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University of Washington

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

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

Governing Body: UW Graduate School Student Affairs (WA, US)

Degree Scope:🎓 Ph.D. / Doctoralℹī¸ Master's / M.Tech. format requires departmental / DPGC confirmation unless a central handbook is cited
Official Handbook:
UW Graduate School Electronic Thesis/Dissertation Guidelines
View Official Handbook ↗
Paper Dimensions
Letter (8.5 in × 11.0 in)
Binding Margins
1 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 in
[Header]Page 1
[Front matter]
Right: 1 in
Bottom: 1 in
Left (Binding Gutter)
1in(2.54 cm)
Right Margin
1in(2.54 cm)
Top Margin
1in(2.54 cm)
Bottom Margin
1in(2.54 cm)
Margin Specification: At least 1.0 in on all sides; page numbers at least 0.75 in from page edge.

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
    Copyright PageMandatory
    Pagination: suppressed counted
  3. 3
    AbstractMandatory
    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

Student retains full responsibility for scholarship, originality, and avoiding unauthorized disclosure of proprietary or sensitive research data.

Chapter Opening & Print Setup

Chapter start placement, top margin drops, single vs double-sided print, and paper weight

Layout
Printing Format
Single-Sided

8. Institutional & Departmental Policies

ETD must be submitted in PDF format.
Title Page, Copyright Page, and Abstract must be three separate, individual pages at the beginning of the manuscript.
No blank pages allowed between the first three pages.
No images or color on the first three required pages (black text on white background).
No running heads on the first three pages.
Master's Thesis Approval Form must be uploaded separately via ProQuest, not included in the ETD body.
Degree title must match MyGrad records exactly (e.g., 'Master of Science' not 'Master's').
Committee members listed on Title Page must match MyGrad Reading Committee listing; no professional titles (Dr., PhD) on Title Page.
Language must be English unless prior approval for another language is granted via petition.
Institutional Policy: Metadata (citation and abstract) is openly available immediately regardless of embargo status.
Institutional Policy: Students may restrict full-text access for patent, publication, or sensitive information reasons, but metadata remains public.
Institutional Policy: ProQuest account must be set up with a regularly monitored email address.

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.
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  • Verified 2026-10-13 against primary sources: UW Graduate School formatting guidelines and ProQuest guidelines mandate at least 1.0 in margins, page numbers placed at least 0.75 in from page edge (footerMargin 0.75, headerMargin null), and double spacing.
  • Minimum 1.0 in margins on all sides.
  • Page numbers must be at least 0.75 in from edge of page.
  • First three pages strictly ordered: Title Page, Copyright Page, Abstract (plain black text on white, no running heads or page numbers).
  • All fonts must be embedded.