OmniDocHow to format graduation thesis, Word setting steps
Starting from a blank document, use styles to uniformly set the pages, text, titles, section page numbers, and table of contents of your graduation thesis, and provide an item-by-item checklist before submission. It is suitable for students who want to set up the format in one go.
Key points of this article
- First, use styles to manage titles and text in a unified manner, instead of manually adjusting fonts paragraph by paragraph. Once the style is changed, similar paragraphs in the entire text will be updated at the same time.
- The cover, abstract, table of contents and main text should be numbered in sections, and the links between the headers and footers of each section should be cancelled, so that they can be numbered independently.
- Automatic numbering should be checked for the title style. Tables cited in the text should be captioned and cross-referenced. The numbering will not be misaligned after adding or deleting content.
- The school's font, font size, line spacing and binding margins are based on the template or written requirements. Please confirm before starting. Do not set based on impressions.
- Check the style consistency, numbering, page numbers, table of contents and fonts before submitting. If any problems are found, correct them accordingly without having to rearrange the entire article.
When it was time to submit their graduation thesis, many students discovered that formatting was a time-consuming process: the title numbers were messed up, the page numbers in the table of contents did not match up, and half of the main text was in Song Dynasty and half in other fonts. This article is written for those who are preparing to type their graduation thesis from scratch in Word, and explains a set of step-by-step methods. Instead of fixing a messed up file, it starts with a blank document and formats it right the first time.
What you can get after reading is a style system, basic settings for pages and paragraphs, automatically generated tables of contents and page numbers, and a checklist before submission. The format requirements of each school are quite different. This article talks about the general method. For specific font size, line spacing and binding margins, please refer to the template or written requirements issued by the school.
How to format a graduation thesis? One sentence conclusion
Direct answer: Use "Style" to manage titles and body text in a unified manner, and manual paragraph-by-paragraph adjustment is only used for a few exceptions.
| your situation | Recommended practices | reason |
|---|---|---|
| The school provides a Word template | Apply the template directly and only replace the content | The styles in the template have been set as required, eliminating the need for repeated settings. |
| The school only gave format requirements for the text version. | Create new text and title styles as required, and then apply them uniformly | Change a style and all similar paragraphs will be updated at the same time |
| Many chapters and deep levels | Use multi-level heading styles for headings and enable auto-numbering | Chapter numbers and table of contents will automatically change with the content |
| Only certain paragraphs require special formatting | Modify these paragraphs individually without leaving the style itself unchanged. | Avoid one mistaken correction affecting the entire text |
| Contains charts and formulas | Figure titles are numbered using the caption function, and the text refers to them using cross-references | The numbering will not be misplaced after adding or deleting content. |
Before you start: Confirm these points first
- written requirements of the school : font, font size, line spacing, margins, header and footer, as well as the location of abstracts and keywords. If there is no written request, ask the tutor or academic administration first. Don't set it up on the basis of impression. - chapter structure : first list the outline of the first-and second-level titles. Before typesetting, you know how many headings you need before you can decide how many styles to build. - Printing and binding method : whether binding is required or whether double-sided printing is required. This determines whether the margins should distinguish between parity pages. - Font environment : if the Chinese font required by the school is not in the computer, the layout may change when another machine is turned on. Check it on the final computer before submitting it. - backup *: save another file before typesetting. You can go back when you make a mistake, and you don't have to start all over again.
# steps to format graduation thesis from scratch in Word
- setup page : fill in the margin and binding line position required by the school in the page setup. If the school specifies the paper specification, it will also be confirmed here.
- create text style : write the Chinese font, English font, font size and line spacing of the text into the "text" style. This style is then applied to all body paragraphs instead of manually selecting fonts paragraph by paragraph.
- establish title style : set the font, font size and the distance between the front and back of the paragraph of the first, second and third level headings respectively, and check the automatic numbering to make the numbers such as "1" and "1.1" change with the chapter.
- apply styles paragraph by paragraph : apply the corresponding style to each heading and body paragraph. Format brushes can be used, but the copy should be a style, not a manually modified format.
- set page number by section *: the page number format of cover, summary, table of contents and text is usually different. Separate them with section breaks, unlink to the previous section in the header and footer of each section, and then format the page number and start page respectively.
- generate catalog : after all headings have the title style applied, insert the automatic catalog. After that, if there are any changes in the content, you can update the catalogue without having to change the page number manually.
- deal with charts and formulas : the title of the chart is numbered by the caption function, and the cross-reference is used when referencing the table number in the body, so that the references of the chart will be updated synchronously.
- Save and export : make sure it is correct and save as a .docx file. When the school requires that the PDF be submitted, it will be exported in the way prescribed by the school.
If you are more accustomed to typesetting in a browser, the UniDoc Page Editor (app.unidoc.top) supports Word-compatible editing, can also export Word files, and can do the same styling on the web page.
# check item by item after completion
| Check item | What do you think? | What if there's a problem? |
|---|---|---|
| Style consistency | Open the style pane and check one by one whether the corresponding styles are used in the paragraphs of the text and headings. | Find the exception paragraph and reapply the style |
| Title number | Turn from beginning to end to see if there is a jump mark or repetition in the chapter number | Check whether there is a manually entered number, delete it and let the number be generated automatically |
| Page number | Whether there is no page number on the cover, whether the text starts from 1, and whether the format of the table of contents page number is correct. | Check the section and Link to previous section settings |
| Catalogue | Whether the catalog entry is consistent with the title and page number of the text | Update the entire catalog instead of just the page number |
| Chart number and reference | Whether the drawing number and table number referenced in the text point to the correct chart | Update the domain or reinsert the cross-reference |
| Font display | Open it on the final computer, whether the font is normal and whether there are missing words. | Make sure the font is installed and change to the general font allowed by the school if necessary. |
# frequently asked questions (FAQ)
1. Can format brushes replace styles?
Format brushes can quickly copy the format, but copy the format set manually. If you change one place in the future, the other paragraphs will not change, and the unified revision still depends on the style.
2. Why is the page number wrong after the directory is generated?
There are two common reasons: the title style is not applied to the body title, or the starting position of the page number is not set correctly after the section. After checking these two places, update the directory.
3. Why do covers and summaries also show page numbers?
Usually the headers and footers of each section are still linked together. After unlinking, set the page number for the cover, the table of contents, and the body respectively, so that the cover does not display the page number.
4. The paper is only a few pages, do you want to use the style?
Recommended. Take a 30-page paper as an example, when a mentor proposes changes, the title level, font size, or line spacing often have to be adjusted as a whole, and the style allows such changes to be made only once, without having to check paragraph by paragraph.
# Summary
How to format the graduation thesis, the key is to set the style first and then apply it: the page, text, title, section page number and catalogue are set once, and then you only need to replace the content. The specific requirements of the school shall be subject to the template and shall be checked item by item according to the list before submission.
