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University of Kentucky

Ph.D. Dissertation & Master's Thesis Formatting Guidelines

Official layout specifications, binding margins, and document formatting requirements.

Governing Body: The Graduate School Student Services (KY, US)

Degree Scope:🎓 Ph.D. / Doctoralℹī¸ Master's / M.Tech. format requires departmental / DPGC confirmation unless a central handbook is cited
Official Handbook:
University of Kentucky Graduate School Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Preparation Guide
View Official Handbook ↗
Paper Dimensions
Letter (8.5 in × 11.0 in)
Binding Margins
1.5 in Left / 1 in Right
Standard Typography
Times New Roman (12pt)
Line Spacing
Double Spaced (2.0x)

1. Page Setup & Geometry

Page dimensions, binding margins, and print/digital alignments

Letter
Top: 1 in
Binding: 1.5 in
[Header]Page 1
[Front matter]
Right: 1 in
Bottom: 1 in
Left (Binding Gutter)
1.5in(3.81 cm)
Right Margin
1in(2.54 cm)
Top Margin
1in(2.54 cm)
Bottom Margin
1in(2.54 cm)
Margin Specification: Left margin 1.5 in (for binding/archival copy); top, bottom, and right margins 1.0 in.

2. Typography & Spacing Hierarchy

Font selections, heading styles, line spacing, and paragraph indentation

Times New Roman
Body Font
Times New Roman
Font Size
12pt
Line Spacing
Double Spaced (2.0x)
Paragraph Indent
0.5 in
Approved Typefaces:Times New RomanArialCalibri
Spacing Exceptions: Single-space block quotes, footnotes, tables, and bibliography items.

3. Technical & Archival Compliance

ETD ProQuest repository requirements, table spanning, and vector DPI rules

ETD / ProQuest Ready
Tables Layout

Table captions: above.

Figures & Graphics

Figure captions: below. Colour photography minimum 300 DPI.

Math & Formulae

Right-aligned equation numbers (chapter.seq). Preserves native MathML and Word equation blocks.

Archival Preservation

Library ETD guideline: PDF/A-1b (Note: ScholarSpec formats submission-ready Word .docx documents; export to PDF/A upon final committee approval).

4. Preliminary Pages Checklist & Order

Strict graduate school ordering, title page numbering suppression, and Roman pagination

Mandatory Sequence
  1. 1
    Title PageMandatory
    Pagination: suppressed counted
  2. 2
    AbstractMandatory
    Pagination: suppressed counted
  3. 3
    AcknowledgmentsOptional / If Applicable
    Pagination: roman visible
  4. 4
    Table of ContentsMandatory
    Pagination: roman visible

6. Academic Integrity, Similarity & AI Policy

Plagiarism threshold, similarity checking software, and Generative AI disclosure rules

Policy & Disclosure
Generative AI Policy
Disclosure Statement Required

Graduate School reviews focus on technical format compliance and adherence to University academic integrity standards.

Notice a discrepancy in this 2026 handbook?

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*ScholarSpec is a pre-submission formatting assistant. Output is calibrated to official university graduate handbooks.
Editorial Tutorials & Standards

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  • Left margin 1.5 in; top, bottom, right margins 1.0 in.
  • Page numbers centered 0.5 in from bottom edge.
  • Front matter numbered with lowercase Roman starting with iii on Acknowledgments.
  • Main text numbered with Arabic numerals starting with 1.
  • Corrected 2026-10-13 against primary sources: Brief deadUrl gradschool.uky.edu/electronic-theses-and-dissertations is 404; current page is under /academic-services/. The page separates master's thesis and doctoral dissertation sections with the same formatting rules; Graduate School says its general specifications override discipline style manuals. Libraries note (libguides.uky.edu/contributestudentwork/ETDoverview): effective 4/20/2026 all text submissions must conform to ADA Title II accessibility guidelines. The claim that 'ADVANCE initiative' sets an AI declaration rule was not supported.