INSERT TITLE HERE
CENTERED, ALL CAPS
__________________________________
A Project
Presented to
The Department of Engineering Technologies, Safety, and Construction
Central Washington University
___________________________________
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Science
Engineering Technology
___________________________________
by
Insert Your Name Here
Month 201X
CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Graduate Studies
We hereby approve the thesis of
Insert Your Name Here
Candidate for the degree of Master of Science
APPROVED FOR THE GRADUATE FACULTY
______________
_________________________________________
Dr. (Insert Name Here), Committee Chair
______________
_________________________________________
Dr. (Insert Name Here)
______________
_________________________________________
Dr. (Insert Name Here)
______________
_________________________________________
Dean of Graduate Studies
ii
ABSTRACT
INSERT TITLE HERE
CENTERED, ALL CAPS
by
Insert Your Name Here
Month 201X
Type your abstract information here. It should summarize the purpose of your research,
state your research question(s), and summarize the results, conclusions, and recommendations. It
should be approximately ¼ to ½ of a page in length.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Begin the text of the acknowledgments here. Use double spacing and standard 0.5-inch
paragraph indentations. There are no length requirements or special restrictions for this page.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 8
The Context of the Problem ........................................................................................................ 8
Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................................ 9
Hypotheses .................................................................................................................................. 9
Limitations and Delimitations..................................................................................................... 9
Assumptions................................................................................................................................ 9
Significance of the Study .......................................................................................................... 10
Research Objectives .................................................................................................................. 10
II. LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................... 12
III. METHOD ............................................................................................................................... 13
IV. RESULTS ............................................................................................................................... 14
V. DISCUSSION .......................................................................................................................... 17
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 18
APPENDIX A: INSERT TITLE HERE ....................................................................................... 19
v
LIST OF TABLES
Table
1
2
3
4
5
Page
Sample Table: Fictitious Survey Results .................................................... 15
Title of table .............................................................................................. XX
Title of table .............................................................................................. XX
Title of table .............................................................................................. XX
Title of table—some titles may wrap to more than one line, so use
this one as a model—multiple line titles should be formatted in
inverted pyramid style (descending lines get shorter) .............................. XX
Note: The List of Tables Must be filled in an maintained manually. It is not an automated tool.
vi
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure
1
2
3
4
5
Page
Age of respondents ..................................................................................... 16
Title of figure ............................................................................................ XX
Title of figure ............................................................................................ XX
Title of figure ............................................................................................ XX
Title of figure—some titles may wrap to more than one line, so use
this one as a model—multiple line captions should be formatted in
inverted pyramid style (descending lines get shorter) .............................. XX
Note: The List of Figures Must be filled in an maintained manually. It is not an automated tool.
vii
8
I. INTRODUCTION
Above are the chapter designation and the chapter title. Each of the major divisions of the
thesis or project report, usually designed as chapters, begins a new page. Chapter I, II, III, IV,
etc. should be centered (ALL CAPS). Position the chapter title one the same line as the chapter
number, one space after the period, centered and in full caps. See the example at the top of this
page. If the chapter title is too long to fit on one line, double space and use an inverted pyramid
format.
The Context of the Problem
The Context of the Problem is a required subsection in Chapter I. Use this section to
introduce your topic and its context.
A Note About Section Headings and the Table of Contents:
First-order subheading must be styled like the one above, titled The Context of the
Problem. It is centered with the first letter of all major words capitalized. Both the chapter title
and the first-order subheadings in a chapter must appear in the Table of Contents with their
corresponding page numbers.
This document template is configured to automatically insert first-order subheadings into
the Table of Contents. If you are going to create a chapter sub-section, type its title, by itself, on
the first line of the subsection. Select the entire line with your mouse, and then apply the
Heading 2 style from your Styles Menu. After doing this, go to the Table Of Contents, select the
table, right click, and select the update option.
9
Statement of the Problem
This section should contain one sentence, which will be your problem statement. Do not
use this section to describe why the problem is important or what your research objectives are.
Hypotheses
If you are testing any hypotheses, state them here. State them in their null form. If you
are not testing any hypotheses, then omit this section.
Limitations and Delimitations
Use this section to describe any limitations on your method, results, and analysis. For
example, if you are only able to measure some phenomenon with three decimal places of
precision then state this limitation and briefly describe why it is a limitation and how it might
affect your analysis and conclusions. Present this information in a table or list and be succinct.
In a separate table or list, list delimitations related to your project. Delimitations describe
what you are studying and what you are not studying. They are stated so that the reader
understands the scope of your project. For example if you studying workplace accident incidents
for a large company that has multiple locations, and you are only studying incidents for a
specific time period and at a particular location, then you would say that you are only studying
incidents occurring at location X, between the years 20XX and 20XX.
Assumptions
Use this section to list any assumptions you are making about the environment, system,
people, equipment, validity of methods, etc. Be terse and only describe assumptions that are
10
essential to validating your research. For example you might be assuming that some testing
equipment used for your data collection will operate within design parameters, or that survey
respondents will be honest. A list or tabulated format works well for this section too.
Significance of the Study
Use this section to build a case for your project. At the very least, your committee will
have to approve what you are doing. You might also have to convince a client and/or project
sponsors why they should provide resources for your research.
Research Objectives
List your research objectives in this section. A list or tabulated format works will for this
section. Also, a short paragraph could suffice, depending in the number and nature of objectives.
Some Additional Notes About Section Headings
Second-Order Subheading
A second-order subheading is centered and italicized. The first letter of all major words is
capitalized. Generally, this level of subheading would not be listed in the Table of Contents. If it
is imperative to include some second-order subheadings in the Table of Contents, then all of
them must be included. Do not italicize the subheadings in the Table of Contents, rather indent
the subheadings (approximately the equivalent of three characters) to set them off from the firstorder level.
11
Third-Order Subheading
This level of subheading is flush left and italicized. The first letter of all major words is
capitalized. Generally, this level of subheading would not be listed in the Table of Contents. If it
is imperative to include some third-order subheadings in the Table of Contents, then all of them
must be included. Do not italicize the subheadings in the Table of Contents, rather indent (as
indicated above) the subheadings to set them off from the second-order level.
Fourth-order subheading. This level of subheading is indented 0.5 inch from the left
margin, capitalized sentence style with ending punctuation, and italicized. Generally, this level of
subheading would not be listed in the Table of Contents. If it is imperative to include some
fourth-order subheadings in the Table of Contents, then all of them must be included. Do not
italicize the subheadings in the Table of Contents, rather indent (as indicated above) the
subheadings to set them off from the third-order level.
12
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
The purpose of your literature review chapter is to discuss what you learned when you
conducted the literature review. You should work from discussing general principles to
describing specifically what your theoretical perspectives are and why you are using them, what
variables you will test, what you will measure and how you will measure it, which research
methods are applicable for your project, and why your research is important.
You must consider various valid perspectives that you find in the literature, and explain
why you will adopt or alter one or more of them for the purpose of your research. If there are
generally-accepted theories, metrics, and research methods within your profession that have been
established regarding your research problem, then you must acknowledge and use them, or
explain why you will not be using established practices.
If it is necessary to use complex metrics that have never been validated, then you must
discuss how these metrics can be validated. In other words, validation of your metrics will be a
sub-problem that must be addressed first in your research method, so in the literature review you
must describe why you will develop your own metric and how it can be validated.
Throughout your literature review chapter, you must define key terms and explain critical
concepts so that your intended audience will understand them. If anything could be defined in
multiple ways, then you must provide a working definition within the context of your research.
13
III. METHOD
When writing your proposal, the method chapter should contain an outline of your
method and an expected timeline for completion.
When writing your final report, you should change the content to reflect the actual
method and the actual timeline.
This chapter should contain a minimum of discussion. In the proposal it should be
matter-of-fact, containing only enough discussion to clarify your method. In the final report you
may need to add a minimal amount of discussion to explain what actually happened and why.
This chapter should be organized in a logical fashion so that the reader can comprehend
your method. When you outline the steps in your method, this outline structure will serve as the
outline structure for Chapter IV (Results), and possibly for Chapter V. Discussion as well. For
example, if you say that your method will be to do activities, A, B, and C, then your results
chapter should be organized in sections A, B, and C.
14
IV. RESULTS
This chapter should present the results in the same order/outline structure as you outlined
your method. As mentioned previously, if your method was to do A, B, and C, then your results
should be presented using the same outline.
The Results chapter should be even terser than the Method chapter. It should contain
only your findings. For quantitative research, this means data tables, graphs, etc. For qualitative
research, this could also contain descriptive statements of your findings. In either case, your
discussion about interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations do not belong in this
chapter. Such discussion belongs in the next chapter, Discussion.
If your document has any tabulated information or data, then you must follow the APA
rules for formatting tables. Tables must be referenced in the text and their location must be
included in the List of Tables, which is in the front matter of the report. The table should be
placed in your text nearby where you reference it, and it is best to place it after (or shortly after)
the paragraph in which it is referenced, if possible. You may use Table 1 as a reference for
styling your tables. Note how the table number is on the first line, by itself. The table title is
listed on the second line, in italics, and without indentation.
15
Table 1
Sample Table: Fictitious Survey Results
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Response
Rate
XX%
XX%
XX%
XX%
Mean
X.X
X.X
X.X
X.X
Standard
Deviation
X.X
X.X
X.X
X.X
Note: Table notes should be included below the table. The word note must be italicized. Table
text size must be a minimum of 10-point type. If any of the table’s contents are from a cited
source, you should reference the source in the table notes and add the source’s citation to your
reference list.
If your document contains any graphical figures (e.g., graphs, charts, diagrams, and
photos), then you must follow the APA rules for formatting figures. Figures must be referenced
in the text and their location must be included in the List of Figures, which is in the front matter
of the report. The Figure should be placed in your text nearby where you reference it, and it is
best to place it after (or shortly after) the paragraph in which it is referenced, if possible. You
may use Figure 1, which illustrates the age of respondents to a fictitious survey, as a reference
for styling your tables. Note how the figure number is left-justified and typed in italics, on the
first line underneath the figure, and followed by a period. The figure’s captions are started
following the period after the figure number. The captions are not in italics.
16
10%
15%
18-29
20%
30-39
40-49
25%
50-59
60-65
30%
Figure 1. Age of respondents. A figure caption’s text size must be a minimum of 10-point type.
If any of the table’s contents are from a cited source, you should reference the source in the table
notes and add the source’s citation to your reference list.
17
V. DISCUSSION
This chapter is where you get to discuss your interpretations, your conclusions, and your
recommendations. In general you should start with discussing your interpretations about how
and why things happened as they did, then present your conclusions, and then present your
recommendations. Organize this chapter logically, so that it parallels the structure of chapters III
and IV as much as possible. In other words, do not skip around from one topic to another in
random fashion or skip backward and forward through the execution of your research in a
random fashion. Remember that for an applied research project, the main goal is usually to
present findings that are valuable to the primary stakeholders in your project. Unless one of your
applied research objectives is to generalize findings, then you do not need to focus very much on
generalizability. If there are confidentiality restrictions between you and the primary
stakeholders, then you will only need to discuss generalizability within the context of the
stakeholder’s needs and restrictions.
Conversely, if you are conducting basic research or if one of your applied research
objectives is to generalize the findings, this chapter should contain meaningful discussion about
how the results of your research can be applied outside of the immediate context. You must be
able to support any claims about generalizability.
18
REFERENCES
The following citations are formatted using APA style guidelines. A bibliography software will
help you keep records of your sources and your notes, and some programs will also create a
formatted reference list for you. For example, Zotero is a free program that can be installed
independtly or as a Firefox plugin that will let you manage your bibliographic information and
will produce a formatted reference list. Even if you are using such software, it is still your
responsibility to insure that the reference list is correct. Double-check the results of any
automatically-generated reference list. Also if you should need to add other references
manually, then you will need a reference. Obtain a copy of the 6th edition of the APA
Publication Manual and use it as a guide for all reference list formatting requirements.
Haughey, D. (n.d.). The Project management body of knowledge (PMBOK). Retrieved on
1/11/2011 from the Project Smart web site: http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/pmbok.html
Koo, Jun. (2005). Technology spillovers, agglomeration, and regional economic development.
Journal of Planning Literature, 20(2), 99-115.
Newnan, D. G., Lavelle, J. P., & Eschenbach, T. G. (2009). Engineering economic analysis
(10th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
19
APPENDIX A: INSERT TITLE HERE
NOTES ABOUT PAGINATION
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
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The front matter must have Roman-numerated pages, starting with Page ii on the approval
page. The Title Page does not display a page number. Roman-numerated page numbers
should be centered on the bottom of the page, and located 1” from the bottom of the paper.
Pages in the body of the paper should be numbered using Arabic numerals, starting with Page
1. This pagination should remain consecutive throughout the document, to the end of the
last appendix.
The heading of all major subdivisions in the main body of the text (the first page of each
chapter, the first page of the reference list, and the first page of each appendix) must start at
the top of its own page, and it must have Arabic page numerals centered at the bottom of the
page, 1” from the bottom of the page.
In order to accomplish these variations in page number style and location (for example when
switching from the front-matter to the main body of the text), you must do the following
steps, in exactly the order shown, for each major subdivision (each chapter, the reference list,
and each appendix). For the purpose of these instructions, assume that the major subdivision
in question is CHAPTER I.:
1. Insert a section break after the end of the previous major subdivision (i.e., LIST OF
FIGURES) so that the heading of CHAPTER I is at the top of a new page.
2. Unlink both the header and footer of the first page in CHAPTER I from the previous section
(which ends on the last page of the LIST OF FIGURES).
3. Delete the Roman numeral page number from the footer on the first page of CHAPTER I.
4. Add the page number to the right margin of the footer on the first page of CHAPTER I. If
necessary, reset the page number to 1.
Additional Helpful Notes
The above template is adapted from the School of Graduate Studies Thesis Regulations
(TR). It is intended to supplement the material provided by the TR and provide requirements
specific to the department of Engineering Technology, Safety, and Construction Management
(ETSC). The requirements in this document are compatible with and do not supersede any
requirements in the TR. In some cases, large portions are copied verbatim from the TR, which is
available at:
http://www.cwu.edu/masters/sites/cts.cwu.edu.masters/files/thesis_regulations.doc .
20
The style is based on the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (APA Style Guide), except in certain instances that are particular to
the SGSR requirements. For example, heading level requirements are based on the 5th edition of
the APA Style Guide. Other items of note include the following:
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





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
The sample page numbers, table numbers, and figure numbers, shown on the
following pages, are purely for example purposes and have no bearing on what your
actual page numbers should be.
In the Table of Contents, only first level chapter sub-sections are shown.
The last two sub-sections of Chapter V should be Conclusions and
Recommendations, respectively.
The Table of Contents, List of Tables, and List of Figures can carry over to more than
one page each if necessary.
Use 1” margins on all sides. For a thesis paper, use a 1.5” margin on the left side to
leave room for document binding.
In the Table of Contents, use single line spacing between sub-sections, and double
line spacing between a chapter title and a sub-section.
In the List of Tables and the List of Figures, use single line spacing except after
multi-line entries. Use double line spacing after multi-line entries.
Do not use running headers, as is normally required by the APA Manual.
The body of the text should be in 12-point type, with a uniform font. Fonts that are
easy to read and to reproduce are suggested. A good serif-style font is Times New
Roman. Some good choices for non-serif fonts are Arial and Helvetica.
In the body of the text, the paragraph line spacing should be double-spaced, except in
block quotes, footnotes, figure captions, table titles and notes, and citations in the
reference list, which are to be single-spaced.
Text in tables and figures must be a10-point font size as a minimum.
The reference list citations should follow the requirements listed in the 6th edition of
the APA Manual. The reference list format should use 0.5” hanging indents, with
single line spacing within each reference item, and double line spacing between
reference items.
Citations within the body of the text should follow the requirements in the 6th edition
of the APA Manual.
For other requirements that are specific to thesis papers, please refer to the OSGR’s
Thesis Regulations document.
21
Citation Requirements
Every piece of information that is quoted or paraphrased from another source (including
your own past publications), every factual claim, and every disputable claim that must be backed
up by an authoritative source, must be cited within the body of the text. You must also cite
sources for graphical and tabulated information that you did not create. If you are going to
publish your paper you will also need to obtain permission from the creator to use any referenced
graphical or tabulated information. Every citation in the text must be accompanied by a
reference citation in the Reference List.
Note that there are variations in the formatting rules for citations (in the main body of the
text) and for reference list citations (in the Reference List), which differ according to the types of
publications and the numbers of authors. There are many types of resources. You need a copy
of the APA Publication Manual to have as a reference.
In order to be accurate and ethical, authors must use credible information sources. The
required level of credibility is established within the context of the information being cited, the
demands of academic institutions and professional organizations, etc. When in doubt about the
credibility of an information source, discuss the issue with your advisor.