A dissertation contents page is the page or pages in your dissertation where you list down all the chapters, major sections, and subsections. These pages come at the start of the dissertation and may also include the list of tables and figures. The main purpose of the contents page is that it allows the reader to know about the exact location of a piece of information. The page numbers given in front of each section serve this purpose.

Nevertheless, do you know how to create a perfect dissertation contents page? As you are here, it means you do not know about creating a perfect content page. Well, there is no need to worry. In today’s article, we will unpack all the guidelines using which you can create such a page. However, before that, let’s explain its importance.

How Important Is A Dissertation Contents Page?

Creating a dissertation contents page or table of contents is important because of two reasons. The first reason is that it helps the reader locate a specific piece of information in the dissertation easily and quickly. All he needs to do is see the page number from this page and move to that information. Secondly, this page helps you arrange the dissertation work and organise it so that the important sections of the dissertation are not left behind. Hence, these are the two reasons that make this page important.

What To Include In Your Dissertation Contents Page?

The answer to this question mainly depends on the length of your dissertation and the explanations that it contains. Normally, there are three kinds of contents page often used in dissertation writing. A brief description of all three is as follows:

Single-level:

This type of content page only includes level 1 headings and chapter names. This is the simplest contents page option available to students. However, it is too broad for a document like a dissertation.

Subdivided:

The second type of content page is known as subdivided. This dissertation contents page includes level 1 as well as level 2 headings. It means along with chapters, there is information about the sections that fall under each chapter.

Multi-level:

It is the most common type of content page that you create and see in dissertations. These kinds of content pages further divide the levels from 2 to 3. In such a table of content, you will include level 1, 2, and 3 headings.

Hence, depending on the length of your dissertation, decide on what level dissertation contents page will be a perfect fit for it.

How To Create A Perfect Content Page Using MS Word?

Fortunately, the days of creating a dissertation contents page manually have gone. Now, with the use of software like MS Word, you can create such a page in seconds. But how? For this to happen, you need to learn how to do it. Hence, a brief description of the points necessary to follow when creating a content page using MS Word is as follows;

Choose The Levels Of Headings

First of all, to create a stunning table of contents, you need to decide on which headings are level 1, which are level 2, and which are level 3 in your dissertation. This step is important when working on content page in a dissertation because if you do not do this, the Word will not recognise what kind of table to create. Hence, decide on the levels of headings first.

Choose The Right Style

Once you have chosen the level of headings, the next step is to choose a particular style for your headings. For example, the level 1 headings mostly follow the following style: Times New Roman, font size 12, and bold. The other levels of headings may follow the italic style depending on their level.

Apply The Style To Each Heading

After this, apply the chosen style to each level of heading in your dissertation. You can do so either manually or automatically. To do this automatically, go to the styles section in your MS Word home tab. Click the required heading level on your decided headings, and that is it. A single click of yours will assign style.

Create The Contents Page

After performing the previous step, you are now all set. To create the dissertation contents page, now you just need to go to the References tab and click on the Table of Contents. Choose the style of table that you want to use and click on that style. A brand new content page containing page numbers will be in front of you.

Conclusion

To sum up the discussion, a dissertation contents page is the most crucial element of a dissertation. It makes the reader’s navigation through the dissertation easy. In this post, we have discussed what to include on this page and how to create a stunning content page. Hence, follow all the steps mentioned above and create a good content page.