The dissertation front matter should be in the following order. The front matter refers to the title page through the end of the table of contents/supplemental materials. Required sections are indicated in bold, while optional sections are italicized.
- Title Page (required)
- Acceptance Page (required)
- Copyright Page (optional)
- Dedication (optional)
- Acknowledgments (optional)
- Preface (optional)
- Abstract (required)
- Table of Contents (required)
- Supplemental Materials (lists of tables, figures, appendices, etc) (optional)
Additionally, all students are required to include their resume/curriculum vitae at the end of their dissertation.
Sections of a doctoral dissertation
Below are the sections of a doctoral dissertation, with required or optional following the section titles.
Title Page - Required
The title page should be a separate page and no longer than one page. All content on this page should be centered horizontally and vertically. Keep in mind that the title must be able to fit on the spine of a bound manuscript.
Click here to see an example of the title page.
Acceptance Page - Required
This page confirms the committee’s approval and acceptance of your dissertation. The acceptance page should be a separate page and no longer than one page.
- The Acceptance statement should be centered at the top of the page: Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
The words “Doctoral Committee” immediately follow the Acceptance statement and are left-justified.
Your Research Committee members’ names and signature lines follow and are fully right-justified. Behind each name, place the appropriate post-nominal initials for that individual (Ph.D., M.F.A., O.D., etc.)
- After the names, should be the date of your defense, left-justified.
- The page remains unsigned for inclusion in your dissertation.
Click here to see an example of the acceptance page.
Copyright Page - Optional
If you choose to copyright your dissertation, you should include a copyright page. The copyright page should be a separate page and no longer than one page. All content on this page should be centered horizontally and vertically.
Copyright © [year]
[Student’s Name]
Click here to see an example of the copyright page.
Dedication, Acknowledgments, or Preface - Optional
Depending on your personal inclination, you may wish to include a dedication, a set of acknowledgments, or a preface. The acknowledgements are designed to recognize people or agencies to whom you feel grateful for any academic, technical, financial, or personal aid in the preparation of your thesis. As a matter of courtesy, you would ordinarily mention the members of your committee here, as well as institutions that provided funding or anyone else who helped. For the dedication page, all content should be centered horizontally and vertically. Only the dedication itself should be on the dedication page; no page heading should appear. Acknowledgments and Preface pages should have a page heading.
Abstract - Required
As many people will learn about your work through your abstract published in the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Database, you should spend a good bit of effort in the composition of both the abstract and the title of your work. Try to convey the flavor of your work, not just the bare bones of your findings. You should also work to phrase your title so that it truly describes the contents and will be easily found in the index of the database. The index is based on keywords, so be as specific as you can be about your subject. Go to the database.»
The abstract page should start with the student’s name, centered, followed on the second line by the title of the dissertation, centered and in either all capital letters or underlined. The content of the abstract itself should be double-spaced and limited to 350 words. The paragraph(s), layout, indention, and line spacing should match the formatting of the rest of the dissertation.
Click here to see an example of the abstract page.
Table of Contents - Required
Include a table of contents to guide the readership of your dissertation.
Add an entry/entries (as appropriate) for the reference/bibliography page/pages to the table of contents.
Add an entry for your curriculum vitae (CV) to the table of contents. The CV should be the last item in your dissertation and listed last on the table of contents. Since CV pages should not have a page number, the table of contents entry should note only the presence of the CV at the end with no page number indicated.
Supplemental Materials - Optional
Include lists of tables, figures, appendixes, abbreviations, or other supplemental materials, if appropriate.
Curriculum Vitae (CV) - Required
Include a resume/curriculum vitae at the end of the dissertation, after the main content. Do not add any page number(s) to the resume/curriculum vitae.
Your CV should be in the same font and have the same margins as the rest of your dissertation and should not contain your home address, phone number, nor any page number. It is not common or recommended to list personal references on the CV within a dissertation. Please list your Ph.D. degree as completed in the same month as listed on the title page. The Ph.D. major, concentration, and/or minor listed on your CV should be the Ph.D. major, concentration, and/or minor that is displayed on your official transcript.
