Style Guide

This Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Style Guide is intended to assist you in the preparation of your Master’s Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation, in most cases the final requirement for your degree. The Graduate School at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County maintains specific requirements as to the format and appearance of its Theses and Dissertations; such requirements assure a standard of uniformity and aesthetic consistency commensurate with the rigorous academic principles of the University.

Theses and Dissertations completed in accredited Masters and Doctoral programs are published by ProQuest through an exclusive arrangement with the Library of Congress. These documents are also published electronically by ETD Digital Collections at AOK library, a free online archive of research done by members of the University community.

The flexibility of electronic publishing fast becoming the standard for Theses and Dissertations enables the Graduate School to determine its own standards, independent of the printing process. This guide will assist you in creating a Thesis or Dissertation that conforms to those standards.

University of Maryland, Baltimore County accepts Theses and Dissertations primarily in electronic format. Under this arrangement, students submit an electronic version of their Thesis or Dissertation (hereafter referred to as the Thesis) directly to ProQuest via the World Wide Web. Officials from UMBC will then review the document online and request revisions if necessary. This electronic process is the standard submission procedure for UMBC theses; the Graduate School will no longer accept hardcopy thesis or dissertation documents except in special circumstances at the discretion of the Dean of the Graduate School. Complete submission procedures are located under the “Submitting your document” section.

The entire ETD Style Guide is available for download to review.

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Academic Style Manuals

The academic style manuals listed below may be of use to you as you format your dissertation. For the citation of references and any formatting element not specifically mentioned in the UMBC ETD Style Guide, please follow the guidelines in the manual below that is most appropriate to your discipline. If you have a discipline style guide that is not on this list, please email the Graduate School.

Academic Style Manuals

American Institute of Physics. AIP Style Manual: For Guidance in Writing, Editing, and Preparing Physics Manuscripts for Publication. 4th ed. New York: American Institute of Physics, 1990.

American Management Association. The AMA Style Guide for Business Writing . New York : AMACOM,1996.

American Mathematical Society. The AMS Author Handbook . Providence, R.I.: American Mathematical Society, 1996.

American Medical Association. Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors . 9th ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1998.

American National Standard for Information Sciences–Scientific and Technical Reports : Organization, Preparation, and Production . New York: ANSI, 1987.

American Sociological Association. American Sociological Review.

Associated Press Staff. The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual . Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley, 1992.

Bates, Robert L., Rex Buchanan, and Marla Adkins-Heljeson, eds. Geowriting: A Guide to Writing, Editing, and Printing in Earth Science . 5th ed. Alexandria: American Geological Institute, 1995.

The Bluebook : A Uniform System of Citation . 17th edition. Cambridge: Harvard Law Review Association, 2000.

The Chicago Manual of Style , 14th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. [Reference Desk: Z253.C57]

Council of Biology Editors. Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers . 6th ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Dodd, Janet S., ed. The ACS Style Guide: A Manual for Authors and Editors . Washington, D.C.: The American Chemical Society, 1997.

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Theses and Dissertations . 5th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association, 1999. [Reference Desk: LB2369.G53 1999] This publication is primarily for high school and undergraduate college students.

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing . 2nd ed. New York: The Modern Language Association, 1998. [Reference Desk: PN147.G444 1998] Provides practical advice for graduate students, faculty and scholars who are preparing for publication.

Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference . 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1998.

Holoman, D. Kern, ed. Writing about Music: A Style Sheet from the Editors of 19th-Century Music . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association . 5th. ed. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 2001. [Reference Desk: BF76.7.P83. Also at Audio Speech Pathology Lib.]

Rubens, Philip, ed. Science and Technical Writing: A Manual of Style . New York: Holt, 1994.

Turabian, Kate. L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations . 6th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.[Reference Desk: LB2369.T8]

Walker, Janice R., and Todd Taylor. The Columbia Guide to Online Style . Columbia UP, 1998.

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