ETD Templates

Microsoft Word templates

Before using these templates, read all of the following instructions.

It would be best for you to start out writing your thesis or dissertation in a template. If you copy and paste a previously written thesis or dissertation into a template, incorrect formatting settings may also be copied into the document. If you do need to insert existing work into the template, it’s best to separately insert individual sections of body text. When doing so, make sure to maintain the standard headers and set formatting.

These templates are provided to get you started. These files are not guaranteed to be perfect for everyone as the files require customization. Even if you use a template, you are required to fix anything that does not meet the requirements covered in the ETD Guide. Therefore, you must consult the ETD Guide prior to electronically submitting the file to the Graduate School for review.

Styles
These templates include three pre-programmed Styles–Body 1, Heading 1, and Subtitle–which are already applied to the existing headers and body text. The “Styles” box appears on the right-hand side of the “Home” tab. To apply these styles to new text, you have two options:

1. Click the desired style and then type in that style.
2. Highlight existing text and apply the desired style by clicking on its Style square.

ETD guidelines do allow some flexibility in formatting. You can alter these styles in the following ways:

1. Change Subtitle style to be italicized instead of bold.
2. Change chapter headers to be larger and move them to a different location on the page.

To alter a Style, you can do one of the following:

1. Highlight your altered text, right click on the style square, and select the first option, “Update Style to Match Selection.”
2. Right click on the style square and select “Modify.” 

The Heading 1 style maintains the bold setting, but you must keep all main headers ALL CAPS. Styles do not maintain this automatically. However, you can alter the font of headers to match the font you’ve chosen for your entire text (font must be consistent throughout the document). 

Table of Contents

There are different ways to create a Table of Contents page. The templates use Tabs, found in the “Paragraph” settings, which will be explained below. Alternatively, you can insert a Table of Contents from the References tab, as long as its formatting and appearance match that of the Table of Contents in the ETD Guide. In the templates, the tabs are set so that you simply need to type out a Table of Contents entry, hit “Tab” on your keyboard, and type the appropriate page number. Hitting “Tab” will create a dotted leader line that will change length as you type.

An ETD requirement is that your Table of Contents has a spacing hierarchy that differentiates main sections from subsections. This requires indenting the entry text for subsections. Since the templates already have altered Tab rules for the dotted lines, you must use the Ruler bar at the top of the page to make simple indentations. If you do not see the Ruler, go to the “View” tab and check the “Ruler” box.

In addition to the dotted line Tab settings, the templates already have a tab rule set for .5 inches from the left margin (it appears as a little black notch on the ruler bar). This allows you to indent lines with the Tab key while also maintaining the rules for dotted lines. However, if you need to indent lines further than this, to create another level of hierarchy, you must add a new Tab by clicking the ruler bar on the desired Tab location, creating a new notch on the ruler.

MS Word Template 1 (Page numbers at the top of the page)
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MS Word Template 2 (Page numbers at the bottom of the page)

LaTeX templates

These LaTeX templates were created and supplied by fellow graduate students and faculty. Unfortunately, NCSU does not support LaTeX—meaning the NCSU Helpdesk and the Graduate School (ETD Reviewer and Webmaster) are not able to provide technical support for these files. You are encouraged to utilize your fellow classmates, your faculty, and the internet for assistance.

These templates are provided to get you started. These files are not guaranteed to be perfect for everyone as the files require customization. You are required to fix anything that does not meet the requirements set forth in the ETD Guide even if you used one of the templates. Therefore, you must use the Appendix A Checklist in the ETD Guide prior to electronically submitting the file to the Graduate School for the thesis review.

Thesis Class and Template Files:

A graduate student recently helped us update our LaTeX template to better reflect the latest ETD Guidelines. These files are linked below. If you find have issues or find errors in the updated template files, please let me know (ETD-Reviewer@ncsu.edu).

• Updated Template files

NOTE: the most common issue students have with their LaTeX ETD file is the right-hand margin; sometimes tables, figures, or lines of text extend too far right, and violate the required 1-inch margin. Prior to submitting, please ensure that all of your content fits within the main body area of the document.

There are some websites that may be helpful. A few are listed here. Do a search in your favorite search engine to discover more.

* LaTeX information Dr. Bloomfield’s Website (For information purposes only. Assistance is not offered).
* LaTeX information LaTeX project site
* LaTeX information Trinity College
* LaTeX information University of Cambridge Department of Engineering
* LaTeX information Emory University