Thesis / Dissertation Formatting Manual (2025)

As of April 2026, all ETDs must conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA web accessibility requirements prior to submission in order to comply with nondiscrimination provisions outlined in Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. These requirements ensure that your ETDs are accessible to individuals with disabilities, including visual disabilities. 

PDFs should contain code or markup language that ensure that the content is navigable and readable by screen readers or other assistive technology. You can confirm that your PDF meets these requirements by using an Accessibility Checker such as those included in Adobe Acrobat Pro or in Microsoft Word.

As part of the degree completion process, students will be required to certify that their PDF meets accessibility requirements.

The following are the key components of accessible PDFs.

Important note: It is easier to apply these components to your manuscript in your authoring tool (e.g. Microsoft Word) before you convert the document to PDF. While it is possible to remediate PDFs for accessibility, this is usually a more cumbersome process.

1. PDF tags: Ensure that a PDF document can be read and navigated by assistive technology. Tags include Headings, Lists, Links, Tables, Paragraphs, and other document elements.
   
   Tables: PDF must have table headers for columns and rows.
   Reading order: Ensure that tags and headings are ordered to support the logical reading order.
    
2. Alternative text (“Alt-Text”): Ensures that all images, figures, or other visual elements are described. Refer to the Section 508 guide to authoring meaningful alternative text for best practices.
    
3. Colors: Choose colors with sufficient contrast, and do not rely on color alone to convey information. Use a contrast checker like this one from Web AIM.
    
4. Metadata (file properties): Add document description such as author, title, and language. 

Using the accessible template

Use the accessible template for Microsoft Word and consult the tutorial to ensure that your Word document is accessible.

Without the accessible template

You can create an accessible Word document without using the accessible template, if you prefer. The following are some excellent, step-by-step resources on how to ensure your Word document is accessible: 

Convert from Word to PDF and retain accessibility settings

After you have completed your manuscript in Word, do these two steps to create an accessible PDF:

1. Check your completed manuscript for accessibility using the Microsoft Accessibility Checker. 
2. When you are ready to turn your Word document into PDF, use “Save As” and then choose “PDF” as your document type. Select the PDF type that is best for accessibility. This will ensure that you retain your accessibility settings when your document is exported as a PDF.

Manuscripts authored in LaTeX or similar TeX engines are usually untagged and inaccessible to screen readers. Additional accessibility packages and steps are required to ensure that you are able to export an accessible PDF. 

If you are authoring your manuscript in Google Docs, Pages, Scrivener, or other tools, be aware that these programs may not export as accessible PDFs.

In order to ensure that your PDF is accessible, you may need to take one or more of these actions:

• Export your manuscript as a Word document, and use the Accessibility checker and tools in Word described in the Microsoft Word and accessibility box
• Copy and paste text into the Word accessible template
• Add accessibility components in Adobe Acrobat Pro after you export to PDF

It is possible to add accessibility components to PDFs through Adobe Acrobat Pro. While this is often more cumbersome than creating a born-accessible document in an authoring tool like Microsoft Word, it does provide a workaround option to manually add tags, alt text, links, or other elements.