Formatting of the Senior Thesis

Politics theses should be formatted with the following parameters

• Use either 12 or 11-point font
• Page numbers should be either in the lower center or lower right corner of the page
• Margins should be one-inch all the way around (if you are binding the thesis, you may want to have 1.25 inch margins on the left side as some space is taken by the binding)
• The title page (which includes the title of your thesis) must have very specific language on it. See here for a model.
• Under no circumstances is a title page to have the Bates College seal on it. Again, the Bates College seal is not to be used on the title page or any other page of the thesis.
• You can speak with your advisor about the following, but some students have included the following in their theses:
  • Acknowledgments of guidance and support through the thesis research and writing process
  • A table of contents
  • An abstract of about 150 words that summarizes the motivation, question, literature, research method, evidence, and findings of your thesis