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UWA

University of Western Australia

Ph.D. Thesis Formatting Guidelines

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

Governing Body: Graduate Research School (WA, AU)

Degree Scope:🎓 Ph.D. / Doctoralℹī¸ Master's / M.Tech. format requires departmental / DPGC confirmation unless a central handbook is cited
Official Handbook:
UWA UniPrint: Preparing Your Thesis for Print
View Official Handbook ↗
Paper Dimensions
A4 (210 mm × 297 mm)
Binding Margins
40 mm Left / 20 mm Right
Standard Typography
Times New Roman (12pt)
Line Spacing
1.5x

1. Page Setup & Geometry

Page dimensions, binding margins, and print/digital alignments

A4
Top: 20 mm
Binding: 40 mm
[Header]Page 1
[Front matter]
Right: 20 mm
Bottom: 20 mm
Left (Binding Gutter)
40mm
Right Margin
20mm
Top Margin
20mm
Bottom Margin
20mm
Margin Specification: Left: at least 40 mm (4 cm) for binding; top, bottom, and right: at least 20 mm (2 cm).

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
1.5x
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

Institute ETD / library deposit
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
    Declaration of OriginalityMandatory
    Pagination: suppressed counted
  3. 3
    Declaration of Generative AIMandatory
    Pagination: roman visible
  4. 4
    Authorship Attribution StatementOptional / If Applicable
    Pagination: roman visible
  5. 5
    AcknowledgementsOptional / If Applicable
    Pagination: roman visible
  6. 6
    AbstractMandatory
    Pagination: roman visible
  7. 7
    Table of ContentsMandatory
    Pagination: roman visible
  8. 8
    List of FiguresOptional / If Applicable
    Pagination: roman visible
  9. 9
    List of TablesOptional / If Applicable
    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

Mandatory Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in the Writing Process in the preliminary pages, stating tools utilized and confirming adherence to UWA Research Integrity guidelines.

Chapter Opening & Print Setup

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

Layout
Printing Format
Single or Double-Sided

8. Institutional & Departmental Policies

Declaration Originality:

Signed candidate declaration of originality.

Declaration Ai:

Mandatory Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in the Writing Process.

Authorship Attribution:

Mandatory Authorship Attribution Statement where papers or collaborative publications are incorporated.

Repository Deposit:

Deposit in UWA Profiles and Research Repository.

Institutional Policy: UWA UniPrint and Graduate Research School guidelines mandate at least 40 mm left binding margin and at least 1.5 line spacing.

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  • Corrected 2026-10-13 against primary sources: UWA UniPrint Preparing Your Thesis for Print and UWA Library Theses & Repository Lodgement; resolved dead URLs; A4 paper, left binding margin 40 mm, other margins 20 mm, line spacing 1.5x, GenAI declaration required.
  • A4 format. Left-hand margin: at least 40 mm (4 cm) for binding; top, bottom, and right margins: at least 20 mm (2 cm).
  • Line spacing: at least 1.5 line spacing (1.5x or 2.0x).
  • Mandatory Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in the Writing Process in preliminary pages.