There is no national thesis format in Canada. No federal body, no accreditation council and no style guide sets the margins on a Canadian thesis. Each graduate school publishes its own requirements, and a thesis that would sail through at one university can be sent back at another. This guide sets out what the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia and McGill actually specify — transcribed from their own graduate-school pages — so you can see where they agree, where they disagree, and which of your own department’s silences you still have to fill.
What “thesis format Canada” really means
Three things are worth knowing before you open a template.
First, the rules are set by the graduate school, not by APA or Chicago. Your citation style governs your references; your graduate school governs your margins, your page numbering and the order of your front matter. The two never overlap, which is why the APA 7 guide for a Canadian thesis is a separate document from the one you are reading.
Second, the rules differ by university, and some of the differences are real. UBC tells you exactly where the page number goes. McGill tells you the choice is yours as long as you are consistent. Neither is wrong; they are different institutions.
Third, your department can add rules on top. Everything below is the graduate-school floor. A department that requires a particular chapter order or a particular front-matter page is entitled to, and that requirement wins.
University of Toronto: the numbers the School of Graduate Studies publishes
SGS publishes a Word (DOCX) and a LaTeX template and states plainly: “We strongly recommended that authors use an SGS thesis template.” It is equally plain that the template is not a guarantee — “you must ensure that your thesis meets SGS formatting requirements.”
- File: the thesis must be in PDF format, submitted as an Electronic Thesis / Dissertation.
- Font size: a minimum of 10 points. Smaller sizes are allowed for graphs, formulas, footnotes and appendices, and the guidance says to avoid italics.
- Line spacing: at least one-and-a-half, except the abstract, which should be double-spaced. Single spacing may be used for long quoted passages and footnotes.
- Page size: 8½″ × 11″ (21.5 cm × 28 cm), with the text reading across the 8½″ dimension.
- Margins: if you plan to print and bind, the left margin should be at least 1¼″ (32 mm) and the remaining three at least ¾″ (20 mm) to the main text. SGS adds that “margin sizes are not as critical in digital formats.”
- Page numbering: every page is numbered except the title page. Preliminary pages use small Roman numerals, centred, about half an inch from the bottom. Numbering begins with the Abstract as page ii; the title page is page i but shows no number.
- Abstract: minimum 10 points, double-spaced, and it must not exceed 350 words for a doctoral thesis or 150 words for a master’s thesis.
The preliminary page order SGS gives is: Title Page, Abstract, Acknowledgments (where applicable), Table of Contents, List of Tables, List of Plates, List of Figures, List of Appendices.
A worked title page, with the spacing UofT actually prints
SGS publishes a sample title page with approximate spacing on an 8½″ × 11″ page. Reconstructed from that sample, it runs:
| Position | What sits there |
|---|---|
| 2″ (5 cm) from the top | The thesis title — this area is recommended for the title only, with content words capitalised |
| about 1½″ (4 cm) below | the word by |
| about 1½″ (4 cm) below | Your name, consistent with ACORN |
| about 2″ (5 cm) below | “A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of (state degree)”, then the full name of the graduate department, then University of Toronto |
| about 1¼″ (3 cm) below | © Copyright by (your name) (year of graduation) — on one line |
| about 1¼″ (3 cm) from the bottom | End of the block |
The copyright date is the year the degree is conferred, not the year you finished writing. That single detail sends more title pages back than any other.
UBC: the most prescriptive of the three
The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at UBC publishes formatting requirements as a set of separate pages, and they are specific.
- Page size and columns: 8.5″ × 11″, and the text must be in a single, page-wide column. Two or more columns are not allowed.
- Margins: left 1.25 inches (32 mm) recommended if you intend to bind, 1 inch minimum; right, top and bottom 1 inch recommended, 0.75 inches (19 mm) minimum.
- Fonts: “normally the font should be equivalent to 10 to 12 point font in Times New Roman or Arial for main text, and at least 2mm high in tables and figures.” Generally the same font throughout, black except for web links, which may be blue.
- Paragraphs: either indent the first line of each paragraph or leave a larger space between paragraphs than between lines. Each chapter must start at the top of a new page.
- Page numbering: preliminary pages in lower-case Roman numerals — the title page is “i” but the number must not appear, numbering begins at “ii” on the committee page, and the first page of the abstract is iii. The body uses Arabic numerals starting at 1 and running continuously through tables, figures, bibliography, appendices and index. Every page except the title page carries a number, and there must be no blank pages.
- Where the number goes: at least 0.5 inches (12 mm) from the edge, in the lower centre or at the top or lower right. Lower right is preferred.
- Landscape and facing pages: landscape pages must be oriented in the PDF so they are readable without rotation. Facing pages are not acceptable; layout and pagination are one-sided.
UBC’s order of components is the longest of the three, and two entries are distinctive: a Committee Page immediately after the title page, and a Lay Summary after the abstract. The full required sequence is title page, committee page, abstract, lay summary, preface, table of contents, list of tables, list of figures, list of submitted files, then a list of illustrations where there are illustrations. Lists of symbols, a glossary, acknowledgements and a dedication are optional. Then introduction, research chapters and conclusion, then the bibliography — required for every programme except the Master of Music and the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing — and optional appendices.
UBC’s title page rules are unusually exact about your name. The name must be the same at the top and at the bottom beside the copyright symbol, and it must match the name you enter in cIRcle when you submit. If you list previous degrees, each one must carry the degree name, the full name of the institution and the date of graduation.
McGill: a different shape of rulebook
McGill’s Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies starts from a choice the other two do not force: your thesis is either a traditional monograph or a manuscript-based thesis, and — in GPS’s own words — “It cannot be a mixture of the two.” Templates exist for both.
- Script and page format: “A conventional font, size 12-point, 12 characters per inch must be used. Line spacing must be double or 1.5. Left and right hand margins should be 1 inch.”
- Pagination: positioning of page numbers is optional, and pages with figures or illustrations may be numbered in sequence or left unnumbered — but the chosen procedure must be used consistently throughout.
- Abstracts: a brief abstract in both English and French is mandatory. Both must be text only, with no images, chemical or mathematical formulae or special formatting such as lists and tables, and each has a maximum of 4,000 characters.
- Length: a master’s thesis normally does not exceed 100 pages, and GPS considers 150 pages the maximum, counting title page, abstracts, table of contents, contribution of authors, acknowledgements, bibliography and appendices. A doctoral thesis has no page limit, but GPS states that “unnecessarily long theses are viewed negatively.”
- Discussion chapter: a minimum of 10 pages double-spaced for doctoral students and 5 pages double-spaced for master’s students, including figures, images and tables.
- Manuscript-based theses: each chapter is a full manuscript identical to the published or submitted version apart from font and size, including its own reference list. Doctoral students must include at least two manuscripts, master’s students one or more, with a bridging text of 1–3 pages between manuscripts.
McGill’s title page must carry the title, your name and Unit followed by “McGill University, Montreal”, the month and year of submission, the sentence “A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of…”, and the © symbol with your name and the year of submission. The McGill logo is not automatic — students request permission to add it through a webform.
Two McGill requirements have no counterpart at the other two. Acknowledgements must include a declaration of the extent to which assistance, paid or unpaid, was given by staff, fellow students, research assistants or technicians in collecting materials and data, designing apparatus, running experiments, analysing data and preparing the thesis, including editorial help. And a doctoral thesis must contain an explicit contribution to original knowledge section stating what in the thesis is original scholarship, alongside a contribution of authors statement for every chapter.
The three compared, line by line
| Rule | UofT (SGS) | UBC (G+PS) | McGill (GPS) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main-text font size | Minimum 10 pt | Normally equivalent to 10–12 pt Times New Roman or Arial | 12 pt, conventional font, 12 characters per inch |
| Line spacing | At least 1.5; abstract double | Not specified on the fonts or layout pages | Double or 1.5 |
| Left margin | At least 1¼″ (32 mm) if binding | 1.25″ (32 mm) recommended if binding, 1″ minimum | 1 inch |
| Other margins | At least ¾″ (20 mm) | 1″ recommended, 0.75″ (19 mm) minimum | 1 inch left and right; top and bottom not stated |
| Page-number position | Preliminary pages centred, about ½″ from the bottom | At least 0.5″ from the edge; lower right preferred | Optional, but consistent |
| Preliminary numbering starts at | Abstract = ii | Committee page = ii, abstract = iii | Not prescribed |
| Abstract limit | 350 words doctoral, 150 master’s | Not stated on the pages read | 4,000 characters, in English and French |
| Distinctive required page | — | Committee page, lay summary, preface | Contribution to original knowledge, contribution of authors |
| Official template | Word and LaTeX, strongly recommended | Sample title pages provided | Traditional and manuscript templates |
Read the rows rather than the columns. Two universities recommend a 32 mm left margin for binding and the third asks for one inch. One sets a word limit on the abstract, one sets a character limit in two languages and one does not set a limit on the page we read. If you have been given “the Canadian rules” for any of these, you have been given somebody’s institution’s rules.
What to ask your own graduate school in one email
If your university is not one of these three, the fastest route is a single message with closed questions. Copy this list:
- Is there an official template, and in which formats?
- What are the minimum margins, and do they change if I bind a copy?
- What font and size, and what line spacing?
- Where do page numbers go, and which page is numbered first?
- What is the required order of front-matter pages?
- Is there a word or character limit on the abstract, and is a second-language abstract required?
- Is there a page limit for a master’s thesis?
- Is a manuscript-based thesis permitted, and if so what are the minimum number of manuscripts and the bridging requirements?
- Which front-matter declarations are required — committee page, lay summary, contribution of authors, editorial-assistance declaration?
- Who checks formatting before the defence, and how long does that check take?
Every one of those questions has a documented answer at all three universities above. Your own graduate school will have answers too; they are simply not always on one page. The University of Waterloo requirements guide works through a fourth institution in the same way if you want another worked case.
Three formatting mistakes that cost you a resubmission
- Numbering the title page. All three universities treat the title page as page i and none of them prints a number on it. A template that numbers from the first page will fail a formatting check.
- Formatting for print when you are submitting digitally. The wide left margin exists for binding. UofT says outright that margin sizes are less critical in digital formats — but the minimum still applies.
- Mixing the two McGill thesis types. A monograph with one published paper dropped in as a chapter is not a manuscript-based thesis, and GPS states the two forms cannot be mixed.
Getting the chapters written, not just formatted
Formatting is the last two per cent of a thesis and it feels like the whole thing only because it is the part with visible rules. The chapters are the work. Tesify drafts with your material, in your structure, so you reach the formatting stage with something to format. Start your thesis with Tesify — 100% written by you. If you are still deciding what you are writing, start with the difference between a thesis, a dissertation and an MRP in Canada.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a standard thesis format for Canadian universities?
No. Each graduate school publishes its own requirements. UofT, UBC and McGill differ on margins, page numbering and abstract limits, and there is no national body that harmonises them.
What margins should a Canadian thesis have?
It depends on your university. UofT asks for at least 1¼″ on the left and ¾″ on the other three if you are binding. UBC recommends 1.25″ left and 1″ elsewhere, with 1″ and 0.75″ as minimums. McGill asks for 1 inch left and right.
What font size is required?
UofT sets a 10-point minimum, UBC normally expects the equivalent of 10 to 12 point Times New Roman or Arial, and McGill requires 12 point in a conventional font.
Where does the page number go?
UBC prefers the lower right, at least 0.5″ from the edge. UofT centres preliminary-page numbers about half an inch from the bottom. McGill leaves the position to you, provided you are consistent.
Does the title page get a number?
It is counted as page i at all three, and at none of them does the number appear on the page itself.
How long can my abstract be?
At UofT, 350 words for a doctoral thesis and 150 for a master’s. At McGill, 4,000 characters — and you need one in English and one in French.
Do I have to write a French abstract?
At McGill, yes: abstracts in both English and French are mandatory, and a third is required if the thesis is written in another language.
Is there a page limit on a master’s thesis?
At McGill a master’s thesis normally does not exceed 100 pages and GPS considers 150 the maximum. UofT and UBC do not state a limit on the pages we read.
Should I use the official template?
Where one exists, yes. UofT strongly recommends its Word and LaTeX templates, while warning that using one does not by itself guarantee compliance. Applying a template early is far easier than retrofitting one.
What is a manuscript-based thesis?
A thesis whose chapters are complete manuscripts, published or submitted. McGill requires a minimum of two for doctoral students and one or more for master’s students, with 1–3 pages of bridging text between them. The chapter-level conventions vary sharply by field, as the computer science thesis structure guide shows.
Can my department add rules?
Yes, and departmental rules sit on top of the graduate-school floor. Where they conflict in practice, ask your graduate coordinator in writing before you reformat anything.