Research Guides: Doctoral Guide to Finalizing Your Dissertation: Overview

How to Use this Guide

Once you've successfully defended your dissertation, and your committee has signed the dissertation approval form, you can complete the final two steps necessary: the format check and the OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center (ETD) upload. Both of these steps are assignments in DISS-9400.

This guide helps explain both of these requirements -- it has information on how to properly format your dissertation and, information to help you upload your dissertation to OhioLINK's ETD Center after you pass the format check assignment.

Below on this page is information about the process followed by a series of "how to" videos to help you with the requirements. There is a playlist of all the videos which takes around a half hour, followed by links to individual videos if you need help with a specific issue.

The other pages on this guide contain specific information to help you with

There is also a page with information on copyright and dissertations to help you both understand your rights as an author and your responsibilities when using materials created by others in your dissertation. Finally, there is a Dissertation FAQ page.

The Format Check

Your dissertation must meet the formatting requirements for the term it is published. These requirements may change from term to term, so make sure to look at the information about the format check contained in DISS-9400. If you look at earlier Franklin University dissertations for formatting guidance, keep in mind that older dissertations may not meet the current formatting standards.

This page and the Digital Accessibility Standards page provide information to help you satisfy the dissertation formatting requirements.

The following video provides information about the process:

For additional information on formatting your dissertation, see:

A Guide to Submitting Your Dissertation
Select the "A Guide to Submitting Your Dissertation" link under the "Doctoral Studies Handbook Documents" heading. Explains the University's dissertation formatting requirements, digital accessibility standards, and how to upload a completed dissertation to OhioLINK.

"How to" Format Your Dissertation: Videos

Tech Support

If have technical questions about formatting your dissertation (such as how to properly export your PDF, create alt text, or use styles for headings) you can contact the Franklin University Help Desk for support.

The Franklin University Help Desk is available during the following hours:

Monday through Thursday: 8AM - 8PM (EST)
Friday: 8AM - 5PM (EST)
Saturday: 9AM - 1PM (EST)
Sunday: 1PM - 5PM (EST)

The Franklin University Help Desk can be reached:

Chat with the Help Desk on their website: helpdesk.franklin.edu
Email: helpdesk@franklin.edu
Phone: 614.947.6222

Helpful Links

APA Style: Title Case Capitalization
Titles in your dissertation should be in title case (or initial capitalization) - this article explains what words should and should not be capitalized in title case.
How to Adjust Paragraph Spacing in Microsoft Word
Your dissertation should be double spaced, with no extra space between the headings and the text, or between text paragraphs. This explains how to remove extra spacing before/after paragraphs that Word may have added automatically.
How to Use Page Breaks in Word: A Step-by-Step Guide
Using enter repeatedly to get to the next page of your dissertation can cause formatting issues. This article explains how to use page breaks to start a new page instead.

APA Word: What is the APA Format for a Table
Repeat table header on subsequent pages
If you have a multi-page table, the headers (but not the table number/title) should be repeated on every page. This article explains how to use Words repeat header feature to do so.

How to Right Justify Page Numbers in the Table of Contents and Lists
While it is better to automatically generate the table of contents (see the "how-to" video on the table of contents tab), if you have manually generated the TOC the page numbers must be right justified. This explains how.
Video: How to Add Dot Leaders / Table of Contents / Word
Video showing how to right justify your table of contents, with dot leaders, in Word. Note: Video only went to the 4 inch mark for the right tab stop, your table of contents should go to the 6.5 inch mark for the right tab stop.

Improve accessibility with the Accessibility Checker
To ensure digital accessibility, students should use the accessibility checker in Word and address any issues before exporting their dissertation to PDF.