Developing+a+TOC

 Best Practices for Developing a Table of Contents

Problem Statement Purpose //Theoretical Framework// Research Questions //Hypotheses (Quantitative/Mixed Studies Only)// //Nature of the Study// Significance of the Study //Definitions// Summary //**Chapter 2: Literature Review**// Theme/Subtopic [repeat as needed] Summary //**Chapter 3: Research Method**// Research Methods and Design(s) Participants //Materials/Instruments// Operational Definition of Variables (Quantitative/Mixed Studies Only) Data Collection, Processing, and Analysis //Methodological Assumptions, Limitations, and Delimitations// Ethical Assurances //Summary]// //Results// Evaluation of Findings //Summary// //Implications// Recommendations //Conclusions// **Appendixes** //Appendix A: Title// Appendix B: Title = =
 * Chapter 1: Introduction**
 * Chapter 4: Findings**
 * Chapter 5: Implications, Recommendations, and Conclusions**

1. View your table of contents as a valuable resource during dissertation development. It is an evolving outline that helps you organize your thoughts. In its final form it will help the reader understand at a glance the contents and how the argument is made. Keep in mind that many informed readers will review the table of contents to assess the value of the dissertation to decide if they wish to read further. 2. Most emerging scholars would do well to spend time learning some of the advanced features of Microsoft Word particularly those relating to the creation of a //dynamic// table of contents such as the one included in NCU dissertation template. A dynamic table of contents allows you to move to related parts of the document by clicking on headings or subheadings within the table of contents. It can be used to great advantage as your dissertation grows to several hundred pages and you need to swiftly navigate from one part to the other. In order to create this type of table of contents, you need to develop two sets of skills. First, you will have to learn how to automatically format headings using the Styles menu in Microsoft Word. Second, you will have to learn how to automatically create and format a table of contents in Microsoft Word. You will find the help you need for this by pressing the “?” button in the upper right corner of Word 2007. Use the following search phrases to locate the guidance you need: “style basics in Word” and “create a table of contents.” You may find the following demo helpful. Demo: Let Word manage your table of contents 3. Creating your table of contents using Microsoft Word's advanced features gives you the opportunity to review your heading and subheading structure. In addition to examining them for proper APA formatting and clarity, reflect on the organizational issues to which they draw your attention. You may discover there are ways to improve the order of headings and subheadings in your literature review. 4. As you extend the subheading structure of the literature review, you can automatically update your Table of Contents to include the new headings and the revised page numbers as your dissertation grows. If you are using Microsoft Word 2007 all you have to do is right click on the table of contents (assuming it is a dynamic table of contents as described above), select the Update Field option and then select Update Entire Table. If you are using an earlier version of Word, use the help function to learn how to do this in the program you are using. If you discover that text that is not part of your headings and subheadings appears in your table of contents, it is because that text has been formatted as a heading instead of normal text. If you [|reformat] the offending text as //normal text// and update your table of contents, it will disappear.