walden university phd dissertation template

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The Walden Dissertation Process

2019, Walden University Doctoral Student Cohort

Walden University has a 6 part dissertation process (prospectus, proposal, IRB, defense, research, final defense). Like all doctoral journeys there are important things to do and to avoid. This presentation is an overview and detailed discussion of the Walden University dissertation process. The presentation has universal applicability as the Walden model mirrors many other universities processes. It is a companion lecture to the book 'My Doctoral Journey' (available at Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Doctoral-Journey-Carter-Matherly-Ph-D/dp/1982931086/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1544112085&sr=8-1).

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Video Transcripts: Template Demonstration: Using the Doctoral Capstone Template

• Academic Paragraphs: Examples of the MEAL Plan
• Academic Paragraphs: Appropriate Use of Explicit Transitions
• Academic Paragraphs: Types of Transitions Part 1: Transitions Between Paragraphs
• Academic Paragraphs: Types of Transitions Part 2: Transitions Within Paragraphs
• Academic Writing for Multilingual Students: Using a Grammar Revision Journal
• Academic Writing for Multilingual Students: Write in a Linear Structure
• Academic Writing for Multilingual Students: Cite All Ideas That Come From Other Sources
• Academic Writing for Multilingual Students: Developing Your Arguments With Evidence and Your Own Analysis
• Academic Writing for Multilingual Students: Follow Faculty Expectations
• Accessing Modules: Registered or Returning Users
• Accessing Modules: Saving a Module Certificate
• Analyzing & Synthesizing Sources: Analysis in Paragraphs
• Analyzing & Synthesizing Sources: Synthesis: Definition and Examples
• Analyzing & Synthesizing Sources: Synthesis in Paragraphs
• APA Formatting & Style: Latin Abbreviations
• APA Formatting & Style: Shortening Citations With et al.
• APA Formatting & Style: Capitalization
• APA Formatting & Style: Numbers
• APA Formatting & Style: Pronouns (Point of View)
• APA Formatting & Style: Serial Comma
• APA Formatting & Style: Lists
• APA Formatting & Style: Verb Tense
• Commonly Cited Sources: Finding DOIs for Journal Article Reference Entries
• Commonly Cited Sources: Journal Article With URL
• Commonly Cited Sources: Book Reference Entries
• Commonly Cited Sources: Webpage Reference Entry
• Course Paper Template: A Tour of the Template
• Crash Course in Scholarly Writing
• Crash Course in the Writing Process
• Crash Course in Punctuation for Scholarly Writing
• Engaging Writing: Overview of Tools for Engaging Readers
• Engaging Writing: Tool 1--Syntax
• Engaging Writing: Tool 2--Sentence Structure
• Engaging Writing: Tool 3--Punctuation
• Engaging Writing: Avoiding Wordiness and Redundancy
• Engaging Writing: Avoiding Casual Language
• Engaging Writing: Incorporating Transitions
• Engaging Writing: Examples of Incorporating Transitions
• Grammar for Academic Writers: Advanced Subject–Verb Agreement
• Grammar for Academic Writers: Verb Tense Consistency
• Mastering the Mechanics: Pronoun Tips #1 and #2
• Mastering the Mechanics: Pronoun Tip #3
• Mastering the Mechanics: Pronoun Tip #4
• Mastering the Mechanics: Nouns
• Mastering the Mechanics: Introduction to Verbs
• Mastering the Mechanics: Articles
• Mastering the Mechanics: Modifiers
• Mastering the Mechanics: Proofreading for Grammar
• Mastering the Mechanics: Punctuation as Symbols
• Mastering the Mechanics: Semicolons
• Mastering the Mechanics: Common Verb Errors
• Mastering the Mechanics: Helping Verbs
• Mastering the Mechanics: Past Tense
• Mastering the Mechanics: Present Tense
• Mastering the Mechanics: Future Tense
• Mastering the Mechanics: Apostrophes
• Mastering the Mechanics: Colons
• Mastering the Mechanics: Commas
• Mastering the Mechanics: Periods
• Methods to the Madness: Authors in a Reference Entry
• Methods to the Madness: Publication Date in a Reference Entry
• Methods to the Madness: Title in a Reference Entry
• Methods to the Madness: Publication Information in a Reference List Entry
• Methods to the Madness: Creating a Citation From a Reference Entry
• Methods to the Madness: Why Do Writers Use Citation Styles?
• Methods to the Madness: Why Does Walden Use APA Style?
• Module Preview: Avoiding Passive Plagiarism
• Module Preview: Basic Citation Formatting
• Module Preview: Book Reference Entries
• Module Preview: Essential Components and Purpose of APA Reference Entries
• Module Preview: Basic Citation Frequency
• Module Preview: Journal Article Reference Entries
• Module Preview: Web Page Reference Entries
• Module Preview: Introduction to APA Style
• Module Preview: Avoiding Bias
• Module Preview: Clarifying the Actor
• Module Preview: Emphasis and Specification
• Module Preview: Using and Formatting APA Headings
• Module Preview: Listing the Facts
• Module Preview: Introduction to Paragraph Development
• Module Preview: Transitions Within and Between Paragraphs
• Module Preview: Introduction to Scholarly Writing
• myPASS: Navigating myPASS
• myPASS: Making a Paper Review Appointment
• OLD myPASS: Making an Appointment
• myPASS: Joining a Waiting List
• myPASS: Attaching a File
• myPASS: Attaching a File at a Later Time
• myPASS: Updating an Appointment Form
• myPASS: Download Your Reviewed Paper From the Writing Center
• myPASS: Canceling an Appointment
• Nontraditional Sources: Course Videos
• Nontraditional Sources: Textual Course Materials
• Nontraditional Sources: Citing Yourself
• Nontraditional Sources: Works With the Same Author and Year
• Nontraditional Sources: Secondary Sources
• Nontraditional Sources: Ebooks
• Nontraditional Sources: Chapter in an Edited Book
• Nontraditional Sources: Discussion Board Posts
• Nontraditional Sources: Dissertations or Theses
• Nontraditional Sources: Citing Sources With the Same Author and Year
• Nontraditional Sources: Personal Communications
• Nontraditional Sources: Basic Entry for Nontraditional Sources
• Paper Reviews: Insider Tips for Writing Center Paper Review Appointments
• Paraphrasing Strategies: Comparing Paraphrasing and Quoting
• Paraphrasing Strategies: Paraphrasing Strategies
• Paraphrasing Strategies: Paraphrasing Example
• Paraphrasing Strategies: Paraphrasing Process Demonstration
• Structuring Sentences: Misplaced Modifiers
• Structuring Sentences: Dangling Modifiers
• Structuring Sentences: Types of Sentences
• Structuring Sentences: Simple Sentences
• Structuring Sentences: Compound Sentences
• Structuring Sentences: Complex Sentences
• Structuring Sentences: Combining Sentences
• Common Error: Unclear Subjects
• Structuring Sentences: Common Error--Run-On Sentences
• Structuring Sentences: Common Error--Fragments
• Structuring Sentences: Common Error--Subject–Verb Agreement
• Common Error: Parallel Structure
• Summarizing Sources: Definition and Examples of Summary
• Summarizing Sources: Incorporating Citations Into Summaries
• Template Demonstration: Correcting Common Errors in the Template Table of Contents
• Template Demonstration: Updating the Template List of Tables
• Using & Crediting Sources: Why We Cite: Examples
• Using & Crediting Sources: How We Cite
• Using & Crediting Sources: What We Cite
• Using & Crediting Sources: How Often We Cite Sources
• Using & Crediting Sources: How Often We Cite Sources: Examples
• Using & Crediting Sources: Citing Paraphrases
• Using & Crediting Sources: Citing Quotations
• Using & Crediting Sources: Publication Year Quick Tip
• Using Quotations: Integrating Quotations in the Middle of a Sentence
• Using Quotations: When to Use a Quotation
• Using Quotations: Shortening Quotations With Ellipses
• Using Quotations: How to Cite a Quotation
• Welcome to the Writing Center, Undergraduate Students!
• Writing Center Website Tour
• Website Tour: For Multilingual Students
• Welcome to the Writing Center, Master’s Students!
• Welcome to the Writing Center: Coursework to Capstone: Writing Center Support for Doctoral Students
• Writing Tools: Using a Dictionary for Grammatical Accuracy: Countability, Transitivity, and Collocations
• Applying Feedback to Your Paper: Grammar Feedback
• Applying Feedback to Your Paper: Applying Feedback Principles
• Applying Feedback to Your Paper: Paragraph Feedback
• Applying Feedback to Your Paper: Thesis Statement Feedback
• Applying Feedback to Your Paper: Transition Feedback
• Applying Feedback to Your Paper: Word Choice Feedback
• Prewriting Demonstrations: Mindmapping
• Prewriting Demonstrations: Outlining
• Form and Style: Welcome, Doctoral Capstone Students!
• Faculty Voices: Faculty Introduction: Dr. Darci Harland
• Faculty Voices: Faculty Introduction: Dr. Catherine Kelly
• Faculty Voices: Faculty Introduction: Dr. Allyson Wattley Gee
• Faculty Voices: Faculty Introduction: Dr. Laurel Walsh
• Faculty Voices: Faculty Introduction: Dr. Kim Critchlow
• Faculty Voices: What Is Academic Integrity?
• Faculty Voices: Why Is Academic Integrity Important?
• Faculty Voices: What Causes and Can Prevent Plagiarism? Inexperience Parapharsing
• Faculty Voices: What Causes and Can Prevent Plagiarism? Using Resources
• Faculty Voices: What Causes and Can Prevent Plagiarism? Time Management
• Faculty Voices: What Causes and Can Prevent Plagiarism? Critical Reading Strategies
• Faculty Voices: What Causes and Can Prevent Plagiarism? Insufficient Understanding
• Faculty Voices: How Does Academic Integrity Relate to Students' Professional Lives? With Dr. Allyson Wattley Gee
• Faculty Voices: How Does Academic Integrity Relate to Students' Professional Lives? With Dr. Kim Critchlow
• Faculty Voices: How Does Academic Integrity Relate to Students' Professional Lives? With Dr. Gregory Campbell
• Faculty Voices: How Does Academic Integrity Relate to Students' Professional Lives? With Dr. Catherine Kelly, Dr. Allyson Wattley Gee, and Dr. Kim Critchlow
• Faculty Voices: How Does Academic Integrity Relate to Students' Professional Lives? With Dr. Darci Harland
• Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills: Plagiarism Examples: Insufficient Citation Frequency
• Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills: Plagiarism Examples: Insufficient Paraphrasing
• Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills: Types of Plagiarism: Overt Plagiarism
• Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills: Types of Plagiarism: Passive Plagiarism
• Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills: Types of Plagiarism: Self-Plagiarism
• Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills: What Is Plagiarism?
• Plagiarism Detection & Revision Skills: A Writing Process for Avoiding Plagiarism
• Writing Process: Writing Motivation:
• Writing for Social Change: With Dr. Catherine Kelly
• Writing for Social Change: With Dr. Gregory Campbell
• Writing for Social Change: How Are Writing and Social Change Connected?
• Writing for Social Change: With Dr. Laurel Walsh
• Writing for Social Change: With Dr. Allyson Wattley Gee
• Transitioning Rrom APA 6 to APA 7 With the Walden Writing Center
• Previous Page: Summarizing Sources: Incorporating Citations Into Summaries
• Next Page: Template Demonstration: Correcting Common Errors in the Template Table of Contents

Template Demonstration: Using the Doctoral Capstone Template

Last updated 9/28/2016

Visual : Video opens to the title slide with the video’s title, then changes to show the home page of the Doctoral Capstone Form and Style website . As the speaker talks about what the tutorial will review, it is listed on the screen.

Audio : Welcome to the tutorial for using a Walden doctoral capstone template. In this tutorial we will review (a) where to find your program’s page on the Writing Center’s website and the resources on those pages, (b) how to download your program’s template, (c) best practices for how to use Walden doctoral capstone templates, and (d) where to find Microsoft Word assistance. You can use the doctoral capstone template for both your proposal and your final study, as the Walden templates help students prepare their document for final publication according to Walden and ProQuest specifications. 

Each program’s template is available for download on the program page of the Doctoral Capstone Form and Style website. You can also find other relevant resources on those pages to help you write your study using APA style, including a form and style checklist.

Visual : As the speaker describes the steps for finding the program page, she moves the cursor over the Program main menu, then chooses “PhD Dissertation.” The screen changes to the PhD Dissertation program page . As the speaker discusses what the demonstration will cover, they are listed on the screen.

Audio: To find your program’s page, choose “Programs” on the Doctoral Capstone Form and Style page, then choose your program.

The Walden doctoral capstone templates include the required formatting elements for your study as well as detailed instructions and examples of APA heading levels, tables, figures, and reference entries. Read over the template carefully as well as the template’s instructions in the margins or, for some programs, in a separate instructions document on the program page. 

For the purposes of this demonstration, we will be using the PhD dissertation template; however, each doctoral capstone template works in the same way, so if you are not a PhD student, the tips shown will work on the template you are using as well. This demonstration will cover (a) how to view hidden paragraph symbols, (2) copying and pasting into the template, (3) style tags, and (4) updating the Table of Contents. 

The first step, of course, is to download the template. To do so, go to your program’s page on the Doctoral Capstone Form and Style website, in this case the PhD Dissertation page, and click the template link. The template will download to your computer, where you can then open and save it. 

Visual: Screen changes to the first title page of the PhD dissertation template in Microsoft Word.

Audio: First we will talk about how to show paragraph symbols to avoid errors in the template. If you accidentally delete elements of the template, it can disrupt the formatting and cause errors in areas such as margins or page numbers.

Visual : The pilcrow button in the paragraph section of the Home tab in Microsoft Word is enlarged and the speaker clicks this button. Once she does, the formatting marks in the document appear. The speaker then scrolls through the first few pages of the document to demonstrate the different formatting marks that are now shown.

Audio : To avoid deleting anything important, make sure that all formatting is visible by turning on the pilcrow button, also called the paragraph symbol. You can now see things such as where the line breaks, page breaks, and section breaks are in the template. If you accidentally delete or paste over a page break, you can reinsert it; however, it is best to avoid doing so in the first place, and turning on the pilcrow button will help you see where these elements are in the template and help you avoid deleting them.

Visual: The screen changes to show the template’s first page of Chapter 1 in Microsoft Word. The pilcrow button is not turned on.

Audio: The next tip for using the template is how to copy and paste into the template. We recommend you start practicing with the template as soon as possible to save yourself time when preparing for final publication. You should develop a method of working in the template that works best for you: Some people choose to compose the text within the template itself, and others prefer to compose the text in a separate document and copy and paste into the template later.

Visual: The speaker enlarges the pilcrow button and turns it on to show the document’s formatting marks.

Audio: When copying and pasting into the template, make sure you do not delete or copy and paste over essential formatting elements, like section and page breaks. Having the pilcrow button on will help with this, but you should also copy and paste in stages, section by section, rather than all at once.

Visual: The speaker highlights the first paragraph on the page, being careful not to select the ending return, then pastes a document of a sample draft into the template using the shortcut CTRL + V.

Audio: When copying text from a document into the template, do not copy the last pilcrow (paragraph symbol). You may lose some formatting details, but it’s easier to restore those than to deal with formatting that is brought in with the information stored in the pilcrow.

Now that you have inserted your text into the template, you need to apply the appropriate style tags. Style tags are a quick way to correctly format headings per APA, but they are also how Microsoft Word knows which headings should appear in the template’s automated Table of Contents. With this automated Table of Contents, Microsoft Word will automatically update your headings and their page numbers, so while style tags may seem confusing at first, it is worth learning how to use them to save you time in the end and ensure the pagination of your document is accurately reflected in the Table of Contents.

Visual: The speaker shows each step in Microsoft Word as she explains it, finding the Styles Menu by clicking the downward-right arrow in the bottom-right corner of the Styles menu in the Home tab in Microsoft Word.

Audio: To tag a heading, highlight the heading and open the Styles Menu by clicking the downward arrow in the lower right corner of the Styles section of the Home tab.  Then choose from the available styles and apply it to the text. Be aware that only APA Level 0, 1, and 2 headings appear in the Table of Contents, so only headings with those style tags will automatically update in the Table of Contents.

Visual : The screen changes to show the template’s Table of Contents, which hasn’t been updated yet. As the speaker explains each step, she demonstrates it in the template. Once she chooses “Update Field,” the Table of Contents updates with the correct heading titles and page numbers.

Audio: Once you have inserted your content into the template and tagged all headings, body text, block quotes, table titles (if you have any), and reference list entries, it’s time to update the template’s automated Table of Contents. To do so, navigate to the Table of Contents, right click on it, and select “Update field.”  You can update the entire field, updating both the headings and page numbers, or you may choose to update page numbers only if you haven’t changed any heading titles since the last update.

Visual: The screen changes to show the template’s List of Tables. The speaker opens the Styles Menu to show the Table Title style tag.

Audio: If your document includes any tables, note that the List of Tables is set up in a similar way. For this to work, make sure any table titles have the style tag “Table Title.” More instructions for this appear in the template or in the accompanying instructions document for some programs.

Visual: The screen changes to the title page of the template in Microsoft Word. As the speaker discusses the resources available to help students, they are displayed on the screen.

Audio: While the template includes formatting guidelines and examples, the template itself is not the final guide for content; be sure you are using the many other resources available to help you write your study:

• Follow the instructions of your chairperson and committee members to ensure your study’s content meets Walden degree expectations.
• Use the program checklists on the Office of Research and Doctoral Services’s Office of Student Research Administration page to guide the content for your document; your program’s page on the Office of Research and Doctoral Services’s website is linked at the bottom of your program’s page on the Doctoral Capstone Form and Style website.
• Visit the Writing Center’s webinar archives for help writing your study. 

Note that the Writing Center does not offer Microsoft Word support, and there may be slight differences between what you see in this demonstration and what you see on your computer. 

Visual : As the speaker discusses the Academic Skills Center’s tutorials and appointments, the Center’s website is shown, with the speaker navigating to the Software Assistance menu and clicking Microsoft Word. The Microsoft Word page shows the Center’s Word’s resources, an option to make an appointment, and the email [email protected] .

Audio : For help working in Microsoft Word, we highly recommend using the Academic Skills Center’s tutorials and appointments, which can help you learn how to do important things like insert a section or page break, use track changes and comment bubbles, and automatically insert a hanging indent. If you are not able to locate a formatting feature discussed here or have trouble using the template, be sure to visit the Academic Skills Center’s website, make an appointment, or send them an e-mail at [email protected] .     

We hope you have found our tips for using a Walden doctoral capstone template useful. If you have any other questions about formatting guidelines in the Form and Style Checklist or any of the capstone formatting resources, please contact [email protected] .

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