UCL
Research degree thesis: general A4 route; confirm departmental requirements and any approved exceptions.
Test draft. Independent review and testing on real theses are pending.
Published rules checked. AI-assisted source check; independent review and real-thesis testing are pending.
What this pack checks
- Page size
- Page margins
- Font and spacing
- Front matter order
- Table of contents
- Page numbers
- Lists of figures and tables
- Section word limit
- Draft for testing, not independently verified or validated on real theses.
- Binding-edge checks assume a left-bound document. Mirrored margins and gutters need manual review. A3 Fine Art, Design, Architecture and Town Planning exceptions are outside this pack.
- Main-text formatting checks cover recognised Normal-style prose between introduction and references. Quote checks cover named quote styles; note checks follow the document’s note relationships. Unmarked quotations and other styles may need review.
- Page-number checks cover fields, active header/footer variants, Arabic format and restart settings in every section. Word must still render pages to confirm the displayed sequence and contents-page accuracy. Declarations and signatures need review.
- The public web guide was reviewed again on 18 October 2026; a byte-level snapshot hash has not been recorded, so automated source monitoring is not enabled.
- Automatic fixes change only selected formatting in a new copy and are re-scanned. Caption numbering and cross-references are not rewritten; update fields and check the final PDF in Word.
Recommendations
Confirm these with your course. They do not count as errors.
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Your course may add rules
Use your department’s current guide for chapter structure, citation style and any approved exceptions. These can differ between courses.
Sources · Format your thesis; main body of thesis
Changes
- 0.1.0 · 2026-10-17
- Initial source-reviewed draft for product testing. Synthetic fixtures only; independent review and real-thesis corpus validation are pending.
- 0.2.0 · 2026-10-18
- Added source-backed pagination, note/quote, caption-list and length checks where applicable; targeted formatting fixes and course recommendations.
- 0.3.0 · 2026-10-18
- Check the recommended Arial/Helvetica font and minimum 12 pt main text; record that the general guide does not specify alignment or caption numbering.
- 0.4.0 · 2026-10-18
- Rechecked implemented rules against the current official source. Published-source audit only; independent review and real-thesis validation remain pending.