Jewish Council

How To Follow The Right Format Writing A Ph.D. Dissertation In Geography

A Ph.D. dissertation should comply with some formatting ground rules. If you’re not familiar with these guidelines, this article should be of help.

What are the obligatory sections that I must include?


  • Title Page: This must be included with the title written in upper case letters. It should be centered, and if it exceeds one line, it should be double-spaced. This is also where you include your name, the kind of doctorate you are working on, as well as your university.

  • Committee Acceptance Page: This is where you confirm that the committee members have approved of your proposed question that your project is all about.

  • Abstract: This is an absolutely crucial part of your thesis that you must take the time to write properly. It goes before your project itself. However, it must not be treated as an introduction; rather, an overview of your work and what your papers will include. It also must be noted that this should be composed after your results, even if you know exactly what you are going to do. This will give readers the overall impression of your work, so it should be informative and intriguing.

  • Contents: A table of contents should always be included so as to guide those who are reading your work to what they want. Some people don’t have the patience to read all of the documents to find what they are looking for, and so they should not. This also gives readers a sense of organization.

  • Materials: You should mention what materials you’re using for your project.

  • Resume: Many people do not know that a resume should be included, but it is essential. One thing you must keep in mind is that the table of contents should say there’s a resume, but it should not have a page number as a CV is not numbered. It should be included last in the table.

What kind of text formatting should I employ?


  • Font size: The text should be no larger than 12 and no smaller than 11. Sizes 16-18 should only be employed in headings and titles.

  • Spacing: Double-spacing is universally preferable.

  • Style manuals: We recommend The Chicago Manual of Style or Modern Language Association style.

We hope we were of help and that you now have a better background on what you should be doing when following the format on writing your Ph.D. dissertation. Good luck!

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