Preliminary pages

If you have checked all your chapters and put them into one document, the next step is to enter your personal information on the preliminary pages and attach them to your thesis.

These instructions apply specifically to the UniSA thesis template, but the first and third sections are relevant to any set of preliminary pages.

• Thesis preliminary pages template
• Create the preliminary pages document
• Enter information on the preliminary pages
• Checklist for preliminary pages
• Attach the preliminary pages to your thesis

Thesis preliminary pages template

Use the thesis preliminary pages template when you prepare the final copy of your thesis. It includes:

• a preset title page
• provision for lists of contents, tables and figures
• pages for acknowledgments, declaration and summary (abstract)

Follow these steps:

1. Click to open the thesis preliminary pages template
2. Save As
3. Save the template

Create the preliminary pages document

1. Go to Apply the template and create a new document based on your Thesis preliminary pages template
2. Go to File > Save As
3. Find the Thesis folder
4. Name your document Thesis preliminary pages
5. Click Save

Enter information on the preliminary pages

Read this first:

The preliminary pages document contains click and type shaded boxes wherever you must enter your individual details – simply click once and type in the details.

Use minimal capitalisation and punctuation. That is:

• capitalise the first letter of the title and any subsequent proper nouns only (eg 'Transgressing the boundaries: towards a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity' rather than 'Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity')
• list your degrees and diplomas in the form BSc, MA, DipEd, rather than B.Sc., M.A., Dip.Ed.

On the Title page, you might need to alter the line spacing and perhaps some font sizes to balance the page. You can do this after entering all the details.

• Because Title page information will vary with individuals, adjust the line spacing to keep all the information on one page.
• To permit printing on both sides of the page in your final version, the Title page is automatically followed by a blank page. This ensures that your table of contents begins on the next right-hand page after the Title page.
• The Title page has no page number. Nor has the following blank page. Page numbers begin on the Contents page (Roman no. iii)

Now follow these steps:

1. Complete all sections of the preliminary pages, except for the Contents, List of Tables and List of Figures
2. Click File > Save

Checklist for preliminary pages

After working through the above steps, check that you have completed:

Attach the preliminary pages to your thesis

Word 2010

The instructions are the same as for Word 2007, except replace Office Button with File.

Word 2007

1. Place the cursor at the top of the last page (Page 1 – conventional numbers) of the thesis preliminary pages
2. Go to Insert tab > Object (in Text Group) > Text from File (Arrow - drop-down menu)
3. From the dialog box, find the Thesis folder
4. Select Thesis final
5. Select Insert
6. Select Office Button > Save As
7. Open the Thesis folder
8. Name the document Thesis final
9. Select Save

Your Thesis final document is now saved in your Thesis folder with the partially completed preliminary pages attached at the beginning.

The preliminary pages should still have Roman numerals (i, ii etc) while the chapters retain Hindu-Arabic (conventional) numerals.

The next step is to complete the Contents page.

Source: Preliminary pages in the UniSA sample template developed at the Flexible Learning Centre, University of South Australia.