Welcome to the Harvard
Extension School Template!

Here are a few pointers to get you started:

Be sure autosave (Word for Windows: File > Options > Save; Word for Mac: Word menu > Preferences > Save) is enabled (it is by default). The default autosave interval is 10 minutes, so you may want to adjust that if you prefer more frequent saves.

For some large edit moves you may want to go as far as saving your current draft with a version number (1.1, 1.2, and so on) before you make the move in case you change your mind later.

You may want to see the invisible characters—the symbols that don’t print—to see where your paragraphs end or to view section or page breaks. Select the Home tab in the Ribbon and click the ¶ button in the Paragraph pane.

If you would prefer your page numbers are at the upper-right instead of the bottom center of the page, you’ll need to adjust the header and footer for the main body of your text. To do that, scroll down to the bottom of page 2 and double-click near the page number; select and cut (ctrl-x or cmd-x) the page number; paste (ctrl-v or cmd-v) the page number in the header area; delete any extra returns (there should just be one); go to the Home tab and click the Align Right button in the Paragraph pane (); Close the header (it will also close the footer).

Remember to delete this page before submission. (select the box all the way to, and including, the Section Break (Next Page), then delete).

Below are links to some resources that go into detail about submitting your thesis and how it needs to be formatted. Good luck!

Formatting & Submission Guidelines

Margins and Pagination

Discipline-specific style guide

More help for this template

Contents

Introduction

Your styles environment

Styles basics

How they work

The Style pane

Quick Style Gallery

Paragraph buttons

Template styles

Starting a document: Template overview

Notes and comments in the template

Hiding comments

Deleting comments

Adding a new chapter

Block quotes

Generating a Table of Contents

Printing

Printing without comments

Click here and type the title of your thesis. If your title runs to two or more lines, keep typing without creating a new paragraph. Don’t move the box that contains this text. Author

A Thesis in the Field of [Your Field]

for the Degree of Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies

Harvard University

[Month of Graduation] [Year]

Copyright 20XX Author’s Name

Abstract

To insert Abstract text here, select this text and then either type the text you wish to use or paste text from another document, being sure to keep the text only and not the formatting from the previous document. To keep text only, choose Paste, and then from the drop-down box that will appear, choose the Keep Text Only option on the right, with the icon of a clipboard and the letter A.

Frontispiece (optional)

To insert Frontispiece image here, select this text and choose Pictures on the Insert tab of the ribbon. If using the Frontispiece, please delete the word “(optional)” from the header above.

To delete this or any other unwanted section, select it in its entirety, including the title and the Section Break, and press Backspace or Delete. To see the Section Break, show formatting symbols by clicking the ¶ button in the Paragraph section of the Home ribbon, or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+8. Repeat the command to hide them again. Failure to delete the Section Break along with the text will result in a superfluous blank page; accidentally deleting a Section Break you didn’t intend to will remove the page break between sections.

Author’s Biographical Sketch (optional)

To insert Biographical Sketch text here, select this text and then either type the text you wish to use or paste text from another document, being sure to keep the text only and not the formatting from the previous document. To keep text only, choose Paste, and then from the drop-down box that will appear, choose the Keep Text Only option on the right, with the icon of a clipboard and the letter A. If using the Biographical Sketch, please delete the word “(optional)” from the header above.

To delete this or any other unwanted section, select it in its entirety, including the title and the Section Break, and press Backspace or Delete. To see the Section Break, show formatting symbols by clicking the ¶ button in the Paragraph section of the Home ribbon, or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+8. Repeat the command to hide them again. Failure to delete the Section Break along with the text will result in a superfluous blank page; accidentally deleting a Section Break you didn’t intend to will remove the page break between sections.

Dedication

To insert Dedication text here, select this text and then either type the text you wish to use or paste text from another document, being sure to keep the text only and not the formatting from the previous document. To keep text only, choose Paste, and then from the drop-down box that will appear, choose the Keep Text Only option on the right, with the icon of a clipboard and the letter A. If using the Dedication, please delete the word “(optional)” from the header above.

To delete this or any other unwanted section, select it in its entirety, including the title and the Section Break, and press Backspace or Delete. To see the Section Break, show formatting symbols by clicking the ¶ button in the Paragraph section of the Home ribbon, or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+8. Repeat the command to hide them again. Failure to delete the Section Break along with the text will result in a superfluous blank page; accidentally deleting a Section Break you didn’t intend to will remove the page break between sections.

Acknowledgments (optional)

To insert Frontispiece text here, select this text and then either type the text you wish to use or paste text from another document, being sure to keep the text only and not the formatting from the previous document. To keep text only, choose Paste, and then from the drop-down box that will appear, choose the Keep Text Only option on the right, with the icon of a clipboard and the letter A. If using the Acknowledgments section, please delete the word “(optional)” from the header above. Note: if you are acknowledging only one person, please change the title above to read “Acknowledgment.”

To delete this or any other unwanted section, select it in its entirety, including the title and the Section Break, and press Backspace or Delete. To see the Section Break, show formatting symbols by clicking the ¶ button in the Paragraph section of the Home ribbon, or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+8. Repeat the command to hide them again. Failure to delete the Section Break along with the text will result in a superfluous blank page; accidentally deleting a Section Break you didn’t intend to will remove the page break between sections.

Table of Contents

Frontispiece (optional)	iv

Author’s Biographical Sketch (optional)	v

Dedication	vi

Acknowledgments (optional)	vii

List of Tables (optional)	x

List of Figures (optional)	xi

Chapter I. About Chapters	1

Chapter II. Chapter Styles	2

Heading 3, SectionTitle/A-Head	2

Heading 4, B-Head	3

B-Head Style	4

B-Head Style	4

C-Head Style and Accompanying Paragraph	4

Body Text with C-Head	4

Numbered List Style	5

Bulleted List Style	6

Block Quote Style	6

Figures	7

Figure Title Style.	7

Figure Description Style.	8

Tables	8

Table Title Style.	8

Table Cell Style.	8

Table Description Style.	9

Styles Used in Other Parts of the Document	9

Title Style	9

Author Style	9

Centered Text Style	9

Harvard,Month,Year Style	10

Copyright Style	10

No-TOC-Heading Style	10

Bibliography Entry Style	10

Appendix 1. Title	11

Appendix 2. Title	12

References	13

List of Tables (optional)

Table 1. Table Title.	8

Table 2. Table Title	11

List of Figures (optional)

Figure 1. Figure Title.	7

Figure 2. Figure Title	12

Chapter I.
About Chapters

Here’s an example of an epigraph at the beginning of a chapter. Including epigraphs is not a requirement, and so please simply delete this text if you are not using any in your thesis.

—Epigraph author

There are two ways to add a new chapter. First, you can simply type the name of your new chapter on a separate line and apply the Chapter Title (or Heading 2) style. That will automatically drop your chapter title down to the next page and you may then begin your next chapter. Alternatively, you can copy this section, from the chapter title down to the section break, and then paste it immediately following the section break.

Whether you need a section break is largely determined by what you plan to do with the structure of your thesis. If you need more than one column (say, for columns of statistics), for example, you’ll want a section break, then another to switch back to one column.

To insert a new section break, go to the Layout tab in the Ribbon. In the Page Setup section, choose the Breaks dropdown menu; from the second half of the list, choose Section Break: Next Page or Section Break: Continuous if you don’t want a page break.

Chapter II.
Chapter Styles

There are several styles that are used within chapters that you’ll need to know how to use. Other styles in the document are used in specific circumstances only, but we’ll cover those later.

Heading 3, SectionTitle/A-Head

The Chapter Title or “Major heading” style (shown in the Quick Styles menu as “Ch Title”) is used at the beginning of each chapter, including the appendices. For an example, see “Chapter 1 About Chapters” above. The first line of the title text will always begin 2” from the top of the page. The style immediately following the Chapter Title style will default to the Body Text style, to be used for the introduction of the chapter.

Chapter titles will automatically be included in the Table of Contents, but in order for them to appear after they’re first added, you’ll need to right-click on the TOC and choose “Update entire table.” To ensure that the chapter title is formatted correctly both on the page and in the corresponding TOC entry, there are two commands you’ll need to use for each:

In the TOC entry for Chapter 1, you’ll notice that there’s a half-inch space between the words “Chapter 1:” and the chapter title. This is accomplished by using a Tab character in the title itself. The Chapter Title style has been designed so that this Tab character will not interfere with the centering of the header and therefore will not appear to be present on this page at all; if the TOC entry does not contain that half-inch space, remember to add a Tab character.

In the Chapter 1 example above, you’ll notice that the chapter title falls on two different lines, with the words “Chapter 1:” on the first line and the chapter title itself on the second line. If you use the Enter key to separate these (called a “hard return”), they will appear much farther apart on the page and will appear in the TOC as two separate entries. To prevent this, you’ll need to use what’s called a “soft-return” by pressing Shift + Enter (just after the Tab character mentioned previously). This command tells the computer that you want the second line to be considered part of the same header or paragraph even as it appears on a new line.

Heading 4, B-Head

The Section Title or A-Head style (shown in the Quick Styles menu as “Sect Title”) is used as a header for a section within a chapter. For an example, see “Chapter Styles” above. Note: there should always be introductory text for the chapter before the Section Title. The style immediately following the Section Title style will default to the Body Text style, to be used for the introduction of the section.

Section titles will automatically be added to the Table of Contents, directly below the previous chapter title and with a half-inch indent, each time you update the whole TOC.

B-Head Style

The B-Head style (shown in the Quick Styles menu as “B-Head”) is used as a header for a subsection within a section of a chapter. For an example, see “B-Head Style” above. Note: there should always be introductory text for the section before the B-Head. The style immediately following the B-Head style will default to the Body Text style, to be used for the introduction of the subsection.

B-Heads will automatically be added to the Table of Contents, directly below the previous section title and with a one-inch indent, each time you update the whole TOC.

The Body Text style (shown in the Quick Styles menu as “Body Text”) is used for standard paragraph styles. This paragraph is using the Body Text style; the default style for the next paragraph is also Body Text.

C-Head Style and Accompanying Paragraph

The C-Head style (shown in the Quick Styles menu as “C-Head”) is used as a header for a subsection within a subsection. For example:

Body Text with C-Head.

This is a C-Head and accompanying paragraph. Note that the C-Head is on the same line as the rest of the paragraph; it’s not indented; and there is no additional space before the C-Head as there is with other headers.

C-Heads will automatically be added to the Table of Contents, directly below the previous subsection title and with a 1.5-inch indent, each time you update the whole TOC.

To apply the C-Head style, select the paragraph to which it belongs and click on the “Body Text w/ C-Head” style in the Quick Styles menu; then select the C-Head itself and click on the “C-Head” style.

Remember, there should always be introductory text for the subsection before the C-Head. The style immediately following the C-Head style will default to the Body Text style.

Numbered List Style

To create a numbered list, select the lines of text which you want to make a list (whether they’re already in a Word list structure or not) and choose the “Numbered List” style in the Quick Styles menu. If the list was in a Word list structure previously, it will simply update the styles. If the list was previously formatted by hand, you will need to check that list items begin and end at the correct points and that any typed numbering is removed.

This is the Numbered list style.

To add a list item, simply hit Enter at the end of the previous list item.

To end the list, hit Enter and then select the “Body Text” style from the Quick Styles menu.

If you wish to create a second numbered list, follow the directions for creating a list above, then right-click on the list and choose “Restart at 1.” If this does not work, right-click and choose “Set Numbering Value” and set it to create a new list starting from 1. If either of these methods creates a list starting with 1 but with the second item in the list continuing numbering from a previous list, you may need to right-click on that second item and again choose “Set Numbering Value,” this time choosing to start from 2.

Bulleted List Style

To create a bulleted list, select the lines of text which you want to make a list (whether they’re already in a Word list structure or not) and choose the “Bulleted List” style in the Quick Styles menu. If the list was in a Word list structure previously, it will simply update the styles. If the list was previously formatted by hand, you will need to check that list items begin and end at the correct points and that any typed bullets are removed.

This is the Bulleted list style.

To add a list item, simply hit Enter at the end of the previous list item.

To end the list, hit Enter and then select the “Body Text” style from the Quick Styles menu.

This is what some body text after a bulleted list would look like.

Block Quote Style

The Block Quote Style is used for quoting large selections of text, rather than a word or phrase.

Blockquotes are further indented to distinguish them from body text. They’re also single-spaced rather than double-spaced.

A multi-paragraph block quote will look like this, with a space between the paragraphs to differentiate them.

Figures

To insert a figure, place your cursor at the beginning of the Figure Title line. You can either copy and paste a figure into the document or use the Insert Pictures command in the Insert ribbon. Once you have the image inserted, click on the picture and select the dropdown menu that appears: make sure the “In Line With Text” option is selected, in order to keep the picture aligned properly and associated with the correct text. Example (the gray box is merely a placeholder to show you how it should look):

In order not to be drawn into your Table of Figures, you need to assign your figure its own paragraph and style. Click to the right of the figure, making sure your cursor is to the left of the paragraph marker, and select Figure from the Styles list.

Figure 1.	Figure Title.

Description of Figure 1, legend brief citation, etc.

Figure Title Style.

The Figure Title style, which appears in the Quick Styles menu as “Figure Title,” is used to name a figure in a way that will appear in the TOC. The title will automatically be added to the List of Figures following an update of the entire table. Remember to place a tab between the figure number and the title, as shown above, in order to preserve formatting in the TOC. Note: the style of the paragraph following Figure Title defaults to Figure Description.

Figure Description Style.

The Figure Description style, which appears in the Quick Styles menu as “Figure Description,” is used to briefly describe the accompanying figure; the space after it separates it from the body text below the figure.

Tables

Tables can copied and pasted from another document or created in the Word document itself using the Insert Table command on the Insert tab of the ribbon. A sample table:

Table 1.	Table Title.

Lorem ipsum	Augue vel tellus	Sed sagittis
Est blandit	0	1
Sed est	0	1

Table description style, legend, brief citation etc.

Following insertion using either method, table styles should be applied as follows.

Table Title Style.

The Table Title should come immediately before the table itself; the style appears in the Quick Styles menu as “Table Title,” In order to preserve formatting of the TOC entry, insert a Tab character between the table number and the table title, as shown above.

Table Cell Style.

To apply this style to the table cells, highlight the table and choose “Table Cell” from the Quick Styles menu. The default will be to left-align the text inside the cells; to center text, as in the second and third columns above, you can simply select those cells and choose Center. To control vertical alignment as necessary, select the applicable cells and choose the Layout tab that appears in the ribbon. On the right in the Alignment section, choose the graphic that matches the alignment you prefer, from top left to bottom right to centered horizontally and vertically.

Table Description Style.

The Table Description style, shown in the Quick Styles menu as “Table Description,” is used to format the brief description of the table immediately following said table. This style also includes space after to differentiate it from later paragraphs.

Styles Used in Other Parts of the Document

Title Style

The only time the Title style is used is on the first page of the document. It is exactly 2” from the top of the document.

Author Style

The Author style is also used only on the first page of the document and begins exactly 2” below the title.

Centered Text Style

The Centered Text style is to be used on the first page for the Degree information.

Harvard,Month,Year Style

The Harvard,Month,Year style is for use on the front page for the University name and the month and year of graduation.

Copyright Style

The Copyright style is for use on the second page for copyright information.

Please make sure to delete the square brackets when entering your own name in the Author’s Name box.

No-TOC-Heading Style

The No-TOC-Heading style is for use when chapter-type headings should not be included in the table of contents, such as the Abstract. Its appearance is exactly the same as the Chapter Title style but will not be included when the table of contents is updated.

Bibliography Entry Style

The Bibliography Entry style (Bibliography Entry,Bib Entry) is single-spaced with a double-space between entries and has a hanging indent of one-half inch. The sample text includes only a few examples of different style guides for different types of documents; please be sure to format your bibliography entries using the style guide required for your thesis type.

Last Name, Full First Name. Basic MLA Style Only. City: Publisher, Year. Print.

Last Name, First and Middle Initials (Year). Basic APA Style Only. City, State Abbreviation: Publisher.

Last Name, First Name. Basic CMS Style Only, Requires Footnotes or Endnotes. Place of publication: Publisher, Year.

Appendix 1.
Title

The following tables can be copied and pasted into other sections of this document, then changed to the appropriate size and filled with content.

To add a row, hover your mouse to the left of one of the gray lines between or after rows; to add a column, hover your mouse above one of the gray lines between or after columns. In either case, a thicker line will appear with a “+” sign at the top; click this to add a row or column. Note that when doing so, the width of columns and height of rows will distribute evenly.

To delete cells, highlight them and right-click, choosing the Delete Cells option. This will give you two types of options: you can delete only the highlighted cells and choose whether to move the remaining cells up or left; or you can delete the entire row or column that the highlighted cells belong to.

Table 2. Table Title

Lorem ipsum	Augue vel tellus	Sed sagittis
Est blandit	0	1
Sed est	0	1

Table description style

Appendix 2.
Title

The following is placeholder text to show you how an appendix might fill out with an image, figure title and description. Delete and replace with your own as necessary.

Figure 2. Figure Title

Sample text for Figure 2 description

We hope that this thesis template helps you to concentrate on the substance of your writing as opposed to spending time on formatting details, and that your thesis work goes as well as possible for you!

References

Note that you should use just one of the following reference styles, depending on which format style your Thesis Director has asked you to use. If you have any questions about the correcting formatting for the many different types of sources you might be referencing (e.g. books, articles, online articles, newspaper articles) then check with a publication manual for the particular reference style you are using, and/or use a reference generation program such as Zotero or Refworks.

Last Name, Full First Name. Basic MLA Style Only. City: Publisher, Year. Print.

Last Name, First and Middle Initials (Year). Basic APA Style Only. City, State Abbreviation: Publisher.

Last Name, First Name. Basic CMS Style Only, Requires Footnotes or Endnotes. Place of publication: Publisher, Year.

This is a footnote.

This is the format for more than one footnote.