The appearance of your text is very important. It is best to use one font style throughout your text and vary the size of the font for the headings and sections. It is best not to use more than three font sizes in your manuscript. To set the font size and font type,go to the Main Menu and choose "Format", then "Fonts".

This is an example of the variety of styles and sizes that you can select from to use in your manuscript: (Courier, Times New Roman, Arial)

Your manuscript can be either double spaced or, with approval of the chair of your committee, one and a half spaces can be used. To set up the line spacing, go to the Main Menu and choose "Format", then "Paragraph".

This is what your computer screen should look like:

Put all of your "front matter" in the first part of your document and number with lower-case Roman numerals. After you have created your front matter documents, you’ll need to create a section break. This will enable you to number the front matter differently than the rest of your chapters, which will be numbered in Arabic numerals.

Before you assign the heading levels of your chapters, you should set a section break at the end of your front matter and before your introduction or Chapter One. Place your cursor at the end of the last line on your last page of front matter.

Go to the Main Menu, and choose "Insert"; then click on, "Break". Under the "Section Breaks", click on "Next Page".

Your computer screen should now look like this:

To assign front matter page numbers, place your cursor on the first page of your document. Go to the Main Menu, and choose "Insert" and then click on "Page Numbers".

Your computer screen should look like this:

Next, to assign the lower-case Roman Numerals:

Using the same pop-up window, click on the arrow for the "Number Format". Your computer screen should look like this:

Set up the pagination starting in Chapter One, in Arabic numerals. Go to the Main Menu, choose "Insert," then click on, "Page Numbers".

Set the position as either Bottom of Page (Footer) with "Alignment", "Center", or as Top of Page (Header) "Alignment", "Right". Then, in the bottom right, click on "Format". This will bring you to Page Number Format. Make sure the format is in Arabic, and start numbering the first page of Chapter One with the number one.

Your computer screen will look like this:

To generate your Table of Contents in Microsoft Word, you’ll first need to assign different levels of headings to the different sections of your manuscript. You should assign the following headings as "Level One": List of Figures, List of Tables, all Chapter Titles, Appendices and References. All sections of your document need to be assigned a level. Some sections (sub topic) of a chapter will be "Level Two" or "Level Three". To have your List of Figures and List of Tables appear in your Table of Contents, go to each of those sections and highlight the section title (the words "List of Figures"). Now look to the upper left part of your screen and click on the arrow that is located on the white box that says "Normal". When you click on the arrow, your screen will look like this:

Chapters should be assigned a level 1 heading. Each section of a chapter should be assigned heading level 2, and if you identify another level, it should be heading level 3. It is best not to go beyond 5 levels.

After your document is set up, generate your Table of Contents. Place your cursor at the position where your Table of Contents should be inserted.

Go to the Main Menu, and choose "Insert", then click on, "Index and Tables".

Click on the tab marked Table of Contents. Your computer screen should look like this:

The template to use for the best appearance is the one highlighted ‘From Template’. You can select any style you prefer; please keep in mind your goal is to present a professional presentation for your readers.

Also, set your tab leader (........), show page numbers and right align page numbers when you format your Table of Contents. Follow instructions to insert dot leaders between text and page numbers in the Table of Contents as follows:

1. Remove the dots you currently have between your headings and page numbers.
2. Select all of the lines (Not the “Table of Contents” title).
3. Go to the Format Menu and choose “Tabs”. You will see a dialog box with two white boxes on the left.
4. In the top left box, type “.5” and click “Set.”  This will set a plain tab at a half-inch so that you can indent your subheadings.
5. In the top left box, type “6.0.”  Under the “Alignment” section on the right, click “Right.”  Under the “Leader” section, choose “2” for dots. Click “Set.”  This will set a dot leader tab at the right hand edge of the page.
6. Click “OK” to get out of the Format Tabs dialog.
7. Position your cursor between your headings and the page number and push the “Tab” key. The page number should move over to the right edge of the page and leave dot leaders across the page. Continue this step for each line of your table of contents.

Click on the OK tab, and Microsoft word will generate your Table of Contents. If you have made a mistake on one of your heading levels, assign it a new level and it will automatically change in your Table of Contents. Changes to your document affect what will appear in your Table of Contents, so you will need to repeat this step to regenerate a new and updated Table of Contents (e.g. adding or deleting text that would change page numbers for headings, adding or deleting headings, etc.). Good Luck!!