At first glance, the table of contents appears simple. You would be surprised how often supervisors reject table of contents because it is improperly formatted. In this post, you will learn how to create a good table of contents.
What is a Table of Contents?
A table of contents is a list of the parts of a book, research report or document, organized in the order in which the parts appear. It is made up of the titles of the first level headers, second level titles and sometimes third level titles or subsections.
Guidelines for creating a table of contents
A good table of contents should show what topics have been covered in your project report, and how your report has been organized. The titles of each and every chapter should be included in the table of contents, alongside its page number. Also, first level subheading and lower level sub headings(second level, third level and so on) should be included.
When creating a table of contents, ensure that the page numbers match the contents listed. For example, the chapter one of your project report would look something like this:
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction 1
Background of the study 2
Statement of the problem 3
Objectives of the study 4
Significance of the study 5
Scope of the study (Optional) 6
Limitation and Delimitation of the study 7
Definition of terms 8
Some points to note when creating a table of contents
1. Be sure that your page numbers are aligned in the right-hand column. Aligning the page numbers also makes a table of contents easier to read.
2. Follow your project format closely to ensure appropriate spacings between lines.
3. Check for proper indentations of chapter titles and subheadings. Chapter/section titles do not need to be indented, but each subheading level should be.
4. Do not use bold or italics in a table of contents unless it is required to denote a work or literature, botanical name, species, or any item that requires it.
5. Ensure that the page numbers match the contents listed.
Formatting your table of contents with Microsoft 2010(or earlier versions)
The process and concept are the same among any version of Microsoft Word. Go through each section/chapter of the document and specify the type of heading that section is. Basically, all you need to do is select the title of a section and click the "Heading 1 or Heading 2" under the Styles menu at the top. Scroll down and specify the headers of the other chapters in the project report.
When you are done with marking the section titles, scroll to the top of the document and insert Table of Contents by clicking References on the menu, then click Table of Contents, you will be presented with different designs. Select the design you prefer, the table of contents will be created automatically.
Whenever you change any heading or page number in the document, you can update the table of contents by selecting it and click the update table > update entire table.
Sample table of contents for a research project
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page i
Approval page ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract v
Table of contents vi
List of table
List of figures
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Background of the study 2
1.2 Statement of the problem 2
1.3 Purpose / objectives of the study 3
1.4 Research questions 4
1.5 Statement of the hypothesis 5
1.6 Scope of the study 5
1.7 Significance of the study 7
1.8 Limitation of the study 8
1.9 Definition of terms 9
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 Literature review 10
2.1 Introduction 11
2.2 Definition of communication 11
2.3 Effective communication in our organization 13
2.4 Communication process 15
2.5 Communication channel 17
2.5.1 Communication structure 19
2.6 Objectives of effective communication 20
2.7 Managing communication 23
2.7.1 How to manage information on communication 25
2.7.3 Channels 28
2.7.4 Communication about organization 29
2.7.5 Foster inter departmental communication 31
2.7.6 Develop an effective performance feedback 33
2.7.7 Corporate culture 35
2.8 Constraint of effective communication 37
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Research design and methodology 38
3.1 Introduction 41
3.2 Design of the study 43
3.3 Description of the instrument used for data collected 44
3.4 Validation of the instrument 47
3.5 Reliability of the study 49
3.6 Method of data analysis 50
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 Data presentation and analysis 51
4.1 Introduction 53
4.2 Presentation of data 55
4.3 Testing hypothesis 58
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 Summary of findings, conclusion and recommendation 59
5.1 Conclusion 61
5.2 Recommendation 63
References 65
Appendix 68
Questionnaire 71