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Digital Commons

A guide to posting and navigating DigitalCommons@CalPoly

General Format Recommendations

Each academic department determines the standards for the successful completion of senior projects, including style guides. Please consult your advisor or department for specific department guidelines.

The Library has some general recommendations:

1. Title Page

Please include a title page. A sample title page and title page template can found at the bottom of this page. The title page is the first page of the senior project and should include:

  • Full title of your senior project
    • Capitalize the first letter of every word in the title except for coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet), prepositions, and articles.
  • Name(s) of author(s)
  • Full name of department
  • California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
  • Month and Year
    • Typically reflects the date your final project was provided to your advisor
  • Copyright notice
    • The copyright notice should contain the following:
      • The Copyright symbol ©
      • The year of publication
      • The name(s) of the author(s)
    • Example: © 2019 Jane Doe
    • If the work was created as a joint work by multiple authors, include all names in the notice.
    • Example: © 2019 Jane Doe, Jóna Jónsdóttir, Jaime Ramírez, and Rajwinder Kaur

2. Approval Page

Kennedy Library does not require an approval page.

However, check with your department to see if an approval page is required. If an approval page is required by your department, the approval page should be a separate page that appears immediately after the title page. The approval page should include the typed name and title of the advisor. Check with your department for additional guidelines.

3. File Type

If your Senior Project is in the form of a research paper, upload all pages as ONE SINGLE FILE PDF.