Thesis & Dissertation Aids

Welcome to the Thesis & Dissertations Aids page! In order to effectively begin your writing journey, you will need an APA Style 7th Edition Manual, one of the templates, and the thesis & dissertation checklist.

Templates: These documents serve as models for formatting a journal-ready thesis, a journal-ready dissertation, a journal-ready 3-article dissertation, a traditional (5-chapter) thesis, and a traditional (5-chapter) dissertation and include all formatting required by BYU and the American Psychological Association (7th edition). The templates include formatted heading styles, the formatted Table of Contents, and formatted page numbers, so all you need to do is insert your text, apply styles to each heading, and update the table of contents. Please watch this introductory video to familiarize yourself with the tools available in the template. In addition, much of the instruction you need for writing your thesis or dissertation is in the directions found in each section in the templates. 

Some departments will have guidelines for specific parts, so check with them, and all theses and dissertations that include human subjects need to include a copy of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) Letter of Approval to Conduct Research and the stamped IRB consent/assent forms in an appendix.

Download your template from the following list:

• Journal-Ready Thesis Template
• Journal-Ready Dissertation Template
• Journal-Ready 3-Article Dissertation Template
• Traditional (5-Chapter) Thesis Template
• Traditional (5-Chapter) Dissertation Template
• Traditional (5-Chapter) Qualitative Thesis Template

McKay School of Education Checklist for Formats and Conventions of Theses and Dissertations: The checklist describes the important writing and formatting requirements of the MSE and BYU Graduate Studies. Students must submit this completed checklist (electronic or paper) to the MSE dean's office with their thesis/dissertation for approval. The more carefully you review your thesis or dissertation for these items, the faster your submission process will be. 

These videos walk through the different sections of formatting your thesis or dissertation. Please let Jena Green know if you need something specific that is not available here yet.

• Title Page: Video
• Abstract & Acknowledgments Pages: Video
• Table of Contents: Video
• List of Tables and List of Figures: Video
• Description of Content & Structure: Video
• Headings & Styles: Video
• The Reference List: Video
• Using Reciteworks.com: Video
• The Annotated Bibliography (if needed): Video

For extra support with the writing and formatting requirements, schedule a meeting with Jena Green here and email the section you're working on to jena.green@byu.edu 2-3 days before your meeting.

MSE Thesis & Dissertation Approval Process: When you have finished your thesis or dissertation, you will need to receive approval from your committee, chair, graduate coordinator, and the dean's office. This flowchart illustrates the approval process. First submit your MS Word document to your committee and chair. When they have all reviewed it, send it to the graduate coordinator. Finally, when the graduate coordinator has reviewed it and you have made all of the corrections from the committee, chair, and graduate coordinator, you or your graduate coordinator will send an updated, clean MS Word final version to msegradsec@byu.edu. This process will take a few back-and-forths to finish. Plan enough time ahead of the submission deadlines to make corrections you will receive from your committee, chair, graduate coordinator, and the MSE dean's office. 

Creating and Uploading Your Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD): After making changes from the dean's office, you will convert your MS Word document to a PDF with bookmarks and embed the fonts. This works best with Adobe Acrobat Pro and this video will show you the quickest way to embed fonts. After doing this, send the PDF to msegradsec@byu.edu, and after approval, upload it to the Graduate Progress website. Below are example PDFs to help you see how the bookmarks should appear in your final ETD.

• Journal-Ready Thesis ETD Example
• Journal-Ready Dissertation ETD Example
• Journal-Ready 3-Article Dissertation ETD Example
• Traditional (5-Chapter) Thesis ETD Example
• Traditional (5-Chapter) Dissertation ETD Example

Once your thesis/dissertation has been released for publication on the BYU Scholars Archive website, it will be available for worldwide access. You can search for and download theses/dissertations and faculty publications on this website and access article metrics (e.g., number of downloads).

2024-2025 Graduate Graduation Deadlines for the McKay School:

(Check with your department for your program's deadlines.)

December 2024 Graduation Deadlines:

April 2025 Graduation Deadlines:

June 2025 Graduation Deadlines:

August 2025 Graduation Deadlines:

The following individuals can be hired to support students in the formatting and writing process. It is not mandatory to hire an editor. Please contact editors concerning prices. Inclusion in this list does not constitute an endorsement by the McKay School of Education.