Thesis template guide

Microsoft Word

Why use the thesis template?

To help you focus on the writing rather than the formatting of your thesis, Information Services
(IT) provide a thesis template for Microsoft Word. Using this template will help you to achieve a
consistently formatted document and will allow you to automatically generate a table of contents
and lists of figures and tables, with appropriately numbered pages throughout.

The template complies with Cranfield University’s guidelines contained in the Prescribed Form
for the Presentation of Theses. However, please take the advice of your supervisor as to
whether any changes to the generic structure are required for your particular topic or award.
You should also bear in mind the guidance for submitting a paper to Turnitin, available on the
intranet at https://intranet.cranfield.ac.uk/it/Pages/TurnitinStudents.aspx.

If you have any questions about this template and how to use it or about Microsoft Office in
general, please contact the IT Service Desk (see Contacting us overleaf).

What does the template contain?

The Cranfield thesis template for Word contains all the required thesis sections, formatted
according to the Prescribed Form for the Presentation of
Theses, including cover page, title page, abstract,
acknowledgements, table of contents, list of figures and so
on. It contains pre-formatted settings for numbered
chapters and sections, page and paragraph formats and
fonts. The correct margins and line spacing are applied as
is the page numbering behaviour.

Experienced Word users should find the thesis template

quite straightforward to use, however we recommend that
you attend one of our training sessions to make best use of
the template (see Further training overleaf). Support on
using the template is available (see Contacting us overleaf).

If you would like to know more about Cranfield University’s

requirements for the writing of theses download a copy of
the Prescribed Form for the Presentation of Theses from
the Library help and support pages for current students at
https://intranet.cranfield.ac.uk/Library/Cranfield/Pages/Writingandreferencing.aspx.

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Inserting captions
All figures, tables and equations must be captioned appropriately using Word’s caption tool.

To insert a caption in the main body of the thesis

1. Insert a blank line above or below the object
2. Click on the References tab then the Insert Caption command
3. Choose an appropriate label eg Figure, Table
4. Type the caption text
5. Click OK

Creating captions for equations

Equations and their captions are best placed ‘side-by-side’. This is achieved by moving them
into the cells of a borderless, 2 column x 1 row table. Copy and paste this table as many times
as you need to for all subsequent equations. Alternatively, you may find it simpler to copy the
pre-formatted equation and caption from the template guidance (section 1.3 of the template).
Periodically highlight and update the equation captions by pressing the F9 key.

Creating captions in appendices

This section explains how to caption the figures and tables in your appendices, assuming that
Heading 7 is numbered “Appendix A”, as applied in the thesis template, and that the figures and
tables are going to be labelled ‘Figure A-1’, ‘Figure A-2’, ‘Table B-1’ etc.

You will have to create new, separate labels that look like the ‘Figure’ and ‘Table’ labels you
used in the main body of your thesis.

To create a caption label for an appendix:

1. Select the References tab on the Ribbon then click on Insert Caption
2. Click New Label. Type Figure_Apx then click OK
You now have two labels for figures, called Figure and Figure_Apx
3. Click Numbering (Mac: Format). Tick Include chapter number and choose Heading 7
from the drop-down list of styles and click OK twice
4. Repeat for table captions
Note: You will have to create the labels on each PC you use.

To apply a caption in an appendix:

1. Insert a blank line above or below the object
2. Click on the References tab then the Insert Caption command
3. Choose an appropriate label eg Figure_Apx, Table_Apx
4. In the Caption box, type your caption text
Your caption should look something like this:
Figure_Apx A-1 This is the caption text for a Figure in the Appendix
5. Delete the extraneous ‘_Apx’ from the caption label so it reads:
Figure A-1 This is the caption text for a Figure in the Appendix

Tip: Instead of deleting each ‘_Apx’ individually, use Find & Replace to replace all at once.

Inserting cross references

Once you have added captions to your figures, tables and equations, you may want to
reference them in your text. This is easily done using Word’s cross reference feature.

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To create a cross-reference to a figure:
1. Click on the References tab on the Ribbon
2. Select the Cross-reference command to open the Cross-reference window
3. In the Reference Type drop-down list choose the appropriate label
4. Under For which caption choose your figure
5. Under Insert Reference To choose Only label and number and click Insert. Repeat to
insert either above/below or page number if required
6. Click Close

Tables of contents and lists of figures, etc.

A table of contents and lists of figures, tables and equations are included in the template.
These are updated whenever a document is opened.

Creating lists of figures and tables for appendices

The template includes a List of Figures and a List of Tables, however you will have to create
two new lists for the ‘Figure_Apx’ and the ‘Table_Apx’ labels.

1. Place the insertion point on a blank row after the existing List of Figures
2. Select the Insert Table of Figures command on the References tab of the Ribbon
3. Set the Caption Label box to ‘Figure_Apx’ and click OK
Note: Word will put a single blank line between the original and new lists preventing it
from appearing as one seamless list. However if you select the blank paragraph
between the tables you can hide it by opening the Font dialog box from the Home tab
(Mac: Command+D) and selecting Hidden.
4. Click after the List of Tables and repeat for the Caption Label ‘Table_Apx’

Updating fields
You can refresh lists of contents, caption numbers and cross-references, also known as fields,
at any time.

To update a single field:

1. Click on the field to be updated
2. Either:
- Press the F9 key, or
- Right-click and choose Update Field
3. If prompted select Update entire table

To update all fields:

1. Press Ctrl+A (Mac: Command+A) to highlight the entire document
2. Press the F9 key (Mac: fn+F9)
3. If prompted select Update entire table

Inserting landscape pages

It is often preferable to use a landscape page to display tables of data, charts or diagrams.
Before changing an existing page from portrait to landscape it is necessary to enclose the page
within a pair of next page section breaks. It may also be necessary to modify the page number
format to ensure that page numbering continues from the previous section.

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To insert a landscape page:
1. Click at the point you wish to change page orientation
2. Select the Breaks command on the Layout tab on
the Ribbon
3. Choose Next Page
4. Repeat steps 1-3 at the point you wish to revert back
to portrait orientation
5. Click in between the two section breaks
6. Use the Orientation command on the Page Layout
tab to change the page enclosed by section breaks to
landscape orientation Word for PC
Word for Mac

Navigating your document

To turn on the Document Map:
1. Click the View tab on the Ribbon and the select
Navigation Pane check box
2. The Navigation Pane on the left of the screen
displays a list of all headings
3. Click on a heading to navigate to that point in the
document Word for PC
Word for Mac

Creating a PDF document

To save a document in PDF format on a University PC:
1. Open the thesis in Microsoft Word
2. Click on File then Print
3. Change the destination printer to Nuance PDF (Mac: not available)
4. Select Printer Properties and select the following settings on the General tab
- Paper size: Standard A4 210 x 297 mm
- Resolution: High (600)

Further training
Our IT Training team offer courses on working with long documents. To view a schedule of
upcoming courses or download our learning materials visit the IT Training site on the intranet.

Contacting us
For further information or assistance using the thesis template for Microsoft Word please
contact us.

IT Service Desk, Building 63

 +44 (0)1234 75 4199
Updated Nov-2017

 servicedesk@cranfield.ac.uk
http://servicedesk.cranfield.ac.uk

Our skilled support staff are available to help Monday - Friday: 8 AM – 8 PM

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