• About Us
• Academics
• Applied Research
• Current Students
• People Directory

CGT Thesis Format Requirements

Formatting

For theses, the CGT department has adopted the APA, parenthetical citation format as implemented by the university. The College also uses this format for doctoral students, and thus CoT doctoral students with a major advisor/chair in CGT should also follow this format.

Formatting Your Thesis

TECH 646 (a required course for most students) assists the student in developing their proposal and therefore covers how to format the thesis or dissertation. If you are not required to take that course, the following provides some guidelines you should follow to ensure your thesis or dissertation are acceptably formatted.

Foremost, students should use the University Microsoft Word Thesis template which is available on the graduate school's web site. This template has styles included within it to make formatting less cumbersome. The Graduate School also holds seminars on use of the template and following the formatting requirements.

Students should NOT use the Latex format provided by the university. Instead, if a student desires to use Latex, they should use the attached template.

Note that there are a few things that the Word template will not do. Even when using the thesis template, students must:

1. Ensure that they do not use vertical lines in tables.
2. Properly format captions for tables and figures (including proper italics for each).
3. Ensure proper tabs for each paragraph and proper hanging indents on references.

Other specifics of the format can be seen in this example document that can be used as a guide for formatting theses and dissertations.

Required Formatting Review Meeting

Students are required to meet with the CGT Thesis Format Advisor at least two weeks before they defend their thesis. The last date to meet with the CGT Thesis Advisor for a thesis formatting appointment is two weeks prior to the last day to defend the thesis. A thesis formatting appointment is mandatory. If you do not meet with the CGT Thesis Advisor and get the approval signature on the Form 9, you will not graduate on time.

            The Thesis Formatting Review requires the following steps:

1. Scheduling the meeting via the CGT Graduate Coordinator.
2. Submitting an electronic copy of the thesis via email to the CGT Thesis Advisor two days prior to the review meeting for submission to the iThenticate plagiarism checking software.
3. Attending the Thesis review meeting.

Scheduling Formatting Appointment

            To make a thesis formatting appointment you will need to email the CGT Graduate Coordinator. Once the CGT Thesis Advisor has approved your thesis you may schedule your defense. It is recommended that you make your appointment with early.

Providing an iThenticate Copy

            Two days prior to your scheduled Thesis Advising appointment, you should email the CGT Thesis Advisor a complete copy of your thesis as a single Word or PDF document.

If your document contains a large number of images, the images should be deleted from the file you provide to Dr. Mohler.

After receiving your document, the CGT Thesis Advisor will submit your electronic document to the iThenticate application to verify there is no plagiarism within the document (see Section 9.3.2). At the Thesis Advising appointment he will review the results of the check with you as well as provide the electronic results to you.

You should bring a USB drive or other storage media with you to the Thesis Advising appoint so that you may receive a copy of the iThenticate results.

Attending the Formatting Appointment

When a student goes to the format meeting, she or he should bring:

1. A 100% complete, unbound printed copy of the thesis.
2. A digital copy on a USB drive.
3. At least one copy of the GS Form 9 for Thesis Advisor to sign.

It is advised that students have multiple copies of the GS Form 9 for the committee to sign . Only one copy is required for university deposit.

Thesis Pre-review

            If a student is in doubt whether their document is formatted correctly, they may email a sample from their thesis to the CGT Thesis Advisor for review and comment. “Pre-review” meetings are also a possibility but must occur before the sixth (6th) week of each semester.