Holipore: editorial, consulting & design support for academic and professional work

A bachelor’s thesis can be rejected by the faculty office not because of its content but because of its form: wrong margins, unsuitable font, a manually typed table of contents, pagination that skips a page. Proper typesetting is not a formality; it is the condition that allows your thesis to reach the examination committee rather than come back home with you.

This guide covers how to typeset a bachelor’s thesis from the ground up: page format, fonts, heading structure, tables, figures, citations, bibliography, and a list of the mistakes that cost the most time in the week before submission.

Note: The information in this guide reflects publicly available standards as of April 2026. Each faculty may issue its own updated guide; always verify with your supervisor before submission.

What typesetting is

Typesetting is the process by which a text document acquires the visual and structural form required by an editorial or institutional standard. For academic theses, it encompasses: correct page setup, choice of font and character size, formatting of headings across hierarchical levels, page numbering, automatic table of contents generation, table and figure formatting, and adherence to a consistent bibliographic style.

A well-typeset thesis communicates seriousness and makes evaluation easier: the committee does not have to search for information through dense, undifferentiated blocks of text. Conversely, careless typesetting signals inattention to detail and can raise doubts about the rigour of the research overall.

The most common reasons theses are sent back before evaluation:

incorrect margins (especially the left margin, which must be wider for binding);
wrong font or size relative to the faculty’s standard;
a manually generated table of contents (which falls out of sync with the actual page numbers);
figures and tables without titles or numbering;
in-text citations that do not match entries in the bibliography.

Understanding what each of these points involves allows you to avoid all these problems before they become emergencies.

Page format and margins

The standard format for Romanian academic theses is A4 (210 × 297 mm), portrait orientation. The generally accepted standard values are:

Margin	Standard value
Top	2.5 cm
Bottom	2.5 cm
Left	3 cm (for binding)
Right	2 cm

The wider left margin (3 cm, or even 3.5 cm at some faculties) is necessary because theses are filed or bound, and the text near the spine must remain legible.

Common exceptions:

UBB Cluj frequently recommends a 3 cm left margin and 2 cm right margin, but some departments require 2.5 cm on all sides.
ASE București specifies explicitly in its published guides: 3 cm left / 2 cm right / 2.5 cm top and bottom.
Universitatea din București commonly uses 2.5 cm on all sides, with the Faculty of Law requiring 3 cm on the left.

Setting in Word: Layout → Margins → Custom Margins. Enter the values manually; do not use the automatic presets.

Fonts and sizes

The near-universal font for Romanian bachelor’s theses is Times New Roman, size 12, at 1.5 line spacing. The alignment for body text is justified (left-right), and the first line of each paragraph is indented 1.25 cm (equivalent to a standard tab).

Practical rules:

Body text: Times New Roman 12, regular, 1.5 line spacing
Thesis title (title page): 14–16 pt, bold, centred
Chapter titles (Heading 1): 14 pt, bold, all caps or title case, left-aligned or centred (according to the chosen style)
Subheadings (Heading 2): 13 pt, bold
Third-level headings (Heading 3): 12 pt, bold italic
Footnotes: 10 pt, single spacing, Times New Roman
Table content: 10–11 pt is acceptable to save space

Do not use:

sans-serif fonts (Arial, Calibri) for body text, occasionally permitted for headings in some technical faculties; Times New Roman remains the humanities and economics standard;
colour in the text (exception: hyperlinks in the bibliography may remain blue or be formatted black without underlining);
underlined text for emphasis; prefer bold or italic.

Header, footer, and pagination

Page numbers are placed, as a rule, in the footer, centred or right-aligned. The number appears as a plain Arabic numeral, without a full stop, parentheses, or any other decoration.

General rule for the first page:

The title page carries no visible number but is counted (it is page 1).
The table of contents may carry Roman numerals (i, ii, iii) or continue with Arabic numerals, depending on the faculty’s standards.
The main text begins at page 1 (or continues the numbering from the title page).

Setting in Word: Insert → Header & Footer → Page Number. Tick “Different First Page” if the title page should not display a number.

The header is optional in many standards. If the faculty requires it, it usually contains the abbreviated thesis title or the current chapter title. If not explicitly required, leave the header empty; it adds visual noise without value.

Automatic table of contents

A manually typed table of contents is one of the most costly mistakes: a single change in the text can render all page numbers wrong. Word (and LibreOffice Writer) offers an automatic table of contents that updates with a single click.

How to generate it in Word:

Format each chapter title with the Heading 1 style, each subheading with Heading 2, the next level with Heading 3.
Place the cursor where you want the table of contents (after the title page, before the introduction).
References → Table of Contents → Automatic Table 1 (or the three-level variant).
Before submission, right-click the table of contents → Update Field → Update entire table.

The automatic table of contents reflects your titles exactly as you have formatted them and pulls page numbers in real time. If you change a title, updating takes a few seconds.

Number of levels: most faculties accept up to three levels in the table of contents (1, 1.1, 1.1.1). A fourth level makes reading more difficult and is not recommended except in extended master’s or doctoral dissertations.

Chapters, subchapters, heading hierarchy

The hierarchical structure of headings must be visually and logically consistent. The recommended numbering:

1. Chapter (Heading 1)
   1.1. Subchapter (Heading 2)
      1.1.1. Section (Heading 3)

Rules to apply:

Do not skip levels: a Heading 3 should not follow directly after a Heading 1.
Each new chapter begins on a new page (insert a Page Break, not repeated Enter keys).
Chapter titles do not end with a full stop.
A subchapter cannot stand alone; if you have 1.1, you must also have 1.2.

Modify the Heading styles from Home → Styles to match the font and size required by the faculty. Do not format each heading manually with bold and font size; styles ensure automatic consistency.

Tables and figures

Tables have their title above; figures (graphs, diagrams, photographs, screenshots) have their title below. This is the standard convention in Romanian academic publishing.

Format for a table title:

Table 1. Distribution of respondents by age group

Format for a figure title:

Figure 3. Evolution of GDP per capita 2015–2024

Numbering is either continuous throughout the thesis (Table 1, 2, 3… or Figure 1, 2, 3…) or per chapter (Table 2.1, 2.2 for Chapter 2). Choose one approach and apply it uniformly.

If the thesis contains more than five tables or five figures, faculties generally require a List of Tables and a List of Figures after the table of contents.

The source of a table or figure taken from another work is indicated below the element:

Source: Adapted from Popescu (2023, p. 47)

In-text citations

The citation style must be consistent throughout the thesis and must correspond exactly to the chosen bibliographic style. The most widely used systems in Romania:

APA 7: predominant in social sciences, psychology, economics
Chicago (Author-Date): used in humanities and historical disciplines
Vancouver: specific to medical and biological fields
Harvard: common in law and management

Example of in-text citation in APA:

“The concept of social capital has been substantially redefined over the past two decades” (Putnam, 2020, p. 134).

Or with the author integrated into the sentence:

Putnam (2020, p. 134) argues that ”…”.

The in-text citation should not contain the title of the work; that appears in the bibliography. In the text, you cite the author, year, and page (or page range).

Bibliography

The bibliography is placed at the end of the thesis, before the appendices, on a new page. Entries are ordered alphabetically by the first author’s surname, regardless of the order in which citations appear in the text (in APA and Harvard style).

Formatting the bibliography requires a few principles:

the same style for all sources (do not mix APA with Chicago);
online sources include the URL and the date of access;
book and journal titles are in italics;
multiple authors are separated by commas (APA: the last author is preceded by ”&”).

See the detailed bibliography guide

Appendices

Appendices contain supplementary material that supports the argumentation in the thesis but would impede reading if included in the body: questionnaires, interview transcripts, extended data sets, legal or contractual documents, screenshots, field photographs.

Standard format:

Each appendix begins on a new page.
They are numbered: Appendix 1, Appendix 2 (or Appendix A, Appendix B at some faculties).
Each carries a descriptive title: “Appendix 1. Questionnaire administered to respondents”.
Reference in the text: “(see Appendix 1)”.
Appendices are listed in the table of contents if their volume is significant.

Pagination continues normally through the appendices; it does not restart from 1.

Institution-specific standards: UBB, ASE, UB

Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai (UBB), Cluj-Napoca

UBB does not publish a single university-wide guide; standards vary by faculty and even by department. The general tendency at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FSEGA) and the Faculty of Sociology is:

Times New Roman 12, 1.5 line spacing, margins 2.5 cm top/bottom/right, 3 cm left.
Automatic table of contents with a maximum of three levels.
Bibliography in APA 7 or Harvard style (verify with your supervisor).
The title page follows the template provided by the faculty office.

UBB-specific note: many supervisors require the thesis title to appear in the header of internal pages (centred, size 10) for quick identification. Verify whether your supervisor requires or prohibits a header.

Academia de Studii Economice (ASE), București

ASE publishes more standardised guidelines. The official guide for bachelor’s and master’s theses specifies:

Times New Roman 12, 1.5 line spacing, A4 page.
Margins: left 3 cm, right 2 cm, top 2.5 cm, bottom 2.5 cm.
Chapter titles: Times New Roman 14 bold, all caps.
Subheadings: Times New Roman 13 bold.
Page numbering: footer, centred, Arabic numerals.
Bibliography in APA style or as specified by the department.

ASE is one of the universities with the strictest formal controls; the offices of some faculties return theses with an exact list of non-conformities.

Universitatea din București (UB)

UB has faculties with different editorial traditions. A few constants:

Faculty of Law: Times New Roman 12, 1.5 line spacing, extensive footnotes (the Oxford/OSCOLA format is common), 3 cm left margin.
Faculty of Letters: permits more flexibility in the choice of bibliographic style, but automatic table of contents and heading hierarchy are obligatory.
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences: APA 7 is standard; the typesetting guide is aligned with APA publications.

At UB, the general recommendation is to download the official title page template from the faculty website and use it as the starting point for the rest of the document.

Common mistakes (and how to avoid them)

Manually generated table of contents. Page numbers change inevitably after edits. Generate the table of contents automatically and update it immediately before the final save.
Inconsistent heading styles. If you format some titles manually (bold + font size), they will not appear in the automatic table of contents. Use Word’s Heading styles.
Double spaces between words. A habit from typewriter days or from copy-pasting out of PDFs? Use Find & Replace (Ctrl+H): search for ” ” (two spaces), replace with ” ” (one space), repeat until nothing is found.
Blank lines between paragraphs instead of style-based spacing. This creates uneven spacing and complicates typesetting. Set spacing in Paragraph → Spacing: Before/After and delete the manual blank lines.
Figures and tables without a source. Any element taken from another work must indicate the source. The absence of a source may be interpreted as visual plagiarism.
Inconsistent bibliography. Mixing styles (some entries in APA, others with the book title underlined instead of italicised) signals carelessness. Use a reference manager (Zotero, Mendeley) or check each entry against the chosen style guide.
Footnote font larger than body text. Footnotes must be smaller (10 pt), not the same size as the main text.

How to check that your thesis is ready for submission

Work through this checklist before printing or sending the final electronic file:

When to seek assistance

If you are working under time pressure or are uncertain whether you have applied all the standards correctly, technical support from a typesetting specialist can eliminate the risk of your thesis being returned. Holipore offers editorial support and typesetting consultancy: checking conformity with university standards, correcting the document’s formal structure, and assisting with automatic generation of the table of contents, lists, and bibliography.

The content and argumentation remain entirely yours. The support concerns exclusively the formal and technical structure of the document.

Find out more about the typesetting service

How to typeset a bachelor's thesis correctly: a step-by-step guide for the major Romanian universities (2026)