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The Graduate School

Table of Contents

You can format your Table of Contents in a variety of ways, but it must follow some general guidelines. For a visual demonstration of these guidelines, see the sample Table of Contents (PDF).

First and Second Entries

  • If your thesis includes tables and figures, your first entry should be “List of Tables” and your second should be “List of Figures.”
  • Do not include listings for the Table of Contents itself or any preliminary pages that appear before it.

Spacing

  • There should be a uniform spacing hierarchy, as follows:
    • Left-align the titles of your main required pages (List of Tables and/or List of Figures, Appendices title page) and any main section headers.
    • Indent sub-headers or any other entries

Page Numbers

  • Page numbers must be in a straight line.
  • Dotted lines should almost touch the entry text and its associated page number.

Multi-Line Entries

  • Entry text should not touch or overlap with page numbers.