Introduction

Standards for the preparation of theses and dissertations are established by graduate faculty at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and the administration of the Graduate School. All revisions are subject to the approval of the Graduate School.

The Graduate Council is on record as saying a successful thesis or dissertation usually represents the most extensive and intensive scholarly work the student has performed to date. Completing the thesis or dissertation will lead the student up to the cutting edge of research (however defined by the discipline) conducted at that time in his or her field of research. A thesis or dissertation must address a significant question and demonstrate that its author can interpret findings and formulate conclusions that are the result of INDEPENDENT thinking and sustained evaluation of source materials. These findings must be expressed in clear and grammatical language that is well-organized into cogent and coherent argument. A dissertation or thesis that contains the student's published or in press manuscripts, or excerpts from these manuscripts, shall, in the preface, describe these materials and their contribution to the dissertation. In the case of multi-authored manuscripts, the student's contribution to each such manuscript must be clearly delineated in the preface and attested in a separate statement by the chair of the dissertation committee addressed to the Graduate School.

The thesis or dissertation is a final document and not a copy document for submission to a journal. The Graduate School Guidelines, which reflect the formatting recommendations of University Microfilms International (UMI) as well as many of the recent advancements in publication technology, specify these important differences. They are: (1) the thesis or dissertation must not carry running headings; (2) table and figures are placed where they belong in the dissertation and no notation is placed in the text as "Table 1 here".

Given that the Graduate School enforces general rules and departments may impose more restrictive ones, the above language has clear, unequivocal implications:

1. Departments, not the Graduate School, shall decide whether or not students may include their own previously published or in press or multi-authored materials (e.g. journal articles or excerpts therefrom), and how many they may include, in their dissertations. This is a matter of departmental discretion, decided in accordance with each department's relevant procudures.

2. Departments are not required to permit students to include their own previously published materials in their dissertations.

3. A dissertation may not consist solely of previously published materials, formatted as published. A dissertation does not consist solely of journal articles, photocopied and stapled together. (See next point).

4. Whether they include students' previously published materials or not, dissertations must meet the formatting requirements of the Graduate School's "Guidelines for Preparation and Submission of Dissertations," they must be prepared for electronic submission; and they must conform to their respective departmental styles sheets.

Suggested Writing Style

Students are urged to consult with the Graduate School before final submission. Each department is requested to specify or develop an acceptable style or styles for theses and dissertations prepared by its graduate students. Students should request their department's acceptable style and should become thoroughly familiar with it before they begin preparing their thesis/dissertation.

General Instructions

ADVISORY COMMITTEE. When a student obtains approval of the thesis or dissertation topic from a faculty member who agrees to direct the work, that faculty member is designated as the chair of the student's committee. This committee advises the student in the preparation of the thesis/dissertation, evaluates its quality when completed and supervises the final examination. The student's committee must be approved by the Graduate School and the committee form should be submitted to the Associate Dean's Office as soon as the faculty members have agreed to serve. See the Graduate Catalog for details of the make-up of the committee.

FILING OF THESES AND DISSERTATIONS WITH THE GRADUATE SCHOOL. The Graduate School must have an original approval sheet signed by the student's committee and generally the department chair. Note: Some departments prefer to submit the forms directly to the Graduate School. If that is the case with your department, the Graduate School will hold your paper pending the submission of the approval sheets.

HUMAN SUBJECTS. Theses and dissertations that need the human subjects approval as defined by the Human Subjects Committee must submit a copy of the approval form to the Graduate School.

RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN SUBJECTS. SIUC has a policy governing all faculty, staff and student research, which involves human subjects. A human subject is defined as any individual whom a researcher contacts in person, by mail or by phone and makes a request for information. The SIUC Institutional Review Board for any research involving human subjects is located in the Office of Research Development and Administration, Woody Hall C214. For further information, please call 618-453-4543 or 618-453-4533. A copy of the approval form must be submitted to the Graduate School, B114 prior to the final ETD submission.

COPYRIGHT. It is the student's responsibility to obtain permission to reproduce copyrighted material such as adapting all or part of a table or figure from a copyrighted source for inclusion in their thesis or dissertation. When permission is granted, the reproduced table or figure must be noted with the original author and copyright holder.

ETD SUBMISSION FEE. The fee for submission of thesis is $70.00 and $80.00 for dissertation. If the thesis/dissertation is to be copyrighted (optional), an additional fee of $65.00 is due, for a total of $135 (Thesis) and $145.00 (dissertation).

DOCTORAL SURVEY FORM. Doctoral survey forms should be turned into the Graduate School, Woody Hall, B114 at the time the final submission of the thesis/dissertation. A check made payable to SIUC should be included with the completed forms. These forms are available at the Graduate School and online at: http://www.siu.edu/gradschl/forms.htm. This must be submitted prior to commencement.

COPIES OF THESES/DISSERTATIONS. You may contact the Bookstore about binding your paper if you wish a bound copy for yourself or for your department. If you are ordering bound copies from ProQuest, it may take 6 months to a year to receive the copies.

DEADLINE DATES FOR SUBMISSION. The dates are posted at the Graduate School for both deadline to apply for graduation and the submission of papers. These deadlines are firm dates and no extensions will be given.

Formatting Guidelines

FONTS. The pdf file should be readable. The type face should be letter quality. Font style should be standard and not an unusual style such as Cursive, Script or Italic. Some standard fonts are listed below.

Ariel, Bookman, Courier, Times New Roman

The body of the document should use a 10 or 12 point font. Headings and subheadings may go up one size and up to 14 point but must be of the same font style as the body of the text.

Bold format may be used only as specified by the style manual chosen.

Italics may be used only as specified by the style manual chosen. In general, it may be used for Genera, species, letter, word or phrase cited as an linguistic example and foreign words.

SPACING.

1. The body of the document must be double spaced.

2. Extended direct quotations, should be presented consistently with the style manual selected.

Margins and Indentations

1. Margins are one and one-half inches on the left (binding edge) and one inch on the other three sides. Opening pages (Table of Contents, Chapters, Bibliography, etc.) that are required by the manual style to have a set top margin may have a larger than one inch top margin on those pages. Charts, tables and figures may have greater margins than listed but may not go into the required margins.

2. Paragraph indentations should be uniform five spaces. There should be no extra spacing between paragraphs.

Pagination

Text pages, bibliography and appendices should follow the style manual chosen. Numbers should consist of numerals only, without punctuation, embellishment, or running headers. Paging should be continuous including the bibliography, appendices and vita. Except for preceding pages, the style must be adhered to throughout the document. The first page of text starts with Arabic numeral 1.

This recent guideline revision supersedes all previous editions. Take this into consideration as you review previous theses/dissertations from the library or your department.

Organization / Style Manual

1. Title page
2. Copyright statement (when applicable)
3. Approval page
4. Abstract
5. Acknowledgments/Dedication (not required)
6. Preface
7. Table of Contents
8. List of tables with page references
9. List of figures with page references
10. Text
11. Exhibits (tables, figures, photographs, etc. when not distributed in the text)
12. Bibliography (or appropriate title prescribed by style manual chosen)
13. Appendices (not required)
14. Vita sheet

Original signature forms must be submitted to the Graduate School. Signature pages should not be included in the pdf file, including the Human Subjects Committee Approval form.

If a thesis/dissertation is to be copyrighted, an extra page must be inserted after the title page. The copyright statement is to be centered on the page as follows:

Charts, Tables, Figures

1. Generally, students will use the computer to design figures and graphs.

2. Table heading and style of headings must follow the style manual chosen. Generally, table titles are above the table and figure titles are below the figure but the placement selected must be followed consistently.

3. Spacing within the table may be single or double spaced based on the readability of the data.

4. Font style and size should be consistent throughout the document, unless a table requires a smaller size. Six (6) point font should be the smallest used. Titles should be consistent in size and style of font as used throughout the document.

5. There should be a judicious use of spacing to "set off" tables, charts and figures; typically one or two double-spaces before and after the table. Again, once spacing is chosen, you must be consistent throughout.

APPENDICES. List of terms, definitions, questionnaires, and other supplemental information which is useful, but not essential to the body of the thesis or dissertation may be included in an appendix.

Margins are flexible within the appendix but keep in mind that the left binding edge will cover approximately 1 ½ inches of data. Page numbers need to continue within the appendix with the same font and the same position on the page as in the text. The Graduate School consultants can advise you about this if needed.

COLOR. Color is permitted.

Responsibility for Preparation and Evaluation of Theses/Dissertations

1. Subject matter and content.

2. Organization and format.

3. Editorial, linguistic and bibliographic quality.

4. Quality of text, figures and photocopy.

5. Quality of data, evidence and logical reasoning presented.

6. Presentation of the manuscript based on current style manual of the field and Graduate School guidelines.

   
   

1. Approval of the subject matter and methodology of the research.

2. Approval of the organization, content and format.

3. Review of the quality of data and evidence, logical reasoning and the editorial, linguistic and bibliographic quality.

4. Evaluation of the thesis or dissertation as a basis for certification that the student has fulfilled the requirements of the degree for which the student is a candidate.

   
   

1. Providing counsel and advice upon request by students and members of the student's committee about the format aspects of theses and dissertation preparation.

2. Checking the final draft of each thesis or dissertation to insure that it has been prepared in conformity with the requirements of this guide.

   
   

Style Manuals

Alternately, a department may also elect to use the style of a particular scholarly journal in the discipline as a basis for presenting the thesis or dissertation. Whichever type of style is selected, it must be used consistently throughout the document. See Style Manual listing.

STYLE MANUAL

DEPARTMENT	STYLE
Administration of Justice	APA
Agribusiness Economics	Chicago
Agricultural Education and Mechanization	APA with Journal Style for References
Animal Science	Journal of Animal Science
Anthropology	Chicago/Journal Bibliography
Behavioral Analysis and Therapy	APA
Biological Sciences	Council of Biology Editors Style Manual: A Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers in the Biological Sciences
Business & Administration	APA or Chicago with Journal References
Chemistry	American Chemical Society Style Guide: A Manual for Authors and Editors
Civil and Environmental Engineering	APA with American Society of Civil Engineers Technical Journal References
Communication Disorders and Sciences	APA
Computer Science	Departmental Guidelines
Curriculum & Instruction	APA
Economics	American Economic Review
Educational Administration	APA or Turabian
Ed. Psychology and Special Ed.	APA
Electrical and Computer Engineering	Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
English	MLA
Environmental Resources and Policy
Food and Nutrition	Journal of American Dietetics Association
Foreign Languages and Literature	MLA
Forestry	APA with Journal of Forestry
Geography and Environmental Resources	Chicago
Geology	Geological Society of America
Health Ed.	AMA
Higher Education	APA or Turabian
History	Chicago or Turabian
Journalism	APA or Chicago
Linguistics	APA/Linguistic Society of America (ex.)
Manufacturing Systems	APA or IJPR
Mass Communication and Media Arts	APA or Chicago
Mathematics	Departmental Guidelines
Mechanical Engineering	ASME Journal
Mining Engineering	APA with Journal References
Molecular Biology, Microbiolgy, Biochemistry	Journal of Bacteriology Journal of Experimental Medicine Journal of Molecular Biology
Molecular, Cellular & Systemic Physiology	Journal of Endocrinology
Music	APA
Pharmacology	Journal of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics
Philosophy	Chicago
Physical Education	APA
Physics	American Physical Society The Journal of Physics
Plant and Soil Science	Agronomy Journal Journal for the American Society of Horticultural Science Weed Science Journal
Plant Biology	Departmental Guidelines
Political Science	American Political Science Review/ Chicago Style Manual plus Departmental Guidelines
Psychology	APA
Public Administration	APA or MLA
Recreation	APA
Rehabilitation Administration	APA
Rehabilitation Counseling	APA
Sociology	American Sociological Association Style Guide
Speech Communication	APA or MLA
Theater	MLA
Workforce Ed. and Development	Departmental Guidelines
Zoology	Departmental Guidelines

*APA: American Psychological Association Publication Manual
*MLA: Modern Language Association Handbook for Writers of Research Papers

We no longer require appointments to have your thesis reviewed. You may submit your pdf to the ProQuest submission site directly.

For Questions, Please Contact:
Dr. Ratna Sinha
618-453-4570
Woody Hall B114

Graduation Information

GRADUATION FEE. There is a $25.00 graduation fee for all students.

ATTENDANCE AT COMMENCEMENT. Attendance at commencement is not compulsory. Please notify the Graduate School if you wish to graduate in absentia and provide a diploma mailing address. Diplomas are mailed within a six to eight week period following the commencement exercises.

PLEASE NOTE: GRADUATE STUDENTS MAY NOT ATTEND THE COMMENCEMENT PRIOR TO DEGREE COMPLETION.

ORDERING GRADUATION REGALIA. Please contact the Student Center Bookstore for deadlines for ordering caps, gown, hood and commencement invitations.

LETTERS OF COMPLETION. If requested, a letter will be prepared for students who have been cleared for graduation by the Graduate School and the department. The letter states that all requirements have been met and that the diploma will be awarded. Therefore, letters of completion can be issued only after completion of the clearance process. Letters may be requested at the Graduate School, Woody Hall B114. Please expect a minimum of two weeks for the process.

FOR GRADUATION INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE GRADUATE SCHOOL AT 618-453-4570.

Questions/Concerns

Questions regarding the Graduate Assistantship\Fellowship Office: Contact gaoffice@siu.edu