Formatting the ETD

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A consistent, carefully formatted ETD helps your scholarship make the strongest impression on readers. When formatting is precise from the first page to the last, readers can focus on your research instead of on inconsistencies in presentation.

This page walks you through the Graduate School’s formatting process: the requirements, the templates, the review steps, and where to get help.

New: Try the ETD Template Generator (Beta)

Answer a few questions about your degree and program, and the generator will build your front matter pages, formatted to Graduate School requirements. This tool is new, and we want to hear how it works for you. Click on "Share your feedback" to send us an e-mail with any issues or suggestions.

etd formatting path

ETD Organization at a Glance

Your ETD should be organized in the following order:

  1. Unnumbered front matter
    Title, Copyright, Signature, and Abstract pages
  2. Front matter with lowercase Roman numerals
    Dedication (optional), Acknowledgements (optional), Table of Contents, and Lists of Figures, Tables, and Abbreviations, as applicable
  3. Main text
    Chapters
  4. Back matter
    References and Appendices

Use the ETD Preparation Checklist for the complete details of each section. To build your unnumbered front matter, see the front matter templates below or use the ETD Template Generator.

Requirements and Style Guides

Select a style guide (APA, Chicago, MLA, Turabian, or another) in consultation with your chair and committee, and apply its rules throughout your ETD. Some Graduate School requirements differ from the major style guides and take priority over them. These are collected in the document below.

Organization and Formatting of the Final Electronic Thesis, Dissertation, or Doctoral/Lecture Recital Essay (PDF)

Please review this document before you begin writing, and keep a copy as a reference while you work.

The ETD Preparation Checklist helps you keep track of the basic formatting requirements as you prepare your final document.

Download the ETD Preparation Checklist 

Front Matter Templates

The main body of your thesis or dissertation is formatted according to your committee’s guidance, as long as formatting is consistent throughout. The unnumbered front matter, however, must look the same in every UM thesis and dissertation. You can build it with the ETD Template Generator or download the Word template for your degree below.

Sample pages

Get help

Formatting support

For one-on-one help, schedule an appointment with the ETD Formatting Support team.

Schedule a formatting appointment

For all other questions, email dfs@miami.edu.

Workshop video

The ETD Formatting Support Team recorded an "ETD Formatting Made Easy" workshop that covers solutions to the formatting problems students run into most often.

Watch the workshop video

Jump to a topic in the video
Time stamp Topic
5:04 Starting each chapter on a new page
5:34 Updating headings
7:47 Headings and styles
9:40 Using the Navigation Pane
10:44 Section and page breaks
13:41 Table of contents
15:49 List of figures and list of tables
17:45 Managing page number styles

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