Master’s Theses | Montezuma Publishing YouTube Channel | Universal Formatting Requirements for All Departments | Master’s Thesis & EdD Dissertation Formatting Templates | Thesis Q&A Sessions and Companion Guide | Optional Professional Formatting Services | Master’s Student Milestones and Typical Timeline | Review and Publishing Fees | Thesis Deadlines for Upcoming Terms | Master’s Thesis Submission Procedure | Review Procedures | EdD Dissertations | PhD Dissertations | Publishing | Policies | Frequently Asked Questions | Optional Formatting Services vs. Editing Services | Optional Montezuma Formatting | Optional Thesis/Dissertation Editing | Contact | Thesis Links
Our business hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Our register is open to process payments in person or by phone Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm. Hours of operation are subject to change.
Montezuma Publishing (MP) is a non-profit department on campus at SDSU. One of our principal areas of service is graduate publishing. For graduate students, MP is responsible for:
- Reviewing all SDSU theses and dissertations for formatting consistency.
- Publishing SDSU theses and dissertations. Since 2014, publication is electronic through ProQuest, which is the platform that SDSU uses for repositories, reference requests, and on-demand publication. Your thesis or dissertation will be available to a global audience within a matter of weeks after your graduation is posted
Montezuma Publishing is part of Aztec Shops, which is an auxiliary of SDSU. We provide these services on behalf of the College of Graduate Studies, and partner with them to verify that each document meets the requirements adopted by the SDSU Graduate Council. These criteria establish uniformity in style and presentation for all published documents.
The MP reviewers pay particular attention to the aspects of formatting that are discussed in detail below. The MP Reviewer does not read theses for content and does not perform proofreader services. Your faculty thesis committee approves content, and proofreading is your responsibility.
Montezuma Publishing’s YouTube Channel provides additional guidance for SDSU Master’s and Ed.D. students that must publish a thesis or dissertation as part of their graduation requirement. There you can find detailed information about formatting and department requirements, SDSU deadlines, and more. We have a growing list of tutorials such as how to apply text styles in a template, how to generate a Table of Contents, and how to perform a subdocument import. These are all designed to help you prepare your document for review and provide you with the knowledge you will need to complete the publication process. We continue to create new content for our channel, so make sure to subscribe today!
If you are in a Plan A Master’s program, your submitted thesis needs to be well written, stylistically appropriate, and edited. Your thesis committee is unlikely to approve your thesis (by signing the cover sheet) until it meets those standards.
After your submission is approved for formatting consistency by the MP Reviewer, thesis publication is the final graduation requirement. Even if all your coursework is completed, your Plan A Master’s program requires thesis publication prior to awarding the degree. The thesis is considered to be “published” after your thesis document formatting has been reviewed and approved, and all publishing fees have been paid.
Here are the formatting guidelines that apply to all Master’s degrees University-wide, which will be reviewed by Montezuma Publishing.
After thesis or dissertation committee approval, most students complete the remaining stylistic and formatting adjustments themselves. The remainder choose to hire a professional formatter for these services. The style and formatting requirements are presented here so that you will have the best chance of passing format review with minimal mistakes.
Theses need to be submitted in a consistent and predictable style. Your Master’s program has pre-approved one or more specific styles that can be verified in this style list. If your thesis chair and advisor believe a different style should be approved for you as an exception, then your graduate advisor can notify Montezuma Publishing (MP) via email to thesis@aztecmail.com, stating what reference style you are to use. If the style does not appear on our existing style list, the graduate advisor will also need to provide a sample article and/or author formatting instructions for us to refer to during your review.
In addition to adhering to your program’s chosen style, all Master’s theses need to follow some simple universal formatting guidelines. See the SDSU Thesis template for instructions, samples, and formatting assistance. There are 13 rules:
- 1. Your document must follow your program formatting requirements for text organization, in-text citations, and reference pages. See your department guidelines for information about your approved reference style guide and other program-specific requirements.
- 2. Margins: Set your margins at 1.25 inches for the left margin, and 1 inch for the right, top, and bottom margins. Margins may be reduced on some pages to .875 inches all around to accommodate oversized tables or figures.
- 3. Use a professional font in 12pt size. Do not use an ornamental font based on script, cursive, or calligraphic styles. For tables, footnotes, or other material outside of the main text, a font size as low as 8pt may be used. Use black for all text. Figures, tables, and computer code may include color at your discretion (but not captions, legends or titles).
- 4. Line spacing: 1.5 is preferred for the text body, but 2.0 (double-spacing) is acceptable. Exceptions: tables, lists, block quotations, footnotes/endnotes, figure captions, table titles, and bibliographic entries; these must be single line spaced. The transition back to normal text spacing will happen automatically if you use the provided template.
- 5. Start the first page of each section (Acknowledgements, Table of Contents, Lists, Appendix, etc.) and each Chapter on a new page and increase the top margin on that page to 2 inches. The top margin spacing will be applied automatically if you use the provided template.
- 6. Place your Bibliography or Reference section(s) at the end of each chapter or at the end of the main document text (but before the Appendices). The placement will correspond to your department’s style guidelines. Use single line spacing with normal spacing between each entry.
- 7. If your thesis has more than one of these features: figure, table, illustration, plate, etc., then each type of item requires a separate sequential number scheme. Label each item in the category (tables, figures, etc.) uniquely and consecutively.
- 8. Similarly, if your thesis has more than one of these features: figure, table, illustration, plate, etc., then each type of item requires a separate list in the preliminary pages. As you will see in the template, each preliminary page list includes the figure/table number, figure caption/table title and the page number on which it begins.
- 9. The thesis electronic file size may not exceed 1GB. The recommended image resolution for embedded figures and images is 300 dpi. Supplementary electronic documents (such as audio or video) are not part of the 1 GB total.
- 10. Your name, committee members, and degree title must match University records.
- 11. The Table of Contents (TOC) lists each chapter number, chapter title, and the page on which each chapter begins. In the TOC, the word “Chapter” must appear as a heading before listing the numbers and titles of each chapter below. See a sample Table of Contents here.
- 12. Preliminary page numbers are lowercase Roman numerals, starting with page iii. The title page and signature page (representing i and ii) will not have printed numbers.
- 13. Preliminary pages appear in the following order (first numbered page must be page iii):
- Title page: Mandatory; no page number.
- Signature page: Mandatory; no page number.
- Copyright page: Mandatory; numbered iii.
- Dedication: Optional; must have page number.
- Epigraph: Optional; must have page number.
- Abstract: Mandatory; up to 350 words, single-spaced; must have page number.
- Table of Contents: Mandatory; must have page number.
- List of Tables, List of Figures, etc.: Mandatory when the document includes more than one table, figure, etc. (e.g., if you have 2 tables, include a List of Tables; 2 figures, include a List of Figures); must have page number.
- List of Abbreviations, List of Acronyms, List of Symbols: Optional; must have page number.
- Preface: Optional; must have page number.
- Acknowledgements: Optional; must have page number (Department of Biology guidelines requires acknowledgements to appear after the last chapter and before the reference pages).
Download a copy of these SDSU Formatting Guidelines here.
Download a copy of the style guide for the Chicago Author-Number System here.
Before submitting your thesis to our office for review, refer to this review checklist to verify that you have addressed the most common formatting errors, and applied the correct format to your document. If you have followed all 13 rules and passed the checklist, then your thesis should pass MP review.
Nearly all students find it easiest to meet the universal formatting requirements by using the SDSU Thesis Template. The template contains all of the correct formatting for preliminary pages, a page to auto-generate the table of contents and lists of figures or tables, and all of the necessary styles for headings, text, images, and references.
Here are links to download the appropriate template for your discipline:
1a. SDSU Thesis Template
This main template is an MS Word file. It contains styles that will assist you with formatting according to the University guidelines. It contains all the required preliminary page formatting necessary to prepare your thesis. Here are a few extra notes:
- When using the SDSU Thesis Template with Word 2013 or later, you should check the option to “maintain compatibility with previous versions of word,” or may need to save your file in the Word 97-2003 document file type. Failure to do so may create drop margin errors in your document, although this does not occur for all students.
- If your document has any landscape pages, then you’ll need to use this SDSU Dissertation Template for Landscape Pages. The included instructions will tell you how to correctly copy and paste into the main template.
- The SDSU Thesis template is set up to create a Table of Contents (TOC) after you've applied the correct styles to your headings in text. Instructions are included in the template. If you need additional help, see these screenshots and notes for TOC creation.
- The TOC creation notes will also be useful if you are having difficulties with generating the List of Tables and the List of Figures.
1b. SDSU LaTeX Template (for the entire thesis)
Some graduate programs have been approved to use LaTeX rather than MS Word to write the thesis. (See the style list and discuss with your thesis chair if you are unsure.) For those programs, this LaTeX template complies with the SDSU formatting requirements. The template can be found on the Math Department Resources web page, if you follow this link. Downloads are available for Windows or Linux/Unix. If you need guidance beyond the documents on that web page, a good third-party resource on using LaTeX is the LaTeX Wikibook.
1c. Hybrid MS Word - LaTeX Thesis
Some graduate programs require their students to write their thesis using the MS Word SDSU Thesis Template, but format the in-text citations and references pages according to the LaTex requirements. If your program has this “hybrid” requirement, then after writing your thesis in the MS Word template, download the “PDF - sdsu thesis latex” from this web site. Manually edit each citation and each reference so that they all meet the LaTeX requirements.
2a. SDSU Thesis Signature Page Template with 3 Committee Members
If you have a 3-member committee, use this signature page template to fill in your committee information. Print it out to get your committee signatures.
2b. SDSU Thesis Signature Page Template with 4 Committee Members
If you have a 4-member committee, use this signature page template to fill in your committee information. Print it out to get your committee signatures.
2c. SDSU Thesis Signature Page Template with 5 Committee Members
If you have a 5-member committee, replace the main template's signature page with this one. You may use the copy and paste function to do this.
EdD students should use the SDSU APA EdD Dissertation Template, which was developed in partnership with the EdD directors. Here are some additional notes:
- If your document has any landscape pages, then you’ll need to use this SDSU Dissertation Template for Landscape Pages. The included instructions will tell you how to correctly copy and paste into the main template.
- The SDSU APA EdD Dissertation template is set up to create a Table of Contents (TOC) after you've applied the correct styles to your headings in text. Instructions are included in the template. If you need additional help, see these additional screenshots and notes for TOC creation
- The TOC creation notes will also be useful if you are having difficulties with generating the List of Tables and the List of Figures.
If you are writing your thesis without the SDSU template and now want to switch, you will not need to start over from the beginning. Follow these instructions or video tutorial for “subdocument import” to safely copy your existing documents into the SDSU template (screenshots are taken from MS Word in Windows). Follow these instructions for “subdocument import” and/or Video Tutorial will ensure that the thesis template styles are not corrupted by conflicting formatting that you could accidentally bring over with a simple copy/paste. on our website to be amended to say the following
Montezuma Publishing hosts multiple Zoom Q&A sessions each February for the spring semester and October for the fall semester. Here are the spring session dates and Zoom links:
February 6, 2024 - 11:00 am
Register for Zoom Meeting
https://SDSU.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEtf-yhrjgsHNHsvbgNwhQtYnKg_89WJdcX
February 7, 2024 - 11:00 am
Register for Zoom Meeting
https://SDSU.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0odOiupjIrE9Wjaib-_jX0xNGWjKdk-t_N
February 8, 2024 - 2:00 pm
Register for Zoom Meeting
https://SDSU.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctcuCprTIoHdTH-zOkR8qEZQYr27g-WIV4
These sessions cover everything you will need to know from submission to publication. A copy of the material discussed in each session can be found in our Thesis Companion Guide.
February 6, 2024 - 2:00 pm
Register for Zoom Meeting
https://SDSU.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMud-GqqDwjG930GTwegv8qBqDp6j6cHzfa
February 8, 2024 - 11:00 am
Register for Zoom Meeting
https://SDSU.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIlceCuqTkrHNWhcPvrJxUbVISHXw_KJfr3
These sessions cover everything you will need to know from submission to publication. A copy of the material discussed in each session can be found in our Dissertation Companion Guide.
Although thesis/dissertation content and writing are the sole responsibility of the student, some students do not believe that final formatting is an effective use of their personal time. If the thesis has met all of your committee’s expectations, you are permitted to hire another individual for final formatting. If a formatter is hired, please note that you are still responsible for assuring that the thesis does not violate academic standards.
Optional formatting services are available from freelance formatters, or from Montezuma Formatting. Montezuma Formatting is an optional on-campus, fee-based formatting service, and a separate department from Montezuma Publishing (the unit that conducts required thesis review and publication). Montezuma Formatting and Montezuma Publishing have separate staff. However, a supervisor from Montezuma Publishing does train Montezuma Formatting staff to assure that their services are aligned with campus requirements.
If you elect to use Montezuma Formatting services, MP will ensure that the document passes MP internal review, and you will not be charged a separate review fee to validate the formatting. When you hire a freelance formatter (not MP), you will be working with them directly for turnaround time and associated costs. When the freelance formatter provides you with a final draft, you will submit your document to MP for review.
Contact information for freelance formatters (who are not Aztec Shops or SDSU employees) can be found here: Professional Support.
To hire formatters from the Montezuma Formatting department, see this section of our web page. Their current prices are $3 per page. A 50% deposit is required at the time of submission.
Graduate Studies posts graduation deadline fliers for each term on this web page: https://grad.sdsu.edu/announcements-and-deadlines
Here is a typical Master's student timeline:
| Thesis writing |
Can be up to 2 semesters prior to graduation. |
| Coordination with thesis chair and committee |
Throughout the research and writing process. |
| Program-specific thesis review and feedback (may include a thesis proposal and/or thesis defense) |
These are program specific. Discuss with your thesis chair and graduate advisor. |
| Final thesis revision and formatting |
Complete at least 8 weeks prior to the last day of classes, in the term you wish to graduate. |
| Thesis committee approval (cover page signature) |
Complete at least 8 weeks prior to the last day of classes, in the term you wish to graduate. |
| Thesis submission to Montezuma Publishing (with payment) |
See the published deadline for each term, which is 6 weeks before the last day of classes. Graduation Deadline flyers are posted each term on this Graduate Studies web page. |
| Formatting review and corrections |
MP staff will take 2-4 weeks to complete formatting review and contact you with the required corrections.
Complete the requested corrections and resubmit to MP as quickly as possible, and certainly no longer than 2 weeks.
If another round of review is needed, it will require an additional 2-4 weeks of review. |
| Final formatting corrections approved |
Final formatting corrections approved The final thesis version with all corrections must be approved by MP staff before the term’s thesis publication deadline. The publication deadline is listed in the Graduation Deadline flyer, as posted on this Graduate Studies web page. |
| ProQuest payment |
The ProQuest payment cannot be submitted until the final thesis version is approved. Payment must be submitted before the thesis publication deadline. The publication deadline is listed in the Graduation Deadline flyer that is posted on this Graduate Studies web page. This is a strict 3:45 pm deadline. Do not delay! |
| Purchase of thesis copies (whether required by department or optional) |
When submitting ProQuest payment, or any time after. |
| Thesis publication |
The thesis is considered to be “published,” which is necessary to award the Master’s degree, only when final formatting corrections are approved, and ProQuest payment is received. |
| Graduation requirement |
MP provides the complete list of students who published their theses on time to the College of Graduate Studies at the close of business on the thesis publication deadline. Theses published the next day are eligible to receive degrees in the following semester. |
This flowchart shows a typical sequence for review: Flowchart - Review. Each round of formatting review takes 2-4 weeks, and an average student passes review on their first or second attempt. Overall, a typical timeline for two reviews might be:
Submission → 1st Review: 4 weeks
Review → Resubmission: <2 weeks
Resubmission → 2nd Review → MP approval: 4 weeks
First submission → MP approval ≈ 10 weeks total
- The review process is initiated upon receipt of payment. Contact our office by phone or in person to make your payment between 9:00 am - 3:45 pm, Monday through Friday. Each review payment covers two rounds of review. The review fees are:1st Review (pays for two reviews)$503rd Review (pays for two reviews)$255th Review (pays for two reviews)$25
- After the formatting is approved, thesis or dissertation publishing with ProQuest is an additional $45 fee (Prices are subject to change without notice.) The SDSU library no longer maintains physical copies of theses and dissertations.
- You may wish to purchase a print copy for yourself. Information and pricing for print copies through MP can be found here. It is also possible to purchase a personal copy from ProQuest.
- Your department, graduate program or thesis committee members may require you to purchase additional copies for their libraries. Discuss with these individuals, and also review your graduate program’s entry in the department style list to verify. To maintain consistency with prior submissions, departments and graduate programs usually request that their copy be published by MP with a specific binding.
Disclaimer: You must be enrolled in 799 A or B at the time of your initial document submission to MP, see The College of Graduate Studies for more information.
If your committee-approved thesis does not yet meet the 13 SDSU formatting guidelines described above, then you should not submit it to Montezuma Publishing for formatting review. For example, we cannot accept the thesis if any mandatory preliminary pages are missing (Title page, Signature page, Copyright page, Abstract, Table of Contents, List of Figures/Tables if applicable), or if it has been written in a style your department does not approve of. We also cannot accept your submission if it is not organized into a single Word Document or PDF.
Some students are unable to complete all formatting requirements themselves due to competing time constraints. If you fall into this category, please see the “Optional Montezuma Formatting” section below.
Spring 2024 Deadlines
Submission Deadline: March 15, 2024, by 3:45 pm
Publication Deadline: May 10, 2024, by 3:45 pm
Avoid Re-enrollment in 799B: May 16, 2024 at 3:45 pm
Summer 2024 Deadlines
Submission Deadline: June 21, 2024, by 3:45 pm
Publication Deadline: August 9, 2024, by 3:45 pm
Avoid Re-enrollment in 799B: August 14, 2024, at 3:45 pm
Fall 2024 Deadlines
Submission Deadline: October 25, 2024, by 3:45 pm
Publication Deadline: December 13, 2024, by 3:45 pm
Avoid Re-enrollment in 799B: December 20, 2024, at 12:00 pm
If you submit your well-written and properly formatted thesis and complete payment ($50) to Montezuma Publishing (MP) by this deadline, MP will review your thesis within 2-4 weeks. If you need to make formatting corrections and resubmit within 2 weeks, your next round of formatting review will be given priority status.
To have the best possibility for graduation during the current semester, work with your thesis chair and committee to meet the Submission Deadline. Thesis submission is not received until payment is made, and our register is open to process payments Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm. Sent emails are not considered to be submissions until payment is made.
If your thesis receives final formatting approval from MP and you pay the $45 ProQuest publishing fee by the 3:45pm deadline, you are eligible for the Master’s degree in the current semester. If your department requires you to purchase a thesis copy for the department library, this payment must be made at the same time as the ProQuest fee. Students who miss the Publication Deadline (even by one day) are eligible for the Master’s degree in a future semester.
Thesis publication is not approved until payment is made, and our register is open to process payments Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm. Emails sent overnight are not considered for publication until payment is made the following day.
The last day of the term is the “avoid re-enrollment in 799B” deadline. If you submit your thesis on any day prior to the “avoid re-enrollment in 799B” deadline, you will not have to register for 799B in the following term. Note that your thesis cannot be accepted for review if it does not meet the requirements listed above. Pay special attention to the “Are you ready to submit?” section before attempting submission.
Thesis submission is not received until payment is made, and our register is open to process payments Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm. Emails sent overnight are not considered to be submissions until payment is made the following day.
For more information, visit our YouTube channel for our "San Diego State University Thesis Deadlines Explained" video.
To submit for review, please supply your signed signature page(s), old RED ID, new my.SDSU EMPL ID, and the attached thesis file in one email to thesis@aztecmail.com. If supplementary materials are needed (such as audio, video, oversized tables/figures), then these must be submitted at the same time as the thesis. Upon receipt of these documents, we will verify your enrollment in 799 and create a record for you in our system. You will then receive an email with instructions on how to make payments in person or by phone.
Please review the Submission Deadline information above. Our business hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Our register is open to process payments Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm. Hours of operation are subject to change.
The thesis committee signature page is one of the most important parts of the thesis. The signed committee page is confirmation that all committee members approve of your scholarly work. Montezuma Publishing can accept electronic or physical signatures for the thesis signature page.
Download a signature page template from the Templates section above. Fill in your personal and thesis information. When your committee members are ready to approve, here are the options:
- You can email your completed signature page to each committee member. They can print the document, sign it, scan it, and email it back to you. It is not necessary that all signatures appear on the same document; you can instead collect the scanned documents with one signature each.
- Your committee members can electronically sign your signature page in sequence via Adobe Sign, if you or your committee chair know how to initiate this process.
- You may print the thesis committee page and obtain physical signatures from one or more committee members. You can submit the paper document in person or scan it and save a pdf.
Regardless of which approach you choose, submit all signatures to MP in person or by pdf email attachment. If you submit multiple documents, our staff will combine them into a single committee signature page for publication.
Our business hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Our register is open to process payments Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm. Hours of operation are subject to change.
Note: You must be enrolled in Thesis 799A or 799B, or Dissertation 899 at SDSU at the time of your initial document submission before MP will accept your manuscript for format review.
- If you are using LaTex formatting, ask your Master’s program graduate advisor if special review procedures are needed after thesis committee approval, but before Montezuma Publishing submission.
- Email your thesis file to thesis@aztecmail.com. Attach your signed signature page(s) to the same email. If you are unable to email the signature pages, you can submit them in person to our office in ED 107 during business hours. Your email must include contact information: your new (my.SDSU) EMPLID, old Red ID if you have one, primary email address*, billing address, and phone number.
*Provide an email address that you frequently check. Email is our primary means of communication. We will be sending you essential information that may require a quick response or action on your part. Please monitor your spam folder so that emails from thesis@aztecmail.com are not lost. Please know that SDSU email addresses are deactivated for students who stop registering for classes, lose matriculation, or graduate. Your email address must remain active throughout the entire review and publishing process. MP will do our best to contact you through all available means, but cannot be responsible for emails that you do not receive or do not read.
- After submitting the electronic thesis document and signed committee page, call (619) 594-7551 or visit our office (ED-107) to pay the required $50 review fee. MP must verify your enrollment in 799A or 799B, prior to accepting your review payment.Your submission is not complete until your review payment has been received.
*All Doctoral Students must consult the College of Graduate Studies before submitting their dissertation to Montezuma Publishing.
- Your thesis is now in the queue to be reviewed. The MP Reviewer will check your document for style and formatting as described above.
*If your thesis requires corrections after the first review, see the steps below. If it is approved on the first review, skip to step #12.
- If corrections are needed, you will receive an email with your thesis document attached. It will have comments from the reviewer, and specific instructions for each error.
- Read all comments, and make all required corrections. Check your entire document for all errors in accordance with the SDSU 13 rules, your department style guide, and the review checklist before resubmission. Your thorough examination of the entire thesis is especially important if your review includes the following comment:
We have stopped reviewing at this point in the document, as there are too many style and/or formatting discrepancies in the remainder of the thesis to continue reviewing…
- After completing all necessary stylistic and formatting corrections, resubmit your thesis via email to thesis@aztecmail.com.
- Your thesis is now in the queue to be reviewed again for formatting.
* If your thesis requires corrections after a second review, repeat steps 5-6. If it’s approved on the second review, skip to step #12.
- Be advised: An additional $25 review fee is required before the third review will be conducted. Your thesis is now in the queue to be reviewed a third time. * If your thesis requires corrections after the third review, repeat steps 5-6. If it’s approved on the third review, skip to step #12.
- Very rarely, a thesis must be reviewed four or more times for formatting errors.
* If your thesis requires corrections after the fourth review, repeat steps 5-6. If it’s approved on the fourth review, skip to step #12.
- Be advised: An additional $25 review fee is required before the fifth review will be conducted. Your thesis is now in the queue to be reviewed a fifth time.
* If your thesis requires corrections after the fifth review, repeat steps 5-6. If it’s approved on fifth review, skip to step #12.
- Your thesis is now in the queue to be reviewed a sixth time.
* If it’s approved on sixth review, move to step #12. Very rarely, a thesis does not pass the sixth review. If this happens, you will need to either hire a professional formatter to assist, or possibly re-enroll in 799 and begin the process again from step #2. Contact your thesis chair and MP for further instructions before resubmitting.
- Upon review approval, you will be emailed final instructions and a quote for the ProQuest required publishing fees (currently $45). Once the publishing fees are paid, MP will notify the College of Graduate Studies that you have published your thesis. Orders for personal copies can be placed at this time.
You can download a copy of the Review Flowchart here: Flowchart - Review
Your submitted thesis needs to be well written, stylistically appropriate, and edited. Your thesis committee is unlikely to approve your thesis (by signing the cover sheet) until it meets those standards. However, even with careful preparation, most students have minor formatting errors due to the complexity of the document. Your thesis will be a globally published document through ProQuest, and the MP reviewers are tasked with assuring formatting consistency for these publications. They will ensure that both your department style requirements and the SDSU Master’s formatting guidelines (or EdD Dissertation formatting guidelines) are met.
A comment will be placed in your thesis file where each correction is needed. For repetitions of the same mistake, you can expect to receive comments only the first two times. After that, you will need to personally review the entire document to ensure that the error does not appear again. As a reminder, you can refer to this review checklist for the most common formatting errors.
If your thesis has more than 20 errors, the reviewer will stop prior to the end of your thesis. In these cases, the student must complete all corrections and thoroughly review the thesis to its end, in order to minimize additional rounds of review.
Master’s thesis or EdD dissertation publication is the final graduation requirement. Even if all your coursework is completed and your thesis/dissertation committee has signed the cover page, thesis publication is necessary to award the degree. The thesis or dissertation is considered to be “published” after document formatting has been reviewed and approved, and all publishing fees have been paid.
All fees must be paid by the Publication Deadline in order to graduate during the current semester. After formatting review is approved, you will be emailed a quote for the ProQuest publishing fee and payment instructions. Once all fees are paid, MP will notify the College of Graduate Studies that you have completed publication.
Please visit the Thesis Publishing section below for costs associated with print copies, if you choose to purchase these.
EdD students should follow the graduation and dissertation steps posted on the
Graduate Studies website
as a “Graduation and Dissertation Steps for Ed. D Students” flyer.
After successfully defending their dissertation and obtaining committee approval, EdD students submit their dissertation packet through the SDSU Doctoral Dissertation Submission Form. Pat Walls (doctoralprograms@sdsu.edu) in Graduate Studies will evaluate the packet and transcripts, and then send the dissertation and associated documents to Montezuma Publishing. You will be emailed submission confirmation.
If you format the dissertation yourself, MP will review it for consistency with APA formatting and your program’s preliminary page requirements. These requirements are described in the SDSU APA EdD Dissertation Template. You can use the APA manual checklist or the SDSU Dissertation Review Checklist to find potential errors before submission.
In addition to adhering to your program’s chosen style, all Master’s theses need to follow some simple universal formatting guidelines. See the SDSU APA EdD Dissertation Template for instructions, samples, and formatting assistance. There are 13 rules:
- Your name, committee members and degree title must match University records.
- Follow the current APA formatting style guide (7 th ed.).
- Set your margins at 1.25 inches for the left margin, and 1 inch on the right, top, and bottom margins. Margins may be reduced to .875 inches all around to accommodate oversized tables or figures.
- Use a professional font in 12pt size. Do not use an ornamental font based on script, cursive, or calligraphic styles. For tables, footnotes, or other material outside of the main text, a font size as low as 8pts may be used. Use black for all text apart from figures, tables, and computer code, which may include color.
- Line spacing: Double-spaced, with the exception of tables, lists, block quotations, footnotes/endnotes, figure captions, table titles, and bibliographic entries, which are to be single-line spaced.
- Start the first page of each section (Acknowledgements, Table of Contents, Lists, etc.), chapter, and appendix on a new page and increase the top margin on that page to 2 inches.
- Place your Reference section(s) at the end of the main document text (but before the Appendices). Use single-line spacing.
- If including more than one figure, table, or illustration, create a separate list for each type of item, which includes the figure/table number, figure caption/table title and the page number on which it begins.
- Label tables, figures, illustrations, etc. uniquely and number each consecutively throughout your document.
- Recommend image resolution: 300 dpi. Supplementary materials such as audio, video, and oversized tables/figures must be submitted to Montezuma Publishing at the same time the thesis is submitted.
- The Table of Contents lists each chapter number, chapter title, and the page on which each chapter begins. Type the word “Chapter” as a heading before listing the numbers and titles of each chapter below. See the template for examples.
- Preliminary page numbers are lowercase Roman numerals, starting with page iii (preferably centered at the bottom of the page).
- Preliminary pages appear in the following order (first numbered page must be page iii):
Title page: Mandatory; no page number
Signature page: Mandatory; no page number Copyright page : Mandatory; numbered iii Dedication: Optional; must have page number
Abstract: Mandatory; up to 350 words, single-spaced; must have page number
Table of Contents: Mandatory; must have page number
List of Tables, List of Figures, etc.: Mandatory when the document includes more than one table, figure, etc. (e.g., if you have 2 tables, include a List of Tables; 2 figures, include a List of Figures); must have page number
Acknowledgements: Optional; must have page number
Download a copy of these SDSU APA EdD Formatting Guidelines here.
If you choose not to format the approved dissertation yourself, please see the Optional Montezuma Formatting section below. You can also find contact information for freelance formatters (who are not Aztec Shops or SDSU employees) here: Professional Support
For publishing information, please visit the Publishing section on this page.
PhD students should follow the graduation and dissertation steps posted on the Graduate Studies website as a “Graduation and Dissertation Steps for Ph. D Students” flyer.
After publication at the partner campus, PhD students must complete the SDSU Doctoral Dissertation Submission Form. As of May 2020, all official SDSU communications must use official SDSU emails. The form requires being logged into your SDSU email account. Within five business days of submitting the form, Pat Walls (doctoralprograms@sdsu.edu) in Graduate Studies will evaluate the packet and transcripts, and then send the dissertation and associated documents to Montezuma Publishing. You will be emailed submission confirmation.
Students in joint PhD programs must follow their partner campus dissertation defense deadlines, formatting requirements, and submission procedures. Please visit the College of Graduate Studies website for more information.
For publishing information, please visit the Publishing section on this page.
A $45.00 processing fee includes ProQuest submission, an electronic file, metadata file, and abstract for SDSU Library.
As of Fall 2013, SDSU has partnered with ProQuest, an online archival database. It provides full text dissertations and theses from over 700 academic institutions, allowing students and researchers to access and share relevant material quickly and conveniently.
Visit ProQuest or the SDSU Library website to access currently published dissertations and theses.
An “embargo” is a restriction of access to the use of a thesis, dissertation, or project. Embargoed theses and dissertations will only feature the author’s abstract and the document title.
If you and/or your committee chair would like to request protection for potential copyrights or patents of the thesis or dissertation, a memorandum must be submitted to the College of Graduate Studies for the Associate Dean’s approval. If the Associate Dean approves the delay of publication, a signed copy of the request must be submitted to MP at the time of thesis submission. The embargo must be supplied to MP before the thesis formatting is approved and publication fees are paid.
Some departments require a hard-bound copy for their own department libraries. Check with your department for specific requirements. For your personal copy, you have a choice of binding, cover color,* and paper type for your thesis.
*Due to variances among color monitors, the colors on your computer monitor may appear differently than the actual products. If color is important to you, please stop by the Montezuma Publishing office to make your selection.
Hard Bound $45.00
Cherry Burgundy Brown Blue Black
Soft (vinyl) Bound $15.00
Paper Options
Cotton bond: $0.12 per page
Regular paper: $0.08 per page
Color copies: $1.00 per page
Pages are printed single sided unless double sided printing is requested.
MP can bind original copies. Binding charges apply.
Pricing Example:
This example includes the University Requirements and 1 personal hardbound cotton copy for a 130-page thesis.
ItemCostHard Bind$45.00Cotton Copy Fees (130 pg. x $0.12 per page)$15.60Processing Fee$45.00Subtotal$105.60Tax (7.75%)$4.70Total$110.30
Hard-bound copies take 6-8 weeks.
Soft-bound copies take 2-4 weeks.
Students purchasing their thesis closer to deadlines or the winter holiday season may experience a longer waiting period. MP will email you when your copies are ready. If printed copies are required by your department, then the publishing requirement is dependent only on the final publishing payment; you do not have to wait for copies to arrive in order to be cleared for graduation.
Department copies will be delivered to the designated department, free of charge. Personal copies can be either picked up at our office or shipped to your address. We use USPS flat-rate shipping. As such, the shipping fee is determined by the length of your document and subsequent size of your book. MP will email you with the tracking information once the copies are shipped.
- Re-Submission/Publication Policy
- Copyright Policy
- Theses in Foreign Languages
- Rejection of Theses/Dissertations
- Restricted Use of Thesis Request
*Policies are established by the College of Graduate Studies. If you have questions, call (619) 594-5213.
If a student submits for review before the "Avoid Re-enrollment in 799B" deadline but does not pass, the student can resubmit at any point until the "Avoid Re-enrollment in 799B" deadline or within 45 days of receiving a corrections email, whichever comes later. If the student does not pass or resubmit within this time frame, the thesis will be rejected and the student will have to register in 799B the following semester and re-apply for graduation.
A student must pay for publication within 90 days of the notification that they have passed review. If a student fails to pay for publishing within this timeframe, the thesis will be rejected and the student will have to register in 799B the following semester and re-apply for graduation.
Copyright law is highly complex and what follows is offered as only a general guide. This information is not a substitute for a legal opinion.
Ownership of a dissertation, thesis or project begins at the moment the manuscript or "object" is created. Although no further act of the author is required, the law does provide some advantages in giving formal notice and registration of a copyright.
Formal notice of copyright is given by including a copyright page in the manuscript. This notice does not establish any copyright privileges, but it does signal acknowledgment of a legal right and copyright ownership. Registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is optional, but it provides a record of the work, the fact of copyright, and the author's name and address. Registration would probably be most important if the author wished to file in the future a lawsuit over copyright infringement.
The University assumes that a dissertation, thesis or project approved by a faculty committee is primarily the product of the student's efforts. Thus, the student will usually be considered the owner of the copyrights associated with the manuscript. Students should be aware, however, that the dissertation, thesis, or project is the actual product submitted in satisfaction of one of the requirements for an advanced degree rather than the basic research or the results of which it reports. In some instances, therefore, individual faculty members may retain some copyright or patent interest in the data or other jointly developed work included in the thesis or dissertation. Students are, therefore, strongly advised to resolve any questions about ownership rights to data or other elements of the thesis/dissertation in which the faculty committee chair may have an interest. Agreement over such issues should be obtained in writing before beginning research on the dissertation, thesis, or project.
In order to foster broad dissemination of the results of scholarly research, the student, upon submission of the dissertation, thesis, or project to the SDSU Graduate Division, agrees to convey to the University a license for the following uses of the product:
- Copying of the work for distribution to other libraries upon the request of those libraries
- Inter-library loans of the work
- Display and use of the work in the University Library
- Circulation of the work by the University Library. These rights become effective upon the shelving of the work in the SDSU University Library. The shelving of the work may be postponed for a period of usually up to one year upon written request of the student and consent of the Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate Division, Office of Graduate and Research Affairs. (See Requests for Restricted Use of Theses.)
Students wanting more information should access a copy of the U.S. Copyright Office Circular 1, "Copyright Basics" on campus via the SDSU library web site.
The federal government has a very good website - Copyright.gov with complete copyright information including application forms. To speak with an information specialist, call (202) 707-3000. Lastly, students or faculty requiring additional information about copyrights may contact the SDSU Foundation Technology Transfer Office at (619) 594-0516.
As presentations of original research to the academic community, theses are ordinarily prepared for the University in the English language. In certain cases, however, for a foreign language degree, a student's thesis in the history and literary analysis of non-English languages and literatures may be presented in the subject’s language. When the departmental graduate adviser and the prospective thesis committee deem this academically appropriate for the specific research topic, the appointment of the student's thesis committee and authorization of the thesis research by the graduate dean shall be based on the provisions that:
- An abstract of the thesis shall be presented in English;
- All members of the thesis committee shall be fluent in the subject language; and
- Student competency in standard written English shall be demonstrated through satisfactory completion of a departmental procedure that has been approved by the graduate dean.
To botain approval by the Graduate Dean:
- The "thesis in a foreign language" box must be checked on the appointment of thesis committee form; and
- Written verification by the departmental graduate adviser that provisions 2 and 3 above have been met must be attached to the appointment of thesis committee form when it is submitted to the Division of Graduate Affairs.
Your submitted thesis needs to be well written, stylistically appropriate, and edited. Your thesis committee is unlikely to approve your thesis (by signing the cover sheet) until it meets those standards. Dissertations and theses should be fully formatted as described above prior to their submission for review. As stated in the Bulletin of the Graduate Division under "Thesis Submission," manuscripts deemed unready for submission (those with "gross deficiencies of format or presentation") will be rejected at the time of submission for review, and returned to the student. The Rejection Form lists the criteria for rejection. When a thesis is rejected, the names of the thesis chair and graduate adviser will be listed at the bottom of the form and both will receive copies; a copy will also be placed in your file with MP.
If, because of rejection, you cannot meet the original semester's deadline for the Avoid Re-enrollment in 799B, you will be required to re-enroll in Dissertation/Thesis 899/799.
On rare occasions, and to protect potential copyrights or patents, thesis accessibility can be restricted on a short-term basis.
Library & Information Access will restrict the use of a thesis or project if the author and the chair of the thesis committee request such action and the Graduate Dean approves. The purpose of the restriction is to protect the author's right to publish or otherwise exploit the new knowledge before making it available to others.
The display of a thesis, dissertation, or project may be embargoed for a period of up to two years upon written request of the student and consent of the Dean of the Graduate Division. In the case of Joint Doctoral degrees, students must notify both schools and comply with each school's policies.
To designate restricted use of a thesis, the author and the thesis committee chair should send a memorandum requesting restricted use to the Dean of the Graduate Division. If the dean approves, a signed copy of the request with approval is provided to Montezuma Publishing at the time of thesis submission. The embargo must be supplied to Montezuma Publishing before the thesis formatting is approved and publication fees are paid. The request is then sent to the Monograph Cataloging Unit, who in turn will withhold from use all copies of the restricted thesis when they are received in the Library & Information Access.
The author's memorandum to the Dean of the Graduate Division requesting restricted use of a thesis should state the following:
- The reason of the request
- THe period of restriction (up to two years)
- The author's address and telephone number. These will be used by the University's achrival librarian in requesting poermission for a reader to consult, borrow, or copy the thesis during the period of restriction. Authors may request a renewal of the restriction period for a second year by sending a memorandum to the Associate Dean of the Graduate Division specifying the reason for the renewal.
Authors may request a renewal of the restriction period for a second year by sending a memorandum to the Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate Division specifying the reason for the renewal.
How hard is it to format my thesis myself?
That depends on the complexity of your work. You must be familiar with your department reference style, the SDSU formatting rules, and be an adept Microsoft Word user with regard to the Thesis Template (i.e., you must know how to import your document into the template, apply/remove template styles, change page orientation without losing proper pagination placement, generate a table of contents, work with different types of page breaks, etc.).
I am going to format my thesis myself. How much time should I set aside for this process?
In general, you should plan to spend a minimum of two weeks formatting your thesis. You will need time to:
- Learn how to apply the SDSU formatting rules
- Understand how the Thesis Template works along with the embedded formatting styles
- Do the actual formatting
- Proofread and edit your thesis.
What are the top mistakes people make when formatting their theses?
- Reference errors
- Sources on the reference page are not cited in the text, or vice versa
- References are incomplete or do not follow department-required style
- Title and Signature Pages
- Student's name doesn't match what is on record with the university
- Name of degree, professor's names and/or department names are misspelled or incorrect
- Table of Contents, List of Tables, List of Figures
- Page numbers are missing or incorrect
- Line items do not match what is given in text
- Pagination
- Page numbers are either missing, out of order, or placed on the page incorrectly
- Tables and Figures
- Not numbered correctly
- Missing captions (figures) or titles (tables)
- Editorial Style Errors
- Lines or pages are broken in odd places
- Block quotations and/or enumerated lists are not formatted correctly
- Template Abuse!
- The template is altered which affects the entire document in adverse ways
Do you have any information on the Chicago Author-Number System?
Yes. Information can be found here:Chicago Author-Number System.
Whose name should I put on my copyright page: My name or my professor's name?
You need to have your name on the copyright page in the same manner as it is on the title and signature pages. For more information on publication rights, please see the Copyright Policy.
What are the deadlines this semester and can you explain what they are?
See the Thesis Deadlines page; it contains a list of deadlines for this semester with explanations of each of deadline.
Do we need to take the Submission Deadline seriously?
YES! Never count on graduating if you submit after that deadline.
What are my chances for having my thesis reviewed in time to graduate this semester if I submit it after the submission deadline?
Your chances of having your thesis reviewed after the submission deadline depend on how many theses have been submitted ahead of yours. Additionally, if your thesis is reviewed and returned to you with needed corrections, this will decrease your chances of graduating on-time as your work will need to be revised and reviewed again.
You can increase your chances of getting your thesis approved by using the thesis template and following the SDSU formatting rules precisely or by using Montezuma Publishing.
Do you have any idea how many people will be submitting their theses this semester?
On average, between 100 and 200 students submit their thesis EACH semester. Using the Spring 2022 semester as an example, please note the following statistics:
- Total theses submitted: 156
- Total submitted before the submission deadline: 44
- Total submitted during the at risk timeframe: 73
- Total submitted after publication deadline: 39
- Total studetns that met the Publication Deadline: 118
Does the signature page need to be on special paper (100% cotton or other acid-free paper)?
No. Although an original signature page is required at the time of submission, a scanned and re-printed copy will be bound with your manuscript.
Ink Color: One of my professors signed in blue ink. Will I have to get a new signature page signed?
Black ink is strongly recommended, but blue ink is acceptable as long as the signature is dark enough to be clearly read.
If I use the signature page provided in the Thesis Template, will everything be automatically formatted correctly?
No. The page is formatted for you, but you must type in your name and thesis title correctly as well as your faculty member's names and their department names correctly. Also, the order in which the faculty names appear must be correct and in the same order as on the Thesis Committee Form.
What if my professors sign different signature pages? Do all the signatures need to be on one page?
No. Once your thesis has been approved through Montezuma Publishing, the reviewer will transfer signatures onto one page and create a digital copy. Each signature can be on a separate page if it's easier for you to get it signed that way.
What happens after I submit my thesis?
After your thesis is submitted, it will be put in line to be reviewed in order of submission. If the thesis passes review, it will proceed to the publishing phase. If it does not pass, the thesis will be returned to you with comments regarding revisions that are necessary to bring the work into compliance with the University's formatting rules. You will then need to resubmit your thesis once you complete your revisions, beginning the review process again. See the Review Procedures section for more information.
I am using Montezuma Formatting to format my thesis. What can I do to speed up the process to make sure I graduate on time?
- Don't delay and plan ahead. Finish your thesis and get committee approval as soon as possible to provide enough time for formatting and approval – it often takes longer than you think. Waiting two to three weeks before the final deadline to submit your thesis will put your graduation at risk.
- Know your reference style. Reference issues can prevent your thesis from being formatted and approved on time. Remember:
- References cited in-text must be cited on the reference page and vice versa
- Provide all information for each reference (e.g., author names, titles, publication year, publisher name, page numbers, etc.) – you can never provide too much information. You can use the Bibliography Form as a guide.
- Make sure each figure has a caption and each table and appendix has a title.
Document formatting pertains to how the document appears on the page as well as in-text citations and reference department requirements. This includes things like margins, font size, line spacing, etc. Formatting does not involve making changes to the content of the document or correcting typos. Editing involves reading the thesis to correct improper spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and readability. Editing needs to be completed prior to formatting.
Montezuma Formatting offers an optional thesis and dissertation formatting service. We are here to assist you if you do not want to complete the formatting yourself or a freelance formatter is not available. This service is in demand so we do implement a cut-off date for accepting orders to be completed during the current semester. This cut-off date is typically near the Submission Deadline. Our formatting turnaround time depends on the length and complexity of your document, your response time when a correction email is necessary, and the time of the semester that you hire us. Formatting orders placed near the Submission Deadline may take more time to complete as we receive an influx of orders at that time. If we accept your order for the current semester, we will have it formatted and approved in time for you to make your final payments on or before the Publication Deadline. Be sure to respond to any correspondence emails that are sent to you as quickly as possible so we can approve your document formatting in time for you to make the required publishing payments on or before the Publication Deadline.
Our business hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Our register is open to process payments Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm. Hours of operation are subject to change.
Note: You must be enrolled in Thesis 799A or 799B, or Dissertation 899 at SDSU at the time of your initial document submission before Montezuma Formatting will accept your manuscript for formatting.
To submit for formatting, please supply your signed signature page(s), RED ID, and thesis or dissertation Microsoft Word file in one email to thesis@aztecmail.com. Upon receipt of these documents, we will verify your enrollment in 799 and create a record for you in our system. You will then receive an email with instructions on how to make payments in person or by phone.
We cannot format your document from a PDF, Google Doc, or LaTex template file. We are only able to use Microsoft Word.
A 50% formatting deposit is due at the time of submission. The remaining balance is due after the formatting is approved and the final page count is determined.
$3.00 per page*
We do not offer partial formatting. We charge for the entire document from the first page to the last. This includes appendices.
$50.00 non-refundable fee will be subtracted from deposit if formatting is canceled.
*Price includes a PDF file of your formatted thesis.
When you hire us to format your thesis or dissertation, we will ensure your document meets the San Diego State University Formatting Guidelines. In addition to meeting the SDSU Formatting Guidelines, we will exceed these standards at no additional charge, providing you with a consistent and professional document.
It is important to note that unless you specifically request an exception before you make your formatting deposit Montezuma Formatting will use:
- 1.5 line spacing
- Times New Roman 12pt font
- Left alignment
- Your department’s preferred reference style for all bibliographic entries, in-text citations, and for other items (like enumerated lists) not covered by the SDSU Formatting Guidelines
- Your department’s preferred text format (chapter, section, or technical style)
- The SDSU Template style for preliminary pages, including the Table of Contents, List of Tables, and List of Figures
- The SDSU Template style for all chapter labels and subsection headings
- The SDSU Template style for equations
- 12 pts above and 18 pts below offset spacing for Tables and Figures
Let us know upfront if there are any special considerations (e.g., oversized pages, maps, landscape pages needed, etc.).
While Montezuma Formatting does work with your document beyond the SDSU formatting requirements, we do not edit for content or grammar unless you have paid for this additional service. Furthermore, once the formatting process has begun, we will not make any grammatical or content changes to your document or accept a new document from you with grammatical or content changes. If you need assistance editing your document, be sure to consult an editor before submitting your file to us.
We format theses and dissertations in the order received; however, the length of time it takes to format your document will depend primarily on its length, complexity, and your response time when a correction email is necessary. If we accept your document for formatting for the current semester, it will be completed in time to meet the Publication Deadline (provided you respond to all correspondence in a timely manner). The average order is completed within 2 months. In some cases it may take longer but will not exceed the Publication Deadline for the semester that you hire us for.
If questions arise during the formatting of your document, the formatter assigned to you will send you an email requesting assistance. It is important that you respond as quickly as possible to maintain priority status. Failure to respond may put your graduation at risk.
Once we are done formatting your document, it will be placed in line for internal review. Once the formatting is approved, we will contact you to arrange for payment of the formatting balance ($3 per page) and publishing costs ($45 + any required department copies). See the Publishing section for more details.
*$3.00 per page (250 words = 1 page)
50% deposit is required at the time of initial order
Editing/Formatting Pricing: $6 per page**
*Editing page count only includes the body of your thesis/dissertation. This does not include preliminary pages, references, figures, or tables.
**Price includes a PDF file of your formatted thesis/dissertation.
Thye editor will check for the following:
- Spelling
- Grammar
- Punctuation
- Clarify
- Effective use of language
- Dissertations will be edited to follow APA format
The time it takes to complete the editing of your file will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Variables such as document length, the number of edits required, response rate, and your date of submission will affect this timeline. If your defense is after the Submission Deadline, it may impact your ability to graduate during the current semester.
Our business hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Our register is open to process payments Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:45 pm. Hours of operation are subject to change.
Michael Cook
SJSU Graduate Publishing Lead
Bridget Cole
SDSU Graduate Publishing Lead
Gabriela Calvo
Front Office Assistant
Karalyne Porter
Assistant Manager
Steve Murawka
Production Manager
Lia Dearborn
General Manager
Kathy Brown
Division of Campus Stores Director
Phone: (619) 594-7551
Email: thesis@aztecmail.com
Mail:
Montezuma Publishing
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182-1701
In person: Education Building, ED-107
Thesis orders are accepted 9:00am - 3:45pm, Monday through Friday.
Graduate Division
Graduate Division – Doctoral Program
LaTeX website
LaTeX Wikibook
Thesis Companion Guide
Review Checklist
Department Guidelines
Learn how to insert an existing thesis into the template
Learn how to generate a TOC automatically
Chicago Author-Number system
SDSU Thesis Template
SDSU Thesis Template for Landscape Pages
SDSU Thesis Signature Page Template with 3 Committee Members
SDSU Thesis Signature Page Template with 4 Committee Members
SDSU Thesis Signature Page Template with 5 Committee Members
Thesis orders are accepted Monday through Friday, 9:00am - 3:45pm.
Note: When using the SDSU Thesis Template with Word 2013 or later, you must save your file in the Word 97-2003 Document file type. Failure to do so will create errors in your document.
Documents in Word format (DOC) require Microsoft Viewer. Download Word.