Use the Show/Hide Button

The Show/Hide button allows you to see editing marks in your document, which can be useful for erasing formatting mistakes that may not be obvious when looking at your document in a normal view.

Show/Hide Word for Macs 2008

Show/Hide Word for Macs 2011

Adding captions to your figures and tables is an essential part of many thesis/dissertations styles. The guide here applies to using captions in Word 2016 and Word 2011 for Mac.

Kansas State's tutorial for using captions in Word 2008

You can create a Table of Contents either manually or by using Headings to have Word create the Table of Contents automatically after you've assigned those Headings in the text.

Manually Create a Table of Contents

Create a Table of Contents in MSWord for Mac 2011

Creating a Table of Contents in MSWord for Mac 2016

The IT department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst created a number of tutorials, including an excellent, PDF guide to formatting using MSWord 2016 for the Mac. Click on the appropriate links on the page for the tutorial and sample files. Be aware that templates and sample files are created using UMass Amherst thesis and dissertation requirements and may not match those of your graduate school:

Using Microsoft Word 2016 (Mac) for Your Dissertation

These definitive guides were written by the University of Michigan Libraries:

Using Microsoft Word 2011 (Mac) for Your Dissertation

Using Microsoft Word 2008 (Mac) for Your Dissertation

Section Breaks

This will, by far, be the most useful of the formatting skills you'll learn in MS Word. Use this to create sections that have different formatting from other sections.  For instance, your front matter will be one section, and then you’ll have a section break that will allow you to format your first chapter differently than the front matter.

Mac

Creating Section Breaks in MS Word 2016

Creating Section Breaks in MS Word 2011

Kansas State's tutorial on working with Section Breaks in Word 2008

Styles

Styles let you set a template for the type face, paragraph spacing and other formatted elements in a document. If you choose to use the single document method, setting a style for your document will save you time and effort down the road.

Working with Styles in MS Word 2016

Working with Styles in Word 2011 for Mac

Kansas State's tutorial on working with Styles in Word 2008

Templates

Templates are an option if you want to create your thesis or dissertation one chapter at a time. If you use a template, every time you open the template, you will get the same formatting every time. Be aware that, when trying to combine chapters at the end of the writing process, there may be conflicts between the template you create for chapters and other items, such as indexes, front matter and tables of contents.

Working with Templates in MS Word 2016 for Mac

Working with Templates in MS Word 2011 for Mac

Working with Templates in MS Word 2008 for Mac