thesistips and tricks

General specifications 

Text files are best supplied in .pdf format, images are allowed in high resolution .jpg.

 Thesis tips 

Students who work with LaTeX do not need to read further.

In Word, however, you must determine the layout and structure yourself. As this may differ per faculty, it is best to consult your supervisor / fellow students to know which formal requirements your thesis must meet. Basic rules regarding numbering: title page and next blank page (s) never get a number, not even hidden. The first part of your thesis is best numbered with Roman numerals: I, II, III, ... From chapter 1, "Introduction", the normal numbering starts at 1. If you opt for double-sided printing, you sometimes have to submit blank pages. to add: title page, preface, acknowledgment, table of contents, list of abbreviations and new chapters always start on a right (odd!) page. Same as annexes, bibliography, CV and list of publications. Pay attention to the position of your page numbering when printing recto verso: either centered or fill out the outside margin.

You should limit the use of color as much as possible in view of the price difference with black and white prints. So avoid red titles, blue internet links, green page numbers or yellow text markers as these do not add value to your thesis. Make a list in advance of color pages that should be effectively printed in color, which saves us time when setting up the print job.

Finally save your Word document as Pdf-file and state your name in the file name. So no "thesisfinalversion23reviewedbis" but simply "Jan Jansen's thesis". 

PhDs 

Final format for a PhD is 16 * 24 cm, exceptionally 17x25 cm. If you work on A4 in Word, take into account the reduction percentage to 81%. Specifically: font12 will be no more than 10, interline 1.5 will be 1.2 and 2.5cm margin will still be 2cm. Tip: in Word you can already determine the page setting yourself at "page layout - size - custom size" and you specify the dimensions 16 cm width and 24 cm height. Then also adjust the margins and font size. PhDs are always printed on both sides, so take into account any blank pages to be inserted and check the numbering, cf supra.

For those who want to design their own cover: back thickness is determined according to the number of pages that the book counts.  Easily calculated: 200 pages = 100 sheets and with the fist on it comes to 1 cm. Add 1mm clearance for the folds and you know how much text and font size you can use for the spine. For the LateX users only a note about the cover: spine width for the back print may be "0".