The Table of Contents (TOC) is an organized listing of the chapters and major sections of your document.  Readers will immediately be able to see how your manuscript is organized and then skip down to sections that are most relevant to them.  A clear, concise, and well formatted TOC is the first indicator of a good research paper.

To save yourself some time in making your Table of Contents, be sure that you use font styles. 

CHECKLIST FOR TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Appropriately formatted
• Lists all main sections of the document starting with the Dedication page.  If the Dedication page is not used, then starts with the Abstract page.
• Lists the titles of each chapter, plus all Heading Level 2's -- these are the main sections within each chapter.  Do not list any subsections.
• All titles and headings match what appears in the text exactly.
• All page numbers are correct.

General instructions:

1. Roman Numeral page number, centered, bottom of page.

2. Margins:  Left margin 1.5 inch.  Top, Right, Bottom 1 inch.

3. Font:  12 pt.  Double-spaced throughout.  Use same font style throughout document.

4. Section Heading:  TABLE OF CONTENTS -- ALL CAPS, bold, centered on first line.  (Use CHPT_HD font style)

Inserting a Table of Contents:

1. Click on REFERENCE tab.

2. Click on Table of Contents.

3. Click on Custom Table of Contents.

4. Make sure that Show levels is set to 3.

5. Click on Options. 

   • Type a number 1 next to CHPT_title.

   • Remove the numbers next to Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3.

   • Scroll down until you see Heading2 and Heading3.These are the headings that you previously created when setting up your document.

     • Type a number 2 next to Heading2.

     • Type a number 3 next to Heading3.

Populating the Table of Contents:

The TOC can be automatically generated if you use the pre-formatted font styles created in Setting Up Your Document.  As you type your document, remember to use each of those font styles as appropriately required.  After adding content:

1. Click on the Reference tab.

2. Click on Update Table.

3. Choose either to:

   • Update page numbers only.

     • Updates just the page numbers of the existing TOC contents.

   • Update entire table. 

     • Updates all headings and page numbers in the TOC, adding new content as needed.

When finished, click on the Insert tab, and click on Page Break to start a new section.