Troy publishes two separate documents: Dissertation Guidelines for doctoral work and an older set of Thesis Guidelines for master's theses. They are not interchangeable. This guide covers the dissertation rules in detail, because those are the ones currently maintained and the most fully specified; if you are writing a master's thesis, read the thesis document and expect your department to add requirements on top of it.
Individual departments, schools and colleges may impose additional requirements or specify existing ones in greater detail. The Graduate School's rules are a floor, not a ceiling.
The page
| Setting | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Left (binding edge) | 1 inch |
| Right | 1 inch |
| Top | 1 inch |
| Bottom of text | 1 inch |
| Font | 12 point Times New Roman, throughout |
| Tables and figures | 8 to 14 point, varying by no more than 4 points within one table |
| Paragraph indent | Tabs, uniform, usually five spaces |
| Print quality | Letter quality |
Margins are measured from the edge of the paper to the text, and they apply to preliminary pages, the body and the references alike. The guidelines use a word most universities avoid:
Margins are inviolable.
That is not decoration. It means nothing crosses them, including footnotes, and it is worth checking your figures against it specifically, because a table that word-processes cleanly on screen often nudges into the right margin once it is exported.
The table and figure font rule is more precise than most, and the second half of it gets overlooked: not only must the size sit between 8 and 14 point, but within a single table or figure the sizes must not differ by more than four points. A table with a 12 point header and 7 point footnotes fails on both counts.
Pagination
This is where Troy is fussiest, and the distinction that matters is between counting a page and numbering it.
Pages before Chapter 1 use lowercase Roman numerals. Fly pages, the blank ones that open the dissertation, are neither numbered nor counted. Counting begins at the Title Page.
| Page | Counted? | Numbered? | Number position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fly page | No | No | — |
| Title page | Yes | No | — |
| Dissertation Acceptance page | Yes | No | — |
| Abstract | Yes | No | — |
| Human or Animal Subjects Review Form | Yes | No | — |
| Copyright notice | Yes | No | — |
| Dedication | Yes | Yes | Bottom centre |
| Acknowledgements | Yes | Yes | Bottom centre |
So the first visible page number in the document appears on the Dedication, and by then several pages have already been silently counted. Set this up in your word processor with section breaks before you write; reconstructing it afterwards is fiddly and easy to get subtly wrong.
Widows and orphans
Troy states the rule explicitly rather than leaving it to taste:
Do not leave a heading at the end of a page unless there is room for the heading and at least two lines of text. If there is insufficient room, move the heading to the next page.
Worth doing as a final pass, since any late edit can push a heading to the foot of a page.
The abstract
No more than 250 words, not including the title.
That is tight. Two hundred and fifty words has to carry your problem, your approach, your findings and what they mean. Draft it deliberately rather than compressing your introduction, and write it last, when you actually know what the findings were.
Style manual
Troy does not impose one citation style across the university. You follow:
The most recent edition of the research writing style used in the College.
APA, MLA and Chicago are named as examples, and the list is explicitly not exhaustive. The guidelines tell you to consult your Dissertation Chair to identify the right one. Do that before you build your reference library, not after.
The two deadlines
This is the part that costs people a graduation date, because there are two dates and they do different things.
| Deadline | What must have happened |
|---|---|
| Four weeks before graduation | Submitted to the Graduate School |
| Two weeks before graduation | Format approval gained |
Read the second row carefully. It is not the date you submit for review; it is the date by which approval must already be granted. The gap between the two deadlines is roughly two weeks, and that is your entire window for the Graduate School to review and for you to make corrections.
If you submit at the four week mark with formatting that needs work, that window closes fast. Submitting early is the only real protection.
Signatures and paper
The Dissertation Acceptance Page carries the signatures, and it has a physical specification:
A minimum of two copies of the signature page, printed on 20 pound white bond paper with 25 percent or higher rag content.
Rag content paper is the kind where a watermark is visible when held to the light. Standard office paper is not it, and a print shop will need telling. The sheets are signed leaving a line for the Dean of the Graduate School to sign later, so do not expect a complete set of signatures at the point you hand them over.
There is a modern alternative: electronic signatures are permitted from all committee members, including the Dean of the College and the Dean of the Graduate School, and explicitly so where the defence is conducted online. If you are studying at a distance, ask about this route early rather than posting paper around the country.
The IRB form is part of the document
Unusually, the Human or Animal Subjects Review Form sits inside the dissertation itself, in the preliminary pages, as Appendix I of the guidelines. It records that the project was reviewed by the Institutional Review Board and how it was determined.
The practical implication: your ethics approval is not just a file in a drawer, it is a page in the bound document, and it is counted in the pagination. Have it before you assemble the final copy.
Binding and copies
A dissertation binding form and binding fees are required. How many final copies you print is a conversation with your Dissertation Chair, but there is a floor:
A minimum of one copy must be submitted to the Troy University Library for use by the University.
What Troy does not publish in these guidelines
- No word count or page count for the dissertation itself, only the 250 word abstract
- No single university-wide citation style; your College decides
- No stated similarity or plagiarism-check threshold
- No published policy on generative AI use in dissertations
- No embargo durations in the guidelines document
- No committee size at university level; composition follows your College and programme
Where a rule is not published, your Dissertation Chair is the authority. Get anything that affects your timeline in writing.
Pre-submission checklist
- One inch margins on all four sides, with nothing intruding, figures included
- 12 point Times New Roman throughout the body
- Table and figure fonts between 8 and 14 point, varying by no more than 4 points within each
- Fly pages neither counted nor numbered; counting starts at the title page
- Preliminary pages in lowercase Roman, with numbers appearing only from the Dedication
- No heading stranded at the foot of a page without two lines beneath it
- Abstract within 250 words, excluding the title
- Citation style confirmed with my Chair and applied in its most recent edition
- Human or Animal Subjects Review Form completed and bound in
- Signature pages on 20 pound bond with 25 percent rag, or electronic signatures arranged
- Submitted to the Graduate School at least four weeks before graduation
- Format approval gained at least two weeks before graduation
- Binding form filed and fees paid
- At least one copy going to the Troy University Library
Where to get help
The Graduate School, in the Adams Administration Building, grants format approval and owns the submission process. Your Dissertation Chair owns the style manual choice, the committee and everything the guidelines leave to the College.
If the writing rather than the formatting is what is slowing you down, our thesis writing support works through it chapter by chapter with you.
