1. Use the Rensselaer Thesis template and "front pages"
files
At Rensselaer, Academic and Research Computing provides
a MS Word template designed to produce either a master's or
a doctoral thesis that meets the formatting requirements of
the Graduate School. The name of the template is
RPIthesis.dot. The template should be used
in conjunction with the appropriate prototype "front pages"
file (for either a Master's or Doctoral thesis), which
includes the boiler plate material for the title page as
well as pages for the tables of contents, abstract,
etc.
To get started, first download the Microsoft Word
Template file
RPIthesis.dot
To do this, right click on the link above, choose "Save
Target As" or "Save Link As", and place it in the Microsoft
Office Templates folder.
In Win2K and WinXP this folder is usually located
at:
C:\Documents and
Settings\your-userid\Application
Data\Microsoft\Templates
Next, download the appropriate Word prototype files. Note
that, you will need two files: one that you will use for
your complete thesis or dissertation and the other for just
the abstract title page and the abstract. Place the
files in the folder you will use for writing your thesis,
such as "My Documents\Thesis". The files you want to
download are:
For a masters thesis:
RPIfrontpages-mas.doc
RPIabstitlepage-mas.doc
For a doctoral thesis:
RPIfrontpages-phd.doc
RPIabstitlepage-phd.doc
2. Read the Instructions
The Rensselaer MSWord thesis template provides (among
other things) a collection of styles, where a
style is set of formatting instructions that can be applied
to text. The template includes the styles you need to
produce numbered headings and automatically create the
table of contents and the tables of figures and tables.
But you have to use the styles and apply them
consistently! The document
Preparing Your Thesis with Microsoft Word (pdf file)
provides instructions for using styles, inserting tables,
figures, cross references and footnotes, and describes how
to assemble the thesis from multiple chapter files and
build the tables of contents.
When you submit your thesis/dissertation electronically,
you will be asked for files in PDF format. Please read the
instructions in
Creating a PDF File from a Microsoft Word Thesis
.
Note also that the department of Graduate Education has
prepared specific guidelines for the formatting and layout
of your thesis. Although the RPI MSWord template produces
an acceptable format, you should be familiar with
the regulations on thesis preparation.
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