best font size for dissertation

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Academic Appeal: The 11 Best Fonts for Academic Papers

• BY Bogdan Sandu
• 26 February 2024

Imagine settling into the rhythm of crafting your academic magnum opus—the words flow, ideas chime, yet it all hinges on how your prose meets the reader’s eye. You’re well aware that  the best fonts for academic papers  don’t just whisper to the intellect; they shout to the discerning critic in each evaluator. Here unfolds a narrative, not merely of  typography  but your academic saga’s silent ambassador.

In forging this guide, I’ve honed focus on one pivotal, often underestimated player in the academic arena:  font selection .

Navigate through this roadmap and emerge with a treasure trove of  legible typefaces  and format tips that ensure your paper stands hallmark to clarity and professionalism.

Absorb insights—from the revered  Times New Roman  to the understated elegance of  Arial —paired with indispensable  formatting nuggets  that transcend mere compliance with  university guidelines .

Dive deep, and by article’s end, unlock a dossier of sage advice, setting your documents a class apart in the scrutinous world of academic scrutiny. Here’s to  typography  serving not just as a vessel but as your ally in the scholarly discourse.

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• How it works

What Is The Best Font For A Dissertation?

Published by Alvin Nicolas at April 9th, 2024 , Revised On April 9, 2024

For many students, embarking on a dissertation is a daunting task. Beyond the research, writing, and analysis , a seemingly insignificant detail can cause unexpected stress: font selection. While it might seem like a minor concern, the right font can significantly impact the readability, professionalism, and overall look of your dissertation and can highly influence the decision of the readers. 

This blog will help you in choosing the right font for your dissertation. Let’s explore!

Why Does Font Choice Matter?

While the content of your dissertation is paramount, the presentation also plays a crucial role. The chosen font can influence how easily your reader absorbs the information. A poorly chosen font can lead to eye strain, reduced comprehension, and even a negative first impression.

Here are some specific reasons why font choice matters:

• Readability: The primary function of your dissertation is to communicate your research effectively. A clear and readable font is essential for ensuring your reader can easily grasp the information presented.
• Professionalism: Certain fonts convey a sense of seriousness and formality, aligning with the academic tone of your dissertation.
• Consistency: Maintaining a consistent font throughout your dissertation creates a sense of unity and professionalism.

Key Factors To Consider When Choosing A Font

Before discussing the specific font recommendations, let’s explore some key factors to consider when making your decision:

University Guidelines

Many universities have specific guidelines regarding font choices for dissertations. Always refer to your university’s style guide or handbook to ensure you adhere to any established requirements.

Readability

Opt for fonts with clear letterforms, adequate spacing, and sufficient contrast between the font and background colour. Avoid decorative or script fonts that can be challenging to read.

Serif Vs Sans-Serif

Serif fonts, characterised by small lines extending from the ends of characters (e.g., Times New Roman), are generally considered more readable for extended reading, making them ideal for the body text of your dissertation. Sans-serif fonts lacking these serifs (e.g., Arial) can be suitable for headings or short text snippets.

Font Size & Line Spacing

Maintain a comfortable reading experience with an appropriate font size (typically 10-12 points) and line spacing (usually 1.15 or 1.5 lines).

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Popular Font Choices For Dissertations

Now, let’s explore some popular font options that meet the criteria for dissertation writing:

Times New Roman

The classic academic font, Times New Roman, remains a widely accepted and safe choice for dissertations due to its readability and formal appearance.

Similar to Times New Roman, Georgia offers good readability with a slightly wider design, making it suitable for screen-based reading.

This elegant serif font adds a touch of sophistication while maintaining excellent readability.

A modern serif font, Cambria provides a clean and professional look often favoured for on-screen reading.

While not ideal for the body text due to its lack of serifs, Arial can be a good choice for headings and subheadings due to its clarity and clean lines.

Additional Tips for Font Selection

Here are some additional tips to ensure your font choice shines:

• Consistency is key: Maintain the same font throughout your dissertation, including body text, headings, subheadings, and captions.
• Avoid excessive font variations: Stick to one or two fonts, with variations reserved for specific purposes (e.g., different fonts for headings).
• Consider the overall design: Ensure your chosen font complements the overall visual style of your dissertation, including layout and graphics.

Frequently Asked Questions

What font should i use for my dissertation uk.

Use a clear and readable font like Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri for a UK dissertation. Most universities recommend a serif font like Times New Roman, size 12, for the main text, with clear distinctions for headings and subheadings. Always follow your institution’s guidelines for formatting and font selection.

What font should a dissertation be in?

Use a legible serif font such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri for a dissertation. Typically, the font size should be 12 points for the main text, with variations for headings and subheadings as specified by your institution’s guidelines. Consistency and readability are key for academic documents.

What size font should my dissertation be?

Your dissertation’s main text should generally be in a 12-point font size for readability and consistency. Headings and subheadings may vary, typically larger than the main text, to emphasise hierarchy and organisation. Always adhere to your institution’s specific formatting requirements for font sizes and styles to ensure compliance.

What font shall I use for my undergraduate dissertation?

For an undergraduate dissertation, using a clear and legible font like Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri is advisable. Aim for a font size of 12 points for the main text to ensure readability. Follow any specific formatting guidelines your university or department provides for consistency and professional presentation.

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The best language for a thesis depends on the audience and field. English is common for global reach, but local languages may suit specific contexts better.

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II. Formatting Guidelines

All copies of a thesis or dissertation must have the following uniform margins throughout the entire document:

• Left: 1″ (or 1 1/4" to ensure sufficient room for binding the work if desired)
• Right: 1″
• Bottom: 1″ (with allowances for page numbers; see section on Pagination )
• Top: 1″

Exceptions : The first page of each chapter (including the introduction, if any) begins 2″ from the top of the page. Also, the headings on the title page, abstract, first page of the dedication/ acknowledgements/preface (if any), and first page of the table of contents begin 2″ from the top of the page.

Non-traditional theses or dissertations such as whole works comprised of digital, artistic, video, or performance materials (i.e., no written text, chapters, or articles) are acceptable if approved by your committee and graduate program. A PDF document with a title page, copyright page, and abstract at minimum are required to be submitted along with any relevant supplemental files.

Fonts must be 10, 11, or 12 points in size. Superscripts and subscripts (e.g., formulas, or footnote or endnote numbers) should be no more than 2 points smaller than the font size used for the body of the text.

Space and indent your thesis or dissertation following these guidelines:

• The text must appear in a single column on each page and be double-spaced throughout the document. Do not arrange chapter text in multiple columns.
• New paragraphs must be indicated by a consistent tab indentation throughout the entire document.
• The document text must be left-justified, not centered or right-justified.
• For blocked quotations, indent the entire text of the quotation consistently from the left margin.
• Ensure headings are not left hanging alone on the bottom of a prior page. The text following should be moved up or the heading should be moved down. This is something to check near the end of formatting, as other adjustments to text and spacing may change where headings appear on the page.

Exceptions : Blocked quotations, notes, captions, legends, and long headings must be single-spaced throughout the document and double-spaced between items.

Paginate your thesis or dissertation following these guidelines:

• Use lower case Roman numerals (ii, iii, iv, etc.) on all pages preceding the first page of chapter one. The title page counts as page i, but the number does not appear. Therefore, the first page showing a number will be the copyright page with ii at the bottom.
• Arabic numerals (beginning with 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) start at chapter one or the introduction, if applicable. Arabic numbers must be included on all pages of the text, illustrations, notes, and any other materials that follow. Thus, the first page of chapter one will show an Arabic numeral 1, and numbering of all subsequent pages will follow in order.
• Do not use page numbers accompanied by letters, hyphens, periods, or parentheses (e.g., 1., 1-2, -1-, (1), or 1a).
• Center all page numbers at the bottom of the page, 1/2″ from the bottom edge.
• Pages must not contain running headers or footers, aside from page numbers.
• If your document contains landscape pages (pages in which the top of the page is the long side of a sheet of paper), make sure that your page numbers still appear in the same position and direction as they do on pages with standard portrait orientation for consistency. This likely means the page number will be centered on the short side of the paper and the number will be sideways relative to the landscape page text. See these additional instructions for assistance with pagination on landscape pages in Microsoft Word .

Format footnotes for your thesis or dissertation following these guidelines:

• Footnotes must be placed at the bottom of the page separated from the text by a solid line one to two inches long.
• Begin at the left page margin, directly below the solid line.
• Single-space footnotes that are more than one line long.
• Include one double-spaced line between each note.
• Most software packages automatically space footnotes at the bottom of the page depending on their length. It is acceptable if the note breaks within a sentence and carries the remainder into the footnote area of the next page. Do not indicate the continuation of a footnote.
• Number all footnotes with Arabic numerals. You may number notes consecutively within each chapter starting over with number 1 for the first note in each chapter, or you may number notes consecutively throughout the entire document.
• Footnote numbers must precede the note and be placed slightly above the line (superscripted). Leave no space between the number and the note.
• While footnotes should be located at the bottom of the page, do not place footnotes in a running page footer, as they must remain within the page margins.

Endnotes are an acceptable alternative to footnotes. Format endnotes for your thesis or dissertation following these guidelines:

• Always begin endnotes on a separate page either immediately following the end of each chapter, or at the end of your entire document. If you place all endnotes at the end of the entire document, they must appear after the appendices and before the references.
• Include the heading “ENDNOTES” in all capital letters, and center it 1″ below the top of the first page of your endnotes section(s).
• Single-space endnotes that are more than one line long.
• Number all endnotes with Arabic numerals. You may number notes consecutively within each chapter starting over with number 1 for the first note in each chapter, or you may number notes consecutively throughout the entire document.
• Endnote numbers must precede the note and be placed slightly above the line (superscripted). Leave no space between the number and the note.

Tables, figures, and illustrations vary widely by discipline. Therefore, formatting of these components is largely at the discretion of the author.

For example, headings and captions may appear above or below each of these components.

These components may each be placed within the main text of the document or grouped together in a separate section.

Space permitting, headings and captions for the associated table, figure, or illustration must be on the same page.

The use of color is permitted as long as it is consistently applied as part of the finished component (e.g., a color-coded pie chart) and not extraneous or unprofessional (e.g., highlighting intended solely to draw a reader's attention to a key phrase). The use of color should be reserved primarily for tables, figures, illustrations, and active website or document links throughout your thesis or dissertation.

The format you choose for these components must be consistent throughout the thesis or dissertation.

Ensure each component complies with margin and pagination requirements.

Refer to the List of Tables, Figures, and Illustrations section for additional information.

If your thesis or dissertation has appendices, they must be prepared following these guidelines:

• Appendices must appear at the end of the document (before references) and not the chapter to which they pertain.
• When there is more than one appendix, assign each appendix a number or a letter heading (e.g., “APPENDIX 1” or “APPENDIX A”) and a descriptive title. You may number consecutively throughout the entire work (e.g., 1, 2 or A, B), or you may assign a two-part Arabic numeral with the first number designating the chapter in which it appears, separated by a period, followed by a second number or letter to indicate its consecutive placement (e.g., “APPENDIX 3.2” is the second appendix referred to in Chapter Three).
• Include the chosen headings in all capital letters, and center them 1″ below the top of the page.
• All appendix headings and titles must be included in the table of contents.
• Page numbering must continue throughout your appendix or appendices. Ensure each appendix complies with margin and pagination requirements.

You are required to list all the references you consulted. For specific details on formatting your references, consult and follow a style manual or professional journal that is used for formatting publications and citations in your discipline.

Your reference pages must be prepared following these guidelines:

• If you place references after each chapter, the references for the last chapter must be placed immediately following the chapter and before the appendices.
• If you place all references at the end of the thesis or dissertation, they must appear after the appendices as the final component in the document.
• Select an appropriate heading for this section based on the style manual you are using (e.g., “REFERENCES”, “BIBLIOGRAPHY”, or “WORKS CITED”).
• Include the chosen heading in all capital letters, and center it 1″ below the top of the page.
• References must be single-spaced within each entry.
• Include one double-spaced line between each reference.
• Page numbering must continue throughout your references section. Ensure references comply with margin and pagination requirements.

In some cases, students gain approval from their academic program to include in their thesis or dissertation previously published (or submitted, in press, or under review) journal articles or similar materials that they have authored. For more information about including previously published works in your thesis or dissertation, see the section on Use of Your Own Previously Published Materials and the section on Copyrighting.

If your academic program has approved inclusion of such materials, please note that these materials must match the formatting guidelines set forth in this Guide regardless of how the material was formatted for publication.

Some specific formatting guidelines to consider include:

• Fonts, margins, chapter headings, citations, and references must all match the formatting and placement used within the rest of the thesis or dissertation.
• If appropriate, published articles can be included as separate individual chapters within the thesis or dissertation.
• A separate abstract to each chapter should not be included.
• The citation for previously published work must be included as the first footnote (or endnote) on the first page of the chapter.
• Do not include typesetting notations often used when submitting manuscripts to a publisher (i.e., insert table x here).
• The date on the title page should be the year in which your committee approves the thesis or dissertation, regardless of the date of completion or publication of individual chapters.
• If you would like to include additional details about the previously published work, this information can be included in the preface for the thesis or dissertation.

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What font should I choose for my thesis?

This post is by DrJanene Carey, a freelance writer and editor based in Armidale NSW. She occasionally teaches academic writing at the University of New England and often edits academic theses, articles and reports. Her website is http://www.janenecarey.com

Arguably, this question is a classic time waster and the student who poses it should be told to just get on with writing up their research. But as someone who edits theses for a living, I think a bit of time spent on fonts is part of the process of buffing and polishing what is, after all, one of the most important documents you will ever produce. Just bear in mind that there is no need to immerse yourself so deeply in the topic that you start quibbling about whether it’s a font or a typeface that you are choosing .

Times New Roman is the standard choice for academic documents, and the thesis preparation guidelines of some universities stipulate its use. For many years, it was the default body text for Microsoft Word. With the release of Office 2007, the default became a sans serif typeface called Calibri. Lacking the little projecting bits (serifs) at the end of characters makes Calibri and its many friends, such as Arial, Helvetica and Verdana, look smoother and clearer on a screen, but generally makes them less readable than a serif typeface when used for printed text . The other problem with choosing a sans serif for your body text is that if you want passages in italics (for example, lengthy participant quotes) often this will be displayed as slanted letters, rather than as a true italic font.

You would like your examiners to feel as comfortable as possible while their eyes are traversing the many, many pages of your thesis, so maximising legibility and readability is a good idea. Times New Roman is ubiquitous and familiar, which means it is probably the safest option, but it does have a couple of drawbacks. Originally designed for The Times in London, its characters are slightly narrowed, so that more of them can be squished into a newspaper column. Secondly, some people intensely dislike TNR because they think it has been overused, and regard it as the font you choose when you are not choosing a font .

If you do have the luxury of choice (your university doesn’t insist you use Times New Roman, and you have defined document styles that are easy to modify, and there’s enough time left before the submission deadline) then I think it is worth considering what other typefaces might work well with your thesis. I’m not a typographical expert, but I have the following suggestions.

• Don’t use Calibri, or any other sans serif font, for your body text, though it is fine for headings. Most people agree that dense chunks of printed text are easier to read if the font is serif, and examiners are likely to expect a typeface that doesn’t stray too far from the standard. To my eye, Calibri looks a little too casual for the body of a thesis.
• Typefaces like Garamond, Palatino, Century Schoolbook, Georgia, Minion Pro, Cambria and Constantia are all perfectly acceptable, and they come with Microsoft Word. However, some of them (Georgia and Constantia, for example) feature non-lining numerals, which means that instead of all sitting neatly on the base line, some will stand higher or lower than others, just like letters do. This looks nice when they are integrated with the text, but it is probably not what you want for a tabular display.
• Consider using a different typeface for your headings. It will make them more prominent, which enhances overall readability because the eye scanning the pages can quickly take in the hierarchy of ideas. The easiest way to get a good contrast with your serif body text is to have sans serif headings. Popular combinations are Garamond/Helvetica; Minion Pro/Myriad Pro; Times New Roman/Arial Narrow. But don’t create a dog’s breakfast by having more than two typefaces in your thesis – use point sizes, bold and italics for variety.

Of late, I’ve become quite fond of Constantia. It’s an attractive serif typeface that came out with Office 2007 at the same time as Calibri, and was specifically designed to look good in print and on screen. Increasingly, theses will be read in PDF rather than book format, so screen readability is an important consideration.  Asked to review Microsoft’s six new ClearType fonts prior to their release, typographer Raph Levien said Constantia was likely to be everyone’s favourite, because ‘Even though it’s a highly readable Roman font departing only slightly from the classical model, it still manages to be fresh and new.’

By default, Constantia has non-lining numerals, but from Word 2010 onwards you can set them to be lining via the advanced font/number forms option, either throughout your document or in specific sections, such as within tables.

Here is an excerpt from a thesis, shown twice with different typefaces. The first excerpt features Calibri headings with Constantia body text, and the second has that old favourite, Times New Roman. As these examples have been rendered as screenshots, you will get a better idea of how the fonts actually look if you try them on your own computer and printer.

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KU Thesis and Dissertation Formatting: Fonts and Spacing

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Office of Graduate Studies Thesis and Dissertation Formatting Guidelines

These rules are taken from the KU Office of Graduate Studies Thesis or Dissertation Formatting Guidelines. To see the full thesis or dissertation formatting requirements, visit https://graduate.ku.edu/submitting

• Students should use the same font size (11- or 12-point) and style (typically Times New Roman) through the thesis, including labels and references.
• Tables, captions, and footnotes should use the same font style but may be smaller in size (usually 10-point).
• Chapter and section headings may be bold and no more than 2 points larger than the text size.
• Non-standard typefaces, such as script, are generally not acceptable except for commonly used symbols.
• The Office of Graduate Studies recommends that students get their font choice approved by their department and their graduate division before the thesis defense.
• Lettering and symbols in tables and figures should be no less than 10 points.
• Normally theses and dissertations use double-spaced formatting.
• Single-spaced formatting is acceptable in the table of contents, footnotes, end notes, charts, graphs, tables, block quotations, captions, glossary, appendices and bibliography.
• Students may use singe- or one-and-a-half-spacing for the body of the text with prior written approval of their thesis committee and graduate division.

Subject Guide

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• Last Updated: May 9, 2024 9:48 AM
• URL: https://guides.lib.ku.edu/etd

Great fonts for a PhD thesis – and terrible ones

There are thousands of fonts out there – which one should you choose for a great-looking PhD thesis? I will explain the differences between serif and sans-serif fonts, what ligatures are and why you shouldn’t use that fun free font you found on the internet.

Great fonts for a PhD thesis: Serif vs. sans-serif

As I explained in my Ultimate Guide to preparing a PhD thesis for printing , there are two basic kinds of fonts: Serif fonts and sans-serif fonts. Serif fonts have small lines – serifs – at the ends of all lines. Sans-serif fonts don’t have those lines. Compare these two, Palatino Linotype and Arial:

Serifs guide the reader’s eyes, making sure that they stay in the same line while reading a printed text. In turn, your reader’s brain won’t get tired so quickly and they can read for longer.

But there is another feature that many serif fonts have. Look at these three (which are all great fonts to use in your PhD thesis, btw):

If you look closely, you will see that serif fonts often have different stroke thicknesses within every letter. This is called “weight contrast”. A subtle weight contrast further improves legibility of a printed text. Hence, I recommend you use a serif font with a bit of a weight contrast for your main text.

Which serif font should you choose?

But whatever you do, this one thing is extremely important: Choose a font that offers all styles: regular, italics , bold , and bold italics . Since these four styles all need to be designed separately, many fonts don’t offer all of them. Especially bold italics is absent in most free internet fonts and even from many fonts that come with your operating system or word processor.

Also: In your bibliography and in-text citations (if you go with an author-year citation style) you will have to display author’s names from all over the world. Many of them will contain special letters. For example German umlauts (ä, ö, ü), accented letters used in lots of of languages, i.e. French or Spanish (à, é, ñ, etc.), and dozens of other special letters from all kinds of languages (ç, ı, ł, ø, etc.). Be aware that only a very limited number of fonts offer all of these!

If you have mathematical equations in your thesis that require more than +, – and =, your font choices are limited even further . After all, the vast majority of fonts do not offer special operators.

As you can see, these criteria severely limit your choice of font for the main text. Needless to say, they rule out free fonts you can download from dafont.com or 1001fonts.com . That is why I urge you to go with a classic font. To make things easier for you, here is a table with serif fonts that offer all the characters you could dream of:

Failsafe serif fonts for your PhD thesis

These fonts are heavily based on fonts that have been in use since the invention of the mechanical printing press in the 15th century. Hence, these types of fonts have been tried and tested for more than 500 years. Hard to argue with that!

But which of these fonts is The Best TM for a PhD thesis? That depends on how much text you have in your thesis vs. how many figures, tables, equations, etc. As I have noted in the table, fonts have different widths. Look at this image showing the same text in Times New Roman (TNR), Cambria, and Sitka Text; all at the same size:

Hence, setting entire pages of text in TNR will make the page look quite dense and dark. So, a thesis with a lot of text and few figures is best set in a wider font like Sitka Text. On the other hand, if you have a lot of figures, tables, etc., TNR is a good choice because it keeps paragraphs of text compact and therefore the page from looking too empty. Medium-width fonts like Cambria are a good compromise between the two.

To see some of these fonts in action, check out this example PhD thesis where I show all sorts of font combinations and page layouts.

When to use a sans-serif font in your PhD thesis

This covers serif fonts. But which sans-serif fonts are great for your PhD thesis? And when do you use them?

As mentioned above, serif fonts are good for the main text of your thesis. But titles and headings are a different story. There, a sans-serif font will look very nice. Plus, using a different font in your headings than in the main text will help the reader recognize when a new section begins.

Here are some examples for good sans-serif fonts:

Each of these fonts – Futura, Franklin Gothic Book, and Gill Sans – are wonderful for headings in a PhD thesis. Why? Because they are easily readable, well-balanced and don’t call undue attention to themselves. Also, they have many options: regular, light, medium, bold, extra bold, including italics for all of them. And most operating systems or word processors have them pre-installed.

The criteria for heading fonts are not nearly as strict as those for main text fonts. If you have Latin species names in your headings, make sure the font offers (bold) italics. If you need to display Greek letters in your headings, make sure the font offers those. Done.

However, there are some criteria for headings. Just for fun, let’s have a look at some sans-serif fonts that would be a bad choice for a thesis:

I’d like to explicitly state that these are wonderful, well-designed fonts – you just shouldn’t use them in a scientific document. Heattenschweiler is too narrow, Broadway has too much weight contrast and Aspergit Light is too thin. All of these things impair readability and might make your opponents squint at your headings. Of course, you will want to do everything in your power to make the experience of reading your thesis as pleasant a possible for your opponents!

How are these fonts great for my PhD thesis? They are boring!

Why yes, they are, thanks for noticing!

Seriously though, the fonts not being interesting is the point. Your PhD thesis is a scientific document showing your expertise in your field and your ability to do independent research. The content of your thesis, the science, should be the sole focus. A PhD thesis is not the place to show off your quirky personality by way of an illegible font.

However, you can infuse your personality into your thesis cover and chapter start pages. There, you can use a fun font, since you probably don’t have to display any special characters.

Choosing the right font is too much pressure? Contact me for help with your layout!

Don’t use fonts made for non-Latin alphabets (Cyrillic, Hanzi, etc.)

Every computer nowadays comes pre-installed with a number of fonts made for displaying languages that don’t use the Latin alphabet (Latin alphabet = The alphabet in which this very article is displayed). Prominent examples for languages that don’t use the Latin alphabet are Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, etc. Other examples include the Arabic, Brahmic, and Cyrillic script. But there are many more fonts for a myriad of non-Latin alphabets. These fonts were optimized to make the characters of their languages easily readable.

However (and this is why I’ve written this entire section) they usually also contain Latin characters to be able to display the occasional foreign word.

Hence, you might want to honour your roots by using a font in your thesis that was made for your native language, by someone from your home country. It is tempting, because all the Latin characters are there, right? I completely understand this wish, but I strongly advise against it since there are some serious drawbacks.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not throwing shade on these fonts, they are fantastic at what they were made for. Displaying long stretches of text in the Latin alphabet, however, is not one of those things. Let me explain why.

They don’t offer all necessary characters

Firstly, fonts made to display languages with a non-Latin alphabet contain the bare minimum of Latin characters. That is, the basic letters and the most important punctuation marks. Hence, they don’t have all those math operators and special characters I talked about in the section about serif fonts.

Also, the Latin characters in these fonts are usually sans-serif, so less suitable for long text.

But let’s say the non-Latin alphabet font you chose does offer all special characters and has serifs. Unfortunately, they are still not suitable to use in your PhD thesis, for the following reasons:

They are often too small or large for use with greek letters

Do you mention β-Mercaptoethanol or α-Histidin antibodies in your Materials and Methods? Or any other Greek letter? Since Latin characters are scaled differently in fonts made for non-Latin alphabets, Greek letters will not be the same size as the rest of the text anymore. For example, look at this text, where I rendered everything (I swear!) in the specified font size:

In the first panel (Cambria), the Greek letters are the same size and weight as the main text. As I have said, Cambria is one of the fonts explicitly recommended for your thesis. If you look closely at the enlarged line on the bottom of the panel, you can see that the alpha is the same height as the lower-case letters, whereas the beta is the same height as the upper-case letters. It looks neat and tidy.

However, by using a non-Latin font for your PhD thesis, you are asking for trouble.

In the second panel, I show Cordia New, a font for Thai script. At 12 pt, it is way smaller than the Latin font. The Greek letters – which are also at 12 pt! – stand out awkwardly. Also, Cordia New produces a line distance that is larger than it should be when using it for a text in the Latin alphabet.

In the last panel I show Microsoft YaHei for displaying Hanzi characters. Here, the Latin characters are larger. This leads to the Greek letters being too small. And, as you can see in the second and third lines of the paragraph of text, the line distance is quite narrow. However, the Greek letter β requires a regular line distance. So, it pushes the following line down, making the paragraph look uneven.

They don’t offer ligatures

Now, what on earth are ligatures? I could dive into the history of book printing here but I’ll spare you those details. In essence, Ligatures are two or more letters that are printed as one single glyph. Let me show you:

In the top line, you can see that the characters inside the boxes “melt” into each other. This single shape made out of several letter is called a ligature. They are mostly common with the small letter f. If you take a magnifying glass and look at the pages of a novel, you will quickly find these same ligatures. E-readers also display ligatures. Heck, even WhatsApp does it!

Ligatures also make the text easier to read. However, in order to display them, a font actually has to have the glyphs for the ligatures. And many fonts don’t. In order to find out whether a font you chose offers them, go to the character map of that font. (In Windows 10, simply click the windows logo in the corner of your screen and start typing the word “character”.) Pick a font in the drop-down menu. Now, search for the word “ligature” in the character map. If the map is empty after this, the font has no ligature glyphs.

All that being said, ligatures are not super important. I just wanted to mention them.

You can still use fonts made for non-Latin alphabets

If you want to honour your roots by way of a font, you can still do this. For example in your thesis title and/or for the chapter start pages.

In a word: Don’t go crazy with those fonts! Let your science do the talking. If you want to see what your thesis could look like with some of the fonts I recommended, check out the example PhD thesis .

Do you want to see a font combination that’s not in the example thesis? Contact me and I’ll set a few pages in your desired font, free of charge!

Click here for help with your PhD thesis layout!

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Thesis / dissertation formatting manual (2024).

• Filing Fees and Student Status
• Submission Process Overview
• Electronic Thesis Submission
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• Formatting Overview
• Fonts/Typeface
• Pagination, Margins, Spacing
• Paper Thesis Formatting
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Selecting a font (typeface)

Be consistent in the use of font/typeface throughout your manuscript. All text material must be in the same font/typeface; all headings and figure/table titles/captions must be in a consistent typeface.

Please select a font, size, and color that are highly legible and will reproduce clearly. Ornate or decorative fonts such as script, calligraphy, gothic, italics, or specialized art fonts are not acceptable. For electronic submissions, embedded fonts are required.

Any symbols, equations, figures, drawings, diacritical marks, or lines that cannot be typed, and therefore are drawn, must be added in permanent black ink.

Below are suggested fonts and sizes.

Establish and follow a consistent pattern for layout of all headings.  All headings should use the same font size, font weight, typeface, etc.

For example: center all major headings; place secondary headings at least two lines below major headings.

Typeface/printing quality (paper submissions only)

If you are submitting your manuscript on paper, printer quality is critical to produce a clean, clear image. You are strongly urged to use a laser printer, as ink jet and line printers generally do not produce fully clear, legible results. Dot matrix-type printers are not acceptable.

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• Knowledge Base

Dissertation layout and formatting

Published on October 21, 2015 by Koen Driessen . Revised on February 20, 2019.

The layout requirements for a dissertation are often determined by your supervisor or department. However, there are certain guidelines that are common to almost every program, such as including page numbers and a table of contents.

If you are writing a paper in the MLA citation style , you can use our  MLA format guide .

Table of contents

Font, font size, and line spacing, tables and figures, referencing, paragraph marks, headers and footers, page numbering, dissertation printing.

Use a clear and professional font. Some examples include Verdana, Times New Roman, and Calibri (which is the default font in Microsoft Word). Font size is best set to 10 or 11.

In scientific articles and theses, a line spacing of 1.15 or 1.5 is generally preferred, as it makes the document more readable and enables your supervisor to post comments between the lines of text.

Receive feedback on language, structure, and formatting

Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:

• Academic style
• Vague sentences
• Style consistency

See an example

With tables, the number and title should be placed above; with figures and all other illustrations, the number and title should be placed below.

Microsoft Word has a feature that can help you to automatically place these numbers and titles in the correct position. Select the graphic, right-click, and choose “Insert Caption…” In the dialogue box that appears, specify whether it is a table or figure and enter a title. Once you click “Okay,” the number and the title will be generated in the right place.

Another advantage of using this Word feature to label your graphics is that you will later be able to generate lists of tables and figures with a push of a button.

Different heading styles are frequently used to help the reader differentiate between chapters, sections, and subsections of your dissertation. For instance, you may choose to bold all chapter headings but to italicize all lower-level headings.

Once you decide on the scheme you will use, it is important that you apply it consistently throughout your entire dissertation. Using the “Styles” feature of Microsoft Word can be very helpful in this regard. After you have created a heading, just highlight it and select a style (such as Heading 1 or Heading 2) from the home tool bar. Keeping a list may help you keep track of what style to use when.

Citing sources in a correct and appropriate manner is crucial in a dissertation, as failing to do so can make you guilty of plagiarism . It is important that these references follow certain standards.

The APA standard is most commonly used. After realizing how difficult it is to create correctly formatted citations manually, we developed the APA Citation Generator  to assist you. You can use this free and simple tool to easily generate citations that follow the official APA style.

We also recommend that you use a plagiarism scanner to check for unintended plagiarism.

Using the “Show paragraph marks” feature can help you to avoid this scenario. To turn it on, click on the paragraph symbol in your home tool bar (as shown in the above illustration). A black paragraph symbol will then be shown after every paragraph and “hard return” in your document, which allows you to see how the layout is constructed.

This can be very helpful when you are trying to determine the cause of mysterious jumps and other problems.

Headers and footers can give your dissertation a very professional look. They also make it immediately clear to readers what document is before them.

A header or footer can be added by double-clicking respectively at the top or bottom of a page in your document. There are generally no firm rules about what you must include; the following are common choices:

• The name/logo of your home educational institution
• The name/logo of the company or organization where you completed a placement
• The title of your dissertation (which may be shortened if necessary)
• Page numbers

Page numbers are commonly placed in the lower right-hand corner of the page. They can easily be added by simply creating a footer. Bear in mind that a page number is usually not included on the title page of a dissertation.

• To ensure that the page numbering doesn’t start on the cover page, but the numbering begins on page 1, place the cursor on the bottom of the page where you want to start with page numbering (if you want to start on page 2, click at the bottom of the first page).
• Next go to “Page layout” and then “Breaks”. Next, choose the submenu “Next page”.
• Switch to the side, where the numbering should begin (in this case, page 2). In the edit mode of the header or footer, choose “link to previous”, after that click on “Move to footer” and click on the “Link to previous” again.
• Now, to add a page number, click on the “Insert” tab, then on the “Header and footer” group, and then click “Page number”. Now you can also choose where the page number should be (top of the page, bottom of the page or page margins) and you can choose a design.
• Finally select the option “format page number” and enter the page numbers, in what page you want the numbering to begin. After you have pressed “ok”, the page number then begins with the number from the previously selected break.

A clear and well-presented title page is a nice finishing touch for your dissertation. Certain information should be included here by default. We have prepared a separate article on title pages that includes a handy checklist you can use to make sure you don’t forget anything.

Always make sure that everything in your dissertation is in the correct order and placed in the appropriate chapter. More information on how to put your document together can be found in our article on structure a dissertation .

If you are interested in seeing how other students have tackled preparing their theses, you may find it useful to check out these dissertation examples .

The last step is usually to prepare a hardcopy of your final document. There are many issues to think about, such as whether you will make it single- or double-sided.

Before you print, however, we recommend that you check one last time that your document meets all of the below requirements!

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Driessen, K. (2019, February 20). Dissertation layout and formatting. Scribbr. Retrieved September 3, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/tips/dissertation-layout-and-formatting/

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Which Font is Best for Your Dissertation?

When you’re writing a dissertation, every little detail matters. From the research methods to the evidence included in your work, one of the most important elements is which font you decide to use. The wrong choice could be disastrous so it pays off to invest time and effort into choosing wisely! In this article we’ll look at some of the best fonts for dissertations—consider these options before making your decision.

1. What Should You Consider When Choosing a Font?

When selecting a font for any academic document, such as your dissertation, there are several factors to take into consideration. Generally speaking, you should select a font that is easy to read while also fitting with the style of your project. Here are some tips on how to choose the best font for your dissertation:

• Readability: A good rule of thumb when it comes to legibility is that simpler fonts tend be easier and faster for readers. Sans-serif fonts such as Calibri or Arial may give off an informal vibe but they make documents more easily scannable.

Some serif typefaces such as Times New Roman can look formal yet still convey information quickly since their letters contain slight tails which point in the direction words are meant to be read. Therefore, if you need help deciding which font for dissertation would fit best within your chosen design scheme try using one sans-serif typeface along with one serif option.

• Style: Your choice of typeface will set the tone of both visual and overall mood throughout your project. While intricate display faces like Trajan might not always work so well in longform writing projects they could appear great on titles or subtitles where brevity reigns supreme.

2. How Does the Type of Paper Change Your font Choice?

Using the Appropriate Font for Dissertation The type of paper you are going to write affects the font that is appropriate in your dissertation or thesis. The industry standard for academic texts is Size 12 Times New Roman, but other fonts offer benefits depending on which font you choose for dissertation papers.

First and foremost, when choosing a font it should be easy to read. Serif fonts – such as Times New Roman and its variants – are more readable than sans serif options like Arial or Calibri due to their small strokes called serifs at the tip of each letter allowing readers’ eyes easier transition between letters. If legibility is important, then this would be beneficial in terms of which font for dissertation writing. On the other hand, if aesthetic value matters more than clarity (for example in creative works), then sans-serif fonts can often add elegance with fewer distractions from words themselves.

• When considering which typeface will work best:
• Be consistent throughout your text.

Secondary considerations include spacing: single line spacing makes long sections much less daunting while still preserving space; 1 ½ line spaces offers good readability without wasting too much vertical real estate; double line spacing gives maximal space between lines but also requires twice as many pages compared to single-spaced documents –greatly increasing print costs especially with large manuscripts. Additionally, using larger point sizes may make reading easier though dispensing advice about size has no hard and fast rules since individual preferences vary greatly.

• variable considerations when determining what’s right when thinking aboutwhich font for dissertation writing.

3. Picking the Right Size: What to Keep in Mind

Knowing which size font to use for a dissertation can be difficult, but it’s important to keep in mind that the chosen typeface should make the document easy and enjoyable to read. For those who are considering what size font is most appropriate for their dissertation:

• The Standard Size:

Experts generally advise using a 12-point font when writing a dissertation. This standard of typeface makes reading easier, as well as allows readers to comfortably focus on text without squinting or straining their eyes. It also helps maintain consistency throughout an entire project so that one element doesn’t stand out from another.

When deciding which font for dissertation works best, it’s essential to think about how legible each style appears on different sizes of paper and screens. Clear fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman help create documents with more readable text at all levels; however smaller styles such Verdana couldn’t work if they aren’t coupled with larger sized margin settings . Ultimately choosing which font for your dissertation depends highly on its content and purpose – making sure it reaches your target audience in the clearest way possible while still conveying your personal message effectively!

4. Popular Options for Dissertations-Which Ones are Best?

When choosing which option for a dissertation to pursue, there are four primary types of dissertations that should be considered: Qualitative studies, Quantitative Studies, Mixed-Methods Research and Action Research. All offer their own advantages and tradeoffs depending on the topic being studied; with careful consideration one type can often prove more suitable than another.

A qualitative study is often seen as the best approach when delving into complex topics or those too broad in scope to easily analyze quantitatively. This allows researchers to gain an understanding of depth when exploring sensitive issues such as mental health stigma or social movements. Here the focus is placed on individual experiences rather than large data sets; additionally it allows for flexibility since questions do not have to be set ahead of time like they would if performing quantitative research which font for dissertation. The disadvantage here lies in proving repeatable results outside of specific contexts due to its subjective nature, but this style still has value particularly when studying groups unlikely available elsewhere .Which font for dissertation .

Quantitative studies involve focusing on numerical information collected from surveys and experiments over pre-defined variables; these are useful because once proven consistent they can then be applied anywhere else producing reliable comparisons between environments. Data points build confidence in findings and provide clear direction through precise questioning techniques which fonts for dissertations – however how beneficial they are depends entirely upon how accurately participants assess themselves versus others assessing them. Which font for dissertation When done improperly events such as bias may occur creating inaccurate readings skewing final analysis – though other methods exist where quantitative research will continue improving across all areas making collecting necessary data easier each year. Font Dissertation >

5. Serif vs Sans Serif: Which Comes Out On Top for Dissertations?

When it comes to the best font for dissertations, the debate of serif vs sans serif often arises. Typically, one should decide which font they prefer before even starting their dissertation. Each has its own purpose and characteristics that make them preferable for certain tasks or levels of writing. Here is a breakdown on what each brings to the table when deciding which will be used in your next dissertation:

• Serif Fonts : Serif fonts are considered more traditional and ‘fancier’ than Sans Serif fonts due to their extra strokes at the end of letters and words (known as feet). The feet offer an additional visual element to help guide readers along sentences, making lengthy text easier on the eyes while studying—crucial for those who must go over content multiple times before completion. Using such classic fonts such as Times New Roman can give off a professional look when submitting a final draft.
• Sans Serif Fonts : Unlike its companion, Sans-seriffonts lack decorative flourishes like legs or tails; providing instead minimalism while still being legible enough maintain professionalism without overwhelming viewers with too many details. For this reason, these types tend to suit shorter texts devoted solely around presentation or plays etc., where simplicity may be preferred for highlighting keywords or allowing visuals take center stage within research documents.

It all boils down to preference ultimately when choosing which font from either family makes sense for one’s dissertation project . If you want something quick yet elegant that won’t distract readers away from important facts presented throughout chapters then San-seriffs would work well here. On other hand , if you’re sure page after page needs easy readability across long passages , ask yourself :Which font works better with my language choice? Do I need something clearer so information sticks better? Do I have access necessary software ? All this taken into consideration leads us towards conclusion whether we want use serify typeface our sans -serify typefacefor our current dissertation project

6. Creative Fonts-When Do They Make Sense For Scientific Writing?

Using creative fonts for scientific writing is not something to be done without some thought. Depending upon the intended audience, it may make sense in certain circumstances or could even harm the credibility of your document overall. Before you start looking at different font options, there are a few considerations you should take into account.

• Understand Your Audience: It’s important to consider who will ultimately read your written work and decide if they would appreciate creative fonts used as part of formatting. In many instances where academic papers are being submitted for a class assignment, more subtlety appropriate typefaces such as Times New Roman or Arial may be accepted by professors with less criticism on the authenticity of research findings.

When selecting which font for dissertation pieces specifically, however, it may be beneficial to use one that stands out from others within an established field. This can add visual interest while still staying true to the content contained within each page – especially given that most readers tend to skim through literature reviews like those found in dissertations prior actually diving deeper into specific sections he entire work has been assigned. Bolding certain words throughout key passages can also help capture attention quickly; making strategic choices regarding italicizing portions can further emphasize core ideas too.

• Remain Professional: Regardless how creative you might want to get while picking which font for dissertation works, always make sure the tones remain professional while doing so instead of focusing solely on aesthetics alone. Fonts like Comic Sans have consistently gained notoriety over time due its general misuse; try experimenting with classic serif or sans-serif styles such Garamond and select variations depending upon choice paragraphs too.

7. The Final Word on Finding the Perfect Font for Your Dissertation

The search for “the perfect font” to use for your dissertation depends on several different factors. For many, typefaces such as Times New Roman, Arial and Calibri are the most popular choices – but these should not necessarily be immediately dismissed in favor of something more complex or decorative. Ultimately, what is right for one dissertation may not necessarily work best for another.

To ensure you make an informed decision when it comes to choosing a font for your dissertation, consider its legibility; will readers be able to easily distinguish between characters? Does the size and weight of the font suitably fit with other elements being used within the document (e.g., tables)? Additionally look at:

• Characteristics : Does this specific style mesh well with adjacent styles? Are there any cultural connotations associated with certain fonts that could impact whether they are suitable or inappropriate visual accompaniments?
• Purpose: How widely available is this particular typeface ? Will its usage limits affect potential copyright issues down the line if you choose to publish parts or all of your dissertation later on ? Will it render correctly across different computer systems ?

In short – selecting a font which reflects both personal preference as well as practicality/readability should always remain top priority when deciding which font you want to use for your dissertation. That said – take some time exploring various options before settling upon one using free trial versions until you find just the right one which fits all criteria above from readability through aesthetics – only then can we say you have found a great option when it comes to deciding which font for dissertations works best! Choosing the right font for your dissertation is an important part of creating a successful and flawless piece of writing that truly reflects who you are as a writer. With these suggestions in hand, you’ll have no problem selecting the perfect font to make your words stand out from all others!

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Format Requirements for Your Dissertation or Thesis

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The final dissertation or thesis manuscript must have a ready-for-publication appearance and standard features.

The Office of the University Registrar does not endorse or verify the accuracy of any dissertation or thesis formatting templates that may be available to you.

It is your student responsibility to make sure that the formatting meets these requirements. Introductory material, text, and appendices must all be clearly and consistently prepared and must meet all of the specifications outlined below.

Once you upload and submit your dissertation or thesis in Axess, and it has been approved by the university, the submission is considered final and no further changes are permitted.

The digital file of the dissertation or thesis, which is sent to Stanford Libraries for cataloging, must meet certain technical requirements to ensure that it can be easily accessed by readers now and into the future. 

Follow the specifications outlined below.

Style and Format

Word and text divisions, style guides, content and layout, special instructions for d.m.a. students, order and content, page orientation, embedded links, supplementary material and publishing, supplementary material, scholarly reference, published papers and multiple authorship, use of copyrighted material, copyrighting your dissertation, file security and file name, stanford university thesis & dissertation publication license.

Pages should be standard U.S. letter size (8.5 x 11 inches).

In order to ensure the future ability to render the document, standard fonts must be used. 

For the main text body, type size should be 10, 11, or 12 point. Smaller font sizes may be used in tables, captions, etc. 

The font color must be black. 

Font Families

Acceptable font styles include:

• Times New Roman (preferred)
• Courier, Courier Bold, Courier Oblique, Courier Bold-Oblique;
• Helvetica, Helvetica Bold, Helvetica Oblique, Helvetica Bold-Oblique;
• Times, Times Bold, Times Italic, Times Bold-Italic;
• Computer Modern (or Computer Modern Roman).

Note: Do not use script or ornamental fonts. Do not use proprietary fonts.

If you use mathematical or other scientific notation in your dissertation or thesis using a font other than Symbol, you must embed the font into the PDF that is submitted to the university. 

Inner margins (left edge if single-sided; right edge for even-numbered pages, and left edge for odd-numbered pages if double-sided) must be 1.5 inches. All other margins must be one inch.

Pagination, headers, and/or footers may be placed within the margin, but no closer than one-half inch from the edge of the page.

For double-sided copies, 1.5 inches must be maintained as the inner margin. Margin requirements should apply to the entire document, including the title page.

The main body text of the manuscript should be one-and-a-half or double-spaced lines, except where conventional usage calls for single spacing, such as footnotes, indented quotations, tables, appendices, etc.

Words should be divided correctly at the end of a line and may not be divided from one page to the next. Use a standard dictionary to determine word division. 

Avoid short lines that end a paragraph at the top of a page, and any heading or subheading at the bottom of a page that is not followed by text.

The dissertation and thesis must be in English. 

Language Exceptions for Dissertations Only

Approval for writing the dissertation in another language is normally granted only in cases where the other language or literature in that language is also the subject of the discipline. 

Exceptions are granted by the school dean upon submission of a written request from the chair of your major department. Approval is routinely granted for dissertations in the Division of Literature, Cultures, and Languages within department specifications.

Prior to submitting in Axess, you must send a copy of the approval letter (or email message chain) from the department dean to [email protected]    

Dissertations written in another language must include an extended summary in English (usually 15 to 20 pages in length). In this case, you should upload your English summary as a supplemental file, during Step 4 of the online submission process.

Select a standard style approved by your department or dissertation advisor and use it consistently. 

Some reliable style guides are:

• K.A. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, 
• Theses and Dissertations (University of Chicago Press), and 
• the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (Modern Language Association).

If you are a student in the Doctor of Musical Arts program, you may submit musical scores formatted at 11 x 17 inches in size. 

If you are submitting a performance as your dissertation, submit the audio file in WAV format as a supplemental file. 

Note: The maximum file size accepted for submission is 100 MB. If a performance recording exceeds the maximum file size, break the file into multiple files and submit the parts individually as supplemental files.

Your dissertation or thesis must contain the following sections. All sections must be included in a single digital file for upload.

• Title Page — The format must be followed exactly. View these title page examples for Ph.D. Dissertation and this title page sample for an Engineer Thesis . Use uppercase letters. The title of the dissertation or thesis should be a meaningful description of the content of the manuscript. Use word substitutes for formulas, symbols, superscripts, subscripts, Greek letters, etc. The month and year must be the actual month and year in which you submit your dissertation or thesis electronically to the university. (Note: A student who submits in Autumn quarter is conferred his/her degree in the following calendar year.)
• Copyright Page — The dissertation or thesis PDF uploaded in Axess should not contain a copyright page. The copyright page will be created automatically by the online submission system and inserted into the file stored by Stanford Libraries.
• Signature Page — The dissertation or thesis PDF uploaded in Axess should also not contain a signature page. The submission process has moved away from ink-signatures, so a digital facsimile of the signature page will be created automatically by the online submission system and inserted into the dissertation or thesis in its final format stored by Stanford Libraries.
• Abstract — An abstract may be included in the preliminary section of the dissertation or thesis. The abstract in the body of the dissertation or thesis follows the style used for the rest of the manuscript and should be placed following the signature page. There is no maximum permissible length for the abstract in the dissertation or thesis.    Dissertation authors must enter an abstract using the online submission form for uploading the digital dissertation or thesis file to the library. This abstract, which will be indexed for online searching, must be formatted in plain text (no HTML or special formatting). It should be a pithy and succinct version of the abstract included in the dissertation or thesis itself.
• Preface, an Acknowledgment, or a Dedication.   This is optional.
• Table of Contents – Include page references.
• List of Tables –  Include titles and page references. This list is optional.
• List of Illustrations – Include titles and page references. This list is optional
• Introduction/Main body – Include suitable, consistent headings for the larger divisions and more important sub-divisions.
• Appendices.   This is optional.
• Bibliography or List of References.

Except for the title page, which counts as 'i' but is not physically numbered, each page of the manuscript, including all blank pages, pages between chapters, pages with text, photographs, tables, figures, maps, or computer code must be assigned a number. 

Consistent placement of pagination, at least one-half inch from the paper’s edge, should be used throughout the manuscript.

Follow these pagination instructions exactly:

• For the preliminary pages, use small Roman numerals (e.g., iv, v, vi).
• The title page is not physically numbered, but counts as page i.
• Keep in mind that a copyright page ii and augmented signature page iii (based off your student record) will automatically be inserted to your manuscript during submission.  This means you must ensure to remove pages ii and iii from your dissertation or thesis.
• Failing to remove pages ii and iii is most common formatting mistake: you must remove your copyright page ii and signature page iii from the pdf file before you submit your dissertation or thesis, and begin pagination on your abstract with page number "iv". If the document is formatted for double-sided printing with each section starting on the right page, then pagination will begin on a blank page (page"iv") and the Abstract should be numbered as page "v", and so forth.
• For the remainder of the manuscript, starting with the Introduction or Chapter 1 of the Main Body, use continuous Arabic pagination only (1, 2, 3, etc) for text, illustrations, images, appendices, and the bibliography. Remember to start with Arabic numbered page 1, as this is not a continuation of the Roman numeral numbering from the preliminary pages.
• The placement of page numbers should be consistent throughout the document.

For text, illustrations, charts, graphs, etc., printed in landscape form, the orientation should be facing away from the bound edge of the paper.

Images (color, grayscale, and monochrome) included in the dissertation or thesis should be clearly discernible both on screen and when printed. The dimensions should not exceed the size of the standard letter-size page (8.5” x 11”).

Image resolution should be 150 dots per inch (dpi), though resolutions as low as 72 dpi (and no lower) are acceptable. 

The format of images embedded in the PDF should be JPEG or EPS (the format JPEG2000 is also acceptable when it is supported in future versions of the PDF format). GIF and PNG are not preferred image file formats.

Large images, including maps and charts or other graphics that require high resolution, should not be included in the main dissertation or thesis file. Instead, they can be submitted separately as supplemental files and formatted in other formats as appropriate. 

Multimedia, such as audio, video, animation, etc., must not be embedded in the body of the dissertation or thesis. These media types add size and complexity to the digital file, introducing obstacles to users of the dissertation or thesis who wish to download and read (and “play back”) the content, and making it more difficult to preserve over time.

If you wish to include multimedia with your submission, upload the media separately as a stand-alone file in an appropriate media format. See Supplementary Material section below.

It is acceptable to include “live” (i.e., clickable) web URLs that link to online resources within the dissertation or thesis file. Spell out each URL in its entirety (e.g., http://www.stanford.edu ) rather than embedding the link in text (e.g., Stanford homepage ). By spelling out the URL, you improve a reader’s ability to understand and access the link reference.

Supplementary material may be submitted electronically with the dissertation or thesis. This material includes any supporting content that is useful for understanding the dissertation or thesis, but is not essential to the argument. It also covers core content in a form that can not be adequately represented or embedded in the PDF format, such as an audio recording of a musical performance.

Supplementary materials are submitted separately than the dissertation or thesis file, and are referred to as supplemental files.

A maximum of twenty supplemental files can be submitted. There are no restrictions on the file formats. The maximum file size is 1 GB.

You are encouraged to be judicious about the volume and quality of the supplemental files, and to employ file formats that are widely used by researchers generally, if not also by scholars of the discipline.

The following table outlines recommended file formats for different content types. By following these recommendations, the author is helping to ensure ongoing access to the material.

After uploading each supplemental file, it is important to enter a short description or label (maximum 120 characters for file name and the description). This label will be displayed to readers in a list of the contents for the entire submission.

If copyrighted material is part of the supplementary material, permission to reuse and distribute the content must be obtained from the owner of the copyright. Stanford Libraries requires copies of permission letters (in PDF format) to be uploaded electronically when submitting the files, and assumes no liability for copyright violations. View this sample permission letter .

System restrictions allow for a maximum of 10 individually uploaded permission files. If you have more than 10 permission files we recommend combining all permission letters into a single PDF file for upload.

In choosing an annotation or reference system, you should be guided by the practice of your discipline and the recommendations of your departments. In addition to the general style guides listed in the Style section above, there are specific style guides for some fields. When a reference system has been selected, it should be used consistently throughout the dissertation or thesis. The placement of footnotes is at your discretion with reading committee approval.

An important aspect of modern scholarship is the proper attribution of authorship for joint or group research. If the manuscript includes joint or group research, you must clearly identify your contribution to the enterprise in an introduction.

The inclusion of published papers in a dissertation or thesis is the prerogative of the major department. Where published papers or ready-for-publication papers are included, the following criteria must be met:

• There must be an introduction that integrates the general theme of the research and the relationship between the chapters. The introduction may also include a review of the literature relevant to the dissertation or thesis topic that does not appear in the chapters.
• Multiple authorship of a published paper should be addressed by clearly designating, in an introduction, the role that the dissertation or thesis author had in the research and production of the published paper. The student must have a major contribution to the research and writing of papers included in the dissertation or thesis.
• There must be adequate referencing of where individual papers have been published.
• Written permission must be obtained for all copyrighted materials. Letters of permission must be uploaded electronically in PDF form when submitting the dissertation or thesis. 
• The published material must be reformatted to meet the university's format requirements (e.g., appropriate margins and pagination) of the dissertation. The Office of the University Registrar will approve a dissertation or thesis if there are no deviations from the normal specifications that would prevent proper dissemination and utilization of the dissertation or thesis. If the published material does not correspond to these standards, it will be necessary for you to reformat that portion of the dissertation or thesis.
• Multiple authorship has implications with respect to copyright and public release of the material. Be sure to discuss copyright clearance and embargo options with your co-authors and your advisor well in advance of preparing your thesis for submission.

If copyrighted material belonging to others is used in your dissertation or thesis or is part of your supplementary materials, you must give full credit to the author and publisher of the work in all cases, and obtain permission from the copyright owner for reuse of the material unless you have determined that your use of the work is clearly fair use under US copyright law (17 USC §107). 

The statute sets out four factors that must be considered when assessing Fair Use:

• the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purpose;
• the nature of the copyrighted work;
• the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
• the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The Association of American University Presses requires permission for any quotations that are reproduced as complete units (poems, letters, short stories, essays, journal articles, complete chapters or sections of books, maps, charts, graphs, tables, drawings, or other illustrative materials). You can find this guideline and other detailed information on Fair Use at http://fairuse.stanford.edu . 

If you are in doubt, it is safest to obtain permission. Permission to use copyrighted material must be obtained from the owner of the copyright. Stanford Libraries requires copies of permission letters (in PDF format) to be uploaded electronically when submitting the dissertation or thesis, and assumes no liability for copyright violations. For reference, view this sample permission letter .

Copyright protection is automatically in effect from the time the work is in fixed form. A proper copyright statement consisting of the copyright symbol, the author’s name, year of degree conferral, and the phrase “All Rights Reserved” will be added automatically to the dissertation or thesis in its final form.

Registration of copyright is not required, but it establishes a public record of your copyright claim and enables copyright owners to litigate against infringement. You need not register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office at the outset, although registration must be made before the copyright may be enforced by litigation in case of infringement. 

Early registration does have certain advantages: it establishes a public record of your copyright claim, and if registration has been made prior to the infringement of your work, or within three months after its publication, qualifies you to be awarded statutory damages and attorney fees in addition to the actual damages and profits available to you as the copyright owner (should you ever have to sue because of infringement).

For more information about copyright, see the Stanford Libraries' resource on Copyright Considerations.

For further information on Registration of Copyright, see https://www.copyright.gov/registration/ .

Do not require a password to make changes to your submitted PDF file, or apply other encryption or security measures. Password-protected files will be rejected.

The file name and description will be printed on a page added to your dissertation or thesis, so choose a file name accordingly.

Important note: File names may only consist of alphanumeric characters, hyphen, underscore, at sign, space, ampersand, and comma – before the ending period and file extension.  Specifically,

• A file name cannot start with a space, period (nor contain a period), underscore, or hyphen.
• Files names must be 120 characters or less.

Here is an example of a filename that is allowed, including all of the possible characters:

• A Study of Social Media with a Focus on @Twitter Accounts, Leland Student_30AUG2023.pdf

In submitting a thesis or dissertation to Stanford, the author grants The Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford) the non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable right to reproduce, distribute, display and transmit author's thesis or dissertation, including any supplemental materials (the Work), in whole or in part in such print and electronic formats as may be in existence now or developed in the future, to sub-license others to do the same, and to preserve and protect the Work, subject to any third-party release or display restrictions specified by Author on submission of the Work to Stanford.

Author further represents and warrants that Author is the copyright holder of the Work, and has obtained all necessary rights to permit Stanford to reproduce and distribute third-party materials contained in any part of the Work, including use of third-party images, text, or music, as well as all necessary licenses relating to any non-public, third-party software necessary to access, display, and run or print the Work. Author is solely responsible and will indemnify Stanford for any third party claims related to the Work as submitted for publication.

Author warrants that the Work does not contain information protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), confidentiality agreements, or contain Stanford Prohibited, Restricted or Confidential data described on the University IT website , or other data of a private nature.

Stanford is under no obligation to use, display or host the work in any way and may elect not to use the work for any reason including copyright or other legal concerns, financial resources, or programmatic need.

• Formatting Your Dissertation
• Introduction

Harvard Griffin GSAS strives to provide students with timely, accurate, and clear information. If you need help understanding a specific policy, please contact the office that administers that policy.

• Application for Degree
• Credit for Completed Graduate Work
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When preparing the dissertation for submission, students must meet the following minimum formatting requirements. The Registrar’s Office will review the dissertation for compliance and these formatting elements and will contact the student to confirm acceptance or to request revision. The Harvard Griffin GSAS resource on dissertation formatting best practices expands on many of the elements below.

Please carefully review your dissertation before submitting it to ProQuestETD. The Registrar’s Office will email you through ProQuest if they have identified major formatting errors that need correction. Students will be provided with a brief extended deadline to make only the requested formatting updates.  

• Embedded Fonts : If fonts are not embedded, non-English characters may not appear as intended. It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that fonts are embedded properly prior to submission. Instructions for embedding fonts can be found on the Dissertation Formatting Guidance resource .  
• Thesis Acceptance Certificate: A copy of the Thesis Acceptance Certificate (TAC) should appear as the first page. This page should not be counted or numbered. The TAC will appear in the online version of the published dissertation. The author name and date on the TAC and title page should be the same.  
• Title Page: The dissertation begins with the title page; the title should be as concise as possible and should provide an accurate description of the dissertation. The author name and date on the TAC and title page should be the same. Do not print a page number on the title page. It is understood to be page  i  for counting purposes only. 
• Abstract : An abstract, numbered as page  iii , should immediately follow the copyright page and should state the problem, describe the methods and procedures used, and give the main results or conclusions of the research. The abstract will appear in the online version of the dissertation and will be made available by ProQuest and DASH. There is no maximum word count for the abstract.  
• Preliminary pages (abstract, table of contents, list of tables, graphs, illustrations, and preface) should use small Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc.). 
• All pages must contain text or images.  
• Count the title page as page i and the copyright page as page ii, but do not print page numbers on either page. 
• For the body of text, use Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) starting with page 1 on the first page of text.
• Page numbers must be centered throughout the manuscript at the top or bottom. 
• Every numbered page must be consecutively ordered, including tables, graphs, illustrations, and bibliography/index (if included); letter suffixes (such as 10a, 10b, etc.) are not allowed. 
• It is customary not to have a page number on the page containing a chapter heading. Check pagination carefully. Account for all pages. 
• Copyright Statement: A copyright notice should appear on a separate page immediately following the title page and include the copyright symbol ©, the year of first publication of the work, and the name of the author: © [ year ] [ Author’s Name ]. All rights reserved. Alternatively, students may choose to license their work openly under a Creative Commons license. The author remains the copyright holder while at the same time granting upfront permission to others to read, share, and—depending on the license—adapt the work so long as proper attribution is given. (If a student chooses a Creative Commons license, the copyright statement must not include the “all rights reserved” disclaimer and should instead indicate the specific Creative Commons license.) Please note: The copyright statement applies only to the student’s own work; the copyright status of third-party material incorporated into the dissertation will not change. Do not  print a page number on the copyright page. It is understood to be page  ii  for counting purposes only. 
• Abstract 
• Table of Contents 
• Front Matter 
• Body of Text 
• Back Matter 

Students can refer to the resource on Dissertation Formatting Best Practice Resource for information on best practices for front and back matter

Individual academic programs may require additional formatting elements to meet the standards of a specific field or discipline. Students are responsible to ensure that their Dissertation Advisory Committee is in support of the final formatting as signified by the sign off on the Thesis Acceptance Certificate. Any deviation from these requirements may lead to rejection of the dissertation and delay in the conferral of the degree. 

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What Font Should I Choose for My Dissertation?

Date published November 06 2020 by Ella James

As I sat in front of my screen with all my notes gathered around me, I was quite mind boggled when I thought about this.

What is the best font for dissertation?

It seems like a very silly question but when you have been working your brains out for a few months, you get a bit paranoid ( and that is understandable).

Let’s be quick here, finding the correct font for dissertation didn’t require any rocket science or assistance from a dissertation format service. So to keep things short for you the answer is: Times New Roman.

Yep, that’s the right one but it’s not all. There are a lot of other things that you have to keep in mind. From size to spaces to margins, you have to consider everything and get everything right to be able to submit a completely legit dissertation.

How “Dissertation Proposal” Can Help You!

Our top dissertation writing experts are waiting 24/7 to assist you with your university project, from critical literature reviews to a complete masters dissertation.

Recommended Font Size

The recommended font size in a dissertation is 10 to 12 points at max. Having larger or smaller fonts can give you a bad time in structuring your dissertation according to the pages.

Margins… Are They Important?

Oh yes, they are…

Don’t you ever think: “oh, why should I care about the spacing on the sides? Does it matter?”

Margins play an important role in structuring your dissertation. So make sure that there are 1.5 inches on the left while 1 inch on the right, top, and bottom.

Final Words

You don’t have to go to professionals and ask them “write my dissertation please, I don’t know about the fonts, margins or spacing” ever. Although, if you want, you can still take assistance from services to help you write your dissertation.

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Times New Roman is considered the best font for dissertation. You can use it for your dissertations and thesis unless your supervisor or professor recommends any other font.

Keep that in mind that Sans Serif fonts are usually not considered an ideal choice while writing your research papers or any other professional papers. Although they are not used for body text you can use Sans Serif fonts for headings. You can such combinations such as in the format of body text/headings:

• Garamond/Helvetica
• Minion Pro/Myriad Pro
• Times New Roman/Arial Narrow

Using Calibri or any other Sans Serif might not be the valid option generally. It is recommended to use a Serif font like Times New Roman or Garamond . Although, you can use Arial Narrow for the headings in a combination with Times New Roman.

There is an endless number of new fonts being made by developers and designers every other day. Although many fonts are recognized just by their names or their designs such as:

• Times New Roman

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How to Layout and Format a Dissertation: 10 Tips

Who decides the layout requirements for a dissertation? The answer is primarily clear, either your supervisor or department. Nonetheless, each program has a standard guideline determining page numbers and table of contents. Should you use MLA or APA citation style, you follow the MLA format guide or APA guide. Here are 10 useful tips for dissertation layout and formatting.

Who decides the layout requirements for a dissertation? The answer is primarily clear, either your supervisor or department. Nonetheless, each program has a standard guideline determining page numbers and table of contents. Should you use  MLA  or APA citation style, you follow  the MLA format guide  or APA guide. Here are 10 useful tips for dissertation layout and formatting.

1. Font, font size, and line spacing

You must use a clear, legible, and professional font. Verdana, Times New Roman, and Calibri (the default font in Microsoft Word) are the most preferred font types. Then, you need to set the font size, which could be 10 or 12.

Scientific articles and theses use a line spacing of 1.15 or 1.5 because the document becomes more readable. Your supervisors can post comments between the lines of text if necessary.

2. Tables and figures

All the tables, figures, and illustrations (the graphics) used in your dissertation should include numbers and a clear title. You can refer to a specific drawing within the text by using the numbers. Simultaneously, the reader can see the graphic with a glance by utilizing the title.

What is crucial is the placement of titles for tables and figures. Tables should have the number and title placed above them, while figures and all other illustrations should include the number and titles put below them.

Thanks to a Microsoft Word feature, you can automatically put these numbers and titles in the precise locations. All you need to do is to choose the graphic, right-click and select “Insert Caption…..” Then, specify it as a table or figure and enter a title in the dialogue box. Next, click “Okay,” and see that the number and the title have found their proper place. 

This Word feature has another pro that you label your graphics, and you can generate  lists of tables and figures  with a push of a button.

How to Format Citations Automatically Using Microsoft Word

How to Use Track-Changes Feature in Microsoft Word 

Heading styles can help readers differentiate between chapters, sections, and subsections of your dissertation. Illustratively, while you use  bold  for all chapter headings, you may  italicize  all lower-level headings.

After deciding on the scheme, you should apply it consistently in your dissertation. Thus, the “Styles” feature should help you in Microsoft Word. Following a heading formation, you can highlight and choose a style, including Heading 1, 2, or 3 so forth) using the toolbar. You may readily keep track of your style changes if you keep a list.

4. How to cite references

It is exceedingly crucial to cite sources correctly and appropriately in a dissertation. Otherwise, you may fall into a dangerous trap called  plagiarism . By far, the APA standard is the most preferred choice. It has a specific and updated version. It is critical to stay updated and follow the last APA 7th edition. 

APA Format Guide for Academic Manuscripts

APA Manual 7th Edition: The 9 Most Important Changes

How to Present Tables and Figures in APA 7th Edition

5. Paragraph marks

 Proper formatting in Microsoft Word is sometimes challenging, and one might not have a lovely story of their own. Unfortunately, moving one graphic may alter your document substantially.

The solution is relatively simple. Use the “Show paragraph marks” feature and avoid any frightening scenario like this. You may turn it on after clicking on the paragraph symbol in your home toolbar (shown above). Then, what will follow is a black paragraph symbol after each paragraph and a “hard return” in your document. Then, you can see your layout construction.

6. Headers and footers

A professional look in your dissertation is only possible by headers and footers. Readers can readily see what is in front of them.

You may add a header or footer by double-clicking at the top or bottom of a page in your document. You may include your name, the date, the title of your dissertation, page numbers, institution, etc.

7. Page numbering

As a standard, page numbering is placed in the lower right-hand corner of the page. However, be cautious. The title page of a dissertation usually has no page number.

The page numbering should not start on the cover page but on page 1. All you need to do is place the cursor on the bottom of the page. Then you can start the page numbering (should you desire to start on page 2, you may click at the bottom of the first page).

Then move to “Page layout” and “Breaks” the submenu “Next page” follows.

The numbering should begin on the side you switch (in this case, page 2). While editing the header or footer, choose “link to previous.” The next step is to click on “Move to footer” and on the “Link to previous.” 

Now, use the “Insert” tab to add page numbering, then on the “Header and Footer” group, and hit the “Page number .” Now you can choose the location of the page number (top of the page, bottom of the page, or page margins).

 Ultimately, you should click on “format page number” and enter the page numbers where you want the numbering to start. After pressing “ok,” the page number starts from the previously selected break.

8. What to include on the title page?

The title page is the most critical touch for your dissertation. Please ensure that you don’t miss anything mentioned so far.

9. How about structure?

Secure that everything is in the correct order in your dissertation. If you are keen on seeing how other students have addressed similar issues, checking dissertation examples  may help.

10. The final step: Dissertation printing

Now you are ready to prepare a hard copy of your final document. Will it be single-or double-sided? Many issues are relevant.

Check one last time that you meet all the requirements!

How can proofreading and editing improve your paper?

Best Edit & Proof delivers beyond just editing or proofreading services. Our editors pay close attention to detail, including paragraph structure, internal consistency, tone, flow, accuracy, and grammar, to ensure that your manuscript has found its ultimate best.

If you need us to make your Ph.D. thesis shine, contact us unhesitatingly!

Best Edit & Proof expert editors and proofreaders focus on offering manuscripts with proper tone, content, and style of  academic writing,  and also provide an upscale  editing and proofreading service  for you. If you consider our pieces of advice, you will witness a notable increase in the chance for your research manuscript to be accepted by the publishers. We work together as an academic writing style guide by bestowing subject-area editing and proofreading around several categorized writing styles. With the group of our expert editors, you will always find us all set to help you identify the tone and style that your manuscript needs to get a nod from the publishers.

Thesis/dissertation formatting service

You can also avail of our assistance if you are looking for editors who can format your manuscript, or just check on the  particular styles  for the formatting task as per the guidelines provided to you, e.g.,  APA,   MLA, or Chicago/Turabian styles. Best Edit & Proof editors and proofreaders provide all sorts of academic writing help, including editing and proofreading services, using our user-friendly website, and a streamlined ordering process.

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Visit our  order page  if you want our subject-area editors or language experts to work on your manuscript to improve its tone and style and give it a perfect academic tone and style through proper editing and proofreading. The process of submitting a paper is very easy and quick. Click here to find out how it  works.

Our pricing is based on the type of service you avail of here, be it editing or proofreading. We charge on the basis of the word count of your manuscript that you submit for editing and proofreading and the turnaround time it takes to get it done. If you want to get an instant price quote for your project, copy and paste your document or enter your word count into our  pricing calculator.

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This article explains how to layout and format a dissertation for outstanding results. To give you an opportunity to practice proofreading, we have left a few spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors in the text. See if you can spot them! If you spot the errors correctly, you will be entitled to a 10% discount.

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Imagine a text written without the periods, commas, and colons. It would certainly be difficult to read. In academic writing, an author may be easily misunderstood when ambiguous sentences are used. Inasmuch as the essence of punctuation marks in writing, especially academic essays, cannot be overemphasized, the appropriate use of these punctuation marks is even more critical.

Paraphrasing is a regular exercise in academic writing. High school students, college students, and research scholars are required to paraphrase to demonstrate their understanding of a text. However, there are cases when, due to ineffective paraphrasing, instances of plagiarism dot an academic manuscript. Therefore, academic writers must correctly understand the fundamentals of academic paraphrasing and apply them to their writings to avoid any occurrence of any academic offense. This article will peruse the anatomy of academic paraphrasing. In addition, it will examine how paraphrasing is different from summarization and suggest ways to paraphrase effectively.

Researchers develop theories to explain phenomena, build connections, and make educated guesses. Therefore, you illustrate the existing ideas supporting your dissertation or thesis in a theoretical framework, depicting that your work has a solid foundation.

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Right font style and size for a master thesis

I'm writing a master thesis for my master in economics.

Given that the thesis is not expected to be too much formal (the master itslef is very practical and little theoretical) I want to use good conventions.

So far this is the formatting I used:

• main title "Thesis of ...": Arial 16pt
• Abstract subtitle: Times New Roman 12pt
• Abstract content: Times New Roman 11pt, justified
• Heading 1 (main sections of the paper): Arial 14 bold
• Heading 2 (sections of the paper, corresponding to Headings 1): Arial 12 bold
• Content of each sections (Headings 2): Times New Roman 12pt justified . The content is starting after a blank line

How can I improve the formatting to make the paper looking professional? Thanks in advance

• academic-writing

• 3 Does your university have any guidelines or a favorite style guide? –  Monica Cellio Commented Jan 7, 2015 at 1:59

Your academic department may have posted guidelines for this. For example, the Rutgers Graduate school has posted an Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Style Guide , complete with sample pages. They suggest an easy-to-read font in 10-12 point type, but other schools may have different requirements.

Many schools may require that you use an existing style guide, such as APA style , MLA style , or the Chicago Manual of Style . These will probably be available for use in a local library.

Your school may use one of these, or it may have posted its own style guide, or use a hybrid of them. Check with your department website and your department advisor; they will be the final arbiter.

• as far as I know there are no guidelines. I will send them an e-mail. I just wondered if there existed any good practice –  dragonmnl Commented Jan 7, 2015 at 12:38

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What is the standard/recommended font to use in papers?

I looked around but did not find that anyone has asked this before, but what are the fonts that are standard/recommended while writing academic reports/papers?

• publications

• 19 No need to search for the perfect font. You just download the latex/word template that the journal / conference provides and you stick to it. –  Alexandros Commented Aug 7, 2014 at 10:12
• 3 In my case there isn't a template, that is the problem. –  Man Commented Aug 7, 2014 at 10:12
• 1 @O.R.Mapper yes very true, although I assume if the OP was looking for the standard font of every language in the world for academic publishing, we could close it as "too broad" –  user-2147482637 Commented Aug 7, 2014 at 15:35
• 10 People stick with the Computer Modern default in LaTeX so much that I once had someone tell me a paper where I intentionally chose a different serif font "looked unprofessional." –  Matt Reece Commented Aug 7, 2014 at 17:32
• 3 Please do not be "that person" who has the only paper in the journal or proceedings with a different font from the others. –  Max Commented Aug 8, 2014 at 8:42

4 Answers 4

If there's no template, then the choice is yours. However, you should make sure to pick a font that's easy to read. The usual standards in academia tend to be the Times, Helvetica/Arial, and Computer Modern families. This doesn't restrict you from using fonts like Book Antiqua, Myriad Pro, Goudy Old Style, or Garamond, but they're definitely not standard.

• 9 As to Helvetica/Arial: I think conventional wisdom is that serif fonts are preferred for large bodies of text, while sans serif should be reserved for short chunks like labels, headings, etc. I've certainly never seen a published paper set entirely in Helvetica. Then again, in my field everyone uses LaTeX, so unless you make a special effort, everything comes out in Computer Modern. –  Nate Eldredge Commented Aug 7, 2014 at 15:52
• @NateEldredge: You are correct that serif fonts are easier to handle in large doses, but Helvetica is the "default" font for most "official" documents and reports throughout most of Europe. And this extends to preprints when not done in LaTeX. –  aeismail Commented Aug 7, 2014 at 15:56
• 14 Eurghhhhhhhhhhh. –  Nate Eldredge Commented Aug 7, 2014 at 16:14
• @NateEldredge: This is not undisputed. @ aeismail: It’s rather Arial due that popular operating system (which does not make this any better; not because of serif vs. sans-serif, but because I do not want to see that font anymore to the extent that I tweaked my browser to auto-replace any resembling fonts). –  Wrzlprmft ♦ Commented Aug 8, 2014 at 8:35
• @Wrzlprmft: True, it is normally Arial that is specified; fortunately the differences are small enough that I use Helvetica and no one complains. (And actually I'm starting to see more references to Helvetica nowadays.) –  aeismail Commented Aug 8, 2014 at 12:00

For an academic paper each publisher journal have their standards. These do not affect or are affected by the manuscripts sent in to the journal. Some journals specify fonts, commonly standard Times Roman, for their manuscripts. If the journal specifies something, follow that specification. Otherwise use a font that is easy to read. There is no need to use anything but a standard font for whatever typesetting/word processor system.

There isn't any.

Focus on the content, write using your favorite writing software's default font, and let the journal's typesetting staff worry about the looks of the published version.

For the subset of journals that do not take care of typesetting, first make sure they are legitimate, then use the template they provide.

If no template is provided discuss with your supervisor and colleagues whether the journal is really worth your time, if it is then use your favorite software's default font.

As others have mentioned, the standard font varies, but is usually a serif font such as Times New Roman, although sans serif fonts such as Arial and Helvetica seem to be gaining traction as well. Their is major disagreement over which is easier to read--serif or sans serif fonts, with no clear consensus on the outcome. For example, see this paper .

Font size is typically twelve point. Follow the guidelines on this one, and make sure to keep your font consistent. Nothing is more likely to get you minus points than some obvious monkeying with the font size, whether to lengthen your manuscript (most commonly seen in undergrad papers) or to fit your text into the page limit (the rest of us!).

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Formatting Requirements

Choice of font.

For most theses, the font should be one that is appropriate for an academic paper. Generally, the same font should be used throughout the thesis (dedication page and scholarship-appropriate alterations excepted).

Normally the font should be equivalent to 10 to 12 point font in Times New Roman or Arial for main text, and at least 2mm high in tables and figures.

Font colour should normally be black throughout, except for web links which may be blue.

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5 fonts that add credibility and professionalism to scientific research

by ikumikayama | Apr 29, 2013 | Uncategorized | 14 comments

Choosing the right fonts can affect how your scientific research is received.

Note: This is part 2 of a 2-part blog series about choices in fonts. You can read part 1 here .

You are dressed in your best. You edited the manuscript with a fine-tooth comb…but are your figures and images wearing flip-flops?

Last time we talked about fonts that suck professionalism out of your scientific research . In this article, we’ll talk about fonts that actually add credibility and professionalism to your research. Dress your research in a custom-tailored suit by just using these fonts!

My friend and colleague, Cassio Lynm described how a good figure should be like a billboard found in many highways around the country. Anyone who sees the billboard will understand what they are advertising in a split second. If someone is confused or gets the wrong idea, the image is not very successful.

Similarly, the best professional fonts should be one that’s easy to read with very little “bells and whistles”. When writing prose of informational value such as scientific research, a reader should pay attention to what the text is describing, not how the text looks.  A good professional font should be like air–we don’t really even pay attention to it most of the time.

Some of the fonts I’ll share with you today are considered “boring” and “overused” by some. These fonts are everywhere because they are champions of legibility and simplicity.  Make your work professional and trustworthy by using a time-tested font.

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1. Arial- “All-Around Champion with IBM Roots”

According to fonts.com , Arial is one of the most used typefaces of the last 30 years. Its electronic origins go back to 1982 for IBM laser-xerographic printers by designers Robin Nicholas and Patricia Saunders. When it came out, it was supposed to compete with Helvetica, which was one of the core fonts in Apple Computers in the mid 1980’s.

Arial letters have more round shapes and the edges of letters do not end in a horizontal line. Instead, the edges are at an angle.

Arial is an easy-to-read font in small and large blocks of text. Nature requests that the figure text be in Arial or Helvetica. It’s especially nice for figure labels and legends. When using Arial as figure legends, keep the font size small ~8 points for best results.

2. Helvetica- “All-Around Champion with Apple Roots”

Helvetica is the most heavily-used font. Helvetica was originally designed by a Swiss designer named Max Miedinger in 1957. The font was designed to be an easy-to-read font. The name “Helvetica” comes from “Helvetia” – Latin name for Switzerland. Actually, the font received a facelift in 1983-the newer version is called, you guessed it, Neue Helvetica.

Helvetica even has its own movie . I haven’t seen it yet, but please comment in the section below if you have.

Besides its Hollywood (Indie) status, Helvetica is a font that looks great on both print and on screen.  Nature , Science , and Cell request that their figure labels be in Helvetica. (If you need assistance setting up figures, I’m here to help). It looks great small as in figure labels, and it looks pretty good in large formats as posters. I lost count of how many figures I labeled using Helvetica, since that’s what one of the publishers used for their books.

3. Baskerville- “Tends to have positive influence on readers”

Baskerville’s history goes all the way back to 1757 when John Baskerville designed a typeface that works well in print and easy to read.  Mr. Baskerville preferred his letters simple and refined. He was also a writing master, so he had some ornamental letters like the upper case Q.

There was an  informal study  (not official, but some experiments here and there) that showed using Baskerville font increased trustworthiness of the text compared to other fonts. In the same study, Comic Sans had the most negative influence on the readers.

Baskerville is a serif font, which means that there are “tails” at the edge of the letters. Generally, serif fonts are better suited for print. This font works best when used in long blocks of text. Try to keep this font between 8 and 14pts for best results. This font looks dignified, so use this for your important professional occasions-award ceremonies, recognitions, etc.

4. Caslon- “When in doubt, use Caslon”

Caslon is another font with a long history. William Cason I designed the typeface back in the early 1700’s. This font is considered as the first original typeface from England. This font was very popular in colonial America, and it was used for many historical documents including the US Declaration of Independence.

Caslon is a serif font (with tails), and is best used in blocks of text. Like Baskerville, try to keep this font between 8 and 14 points for best results. Using this in a report or an application would be a good places.

5. Garamond – “Second best font after Helvetica”

This font’s history also goes way back. The font was designed by Claude Garamond (or Jean Jannon), who was commissioned to make a typeface for King Francis I of France (1515-47) to be used in series of books. The modern, electric version was revived in 1989 by Robert Slimbach.

Because there are different sources available for Garamond, there are numbers of different variations of the font. Adobe Garamond is the most popular and widely-available version today.

Garamond is still used extensively by French publishers. They also insist that Garamond be printed in size 9.  Some of the most famous publications in France are in Garamond such as Histoire de l’édition français.  The publishers prefer this font “for its beauty, its richness and its legibility” combined with “an uncluttered graphic style that underscores the rigour of essays and analysis providing a radical critique of contemporary society”.

Garamond is a great font to be used in long proses such as textbooks, dissertations and theses. Keeping it at 9 point is optional. In fact, my master’s thesis was in Garamond.

So that’s the 5 fonts that add credibility and professionalism to your scientific research. Did you find your favorite fonts here? Do you have other favorites? Please share your thoughts in the comment section. Also, please feel free to send this article along to those who might benefit from this short article.

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Now that you know about great scientific fonts, learn more about: PowerPoint Tips for the Scientist

Sources and Further reading:

Arial vs Helvetica – fonts.com

Research on font trustworthiness: Baskerville vs. Comic Sans

Caslon typeface

History of Garamond

Cell Press Figure Guide

Nature -Guide to preparing final artwork

Science Magazine: Preparing your manuscript

14 Comments

I’d rather like to know which font was used to write that article – it’s simple and readable, better than all presented above.

And the font being used for that article is Helvetica, which is one of the fonts mentioned above 😀

Hi Ewa! Great point. The font used is called “Open Sans” by Steve Matteson. For my blog, I made the font color dark grey to make it easier on the eyes, and also made them slightly bigger than average for easier reading. Hope this helps!

Hollo there, i liked the article but none of this fonts looks like the one used in the papers i read, (Journals of the American Chemical Society), do you know which one they use?

Hi There! Thank you for the note! ACS suggests Arial and Helvetica for their journal figures, so that’s what I introduced in this article–for the text, they might very well have their own custom font they use for their publications. I’ll dig into this a little deeper–thank you again!

I’m sorry, but this article is full of misinformation. Part 1 is a reiteration of articles that have been around for years. Absolutely nothing new there, and honestly, is there anyone even considering the typefaces you name there for scientific articles? Is it conceivable that anyone would use Curlz for his essay?

But my real concern goes to the second part. Arial and Helvetica are absolutely not scientific typefaces. The notion that ACS suggests these typefaces doesn’t make them suitable for scientific works. I think you ought to do research as to WHY these typefaces came recommended. Helvetica has history, as it won out of contemporaries like Univers as Helvetica was very heavily marketed. As a side note, Helvetica is actually based on the Akzidenz Grotesk model. Arial was designed to have the same metrics as Helvetica so it could be used on the same printers without having to pay a license fee to use Helvetica. Arial is more legible while Helvetica is more neutral and clear, but neither is particularly great.

So I would say Helvetica and Arial haven’t been chosen because they’re perfect. They’ve been chosen because they’re popular, and Arial is on every Windows computer, so people don’t have to purchase any fonts. I would say neither Arial and Helvetica are known to be particularly good to read. I suspect typefaces like Proxima Nova and Avenir will fair better. To be clear, I don’t think Arial or Helvetica are bad choices for labels and such, but to suggest them as top 5 typefaces, that’s very clearly misinformation.

“When using Arial as figure legends, keep the font size small ~8 points for best results.” For best results? Not entirely. It’s probably a good estimate, but in actuality the pt size should depend on the layout. I would recommend always making a test print to see if the text looks good in print, if that’s what it is intended for. Sometimes 0.2pts more or less could make the difference.

“Helvetica is the most heavily-used font.” I don’t think so. First off, Helvetica is not a font. It’s a typeface. Helvetica Regular would be a font. Helvetica is the most heavily-used typeface in graphic design, and likely the most heavily-used sans typeface. It’s not the most heavily-used typeface. At least, I would be very surprised if it was. I suspect Times New Roman is the most heavily-used.

“The font was designed to be an easy-to-read font.” No, Helvetica was designed to steal the popularity of Akzidenz Grotesk away.

Also, follow this link to see some of the problems of Helvetica at small sizes, and what professionals in the field have to say about it: http://spiekermann.com/en/helvetica-sucks/

“Actually, the font received a facelift in 1983-the newer version is called, you guessed it, Neue Helvetica.” Who would guess that the prefix for the new Helvetica would be German though? Small detail… Anyway, if you like Helvetica but want a more professional typeface (because really, Max Miedinger was not a type designer and as far as I’m concerned that shows), I can recommend Neue Haas Grotesk (a typeface that is true to the original Helvetica, but improved) or Neue Haas Unica (a more fresh looking Helvetica that deviates from the original).

“Helvetica even has its own movie. I haven’t seen it yet, but please comment in the section below if you have.” I have seen it a few times now. It’s quite a pleasure to watch, but there’s a lot of propaganda involved as well. You have the likes of Massimo Vignelli drooling over how great Helvetica is. The man was a pretty great graphic designer (although insisting on always using Helvetica has little to do with graphic design, as one ought to select the perfect typeface for the job, not use one typeface for every job), but he had no insight in type design. On the other hand, you have Erik Spiekermann formulate perfectly what Helvetica stands for. I would say for a type designer the Helvetica documentary is quite pleasant to watch. For the layman I’m afraid the documentary amounts to propaganda. It gives the layman the feeling this is one of the best typefaces out there and it’s simply not, by far.

“Besides its Hollywood (Indie) status, Helvetica is a font that looks great on both print and on screen.” Absolutely not! On Windows computers, websites set in Helvetica tend to look horrendous. The problem is that Helvetica is not well hinted, and so rendering problems occur. Helvetica was obviously not designed for monitors. Neue Helvetica doesn’t have the rendering problem to the same extent I believe, but relatively few people have Neue Helvetica, so it wouldn’t be wise to use that on your website, unless you embed the fonts. For websites I highly recommend using Arial rather than Helvetica.

“Baskerville’s history goes all the way back to 1757 when John Baskerville designed a typeface that works well in print and easy to read.” Easy to read? Not particularly, though it’s not bad either. Baskerville is a transitional typeface, meaning the weight modulation is vertical and the contrast is high. This is the tradition of the Baroque, but it’s not the most pleasant to read. However, Baskerville does look quite academic. For typefaces that are more pleasant to read, I would look at the Garalde style. Garamond and Caslon belong to that classification. They have a diagonal weight modulation, which naturally leads the eyes to the next letters. Typefaces with vertical weight modulation and high contrast tend to feature a fence effect, which disturbs the reading experience. To see this effect well, look at Didone typefaces like Didot and Bodoni.

“This font works best when used in long blocks of text. Try to keep this font between 8 and 14pts for best results.” 14pt seems quite large. Try 9–12pt. This goes for any serif typeface to be used for body text that is intended for print (for the web try 10–14pt, also depending on which device it’s intended for). But again, it will depend on the layout, and always make test prints to make sure it’s pleasant to read.

“Garamond is a great font to be used in long proses such as textbooks, dissertations and theses. Keeping it at 9 point is optional. In fact, my master’s thesis was in Garamond.” I distinctly remember years ago I noticed my Harry Potter book was set in Garamond. Both Garamond and Caslon are still used extensively for books.

However, Garamond may be a bit much for scientific documents. It’s quite classical and it has a low x-height, which these days is not preferable. Caslon is a bit less expressive and has a taller x-height. I would say Caslon is probably better for scientific articles.

One group of typefaces that certainly seems to be missing here is Century. Typefaces like Century Roman and Century Schoolbook. They belong to the Clarendon classification and are reminiscent of typefaces like Baskerville. These typefaces have been popular since the late 19th century and are still used extensively in academic literature. But I suppose you should also make a consideration of whether your article should be about the most comfortable typefaces to read, or the best suitable for scientific work, because they most certainly don’t amount to the same thing, yet you seem to be equating the two in this article.

Hi Martin! Thank you so much for your in-depth note! I have to look over and digest all your excellent points. Would you be open to expanding your writing and be a guest author or send me a link to your website/blog so the readers can have more information about what types to use for their work?

THE quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog!!!!!

Leelawadee is a bit underrated. It is easy on the eyes, and simple. It could use a bit of a TimesNewRoman-punch to it, though.

Where can I download Helvetica from? I couldn’t find it anywhere

Seriously? I don’t know what this smug guy does with typography, in which he seems to be well versed, but if he were to take up writing he would need to work on his grammar.

I’m not an expert on fonts, but I’m currently using Helvetica for headlines and other Sans text in my thesis and DejaVu for the main text. Feels pretty scientific to me 🙂

I enjoyed the historical aspect of this article. Thanks! PS. I see you use a sans serif font.

How i download these font types?

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Here's a stupid question: what font and font size are you all opting for?

I'm a Times New Roman type person myself, although I could be swayed to an Arial with enough time...

My supervisor also INSISTS on a font size of 12 which looks a bit big to me but hey-ho

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/images/cornell/logo35pt_cornell_white.svg" alt="best font size for dissertation"> Cornell University --> Graduate School

Formatting requirements.

Requirements for format and final production of the dissertation and thesis, as specified below, meet UMI standards and American Library Association (ALA) suggestions for preserving archival copies of the dissertation and thesis.

1. Language

The dissertation or thesis must be written in English.

2. Page Size and Specifications

• Page size must be 8.5 x 11 inches (or 216 x 279 millimeters), also known as “letter” size in U.S. standards. (ISO standard paper sizes, such as A4, are not allowed.)
• The inclusion of oversized pages or sheets of paper larger than 8.5 x 11 inches (known as “foldouts”) is discouraged. When necessary, 11 x 17 inch pages may be used for large tables, illustrations, etc.
• Text must be embedded, 11-point or larger font.
• Smaller font size may be appropriate for footnotes or other material outside of the main text.
• Black text is recommended; although, color may be appropriate in some limited parts of the document.
• Font requirements apply to all text, including captions, footnotes, citations, etc.

Margins should be at least 1 inch with page numbers at least 3/4 inch from the edge of the page. The templates use 1.6 inches for the left margin and 1.1 inches for the right.

Document must be double-spaced with the exception of quotations as paragraphs, captions, lists, graphs, charts, footnotes/endnotes, bibliographic entries, items within tables, and lists in appendices.

Exceptions may include the following:

• Quotations and footnotes may be single-spaced within each entry.
• Lengthy tables may be single-spaced.
• Irregular spacing may be used to accommodate poetry or other creative writing.

Tables should be consecutively numbered.

Figures should be consecutively numbered.