Microsoft Word for Dissertations

Please note that ScholarSpace has already created a Dissertation Template that you can download from the main page of this Guide. This tempate has most of the special settings and features discussed elsewhere in this Guide.

But if you'd prefer to create your own, this section will tell you how to do that and create a template you can use for multiple documents, providing consistency across those documents.

To create a template in Word 2010,

1. Open a blank Word document and adjust your styles (see page 5), margins (see page 8), and any automatic numbering features you want in your document.
2. In the File Ribbon, select Save as…, then select Word Template.  Save it somewhere that you can find easily.
3. To modify your template later, open Word first, then open the template file – if you double-click on it, it will create a new document based on the template as described below.

To create a template in Word 2013 or later,

1. Adjust your styles, margins, etc. in a BLANK document.
2. In the File Ribbon, select Save As, then click on the Browse button. A dialogue box will come up. The Save as Type dropdown defaults to .docx. In order to save the file as a template, you can use either the .dotx or .dotm format. Unless you are using macros in your document, choose the .dotx option.

To create a document from your template or apply it to an existing document,

1. Double-click on the template file you created in the steps above.  This will open a new document based on that template.
2. If you already have a chapter written, you can insert that chapter into this new document to apply any style settings to it.  To do this…
   • On the Insert Ribbon, in the Text Group, click on the arrow next to the Object icon and select Text from File….
   • Navigate to the document you wish to insert and click Insert.