The Format Review
The document that you submit for the format review should be relatively free of formatting errors. You have spent many months on your applied dissertation. During that time, you were expected to master—with the guidance of your committee—the style and format rules established by the College of Education.
The writing and preparation of a dissertation requires a meticulous attention to detail. Strict adherence to the guidelines of the College of Education’s Format Guide for the Applied Dissertation and the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) is required. To assist you, the webpage "Resources for Writing and Preparing the Applied Dissertation" contains an array of supplemental information about writing style, APA style, and word processing. The format review focuses on a student’s adherence to the Format Guide for the Applied Dissertation. Adherence to APA style is the sole responsibility of the student and the applied dissertation committee.
The format review involves a brief examination of your manuscript; consequently, it is designed to identify only a small number of minor errors in format and style. It is not intended to be a page-by-page or line-by-line edit or proofreading. You and your dissertation committee are responsible for ensuring that the manuscript is in compliance with required guidelines. Your committee chair may suggest that you obtain the services of a professional editor before the dissertation is recommended for final approval (see "Finding an Editor or Typist").
Following committee approval, your manuscript is examined for format. You will receive one of three possible determinations in the format review: (a) “Revise and resubmit”—you will need to make all requested changes and resubmit the manuscript for a new format review, (b) “Approved with minor revisions”—you will need to make the requested minor changes in your final copies, or (c) “Approved”—no changes are required.
We hope that you are able to move quickly through the approval process and that the end result is a document for which you and the university can take great pride.