Whether you are a freshman drafting your first lab report or a senior finalizing your capstone dissertation, the way you format your work is a reflection of your professionalism as an engineer. This site serves as a central resource to help you navigate the formal style and submission requirements of the Chicago Manual of Style
While the guidelines provided here are widely accepted standards, please remember:
Department Rules Take Precedence: Many engineering departments and universities provide their own specific templates or guidelines.
Instructor Expectations: For class papers, your specific instructor’s requirements always come first.
Check Before You Submit: Always review your department’s latest official guidelines before your final submission
This site is organized to follow the logical structure of a professional paper. Use the navigation bar on the right to jump to specific sections:
General Layout: Start here to set up your margins, fonts, and spacing.
Front Matter: Instructions for your Title Page, Abstract, and Table of Contents.
The Main Body: Guidance on organizing chapters and using the 5-level heading hierarchy.
Back Matter: How to format your Appendixes and your Bibliography or Reference List.
We assume you will be preparing your paper digitally. We highly recommend using full-featured word processors to automate your formatting:
Microsoft Word: Excellent for standard reports and class papers.
Overleaf (LaTeX): Preferred for many technical engineering dissertations involving complex equations.
These tools can automatically handle your page numbering, margin sizes, footnotes, and Table of Contents if used correctly.