Guidelines for formatting your thesis or dissertation
Below are the Graduate School guidelines for formatting your thesis or dissertation. You may use the template for reference.
Introduction
This page to help graduate students in successfully creating and completing their dissertation or thesis. All guidelines are approved by the Deanship of Graduate studies.
Font Type and Size
The font size:
Of the text should be 12 point using Times New Roman font type throughout the document.
symbols and mathematical formula may vary from 12 point, where necessary.
Line Spacing, Justification, Indentation and Margins
Lines should be double spaced throughout the document. Exceptions may include:
Inset quotations
Footnotes
Tabular forms
Bibliography/references page
Text should be left-justified and paragraphs should be tab indented. Page margins should be:
Left: 1.5 inches (for binding)
Top: 1.0 inch
Right: 1.0 inch
Bottom: 1.0 inch
Page Size and Pagination
The document should maintain a standard page size of 21.59 x 27.94 cm.
All page numbers must be positioned in the top right corner, within the 1-inch margins.
The front matter, which includes all sections preceding the main narrative, should be numbered with lowercase Roman numerals. The title page is the first page and will not have a number, while the acceptance page is the second page and will be numbered as (ii).
Arabic numerals starting from one (1) are used for the narrative and continue through to the end of the document.
Order of Appearance
The structure of dissertations and theses must include the following sections in the specified order. Optional sections are not required, but if they are included, they must follow the formatting guidelines outlined in the subsequent sections.
Title Page (required; considered in numbering but NOT numbered)
Acceptance Page (required; page number 'ii')
Dedication (optional; numbered (Roman))
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (optional but recommended, numbered (Roman))
CONTENTS (required, numbered (Roman))
ABBREVIATIONS (optional, numbered (Roman))
LIST OF FIGURES (optional, numbered (Roman))
LIST OF TABLES (optional, numbered (Roman))
ABSTRACT (required, numbered (Roman))
Narrative Section (required, numbered throughout, begin with “1” (Arabic))
APPENDIX (optional, numbered throughout (Arabic))
References (required, numbered throughout (Arabic))
ARABIC ABSTRACT (required, numbered throughout (Arabic))
Title Page in Arabic (required, numbered throughout (Arabic))
Format: Title Page (required)
The title must be identical to the title on the ABSTRACT page.
The title must be in all CAPITAL LETTERS with no bold font
The title page must be unnumbered and does not appear in the CONTENTS
After the title and author’s name is a section with details about the degree of the program. Please utilize the template below and fill in the specific information of your program.
A (thesis/dissertation*) submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
(Degree Type)
Major in (Program)
King Saud University
YYYY (G)/ YYYY (H)
*Choose thesis if you are a master’s student or dissertation if you’re a doctoral student
Format: Acceptance Page (required)
The acceptance page:
Is the first page to be numbered and is numbered 'ii'.
Does not appear in the CONTENTS.
Format: Dedication Page (optional)
The dedication:
Do not add a title to This section
Text should be brief and center justified.
This section can be written in any language
Is numbered but does not appear in the CONTENTS.
Format: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (optional, but recommended)
The ACKNOWLEDGMENTS page:
Is considered in the numbering but not listed in the CONTENTS.
Title should be centered, all capital letters and on the first line of the page; the text should follow.
Format: CONTENTS (required)
The CONTENTS:
Should not contain the title page, acceptance page, dedication or ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
Can also be titled TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Title should be centered, all capital letters, on the first line of the page with the table following.
Format: ABBREVIATIONS (optional)
Abbreviations must be listed in alphabetical order
The title must be centered, all caps, on the first line of the page; the table should follow.
Format: LIST OF FIGURES (optional)
All figures appearing in the document are required to be listed.
Figure legends appearing in the LIST OF FIGURES must appear exactly as in the figure.
The title should be centered, all caps, on the first line of the page; the table should follow.
Format: LIST OF TABLES (optional)
All tables appearing in the document must be present.
Table titles appearing in the LIST OF TABLES must appear exactly as for the table.
The title should be centered, all caps, on the first line of the page; the table should follow.
Format: ABSTRACT (required)
ABSTRACT appears centered on the first line, followed by the title in all capital letters.
The title must appear identical to the title on the title page.
The author's name is typed in all capital letters and must be identical to that which appears on the title page.
Similarly, the date is the year the degree will be conferred, identical to the title page.
Example:
ABSTRACT
"TITLE OF DISSERTATION OR THESIS"
MOHAMMED ADEL
2024 (G)/ 1446 (H)
The abstract narrative should not be greater than 350 words.
Format: Narrative Section (required)
All title must be in all CAPITAL LETTERS with no bold font, such as (INTRODUCTIO, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS ……
Of the text should be 12 point using Times New Roman font type throughout the document.
symbols and mathematical formula may vary from 12 point, where necessary.
Format: APPENDIX (optional)
This section may include text, figures or tables.
The title should be centered, all caps, on the first line of the page; the text should follow.
The style of the APPENDIX should be consistent with the narrative section.
Format: References (required)
Reference styles differ significantly across disciplines. However, a common rule is that all references should be single-spaced, with a space separating each reference. No reference should be split across pages.
Format: ARABIC ABSTRACT (required)
This section will be written in Arabic as it is showing in the template
Format: ARABIC Title Page (required)
This section will be written in Arabic as it is showing in the template
