The Graduate School - Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Manuscript Formatting Option Guidelines
In addition to the Standard Thesis/Dissertation Formatting Guide, The Graduate School offers a “Manuscript Format Option” for students who will be publishing their theses/dissertations. A Manuscript Format Option is a single thesis/dissertation document made up of several scholarly manuscripts or journal articles addressing a common theme, with each article constituting a separate chapter. Please check with your department if this option is available for your thesis/dissertation and whether they require more stringent requirements.
Each department will determine whether the student is the primary author or co-author of each manuscript. All authors must be mentioned in a “Contribution of Authors Page” in the Manuscript Format Option of the document. (See Figure 1) A brief paragraph of all authors and what they have contributed will be required.
A great example of the Manuscript Option is from Julie Alexander from Ecology
Contribution of Authors and Co-Authors Manuscripts in Chapters 3, 4 Chapter 4: A brief paragraph of all authors and what they have contributed will be required. |
The graduate student’s work must represent research conducted while he/she was enrolled in the graduate program, must be a product of the thesis/dissertation study, and must not have been used to obtain another degree.
The manuscript format option will only be available for students whose theses/dissertations have been: 1) prepared, 2) submitted, 3) accepted, or 4) published for a peer-reviewed journal. Each department will determine how many manuscripts will be included, with a separate chapter for each manuscript.
For articles that have not met these options, formatting must be consistent with the traditional DGE Style and Composition Guide, rather than the Manuscript Format Option.
Manuscript Information Page
Within the manuscript format thesis/dissertation document, a Manuscript Information Page (see Figure 2) will precede individual manuscripts that have already been 1) prepared, 2) accepted, 3) submitted, or 4) published for a peer-reviewed journal.
Manuscript Information Page
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Summary of Manuscript Layout
Front Matter
The thesis/dissertation is to include all front matter (a title page, signature page, abstract, table of contents, etc.) as specified by DGE’s Formatting Guide. The specific formatting guidelines for the front matter and sample pages are on our ETD website http://www.montana.edu/etd/format_standard.html A template is available on The Graduate School website.
Body of Thesis/Dissertation
Chapter 1 – General Introduction (common introduction linking all manuscripts thematically)
Chapter 2 – Literature Review *
Chapter 3 – First Manuscript, preceded by Contribution of Authors and Co-authors and Manuscript Information Page
Chapter 4 – Second Manuscript, preceded by Contribution of Authors and Co-authors and Manuscript Information Page
Back Matter
Chapter 5 – General Conclusion (common conclusion linking all manuscripts thematically)
Bibliography/References Cited – Common bibliography/references cited covering all manuscripts, although each manuscript may have its own reference section
Appendices – Optional
*(Optional) subject to departmental requirements.
Other Information
If work from a previously published manuscript or from a manuscript accepted for publication is to be used in the thesis/dissertation, it is standard for the copyright of this material to be held by the journal. Consequently, permission from the journal to reproduce this copyrighted material must be obtained and included at the relevant sections of the thesis/dissertation. An example of the permission statement might read as “The following chapter has been published (accepted for publication) in the Journal of XYZ and appears in this thesis/dissertation with the journal’s permission. Any modifications of published work (e.g., those required by the advisory committee) should also be clarified.
This option is not meant to provide you with information specific to the style required by peer-reviewed journals in your discipline. If you have any questions concerning details of the preparation of the journal article chapters(s) that are not covered in this section, consult the journal’s guide for authors where your manuscript(s) will be published. It is the responsibility of the student and their advisory committee to insure that the journal style is followed.
