The Importance of the Style Guide
Writers of theses, dissertations, or their equivalents must follow a standard style guide or a standard journal in their field, in addition to the Graduate College' Format Manual. Some departments and degree programs have recommended one or two style guides/journals for student use (view list of Department Recommended Style Guides). By following the standards that prevail in your field, you are incorporating cues that your colleagues and other audiences recognize: headings that organize the document logically; a familiar in-text citation style and a reference list that consistently matches it; and standard-looking tables and figures that are supported by accurate, descriptive titles or captions.

How to Choose the Right Style Guide
Unless your degree program or department specifies a style guide or journal for its students, you and your committee may choose one. When choosing a style guide from our list or an article from journals in your field, consider your thesis/dissertation's content and evaluate the style guides/journals using these questions:

• Does this guide include instructions (author's guidelines and/or examples) for every element in my thesis/dissertation (e.g., illustrations, maps, tables, nomenclature, certain types of references, etc.)?
• Does it provide guidance in formatting the style for headings, including multiple levels if I need subheadings? (Most journals will be lacking in this area.)
• Does it provide guidance for arranging data in my tables?
• Is the style for citations and reference lists in this guide familiar to me, or will I have to learn it? Does it provide citation directions/examples for all the types of references I will be using, including websites?

• Heading structure and the style (e.g., centered or flush left, etc.) for each level
• Table format (e.g., gridlines) and style of table titles (e.g., italics, above the table)
• Style of figure captions (e.g., flush left, below the figure)
• Citation method (e.g., numbers or author names) and format (e.g., parentheses or brackets)
• Reference list (or notes/bibliography) format (e.g., author-date, publication type, alphabetical, etc.)
• Quotation format (e.g., spacing/indenting of block quotes)

• Chicago Style Guide Quick Reference
• MLA Style Guide Quick Reference
• APA Style Guide Quick Reference
• Turabian Style Guide Quick Reference

• Some style guides do not provide adequate formatting direction in some of the key areas, such as chapter headings and multiple levels of headings. Therefore, if your thesis/dissertation has chapters and subheadings, determining a reasonable scheme and style for these elements is up to you, your committee, and the format advisor. Despite a journal style's shortcomings, you will need to implement the agreed-upon scheme and style consistently.
• In some cases, your style guide (particularly if you are referring to the author guidelines for a journal) may contradict Format Manual specifications. For instance, the Format Manual governs the preliminary pages and margin requirements as appropriate for binding. Some style guides/author guidelines assume that the document is being prepared for submission to a journal or publisher; therefore, they request formatting that will meet the needs of editors, reviewers, and publishers. Please bear in mind that Graduate College requirements regarding margins, pagination, preliminary pages' format, and appendices supersede those of your style guide/journal.
• Another thesis/dissertation cannot be used as a style guide because (1) requirements change over time, (2) you may be copying someone's mistakes, and (3) you may not correctly identify the style guide used, which may lead to reformatting the entire thesis/dissertation to conform to your indicated style guide.