I DONT GET WHAT YOUR THESIS:

ACADEMIC CONFUSION IN THE AGE

OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD

A Thesis Presented for the

Master of Science
Degree
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Jane X. Doe
December 2015

Copyright 2015 by Jane X. This Page is Optional Doe

All rights reserved.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to Judy King from OIT for her help making this template! However,
this page is optional.ABSTRACT
This is a sample Word document that can be used as a template in
formatting your thesis/dissertation. It cannot exceed 350 words.
If you use any special characters (including superscripts and subscripts) in
your abstract, you must write out the term in plain English in square brackets
immediately following the first use of the character. For example: H 2O [water]
and [micron]. This has nothing to do with how common the term is in your field
of study-- our catalogers have to enter the abstract in our records using a plain
text format that cannot accommodate the special characters, but has no problem
with word substitutes.

PREFACE
This page is optional.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One Introduction and General Information...............................................4
Heading 2............................................................................................................4
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Heading 3........................................................................................................4
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Chapter Two Literature Review..............................................................................4
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Heading 3........................................................................................................4
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Chapter Three Materials and Methods...................................................................4
Heading 2............................................................................................................4
Heading 3........................................................................................................4
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Heading 2............................................................................................................4
Heading 3........................................................................................................4
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Chapter Four Results and Discussion....................................................................4
Heading 2............................................................................................................4
Chapter Five Conclusions and Recommendations................................................4
List of References...................................................................................................4
Appendix.................................................................................................................4
Vita..........................................................................................................................4

LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1. This is the first table...............................................................................4
Table 4.1. This is the second table.........................................................................4

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3.1. Shapes..................................................................................................4

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

Heading 2
Begin writing text here. You may use single, double, or 1.5 spacing. You may use
any font of your choosing, but you must be consistent.

Heading 2
Use subheadings consistently. Check spacing, capitalization, and punctuation.
Heading 3
Use of styles is helpful in generating a table of contents. This sample document
uses the headings to automatically generate the table of contents, list of tables,
and list of figures.
Heading 3
Once you use styles to generate the lists, you can update them quickly and
easily.

Heading 2
Dont forget to submit your thesis/dissertation to the thesis/dissertation consultant
by the preliminary review deadline (this specific deadline can be found here:
http://gradschool.utk.edu/ddategraduation.shtml)

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

Tables and figures embedded within the text must be placed on either the same
page as the first mention in the text, or on the page following the first mention of
the text. Large tables and figures (that exceed of a page) must be placed on a
separate page. Table 1 is larger than a page and must be placed on its own
page. The page before the table/figure must be a full page of text, unless it
happens to end the chapter. This applies even if a paragraph must be broken
across pages.

Heading 2
Tables and figures may be placed on an otherwise blank page directly after the
page on which it is first referenced, regardless of size. You should not break
text and leave white space on text pages -- instead, simply continue the text
(even if it is a new paragraph or new section) until that page is filled. The only
time there should be a significant amount of white space on a page is when it is
the last page of the chapter. You can leave white space on pages that just have
tables or figures.
Heading 3
Tables and figures may also be placed in an appendix at the end of the
thesis/dissertation. If you do this, be sure to note that the tables/figures are
located in the appendix. This can be done either parenthetically or with footnotes.
You may place all tables and figures in an appendix, or just a few. If you choose
to place all tables and figures in the appendix, you can note that All tables and
figures are located in the appendix after the first mention of a table or figure.
Heading 3
Table numbers and titles should be placed above the tables. Figure numbers and
titles should be placed below the figures. The font for tables must match the font
for the body of the text, although it can be smaller (as long as it is consistent so
if your normal text is 12 pt, and you make of your figure captions is 10pt, ALL of
your figure captions must be 10pt). The same goes for spacing if you doublespace your normal text, your table/figure captions can be single-spaced (as long
as they are ALL single-spaced). All tables must have at least 2 columns and a

Table 2.1. This is the first table.

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heading row. Tables must also have at least 3 grid lines. These lines include the
line above the table, the line below the heading row, and the line below the table.
The font inside tables should match the font in the rest of the document, as
should the font for table numbers and titles. The font INSIDE figures can differ
from the font for the body of the text. However, the font for the figure number and
title must match the font for the body of the text. You may use color figures or
black and white.

CHAPTER 3
MATERIALS AND METHODS

Heading 2
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Dont forget to refer to all tables/figures by number within the text. Once you have
mentioned a table/figure, you must place it on the same or next page. For
instance, if you mention Figure 1 on page 33, the actual figure should be placed
on page 33 (if it is small), or by itself on page 34 (if it will take up more than half
of the page).
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More things and stuff and words and information.

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Keep writing. Youre almost there!
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Figure 3.1. Shapes

CHAPTER 4
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Another chapter, and Ive run out of things to say. I hope that a template will help
some of you. Remember that consistency is the most important thing. You may
use any spacing style or font as long as you use it consistently. It should also be
legible and able to be seen on any computer (so stick with Times New Roman,
Arial, etc.). Rules for placement of tables and figures are more specific (see
previous pages, and consult the Guide to Preparation of ETDs:
http://web.utk.edu/~thesis/Guide11.pdf). Good luck with your writing!

Heading 2
Make sure to submit your first draft to the Thesis/Dissertation Consultant no later
than the preliminary review deadline for your semester (which can be found on
the Graduate Schools website). You can have as many drafts as necessary
reviewed, so there are essentially no drawbacks to submitting your draft earlier
than this date.

Table 4.2. This is the second table.

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CHAPTER 5

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1
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

LIST OF REFERENCES

[Remove this note, but DO NOT REMOVE THIS PAGE, AND/OR DO NOT PUT
CITATIONS ON THIS PAGE you can change List of References to
References, Works Cited, Bibliography, etc., but this is the ONLY text that
should be on this page. The first citation should start at the top of the NEXT
page.]
Citations go here

APPENDIX

[Remove this note, but DO NOT REMOVE THIS PAGE, AND/OR DO NOT PUT
APPENDIX MATERIAL ON THIS PAGE you can change Appendix to
Appendices if you would like, but this is the ONLY text that should be on this
page. The actual appendix material should start at the top of the NEXT page.
Please note that you should remove both this page and the next one if you are
not including an appendix at all do not remove this page refers only to
students who ARE including an appendix]
Youll put appendix material here. This section is optional. You can place tables
and figures in the appendix if you like. If you choose this option, you should
indicate that tables and figures are in the appendix after the first mention in the
text. You can place some tables/figures in the text and others in the appendix, or
all tables/figures in the appendix.

VITA
Jane X. Doe was born. She wrote a thesis. She graduated. She followed
instructions and wrote her vita in third person and paragraph form (as opposed to
a resume or CV), which made her thesis consultant very happy. This page is
required.