“Deadlines, rules how to do it, grades…How can you be creative when someone’s breathing down your neck?”

Calvin in Calvin and Hobbes, The Days Are Just Packed

 

  

Most of the rules are adapted from the CU GSAS Dissertation guideline.

 

1)      Paper and text: White paper.  Letter size.  Black ink for text.  Figures can be colored. 

2)      Margins: One inch on top, right, and bottom.  1.5” on the left for binding.  If necessary, charts, graphs, and illustrations may be placed horizontally or photo-reduced in order to conform to the margin requirements as long as they remain clear and legible.

3)      Spacing:  the text and the abstract are double-spaced.  Quotations of eight lines or more are indented and single-spaced.  The pages must be single-sided only.

4)      Font: Times New Roman 12 pt, Arial 11 pt, or something that looks similar is acceptable.  Keep the font uniform throughout the text, although you may use a separate font for tables, graphs or appendices, pagination, the abstract, and the table of contents.  No portion of the thesis may be handwritten.

5)      Page Numbering:

(a)    Title page, copyright page, and abstract are not numbered.

(b)   Table of contents, list of charts, graphs, illustrations, acknowledgements, dedication, and preface are numbered with lower case Roman numerals,  centered and 0.5” from the bottom of the page.

(c)    Main text, references, and appendices are numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in the upper right hand corner of the page.  The page number should be made distinct from the text and be placed in the same location whether they are in "landscape" or in "portrait" format.

6)      Title page:  see sample.

7)      Copyright page (optional):  see sample.  The existence of a copyright page in the proper form as illustrated is sufficient to establish your copyright.

8)      Abstract:  350 or fewer words.  Do not put diagrams, photocopies, abbreviations, reference, or footnotes in the abstract.  See sample.

9)      Acknowledgements:  Optional.  Keep in mind that for some people this is the only page of your thesis they will read.

10)  Main body of the thesis:  20 or more pages excluding figures and tables.

11)  Plagiarism:  You must be in conformance with the copyright rule of "fair use" when quoting materials or using graphics copyrighted by others.  Even in the case where materials are not copyrighted, such as some web contents, you should give clear indications of the source.  Any materials not written or produced by you must be VERY clearly indicated, such as to enclose the quote within quotation marks, to use a different font with different indent, or to label the source of the figure right next to the figure.  In a thesis like this, there are very few situations where you need to quote somebody exactly for a whole sentence.  You almost never need to quote somebody for a whole paragraph.  To avoid inadvertent plagiarism, you must be very vigilant in your practice of note taking.  Do not use “cut and paste”.  Do not hand-copy journal articles word for word, even if that’s only for your own record.  Keep other people’s writing as photocopies (one copy only).  Close the book/journal when you write.  Return to the source only when checking for specifics.  If more than three items from other media (e.g. art reproductions, photographs, figures or tables) are drawn from a single copyright holder, you must obtain written permission. 

12)  Footnotes: Don’t.  See References.

13)  References:

a) Use primary scientific reference articles and reviews whenever possible.  Use of the primary article is always preferred.  List each entry only once in the “Reference” section even if it is cited multiple times in the main text.

b) It is not uncommon for a 20-page thesis to cite 50 –100 references.  However, there is no need to "pad" your thesis with a large number of citations.  You must read all the references that you have cited.

c)   Use a consistent style for your reference entries throughout your list of citations.  List all author names (Last, First initial).  Do not abbreviate journal names.  Single space each entry and skip a space between each one.  Indent all but the first line of each entry.  Use BLOCK Justification.

Alphabetically Organized (By First Author’s Last Name)

Cobrinik, D, Lee, M-H, Hannon, G, Mulligan, G, Bronson, RT, Dyson, N, Harlow, E, Beach, D, Weinberg, RA, and Jacks, T. Shared role of the pRB-related p130 and p107 proteins in limb development.  Genes and Development 10: 1633-1644, 1996.

Jacks, T, Fazeli, A, Schmitt, EM, Bronson, RT, Goodell, MA, and Weinberg, RA.  Effects of an Rb mutation in the mouse.  Nature 359: 295-300, 1992.

Skapek, SX, Rhee, J, Spicer, DB, and Lassar, AB.  Inhibition of myogenic differentiation in proliferating myoblasts by cyclin D1-dependent kinase [see comments]. Science 267: 1022-4, 1995.

OR

Numerically Organized (By Order of Citation in the Text)

1. Jacks, T, Fazeli, A, Schmitt, EM, Bronson, RT, Goodell, MA, and Weinberg, RA. Effects of an Rb mutation in the mouse. Nature 359: 295-300, 1992.

2. Cobrinik, D, Lee, M-H, Hannon, G, Mulligan, G, Bronson, RT, Dyson, N, Harlow, E, Beach, D, Weinberg, RA, and Jacks, T. Shared role of the pRB-related p130 and p107 proteins in limb development. Genes and Development 10, 1633-1644, 1996.

3. Skapek, SX, Rhee, J, Spicer, DB, and Lassar, AB. Inhibition of myogenic differentiation in proliferating myoblasts by cyclin D1-dependent kinase [see comments]. Science 267: 1022-4, 1995.