your
cursor in it once. On the Home ribbon, click the Styles Dialog Box Launcher.

The Style task pane opens, click on the name Paragraph-text.

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To set a paragraph format yourself in the Paragraph dialog box:

On Home Ribbon Paragraph group, Paragraph dialog box launcher, Paragraph dialog box:
On the Indents and Spacing tab, under Line spacing, select double space; under Special, select First
Line indent 0.5 inch.

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III. references
The Graduate School allows: (1) citations in the text; (2) footnotes at the bottoms of pages;
(3) endnotes at the end of the entire document; (4) or endnotes at the end of each chapter. If you
must have notes, putting notes at the end of each chapter is easiest for the writer. However, if you
have any pages in landscape orientation (wider than they are tall), Word cannot automatically put
the notes at the end of individual chapters or at the end of the dissertation (before the
Bibliography) because the Section Break for the landscape page(s) causes Word to put the
endnotes there. You can use footnotes that are numbered sequentially throughout the document.

A. citations in the text

Word’s “citation” feature: on the References ribbon, Citations & Bibliography group, in Style:
choose a style of citation from among those offered by Word (the example below is APA style).

Once you have chosen the style, click on the Insert Citation button. Word opens a gallery in which
you choose whether to enter a placeholder or bibliographical information.

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If you choose to enter a placeholder, you can come back later and fill in the bibliographical
information. If you choose Add New Source, Word opens a dialog box in which you enter the
bibliographical information.

Word inserts the citation in the text of the chapter: The citation includes author and date.

B. footnotes or endnotes
If the “citations” form does not work for you, create footnotes
or endnotes. On the References ribbon, Footnotes group, select
the Footnotes dialog box launcher. Word opens the Footnote
and Endnote dialog box. Choose Footnotes. Or Endnotes at:
End of section.

For either footnotes or endnotes, choose Arabic numbers (1, 2,

3, etc.), Start At 1, and, usually,
Numbering: Restart each section.
If you want endnotes at the end of the document, or footnotes
numbered continuously through the whole document, choose
Continuous.
For Apply changes to: select Whole document:

Click on the Apply button.

Word puts a super-scripted reference number in the text (which it updates as necessary) and opens
an endnote/footnote window in which it also puts the reference number and waits for you to type
the actual text of the note.

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You may need to format the note to follow the style in your Style Manual.

Also, don’t forget to check the font for these references and their reference numbers if you are not
using the default font from one of the UMass templates.

If you want footnotes to begin numbering with 1 in each chapter, or, if you want endnotes at the
end of each chapter, you must separate chapters with a Section Break > Next Page.

endnote placement
There are two choices for placing endnotes: at the ends of each chapter or at the end of the thesis
or dissertation (just before the Bibliography).

Word puts the notes at the end of the current section. To put notes at the ends of chapters, end
each chapter with a Section Break. Insert a Page Break at the end of the text in the chapter (before
the Section Break) so that notes begin printing on a new page, not on the last page of text. Then
replace the default “note separator” (see below).

To put notes at the end of the thesis or dissertation, insert a Page Break between each chapter,
and insert a Section Break before the Bibliography.

note separators

To change the “separators” (which separate the

notes from the chapter’s text) from the default:
In View > Draft, go to References > Footnotes >
Show Notes. Go to the note “pane,” by clicking
on the arrow next to the phrase All Endnotes.
Select Endnote Separator; within that window,
remove the line that is there by default, then type the word Notes, center and bold it, and add a
blank line:

Next, select Endnote Continuation Separator

from the pane and replace the line that was in
it with a space, and press the Return key twice.
This will cause these pages to print without a
visible separation (instead of a line across the
page, which is the default).

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C. bibliography
The format of your Bibliography is determined by the Style Manual you are using (see “Appendix G:
Suggested Style Manuals,” in the Graduate School’s Guidelines). Check with your advisors to see if
there is a required style manual for your discipline.

using Word’s citation feature

Word has built-in styles for many of the most-frequently used bibliography styles, which can create
an alphabetized list from the information in citations. If you used citations for references, you can
use that to build the bibliography.

In the References ribbon, Citations and Bibliography group, select the Style (the example below
shows APA style) and Bibliography. From the drop-down menu, select Bibliography:

Word inserts a bibliography based on the citations you have entered and format for the style
you selected. Note that the title is upper-lower case, and it is not in the Heading 1 style; the
Graduate School requires it to be capitalized. If you will use Word to create your Table of
Contents, the title must also be in the Heading 1 style.

Select the entries and change the paragraph style to make sure that entries are single-spaced,
have a blank line between each one and do not break across pages (see the examples on the
next page).

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typing the Bibliography
If you are typing the entries yourself,
use the style Bibliography and/or
make the paragraphs single-spaced
with “Keep lines together” turned on.
Check your style manual for whether
you need the hanging indent.

paragraph formatting
The Bibliography style uses single
spacing.

If your style requires a hanging indent

so only the first line of each entry
starts at the left margin and all
subsequent lines are indented, on the
Indents and Spacing tab, under
Special, choose Hanging and the
amount (usually 0.5 inch).

To keep the text of each entry on one page,

on the Line and Page Breaks tab,
click to put a check next to
Keep Lines Together

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IV. headings and captions
A. headings in chapters
The Graduate School requires that each chapter have a title. Most people also have at least one
level of headings within the chapters. The Guidelines show three different formats of headings and
their corresponding entries in the Table of Contents. This handout includes the two most
commonly used ones: the simple format and the numeric format. The simple format is
recommended whenever possible. The numeric format is often used in the sciences.

The Heading 1 - Heading 5 styles in the UMass templates will format the headings correctly in your
chapters and mark the headings for proper inclusion in your Table of Contents.

Heading 1 is used for the acknowledgements, abstract, chapter titles, bibliography, and the titles of
any appendices. Note that if you are using bold face for your chapter titles, you also need to bold
face the word CHAPTER and its number. You need to do that yourself, since those paragraphs are
not in Heading 1 style.

Heading 2 is for the first level of subheadings. For the simple format, Heading 2 is centered,
upper/lower case, underlined; because Heading 1 is in bold, so is Heading 2. For the numeric
format the heading is bold and at the margin, preceded by a number (e.g., 1.1 is for the first
Heading 2 in Chapter 1).

Heading 3 is for the second level of subheadings. For the simple format, Heading 3 is centered,
upper/lower case, not underlined; because Heading 1 is in bold, so is Heading 3. For the numeric
format, the heading is bold and at the margin preceded by a number (e.g., 1.1.1 is for the first
Heading 3 in Chapter 1, section 1).

Heading 4 is for the third level of subheadings. For the simple format, Heading 4 is at the left
margin, upper/lower case, underlined; because Heading 1 is in bold, so is Heading 4. Numeric
format is bold; example: 1.1.1.1.

Heading 5 is for the fourth level of subheadings. For the simple format, Heading 5 is at the left
margin, upper/lower case, not underlined; because Heading 1 is in bold, so is Heading 5. Numeric
format is bold; example: 1.1.1.1.1.

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B. captions for tables and figures
The Graduate School permits you to number the captions sequentially throughout the document
(Table 1, Table 2, etc.) or to number them with the chapter number included (Table 1.1, Table 1.2,
etc.). It is easier to use the simple format if you are able to put all Tables and Figures in Appendices
at the end of the thesis or dissertation.

Select the Caption style for the titles or captions of all Tables and Figures. You may be able to use
Word’s Insert Caption command; however, I have found it difficult because we have to make
changes in the captions that Word inserts and Word often attempts to “correct” our changes. If you
want to try it: on the References ribbon, Captions group, click Insert Caption. Do not use auto-
caption (because we don’t have the chapter numbers in the style Heading 1).

If a table or figure cannot fit on the current page, but will fit on one page, insert a Page Break to
put the entire object on one page (i.e.,, don’t split a table or figure unless you have to).

Generally, captions for figures go below the figure; captions for tables go above the table.

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V. finishing
A. adding a portrait page number to a landscape page
If you have landscape-oriented pages (pages wider than they are tall) you have to put portrait-
oriented page numbers on them. It may be possible to put the table or figure on the page in
portrait orientation and then rotate the object; that’s the easiest method. If that doesn’t work,
make a section for the landscape page(s).

To make landscape page(s) in your document:

1. Select all the text you need to have in landscape orientation (probably a figure or a table, a
caption and a couple of empty lines).

2. On the Layout ribbon, Page Setup group, Page Setup dialog box launcher, Page Setup dialog
box: in the Apply to menu, choose Selected text; in Orientation, choose Landscape.

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put portrait page numbers on a landscape page

1. In View > Print Layout with the insertion point in each Section in turn, under the Insert
ribbon, Header & Footer group, click Header. If you do not yet have a Header in that section,
choose the Blank header (Word inserts both Headers and Footers). If you already have a
Header, choose Edit Header.

2. Under the Header & Footer Tools ribbon, if Link to Previous has a gray box around it, click on
it to break the “Same as Previous” link between headers (and Footers).

3. Repeat for Headers and Footers in the landscape section and the portrait section after it.
The example shows the document before you click to break the link.

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Word 2016 27 March 2017
 4. In the Insert menu, select Page Number and from the options presented, select Page
Margins; then choose Vertical, Left.

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 5. Word inserts the word Page and the page number in the left margin, near the bottom. That
is not the right place, so we should modify it. First, click on the text to select it as a text
block.

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 6. Under Drawing Tools > Format tab, in the Text group, select Text Direction, then choose
Rotate all text 90°

7. Highlight the word “Page” in the text block and delete it.

8. Highlight the number and right click on it. Word brings the font dialogue box. Change its font
to the font you are using in the entire document (It is Times New Roman, 12 point in the
template).

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 9. To put the number in the correct position on the page (the middle, vertically, and half an
inch from the left edge):

In the Drawing Tools ribbon, under Format, select Position. From the options presented, select
More Layout Options (at the bottom):

Word presents a screen on which you enter information to tell it where to put the text box. You
will have to check to be sure the number ends up in the same place as it is on the portrait-
oriented pages. If that doesn’t get the number in the right place, try:
Horizontal: Absolute position 0.4 inch to the right of Page
Vertical: Absolute position 4.2 inches below Page (from the top of the page).

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B. put chapters into the same file as preliminary pages
Put all the chapters together by copying them, in turn, and pasting them into the end of the file
with the preliminary pages in it.

The best option is to use the file with your preferred format (Prelim2016Simple or
Prelim2016Numeric) that you downloaded from the IT website and substitute your name,
committee members’ names, dates, etc. for the place holders. If you do not have a Dedication,
Acknowledgements, or lists of Figures or Tables, delete those pages (but keep the Section Breaks
between Dedication and Acknowledgements and at the end). Then copy the files containing your
chapters into the file with the preliminary pages, after the Section Break. If you do not have a
Dedication or Acknowledgements, you may need to change the number for the first numbered
page (see the next page of this handout for how to change that page number).

Make sure that Same as Previous is turned off for the Footer in both the preliminary pages and the
first chapter.

If you do not have endnotes at the ends of chapters, or renumber footnotes in each chapter, that
start again at 1, insert a page break between each chapter.

if you have endnotes at the ends of chapters or renumber footnotes in each chapter
If you have endnotes at the ends of chapters, be sure you have done a
Page Break after the text in each chapter (so that the notes begin on a
new page, not at the bottom of the last page of text). On the Insert
ribbon, Pages group, click on Page Break.

For renumbering footnotes or to put endnotes at the ends

of chapters, insert a Section Break: on the Layout ribbon,
Page Setup group, in Breaks, choose
Section Breaks Next Page at the end of each chapter (so
that the next chapter begins on a new page).

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C. preliminary pages
The best option is to use the file (Prelim2016Simple or Prelim2016Numeric) and substitute your
name, committee members’ names, dates, etc. for the phony ones we used in the example. If you
are not using one of the Prelim files, be sure to use the same font, orientation and margins as in the
main part of the document. Then follow the instructions below to put in the page numbers.

page numbers
Page numbering first appears on the Acknowledgments page (if there is no Acknowledgments
page, it appears on the Abstract page); it begins with the number of the actual piece of paper (page
5 if you have both a Dedication and Acknowledgments – as in the sample dissertation file
(Thesis2016Simple or Thesis2016Numeric). If you are not using either prelim2016 file, insert a
Section Break between this page and the previous page.

Make sure that Same as Previous is turned off for the Footer.

On the first page that gets a printed page number, turn on page numbering on the
Insert ribbon, Header & Footer group, Page Number (see earlier in this handout about how to turn
on page numbering if you don’t remember).

Go back to Insert > Header & Footer > Page Number; this time,
select Format Page Numbers:

On the Page Number Format dialog box, set the

Number format to lower-case Roman numerals
and set Page Numbering either to Continue from
Previous Section or to Start At: the appropriate
number (in our example, v).

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When you paste your chapters into the document after the preliminary pages, make sure that:

1. There is a Section Break / Next Page between the preliminary pages and the first chapter (if
you use one of the Prelim2016 files, the Section Break is there, at the end).
2. Same as Previous is turned off for the Footer.

D. create lists of tables and figures

Once all the chapters are together in one file, you can create the lists of Tables and Figures. Before
you begin, add captions to the figures (and tables) that you want to list in your lists of Tables and
Figures. To add a caption, select the object (e.g. a figure) that you want to add a caption to. Then,
on the References ribbon, Captions group, click on Insert Caption:

To create a list of figures, click your cursor in the area of the file where you want your list of Tables
or Figures. Then, on the References ribbon, Captions group, click on Insert Table of Figures:

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Word brings up a dialog box where you can choose whether to create a Table of Figures or of
Tables, based on the Caption label. Select appropriately (our example is for Figures).

Word usually creates a list but sometimes this function does not work at all. When that happens,
you have to type your lists of Figures and Tables yourself.

For the numeric version, where captions for all figures (and tables) include the chapter number, it
looks like this:

The simple version looks similar except for the numbering.

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We need to fix the list by changing the text to “regular” (not bold), removing the word “Figure” in
front of each number, changing the colon to a period, and changing the space after the colon to a
tab. For the simple list, it should look like this:

For a more detailed discussion about editing lists created by Word, see the discussion about Table
of Contents later in this handout.

If, later on, you need to update the page numbers in this list without changing the words or their
formatting, you can do that on the References ribbon, Captions group, by clicking on Update Table.

E. create the table of contents

Once all the chapters are together in one file, and you have created your List of Tables and/or List
of Figures (if needed): click in the dummy Table of Contents; then, on the References ribbon,
Table of Contents group, click on Table of Contents:

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Choose Custom Table of Contents to get to the dialog box where you can tell Word how many
levels to include in your Table of Contents.

You have to do some reformatting.

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Custom Table of Contents presents the dialog box where you can choose the number of levels.
Remove the check next to Use hyperlinks instead of page numbers – it reduces the headaches of
formatting the table of contents correctly later. Be sure there are checks for Show page numbers
and Right Align page numbers; the Tab leader box should show dots, the Formats should be From
template.

When Word asks if you want to replace the selected Table of Contents, click on OK.

Word creates a Table of Contents with the correct order, page numbers and general formatting;
see the examples on the next page.

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the simple format:

the numeric format:

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fix the table of contents

For either Table of Contents, you need to do some reformatting (see the Graduate School’s
Guidelines and Thesis2016Simple.docx file / Thesis2016Numeric.docx file):

- the preliminary material (Acknowledgements, Abstract, List of Tables, etc.) is double-spaced

- within the Chapters section, contiguous headings of the same level should be single-spaced in
relation to each other;
headings of different levels should be double-spaced in relation to each other
- add the word CHAPTER above the first chapter name (double-spaced)
- add the numbers of chapters (Arabic or Roman, as in chapters) and tab the name to 0.5 inches
- if you have one Appendix, list it like a chapter title (double-spaced at margin) but without a
number or letter; if you have two or more Appendices, put the title APPENDICES above them,
double-spaced (like the word CHAPTER) then list the appendices in single space, with a letter
instead of a number for each one.

You can click in the Table of Contents and edit it. Be careful to stay away from the page numbers so
Word won’t jump to that page in the document (especially if you forgot to turn off the hyperlinks).
It is recommend that you move your cursor as far to the left as possible on a line of text (for
example, next to the word New in the title of the first chapter); the cursor image should change to
an I-bar (it looks like a capital I) instead of an arrow or hand. Then click. Once you have the cursor
in the ToC, it is generally easier to move around using the arrow keys on your keyboard – that way
you won’t give Word an excuse to jump to a page in the document.

When you are inserting new lines for text, or making a double-space between two lines, pay
attention to whether the Line Spacing in the “paragraph” is set for Double or Single space. You can
check the spacing by going to the Home ribbon, Paragraph group,
Line spacing command / icon (right above the “graph” of Paragraph).

Make sure the titles don’t obscure the page numbers; if a title is long, insert a line break: click
before a word an inch or more to the left of the page number, hold down the Shift key on your
keyboard, and press Enter.

Examples of Tables of Contents are on the next two pages.

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the simple format:

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the numeric format:

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updating page numbers

If, later on, you need to update the page numbers in the ToC without changing the words or their
formatting, on the References ribbon, Table of Contents group, click Update Table; choose Update
page numbers only.

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Appendix: styles
A. heading styles

Heading 1 is used for the Acknowledgements, Abstract, Chapter Titles, Bibliography, any
Appendices, etc. Note that if you are using bold face for your chapter titles, you need to also bold
face the word CHAPTER and its number. You need to do that yourself, since those paragraphs are
not in Heading 1 style.
For Heading 1, the style is the same for both the simple format (from the umass2016Simple
template) and for the numeric format (from the umass2016Numeric template).

Heading 2 is for the first level of subheadings.

the simple Heading format: from umass2016Simple.dotx

the numeric Heading format: from umass2016Numeric.dotx

Heading 3 is for the second level of subheadings.

the simple Heading format: from umass2016Simple.dotx

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the numeric Heading format: from umass2016Numeric.dotx

Heading 4 is for the third level of subheadings.

the simple Heading format: from umass2016Simple.dotx

the numeric Heading format: from umass2016Numeric.dotx

Heading 5 is for the fourth level of subheadings.

the simple Heading format: from umass2016Simple.dotx

the numeric Heading format: from umass2016Numeric.dotx

B. styles for Table of Contents

Word automatically uses styles TOC1-TOC5 to format the ToC entries.

For all TOC styles, the Tab stop position for the page number is a Right tab to 6 (for 6 inches) (which
coincides with right margin) with leading dots. To get to this dialog box: on either the Home ribbon
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or the Layout ribbon, in the Paragraph group, click the Paragraph Dialog box launcher (the little
arrow to the right of the word Paragraph). Once in the Paragraph Dialog box, click Tabs to get to
the Tabs dialog box. It looks like this:

The TOC styles are:

TOC1

TOC2

TOC3

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TOC4

TOC5

For all but TOC1, the paragraph formatting for the style includes a hanging indent so that if the title
is too long to fit on one line, the second line won’t interfere with seeing the first line.

C. styles for lists of figures and tables

Table of Figures style is used for these lists. It has a hanging indent as well as being indented from
the right margin so that long captions will wrap properly without interfering with the placement of
the page numbers. For the numerical list:

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