Where to check the graduation thesis format requirements of various universities

Key points of this article

Formatting requirements usually come from the regulations issued by the school's academic affairs department or the graduate school. The school may have other detailed rules. Both should be looked at.
First confirm whether you have a bachelor's degree, a master's degree or a doctorate, and then look for documents at the corresponding level to avoid applying the standards of other schools or programs.
Organize the regulations into a list (margins, font size, title level, headers and footers, references), and then start typesetting.
After typesetting, check the list item by item, check the table of contents, page numbers and chart numbers. If any problems are found, revise the original text according to regulations.

When the defense was approaching, many students discovered that the format of the paper did not meet the requirements: the page margins were wrong, the title levels were chaotic, and the writing of references was not consistent. The problem is often not with the writing itself, but with not finding out the school's regulations from the beginning. Where can I check the format requirements for graduation thesis? This is the first question many students ask.

This article is written for undergraduate and graduate students who are preparing a proposal, first draft, or final draft. After reading it, you should be able to decide which document to look at, how different levels of regulations stack up, and turn them into a checklist that can be checked off. This method is applicable to any school and does not depend on the specific provisions of a particular university.

Where to check? One sentence conclusion

There is generally not only one copy of the formatting requirements. School-level regulations usually govern the overall requirements, and the college or major may have additional requirements. Which one shall prevail depends on the school's instructions.

your situation	Recommended practices	reason
For undergraduate students, the school has unified graduation thesis specifications	Mainly based on the documents issued by the Academic Affairs Office or the Teaching Management Department, and then read the college notice	Unified regulations cover the entire school, and college notices are mostly supplementary explanations.
Graduate students, the school has a graduate school	Follow the thesis writing requirements of the graduate school and pay attention to the format details of the school.	Dissertation regulations are usually issued uniformly by the graduate school.
College regulations are inconsistent with school regulations	Use school documents as the bottom line, treat college requirements as additional agreements, and confirm with the college's academic affairs teacher when necessary	Colleges generally specify regulations based on school regulations and should not conflict with each other.
Only previous examples found, no official documents	Use the example as a reference, but still find the current notice and refer to it	Requirements from previous years may have been adjusted, and examples cannot replace regulations.
Need to check the regulations of other schools or other majors	When searching, bring the name of the school, level and year, for example "a graduate thesis format of a certain school", and check whether the source is the official website of the school	Search results are mixed, only official sources can be relied upon

Before you start: Confirm these points first

Confirm your training level. Thesis requirements for undergraduate, master's, and doctoral programs are often different, and the number of pages, number of abstract words, and number of references may be different. If you search for "graduate thesis format" but format it according to undergraduate documents, the cost of rework later will be very high.

Confirm session and version. The school may update the notice every year. The documents released at the beginning of the school year may not be the same as last year’s version. Make a note of the release date when downloading the file, so that if you make adjustments before submission, you can quickly determine which version you are using.

Confirm document source. The official basis is only the notice published through the school’s official website, academic affairs system or college. Forums, Q&A platforms, and forwarded screenshots can help you find clues, but they cannot be used directly as regulations.

Confirm which formats are required. Many schools' regulations are divided into several parts: text layout, abstract and keywords, table of contents, charts, formulas, references, acknowledgments, binding order, etc. It will save more time to see clearly what sections there are and then read them one by one than to read extensively from beginning to end.

Confirm if there is a template. Some schools will provide official templates, while others only provide text instructions. If there is a template, first check whether the template is consistent with the text requirements. If there is any inconsistency, the text regulations shall prevail and confirm with the teacher.

Steps to apply formatting in OmniDoc according to the rules

The following steps assume you have found the school's official format file and have a draft of your thesis (a Word .docx).

Read through the document and make a list of formats. Note down page settings, font size, line spacing, title level, header and footer, page number position, table of contents requirements, reference formatting, etc., and write them into a table or sheet of paper to serve as the basis for subsequent verification.
Check the structure of the first draft. Confirm that the chapter headings in your paper use a unified heading style, rather than manually bolding or enlarging font size. Whether the title hierarchy is clear determines whether the table of contents can be generated automatically.
Open the UniDoc web editor. Visit app.unidoc.top and import your Word draft. The editor supports Word-compatible editing, allowing you to continue editing text and paragraphs after importing.
Set up pages and body text according to the checklist. Refer to the format list to set margins, paper size, body font, font size, and line spacing. The indentation of the first line and the spacing between the first and second paragraphs of the main paragraph should also be consistent with the regulations.
Unified titles and numbering. Check the font, font size, and numbering of the first, second, and third level titles step by step to ensure consistency in formatting within the same level. If the rule requires chapters to start from a new page, this step is also addressed.
Handle charts, tables, formulas, and references. Check the position and numbering format of chart titles, the numbering method of formulas, and whether the bibliographic format of references matches the school's regulations. If there are many references, it is recommended to check each item one by one.
Generate the table of contents and check the page numbers. The table of contents should be generated based on the finalized title. The starting position of the page number and the switching between Roman and Arabic numerals are set according to regulations.
Export and save. After completion, export as a Word file, keep an editable version for easy future modifications. If the school requests a PDF submission, double-check the layout when exporting the PDF to ensure it matches the Word version.

After completion, check each item one by one

After layout is complete, don't judge by intuition alone. Checking item by item against the checklist is more reliable than simply flipping through it once.

Inspection items	How to see it	What should you do if there's a problem?
Page margins and paper	In page settings, check the margins and paper size at the top, bottom, left, and right, and randomly check a few pages	Go back to page settings for unified editing, avoiding only changing sections
Font and font size	Randomly select the main text, heading, chart heading, and references, and check the font and font size	Use format brushes or uniform styles; do not manually edit each paragraph
Title hierarchy and table of contents	Check whether the table of contents correctly displays each level of heading, and whether page numbers correspond to the main text	After correcting the title style, regenerate the table of contents
Page numbers and headers and footers	Check whether the page numbers on the cover, table of contents, and main text are switched according to regulations, and whether the header content is correct	Set page numbers by section and confirm the starting page
Charts and formula numbers	Check whether the numbering of figures, tables, and formulas is continuous, and whether the references in the main text match the numbers	After modifying the number, the cross-references in the main text are updated simultaneously
Reference format	Refer to the school's specified bibliographic format, and check the order and punctuation of authors, titles, and publication information	Revise item by item, and if you encounter uncertain types, check with your advisor or college

It is important to note that if the paper contains content recognized by machine translation or OCR, such as cited foreign literature excerpts, please verify the original text yourself before submission to ensure the citation is accurate.

📊 Core Comparison

Many students compare several ways to obtain them when looking for format requirements. Each has its uses, but their reliability varies.

Source	What is suitable for it?	Caution is needed
Official notice on the school's official website	This serves as the format basis to determine all requirements	The version may be updated, depending on the release date
Explanation from the college's academic affairs or advisors	Learn about the additional requirements and review practices of the college	It is recommended that oral explanations be recorded in writing
Outstanding papers from previous years	Refer to the layout and chapter arrangement	This does not represent current regulations and cannot be copied directly into formats
Official or school-provided templates	Quickly build document structures	If there is any discrepancy with the written provisions, the written provisions shall prevail
General instructions compiled online	Understand the general direction and common questions	It cannot replace the university's regulations; the source must be verified before use

🎯 Which method suits you?

Undergraduates with tight schedules who only need quick formatting: First, find the official notice and template from the university, set items item by item according to the checklist in this document, then use a checklist to check the key items.
For graduate students, the college has extra rules: Use the graduate school's rules as the bottom line, list the college details separately, and consult the college's academic affairs early in case of conflicts.
Cross-school or cross-major search: Only use official sources from your own school or the target school, and do not mix standards from other schools.
Mentor has special requirements: Supervisors' opinions take precedence over general templates, but requirements should be implemented as written checklists to avoid inconsistencies in verbal understanding.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What should I do if I can't find the format requirements for my school?

First, search for keywords such as "graduation thesis," "degree thesis," and "writing standards" on the university's official website, then check the notices section of the Academic Affairs Office, Graduate School, and college. If you still can't find it, consult directly with the college's academic affairs teacher or advisor and ask them to provide a written document that can be archived.

2. If the college's regulations and the school's regulations are inconsistent, whose should we listen to?

Generally, the school's official regulations are based on these, supplemented by the college's detailed rules. If there is a conflict, do not choose on your own. You should promptly consult the college in writing and keep a record of the response. When submitting your manuscript, follow the requirements after confirmation.

3. The format requirements found are from previous years. Can it still be used?

It is not recommended to use it directly. The school may adjust its requirements annually; previous documents are only for reference. Before starting formatting, please confirm whether there is any official notice for this edition and follow the regulations of this edition.

4. How should the "binding order" mentioned in the format requirements be handled?

The binding order usually includes the cover, statement, abstract, table of contents, main text, references, acknowledgments, and appendices. It affects page numbers and section divisions. It is recommended to determine the position of each part before formatting to avoid moving the entire chapter later and causing page numbers to become confused.

5. When using Word for layout, the table of contents and page numbers keep having issues. How do you check?

First, confirm that the title uses a unified heading style, then check the section breaks and page number settings. Table of contents errors are mostly due to inconsistent title styles, and page number confusion is often due to sections not being separated. After corrections, the table of contents is regenerated and page by page is randomly checked.

📝 Summary

Where to check the format requirements for graduation theses? The core answer is: first find the official documents from the school, then check the college's detailed rules, and confirm your training level and cohort. After receiving the rules, organize them into a checklist, set each item in the Word Compatibility Editor, and finally check against the checklist. This way, where to find the format requirements for graduation theses, this question can be transformed into a workable typesetting process.

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