Please see below for resources for writing and perfecting your paper.
When drafting your document, you must follow one of the Graduate School's approved templates and the Graduate School's Thesis and Dissertation Formatting Guide. When submitting your proposal or final document, you must follow the Thesis and Dissertation Submission Guide.
Please work with your advisor and your department to determine which of the templates listed below you should use when drafting your document. The templates and guides are made availabel to assist you in organizing and formatting your manuscript according to Graduate School formatting requirements.
Thesis/Dissertation Template (standard template)
3-Chapter Template (used by Department of Educational Leadership upon recommendation by student's advisor)
LaTex Template (in a .zip file; used by some science departments)
Example of LaTex template finished document
Biology Thesis Guidelines and Template
Biology Template (for copying)
Thesis and Dissertation Formatting Guide
Thesis and Dissertation Submission Guide
The Graduate School reviews proposals and final papers to ensure they adhere to the Graduate School's formatting requirements as set out in the templates available and in the Thesis Formatting Guide and the Dissertation Formatting Guide.
For questions or concerns regarding formatting, please contact Thesis and Dissertation Services in the Graduate School, (903)886-5968 or TDS@tamuc.edu
Below is a list of style guides (with edition, if available) TDS consults when there is a question about style in a proposal, thesis, or dissertation. This is not a complete list of style guides, so if your department/program uses a different style guide, you may submit a copy along with your submission. The style guide you use will depend on your subject matter, field of study, and, most importantly, what you and your advisor decide is most appropriate for your document. The guides are offered as a resource for you to review and edit your own paper. The responsibility for making the document comply with your style's guidelines and formatting lies with you, the student.
APA Style (7th edition)
MLA Style (8th edition)
Chicago Style (17th edition)
Turabian Style
AAS/ApJ Style
ACS Style (2020)
IEEE Style (2020)
AIP/APS (4th edition)
American Mathematical Society (AMS)
Journal of Wildlife Management (2011)
Journal of Animal Science
PLEASE NOTE: Whenever there are differences in format and layout between the Thesis and Dissertation Guide and your chosen style guide, the Graduate School formatting guidelines overrule.
Velma K. Waters Library provides helpful links and information on their web page. Below are some links to areas that are especially helpful when working on your thesis or dissertation.
This is a website providing proofreading and editing services. The Graduate School does not recommend the editing services Scribendi provides; we do not have any experience with this company in that regard. However, the site provides many wonderful articles and podcasts on writing, including articles and podcasts specifically for ESL students.
Formatting in Word 2010 - a hyperlink to 2010 Word turtorial
Formatting in Word (prior to 2007) - A resource for articles on various Word tips and techniques. Most of the articles were written for Word versions before Word 2007 was released but some articles are newer. It is maintained by volunteers.
Word formatting for a Mac - A resource devoted to the Mac user who wishes to learn how to use or troubleshoot Mac Word.
Students must be careful not to violate the copyright laws of the United States. The inclusion of an entire work (e.g., a survey instrument, a text, a model, or a figure) by another author requires that written permission from the copyright holder be included as an appendix. Information regarding source and copyright holder must be on the item with the statement “Reprinted with permission.”
Please review information at this link http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-duration.html that includes the following information:
The term of copyright for a particular work depends on several factors, including whether it has been published, and, if so, the date of first publication. As a rule, for works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years. For an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire, the copyright endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first. For works first published prior to 1978, the term will vary depending on several factors. To determine the length of copyright protection for a particular work, consult chapter 3 of the Copyright Act (title 17 of the United States Code). More information on the term of copyright can be found in Circular 15a, Duration of Copyright, and Circular 1, Copyright Basics.
When a student includes material previously presented at a conference or symposium, a disclosure statement must be provided in the thesis or dissertation stating where and when the material was presented.
According to A&M-Commerce’s policy, you may publish material that will later be used as part of your thesis or dissertation. However, students should be aware of the publishing agreement signed when his or her work is accepted for publication. At that time, the student and/or the lead author typically assign rights to the publisher, and the student may no longer possess the right to use this material without permission. However, the publishing agreement form can be modified before it is signed so that the student retains the right to include the material in the thesis or dissertation. The publisher would still have the right to print, distribute, and sell the work. When negotiating with the publisher, students need to remember to inform them that the thesis or dissertation will be available worldwide through the Internet (theses and dissertations will be sent to ProQuest CSA and can be purchased through them). If students do not retain the right to use the material in the thesis or dissertation, he or she must obtain written permission from the copyright holder to include it. A written statement of permission (email is accepted) should be placed within the thesis or dissertation as an appendix.
A&M-Commerce Libraries make all manuscripts available to the public on the Web. Students should not sign any agreement that limits his or her rights and the rights of A&M-Commerce to provide research results to the public.
If there are plans to publish all or part of a student’s thesis or dissertation in the future, students should investigate whether the publisher will publish material already made available to the public; students should consider this when choosing an option for making the thesis or dissertation available after graduation.
Other resources, forms, and information are available throughout the website. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our office at TDS@tamuc.edu or by phone 903-886-5968, or you can stop by BA 142!
Additional guidance is provided by University Rules and Procedures 11.04.99.R0.23 (doctoral) and 11.99.99.R0.06 (master).
During his time as the Director of the Office of Thesis & Dissertation Services, Dr. Paul Zelhart created what he called the "Baker's Dozen" of things students should consider at various points in the thesis or dissertation process. His Baker's Dozen is provided below.
1. Doable projects do not spring from a student’s personal experience or imagination. Thesis and dissertation topics must be based in and developed from the research literature. However, experience determines personal preferences that often direct the search for interesting topics in the research literature.
2. Students should not choose a topic of marginal interest. A topic must be interesting to sustain the student through the rigors of a thesis or dissertation.
3. Too often students’ literature reviews are not exhaustive. Follow the trail to the beginning; your study may have already been done.
4. Frequently the literature review is made up of conclusions of the authors of cited studies rather than a critical analysis of the complete documents. An annotated bibliography is not a literature review.
5. The literature review should be a balanced presentation of the current state of the literature on and controversies about the phenomenon of interest.
6. The experimental designs and analytic methods of all cited studies should be carefully and critically reviewed. Students should understand that the introduction to a research paper is the author’s interpretation of the cited literature, and the discussions and conclusions are the author’s interpretations of his/her findings. Only the research design and methods sections of research papers are relatively objective in their presentation.
7. Students should understand the history of development and assumptions of the methods they use. They should be experts on the methods used in their thesis or dissertation.
8. Students should understand that every theory and method has a range of application and within that range they may be most appropriately applied to a narrower range of phenomena. Intelligence tests were designed to predict future learning based upon prior learning. For example, the Wechsler might be a good predictor for middle class persons from the USA, but it would not be as useful in predicting future learning for persons from cultures on which it has not been normed. There is much discussion on cultural bias and standardized testing.
9. The methods used in a research project should be justified as the most appropriate approach to answer the question(s) under examination and should be informed by the designs and methods used in prior research on the subject of interest.
10. Research design and statistical tests are different aspects of a research project. Proper design permits valid interpretation. Statistical analysis provides a way to make decisions about effects.
11. The words “proof” or “prove” are not part of the research vocabulary. Research questions are studied, examined or explored. Hypotheses are supported, accepted, or rejected. Statistical results are significant or not. There is neither the logic nor sufficient evidence to declare a hypothesis proved or a research question answered.
12. Overstating an effect is an ethical violation. Interpretation of results should be conservative.
13. Good science is self-correcting and knowledge is cumulative. The processes of research are such that no matter how able the researcher, in the long run he or she will be shown to be wrong.
Paul Zelhart, PhD 9/16/15
The following books have been recommended by the faculty of the Department of Literature and Languages as appropriate for their doctoral students:
Frequently cited in dissertations in education is the research methods text by Creswell:
To be reviewed by appropriate departments:
The classic nonparametric statistics text:
Currently used statistics text books:
For a comparison of EdD to PhD programs, the University of Vermont offers a comprehensive table comparing the two.
During the 2016-2017 Academic Year, faculty members from various departments participated in a committee to provide students with rubrics to guide the development of the dissertation proposal. While the rubrics are not used in any official capacity, students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the resource to ensure the dissertation is as strong as possible. Though the rubrics were developed with dissertation students in mind, thesis students are more than welcome to use the rubrics as well.
Quantitative Dissertation Proposal Rubric
Qualitative Dissertation Proposal Rubric
January 10, 2024 - First class day of Spring 2024 semester
March 22, 2024 - Last date to hold final dissertation defense for Spring 2024 graduates
April 5, 2024 - The last day TDS will accept final thesis or dissertation submissions for Spring 2024 graduates
April 26, 2024 - Deadline to submit master's/specialist comprehensive examination reports for Spring 2024
April 26, 2024 - The last day TDS will accept a thesis or dissertation proposal submission for Spring 2024 approval
May 10, 2024 - Graduation ceremony for graduate students
June 3, 2024 - First day of Summer I term
June 21, 2024 - The last day to hold a a final dissertation defense for Summer 2024 graduates
June 28, 2024 - The last day TDS will accept final thesis or dissertation submission for Summer 2024 graduates
July 8, 2024 - First day of Summer II term
July 26, 2024 - Deadline to submit master's/specialist comprehensive examination reports for Summer 2024
July 26, 2024 - The last day TDS will accept a thesis or dissertation proposal submission for Summer 2024 approval