Before converting your dissertation or doctoral study manuscript to a PDF and submitting it to ProQuest, review the following list of common ProQuest submission errors to ensure these items are addressed. The information below the checklist can be used to fix these specific errors.

The following items represent the most frequent errors seen by the Office of Student Research Administration when ProQuest returns a document to a student for correction. 

Note: These errors are related to formatting in the document. Please ensure that the pilcrow ¶ (found in the Paragraph area on the Home tab in Microsoft Word) is turned on so that all formatting in the document is visible, which will simplify correcting many of the items below to ensure proper formatting in the document and successful submission to ProQuest.

◻ Remember to add the university endorsement approval page to the beginning of the capstone study document.

Here are the instructions on how to add the approval page:

• Turn on the pilcrow ¶.
• Place the cursor in front of Abstract.
• Add a return (hit Enter).
• Go to the Insert tab and under Pages, click on Page Break.
  • This will move the abstract title page to the next page.
  • For additional information, see the Academic Skills Center Page Breaks page.
• Place the cursor in front of the page break that was inserted on the first page.
• Copy/paste all the text on the University Endorsement page above this page break.
• Check to make sure that there is not an extra page below this page.
• If there is an extra page, delete it by highlighting the page break and hitting the backspace button (to delete) or use the cut button on the Home tab.

◻ Ensure that the TOC is formatted properly and updated.

• The TOC should be double spaced.
• All L0, L1, and L2 headings should be included with page numbers.
  • If you used a Walden template, right click on the TOC and choose Update field; choose Update entire field when prompted to update headings and page numbers automatically.
  • If the document is not in a template, manually update the headings and page numbers in the TOC.
• See the Academic Skills Center Table of Contents page for additional formatting help.

◻ Check for errors with heading tags.

•  For instance, Error! Bookmark not defined may be an error that shows up on the TOC. This typically occurs when a heading was tagged, and then the TOC was updated for page numbers only.
  • Be sure to choose Update entire table when updating the TOC.
  • Check to make sure all headings are marked with the appropriate heading-level style tags.
  • Also check to make sure that a heading was not accidentally deleted in the document or that the correct heading style was not applied.
• See the Academic Skills Center Table of Contents page for additional formatting help.

◻ Make sure that dot leaders appear correctly in the TOC.

• The space between a heading and page number in the TOC is filled by a dot leader, not a series of periods.
• See the Academic Skills Center Dot Leaders page for how to set or insert dot leaders in the TOC. The Walden doctoral capstone templates have dot leaders preformatted in the TOC.

◻ Check to make sure that all page numbers appear per specification on the pages where they are required.

• The Walden doctoral capstone templates have all pagination preformatted.
• Visit the Form and Style Document Expectations page for information regarding what the margins and pagination should be set to in the capstone.

◻ Make sure that page breaks or section breaks are not accidentally deleted, which can impact the correct pagination.

• Review the Academic Skills Center Breaks page that covers section breaks and page breaks and how to use them.
• See the Academic Skills Center Changing Page Numbers page for help with how to set the pagination.

◻ Check for extraneous page breaks or paragraph returns that can cause extra pages in the document.

• Review the Academic Skills Center Page Breaks page.
• Delete any extra page breaks that may be adding a blank page.
• Delete any extra paragraph returns (indicated by a pilcrow ¶) that are adding an additional page.

◻ Check to ensure that the abstract does not exceed one page.

• This is a Walden requirement.
• If the abstract is longer than a page, revise for clarity and concision to ensure that all information fits on one page and within the specified margins.

◻ Make sure the abstract is on its own page.

• Review the Academic Skills Center Page Breaks page.
• Ensure that there are page breaks above and below the abstract that place it on its own page.

◻ Verify that the word Abstract appears at the top of the page.

◻ Include both required title pages in the document.

• The first title page is the second page in the document (after inserting the University Endorsement page); it should have the word Abstract at the top (do not italicize the word on your title page).
• The second title page appears after the abstract and has the same information, but does not contain the word Abstract at the top.

◻ Ensure the document is free of Track Changes and Comments before being converted to a PDF.

• Make sure to accept or reject all changes from committee members, the Form and Style Editors, and the CAO final review, and delete any in-text comments or comment balloons.
• See the Academic Skills Center MS Word Track Changes page for help with how to use Track Changes.

◻ Make sure that all materials are presented in the correct order.

• Verify that all required materials are included, especially if you corrected page breaks and blank page issues.
• Review the Form and Style Margin and Pagination Requirements page for the order of the pages in the document to ensure that all front matter elements (University Endorsement page, title pages, abstract, dedication, TOC, List of Tables/List of figured [if necessary]) are included and in the correct order.

ProQuest has its own PDF converter where students upload their MS Word document and have it converted. ORDS noted that students often encounter problems with the ProQuest PDF converter. To avoid some of the additional conversion errors that may occur, we recommend students first save the document as a PDF on their own by:

1. opening the capstone MS Word document,
2. choosing Save As to save a new file type (note the file destination/where it is saved to the computer),
3. saving the capstone as a PDF (on their own computer) by changing the file type selection on the drop-down menu that appears underneath the dialog box for the file name, and
4. uploading that PDF to ProQuest.

As a reminder, this is a list of common errors based on ORDS’s tracking of ProQuest returns. For additional formatting questions or errors, or for more specific support than the basics provided on this checklist, contact the Academic Skills Center’s (ASC) Microsoft Word Support page, ask a question at Ask OASIS, or schedule an appointment with a MS Word peer tutor.