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Write a thesis or long report in WPS Writer

A thesis is a styles problem wearing a research costume. If Heading 1 is real, the table of contents, PDF bookmarks, and page numbers can be honest. If Heading 1 is just 16 pt bold, you will fight the file until the deadline.

Day-zero setup (one hour, once)

  1. University template if they issued one. If they issued a Word .dotx, open it in Writer and test page count against a friend on Word. If it drifts, stay on Word. Policy beats software.
  2. No template: A4 or Letter as they named. Margins as they named. Body 12 pt, 1.5 or double as they named. Heading 1/2/3 from the style gallery, modified to their font.
  3. Title page: different first page header. Page numbers start at 1 on the first content page, not on the cover — that is a section break, not a suggestion.
  4. One folder: thesis/chapters, thesis/figures, thesis/bib. Insert pictures from files at a sane width (15 cm), not paste from a messenger at 400%.

TOC, lists of figures, captions

Insert Table of Contents after the title matter. Update entire table the morning you submit. Captions: Insert Caption on every figure and table. List of figures is a TOC that looks at the Caption style. Cross-reference the figure number, never “the figure on the next page.”

Citations

WPS is not Zotero. If your department lives in Word’s citation tool, EndNote, or Mendeley, generate the bibliography there or in Zotero and paste, or write the thesis in Word. A handmade hanging-indent “References” list is fine for ten items and a crime at 120 items when the style guide changes.

Backup religion

Dated DOCX every writing day. USB or a second cloud you actually opened in a browser. AutoRecover on the SSD. Export PDF weekly so you have a readable snapshot if DOCX dies. Recovery order is for after the mistake; dated copies are for before.

Submit

Accept all tracked changes. Delete comments. Update TOC. Export PDF. Open the PDF on a phone and on a campus PC. Click TOC links. Check that Arabic/CJK glyphs are not tofu. If the portal wants DOCX, send DOCX, not .wps. Filename: surname-studentid-thesis.pdf as they asked, not FINAL(3).pdf.

Guide: Writer · PDF.

Figures that survive print

Charts: build in Spreadsheet, paste as picture at a fixed width, or as an editable object and test on a campus PC. Screenshots: crop in Photo, insert, compress. Two-page figures: landscape section, then back to portrait. Number continuously. If the list of figures shows “Figure 1” twice, you copied a caption as text instead of a field.

Committee markup

Each round: new dated DOCX, Track Changes on, comments for questions. When they say “accept all and send PDF,” do that on a copy. Keep the marked file in an archive folder. Universities lose emails; you should not lose the only proof of a requested cut.