This document serves as a comprehensive guide for CSULB master's degree candidates on preparing and submitting their thesis or dissertation manuscripts. It outlines the roles of the thesis office, submission processes, revision procedures, and specific formatting requirements according to university guidelines while emphasizing the importance of adhering to departmental style manuals. Additional resources and contact information for research assistance are provided throughout the guide.

1. A Guide for CSULB Master’s
Degree Candidates

2. Contact us any time. We’ll get back to you by the
next business day!

3. Research Help
For help with doing research, contact the
librarian/subject specialist in Engineering
Hema Ramachandran
(562) 985-5749
Office: EN2-109
http://www.csulb.libguides.com/ENG
hema.ramachandran@csulb.edu

4. Role of the Thesis and Dissertation Office
We’re here to help you prepare
your manuscript according to
the University Guidelines Manual
and the formatting style guide
approved by your department.
Please call or email us whenever
you have questions or problems
regarding your manuscript.

5. Electronic Submission—Fast and Easy
Students can now submit their
manuscripts via a website set up by
ProQuest, the database company
that has maintained electronic theses
and dissertations for CSULB since
2008.
 You can submit documents and
revisions any time from anywhere
 You save time and money since no
printing of documents is needed

6. Submission Process—Get Ready!
Have your signature page fully
signed with all signatures
AND
Have your manuscript formatted
to the best of your ability and
complete in one PDF file

7. Submission Process—Get Set!
Deliver your signature
page to the Thesis Office
by 5 p.m. of deadline date
AND
The Thesis Office will
email you the Internet
address to use to upload
your PDF manuscript

8. Submission Process—Go!
You must upload your PDF within
a week of the date that the email
is sent
AND
A fee of $95 is required for Open
Access Publishing at the time of
upload
AND
Make a note of your User Name
and Password so you can access
PDFs for revisions

9. Revision Process—First Evaluation
Formatters read through PDFs on a
first come first served basis as they
are uploaded. Corrections are
added to the PDF. The student is
emailed when read-through is
done. The annotated PDF can be
downloaded from the ProQuest
website

10. Revision Process—First Corrections
Using a version of the manuscript
that’s easy to revise (usually a
Microsoft Word version), the
student makes revisions based on
the annotated PDF. After making a
PDF of the revised manuscript, the
student uploads it to ProQuest
website. Setting a 2 week
turnaround time for this initial
revision ensures completing the
submission process within the
term deadline

11. Revision Process—Second Corrections
Formatters read through revised
PDF and contact the student
within a week. There are three
possibilities:
 Second correction—another PDF
is uploaded with notes about
corrections needed
 Cleared pending—Email is sent
with list of a few (15 or fewer)
corrections still needed
 Cleared—No further corrections
needed

12. Clearance Letter
Once the formatting of a student’s PDF
manuscript is cleared, meaning there are no
more corrections needed, the Thesis Office
releases the PDF for publication on the
ProQuest database.
The student will receive an email “clearance
letter” from the Thesis Office to confirm that
the submission process is complete. A copy
of the email is also sent to the student’s
committee chair, the department graduate
advisor and Enrollment Services.

14. University Guidelines Versus
Departmental Style Manuals
The formatting rules in the
CSULB University Guidelines
Manual ALWAYS take precedence
over the style guide (APA, MLA,
Chicago, etc.) or other citation
format styles (IEEE, ASCE, ASME,
IEEE Computer Society) required
by your department

15. Current Engineering Style Guides
Use the style approved by your department or committee:
Chemical-IEEE; https://www.ieee.org/documents/style_manual
.pdf
Civil–ASCE; http://ascelibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.1061
/9780784479018.ch05
Computer Science—IEEE Computer Society; https://www
.computer.org/web/publications/styleguide
Electrical—IEEE; https://www.ieee.org/documents/style_manual
.pdf
Mechanical & Aerospace—ASME; https://www.asme.org/shop
/proceedings/conference-publications/references

16. Thesis Office Web Pages
 University Guidelines Manual
 Mini-Manuscript (samples of formatting for all pages of document)
 Templates for signature page, title page and much more
 PowerPoints about formatting rules
 Go to http://csulb.libguides.com/thesisformat or click through
from University Library home page: http://www.csulb.edu/library

17. Signature Page NOT in PDF
Create your signature page as
a separate document for the
committee members and
college designee to sign.
Do not include a signature
page as part of the PDF that
you upload to ProQuest
More information about the signature page is available in the PowerPoint
about University Guidelines Manual rules for front pages

18. Title Page Comes First
• The title page is the first page
of the manuscript
• The abstract is now a page
within the manuscript. Use
lowercase Roman numeral—
ii—for first page of the
abstract
• Include a listing for the
abstract in the table of
contents
• More information about the
order of pages is available at
the end of this slideshow and
in the PowerPoint about
University Guidelines Manual
format rules for front pages.

19. Table of Contents Simplified
• List the major sections of the
document in the table of
contents—the major sections use
all uppercase for the titles, for
example: ABSTRACT, LIST OF
TABLES, and LIST OF FIGURES
• Include the title of each chapter
beginning with a number and the
title of each appendix beginning
with a letter
• Use dot leaders at the end of each
item leading to the page numbers
aligned along the right margin
• NO subheads! NO headings! (in the
table of contents, that is)
• More information about the table
of contents is available in the
PowerPoint about University
Guidelines Manual format rules for
front pages

20. Font Requirements
Font Style
Times New Roman
Courier New
Font Size = 12 point
Exceptions:
Within a table, font style must be
consistent for all tables and font
size may be 10 to 12 point
Within a figure, font style is
unrestricted and font size must be
legible
Within the appendices, font style
and font size are unrestricted as
long as all text is legible
Times New Roman is the
most widely used font
style.
Courier New comes
in second.

21. Margin Requirements
Use 1 inch for ALL
margins—top, right,
left and bottom.
This is a major
change from
previous rules.

22. Spacing Within Text Requirements
Within the text of the
abstract, acknowledge-
ments and all chapters,
spacing at the end of
sentences and after
colons can be one space
or two spaces. The
spacing used should be
consistent throughout
the text.
The is a major change
from previous rules.

23. Paragraph Format Requirements
Text should be formatted as paragraphs
with consistent indentation for the first
line and left justification only.
It is recommended that, if bullet point lists and
numbered items are used in the text, they should be
used sparingly.
If bullet point lists or numbered lists are used, the default
indentation in Microsoft Word should be used; that is, numbered
or bulleted lines are indented one quarter inch and other lines are
indented one half inch so that the bullets or numbers stand out
from other lines.

24. Titles, Subheads and Captions—The
Bold New Look
Bold font is now used for all
titles—the title of your
manuscript as well as titles of
sections, titles of chapters, and
titles of tables
All subheads and figure captions
use bold font as well
This is a major change from
previous rules
More information about the
subheads is available in the
PowerPoint about University
Guidelines Manual format rules
for chapters, appendices and
references lists

25. Uniform Double Line Spacing Requirements
Spacing between lines of
text should be uniform with
no extra blank space
between paragraphs or
before and after titles and
subheads.
For instance, the line
spacing in this sentence is
not uniform.
To create uniform double
line spacing, select text
above and below the gap in
the text.
Then click on the Page Layout tab
and click on the little arrow
underneath the spacing settings to
bring up the Paragraph
dialog box.
In the Paragraph dialog box, set
Line spacing to “Double” and set
the Spacing boxes (marked Before
and After) to “0 pt”

26. Uniform Double Line Spacing Requirements
Spacing between lines of
text should be uniform with
no extra blank space
between paragraphs or
before and after titles and
subheads.
For instance, the line
spacing between these
sentences is not uniform.
To create uniform double
line spacing, select text
above and below the gap in
the text.
Then click on the Page Layout tab
and click on the little arrow
underneath the spacing settings to
bring up the Paragraph
dialog box.
In the Paragraph dialog box, set
Line spacing to “Double” and set
the Spacing boxes (marked Before
and After) to “0 pt”

27. Page Number Placement Requirements
Page numbers are centered at
the bottom of the page and
positioned between .75 inch
and 1 inch from bottom of
page
To change the position of page
numbers, go to the Insert tab
and click on Footer.
Then click on Edit Footer near
the bottom of the dialog box
that pops up.
A new menu bar, “Header &
Footer Tools,” will appear at
the top of the screen. Look for
the Footer from Bottom setting
and change setting to 0.9 inch.
While in the Header & Footer
Tools mode, you can select a
page number and right click
for a dialog box to change the
font style or font size of the
page number (which should be
the same as the text).

28. Order of Elements and Page Numbers Required
Title Page—NO PAGE NUMBER
Copyright Page (optional)—NO PAGE NUMBER
Abstract—Use lowercase Roman numerals (begin with ii) for page
numbers
Acknowledgements (optional)—Use lowercase Roman numerals
for page numbers
Table of Contents—Use lowercase Roman numerals for page
numbers
List of Tables, List of Figures, List of Works, and so on (as
needed)—Use lowercase Roman numerals for page numbers
Chapters—Use Arabic numerals for page numbers from here to
the end of the manuscript (Chapter 1 starts with page 1)
Appendices (optional)—Each one begins with a title page. Use
title page with APPENDIX and its title for one. If there are two or
more appendices, begin with a title page with APPENDICES
centered on the page followed by title page for APPENDIX A
References List or Bibliography—Begins with a title page with
REFERENCES or BIBLIOGRAPHY or WORKS CITED centered on page

29. Much, Much More!
These are only the fundamental
formatting rules that must be used in
your manuscript. There are specific rules
for every section of the document. Be
sure to go online and check out the
other PowerPoint slideshows with
formatting rules. Don’t forget the Mini-
Manuscript, templates and the University
Guidelines Manual itself. All of them can
be accessed from:
http://csulb.libguides.com/thesisformat

30. (562) 985-4013
lib-thesis@csulb.edu