Creating A Dissertation From Scratch: APA Formatting Guidelines


It’s required that your dissertation matches one particular style of formatting and organization. One of the most popular styles is the APA formatting principle that is commonly used for academic papers. It means a range of demands to your dissertation, and if you follow them, you will have a wonderful dissertation.

So, to create a successful dissertation from scratch, you should keep in mind the following:

  • Use a clear type.
  • Use the clearest type, paper of the highest quality and the best printing quality for your work. To check how good it is, try taking a photocopy of a page at 75% reduction to see whether it’s fine.

  • Use a readable font.
  • Use a readable font, 12 pt. recommended. Though you can use smaller fonts for tables, mixing fonts is not welcomed.

  • Keep margins.
  • Install at least 1" margins at each side of a page to ensure proper binding.

  • Leave spaces.
  • It’s required to double-space the entire text, involving citations, lists and so on.

  • Consider the order of pages.
  • You are supposed to start with the title page, move on to the copyright page, ten to acknowledgements and to the table of contents. Then, give attention to lists of all the appendices in case you have any. Attach the main text of your project. Close the range with the page of bibliography and attach the mentioned appendices.

  • Follow the title page format.
  • There are free examples of APA style dissertation title pages on the Internet and in offline libraries, so you can use some of them as samples of proper organization of the title page.

  • Don’t forget the copyright page.
  • When published, your work will be copyrighted by default. Still, you need to include the copyright page in your project. It follows the title page and contains your name and the date (year) of the conferral. The information should be centered within the sheet.

  • Give attention to the bibliography.
  • Mention all the sources of information you have used in your work. If you use books by the same author, don’t repeat their name each time you mention them. Use the underscore character to draw a line that is meant to replace the same name. Use a comma if there is another author to the next mentioned book.

  • Cite properly.

If you use a paraphrased idea of an author, mention them as their name and date in brackets. If you use a direct quote, mention the author as their name, the date and the page number where you have found the quote.


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