Thesis Formatting for MES

These tips are based on the MES Thesis Handbook and former students's suggestions to help MES students build and format their thesis. These use Microsoft Word 2007, other versions may vary. Feel free to contribute others (even using different editors such as open office)!

Preformat your document before you start

Format a blank document with all the required formatting to save much time in the end. Also, the format>tab feature can set appropriate, consistent tab stops. Do this for each section before adding content to save time.

Don't copy and paste from another Word Document

This can transfer clashing formatting and mess up your document. It's hard to fix, so prevent it: copy text into a text editor (notepad, etc.) to strip out the formatting. Copy it again there, and paste it into your current document.

Excel data

Pasting from excel to word creates a word table without Excel style. For Excel style, go to Insert>Table>Excel Spreadsheet, and paste data into the spreadsheet that pops up.

Use Reveal Formatting

Things go wrong? Format>reveal formatting shows where you are and the formatting of the current page. Also, view>thumbnails shows where you are in the document.

Additional Help

• Page numbering for Different Sections
• Footnotes and Endnotes
• Table of Contents
• Odd and Even Footers
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