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Honors thesis guidelines

The purpose of this guide is to provide guidelines preparing and submitting your honors thesis. This document is intended to be used in conjunction with the guidelines provided by your academic department.

Format

Use the guidelines designated by the style guide your department has asked you to follow, such as one of the following:

  • Modern Language Association (MLA) style–common in the humanities

  • American Psychological Association (APA) style–common in the social sciences

  • Chicago style–common in history

Check with your honors thesis advisor before choosing a citation style; consult a librarian for help with the citation style. An excellent online tool for citation styles is Purdue OWL, available here: https://owl.purdue.edu/

Follow your style guide, but in general, your thesis should be in the following format:

  • Double spaced

  • 12-point font

  • Times New Roman, Calibri, or another standard font

  • 1.5” left margin; 1.0” margins on top, bottom, and right

  • Page numbers in upper right corner