How to Create an Automatic Table of Contents for Your Dissertation in Microsoft Word

Teuku.Net - One of the most important aspects of writing a scientific paper such as a dissertation is the table of contents. Below are some guidelines and ways to automatically create a table of contents in Word 2010, 2013, 2016, and the latest version that will save you time without the hassle of editing page by page, which can be done in as little as 10 minutes.

The Table of Contents is a collection of titles and headings arranged sequentially at the beginning of a document after the Preface. The existence of a table of contents plays an important role in a scholarly work because it allows the reader to quickly understand the structure and contents of the entire document.

The main purpose of the table of contents is to provide the reader with a brief overview of the contents and sequence of pages in the scientific work. Therefore, Teuku.Net will give you tips and tricks on how to create an automatic table of contents in Microsoft Word for a dissertation as follows:

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1. Create an automatic table of contents in Microsoft Word 2010

Prepare the paper or thesis for which you want to create a table of contents, then prepare the items that will become the subheading. This table of contents consists of chapter headings and subheadings.

A. Creating a heading

The first step is to click on the title of each chapter, then select all the chapters from Chapter 1 to the last.

• To do this, select the title of each chapter, then click Home ➜ select Change Style ➜ select Heading 1
• Click on the chapter title and select Heading 1 so that it will appear as the title in the table of contents. In Heading 1 ➜ right click  ➜ choose Modify ➜ adjust the desired chapter name.
• Repeat the same method in Chapter 2, Chapter 3 until it's over.
• If there are sub-chapters in each chapter, repeat the method, then click on Heading 2, and click on Heading 3 if there are sub-chapters under other sub-chapters.
• Repeat the same method for other sub-chapters.

B. Automatically Create a Table of Contents in Word 2010

After you have created all the components of your table of contents, the next step is to create the table of contents on the page you want. You can do this by clicking Reference -> Table of Contents. This will automatically create the table of contents.

2. Create an Automatic Table of Contents in Microsoft Word 2013

A. Define the heading

To create an auto table of contents in Word 2013, the first step is to determine the heading, especially if the paper has many subchapters and bullet points. Here is how to do it:

• Select the word/sentence you want to block ➜ select Style (located in the Home feature in the upper right corner) ➜ select Heading 1 for the main section ➜ select Heading 2 for the sub-sections.
• Do this repeatedly until the subchapter is finished
• If you want to adjust the font, thickness, spacing, size, etc. of the heading, select the Options feature next to the Styles pop-up menu.

B. Inserting a Table of Contents

The next step in automatically creating a table of contents in Word 2013 is to add bullets to the table of contents. Here is how to do it.

• Click the References menu ➜ select Table of Contents ➜ select the first and second options for Automatic Table
• If you want to add or change details, click the Table of Contents section, then select Update Table, the page numbers will change by themselves.

3. Creating an Automatic Table of Contents in Microsoft Word 2016

A. Arranging headings

Before creating an automatic table of contents, the first step is to arrange the chapters and subchapters of your paper.

• Select Chapter 1, then click Style ➜ Select Heading 1.
• Repeat for chapter 2, 3 and so on until it is finished.
• When the main chapter is finished, move on to the sub-chapters. Select Subchapter 1, then click Style ➜ Select Heading 2
• Repeat for other sub-chapters that are part of the main chapter.
• If there is a third sub-chapter in the paper, do the same by clicking Style ➜ Select Heading 3. Repeat for the other three sub-chapters
• If you want to change the heading, click Style ➜ Modify (Change).

B. Arranging the Table of Contents

When all chapters and sub-chapters are complete, the next step is to create a table of contents that Word 2016 will fill in automatically.

• Click References ➜ Table of Contents ➜ Select the desired table of contents format.
• After selecting the desired format, the table of contents will fill in automatically. If it does not fill in automatically, click Update Table next to the Table of Contents.

These are the ways that Teuku.Net can do to automatically organize and create a table of contents in Microsoft Word 2010, 2013 and 2016 for the purposes of thesis and other scientific works. Please note that the latest version of Microsoft Word also has more or less the same method as the previous versions of Word.