Completing Your Master’s Degree

Check with your program on whether you must deposit a thesis.

Master’s students who are required by their program to deposit a thesis should follow these steps to electronically submit their thesis.

1. Prepare your thesis. Read the Graduate School thesis format guidelines carefully. Follow the guidelines exactly (especially re: margins, page numbering, and placement of page numbers). You do not need to print your thesis.
2. Email the Master’s Degree Coordinator elena.hsu@wisc.edu with your Student ID number and the    following materials:
   1. A copy of your signed master’s degree warrant.
   2. A signed (by you) copy of the Minds@UW Distribution License form.
   3. A signed (by you) copy of the Proxy authorization form. List “Graduate School” as the Name of Proxy on this form.
   4. A copy of your completed thesis.

Check with your department to determine what style is preferred. Here is a list of the major style manuals recommended by the American Library Association, and commonly used by writers in the disciplines noted. These books are available at bookstores, and in the General Reference Room at the Memorial Library. The Writing Lab in 6171 Helen C. White can also help you prepare your thesis as well as recommend reference manuals.

• MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 3d. ed. By Joseph Gibaldi and Walters S. Achtert. Modern Language Association, 1968. A style manual for the humanities.
• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 4th ed. American Psychological Assoc., 1994. Widely used as a reference for psychology, education, and other social science disciplines.
• CBE Style Manual. 5th ed. By the Council of Biology Educators, Committee on Form and Style. American Institute of Biological Sciences, 1983. The standard reference source for life sciences (biology, chemistry, biochemistry, geography, and geology).
• The Chicago Manual of Style. 14th ed. Univ. of Chicago, 1993. A comprehensive standard reference.
• A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 5th ed. theses, and is more affordable than Chicago Manual of Style.

Your program may require an abstract to be included within the thesis. Please follow your program’s requirements, and number these pages as part of the preliminary material.

Unusual or supplementary materials, such as questionnaires or copies of photographs, may be put into appendices. The appendices must be consecutively paginated with the text. The page numbering and margins of the appendices must conform to the standards for the rest of the thesis.

The bibliography should meet your major program’s style requirements, which often conform to the leading journals or book series of the field.

You may register a copyright of your thesis by writing to: Register of Copyrights, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20559. You can find more information at the U.S. Copyright Office website.

After you submit the PDF of your thesis, you will not be permitted to make any additional corrections. Therefore, make sure the PDF is completely accurate before you submit it.

Superscripts and subscripts may be one size smaller than the text. Separate equations with double spacing or enough space to identify each equation clearly.

Footnotes and end-notes may be single-spaced with an extra space between notes. Footnotes for each chapter are usually numbered consecutively. Follow the preferences of your major program when deciding the location of footnotes or end-notes: at the bottom of the page, grouped at the ends of chapters, or grouped at the end of the thesis.

You may include quotations in languages other than English in your thesis. However, the thesis must be in English unless your program certifies that one or both of the following conditions have been met: the foreign language is that of the readers to whom the work is addressed; or translation into English would make the study obscure and imprecise. Theses submitted by students from a foreign language department are acceptable in the language of that department.

Computer-generated figures and graphs must meet the same standards as the rest of the thesis. If graphics, tables, or figures are horizontal, place the top of the printed page on the left side of the paper with the page number in the upper right hand corner. There are a number of ways to do this. For methods using Microsoft Word for Windows, see instructions and examples of rotating page numbers.

• Use a minimum of 1″ margin on all four sides.
• Page numbers must be in the upper right-hand corner at least a half inch from the top and one inch from the side of the page.
• Page headers: Do NOT use page headers (except for page numbers) or decorative borders.

Please do not use page headers or decorative borders.

• Please check your thesis to ensure that all pages are present and in numerical order.
• All pages must be numbered with the exception of the title page.
• Preliminary pages (e.g. table of contents, dedication page, acknowledgments, abstract, etc.) that precede the main text are numbered with lower case Roman numerals beginning with numeral i. Page numbers are placed in the upper right-hand corner one inch from both sides of the paper.
• The main text is numbered consecutively beginning with Arabic numeral 1, in the upper right-hand corner one inch from both sides of the paper.

You are responsible for appropriate use of copyrighted materials in your thesis.  Some material may be available for use without restriction while other material may require written permission from the rights holder.  Other material may be appropriately used without written permission under the “fair use” provisions of the copyright law.  General guidance regarding use of copyrighted materials is available from ProQuest/UMI or from the UW–Madison Libraries website.

1. Fair use: General information regarding how to determine if your use of copyrighted materials constitutes fair use can be found in these copyright resources. Reviewing and completing a fair use evaluation may also assist you.  See also the fair use evaluator.  Additionally, your own professional or disciplinary societies may have fair use statements to help you negotiate disciplinary specialties.
2. Written permission:  If written permission is required, you are responsible for obtaining such permission and maintaining records of the written permission to use the copyrighted material in your thesis.  You can usually get permission by sending a letter of request to the copyright holder. Normally, your letter will be returned with an approval stamp or signature. Some copyright holders require a specific form of acknowledgment. Note that obtaining written permission can be a lengthy process.  Plan ahead and budget ample time to obtain all required permissions.

Please follow the format of this sample page.