Table of Contents

The table of contents does not require much in the way of creativity or originality, but it is nonetheless a very important part of any report. It will give the reader a rough idea of what to expect in the report, and how the report will be structured. Additionally, it can be used to quickly find out where to look for certain information.

To make the table of contents as useful as possible, all chapters, sections and subsections should have informative titles. Page numbers should be employed to show where all the different report elements can be found.

Let’s use the template version to highlight the formatting conventions for a table of contents:

Take note of the following conventions:

• The Summary, List of variables and Bibliography do not have chapter numbers.
• The Introduction, core chapters and Conclusions chapter have regular chapter numbers, and their sections and subsections are labelled accordingly.
• The appendices are listed by letter rather than chapter numbers.
• The table of contents does not list itself.