Thesis Accessibility Guidance

Headings

Headings are the section titles of the page and provide structure to the document. Headings appear visually with styles like increased font size, bold, or italics. When the styles are applied, it allows readers to quickly skim the document and jump to the section they want to read.

Headings also play an important role in digital accessibility as when headings are programmatically applied, all users can use the headings to quickly jump to the sections they want to read. In a Word document, users can go to the View tab and select the Navigation pane, showing all the headings on the page. In Google Docs, there is a Tabs and outlines sidebar (under View) that can be collapsed or expanded.

Headings should be in hierarchical order. Typically, heading level 1 is the title of the document. Heading level 2s are the main sections. Heading level 3s are subsections within the section, and so on. Headings range from levels 1 to 6. Headings should only increase by one level at a time; do not skip over other levels. When decreasing in headings, it is okay to decrease by more than one. For example, in this document the following heading structure is applied:

• H1: Thesis Accessibility
  • H2: Headings
    • H3: Document Title
  • H2: Tables
  • H2: Figures
    • H3: Graphical Data
  • H2: References
    • H3: APA
      • H4: In-text Citations
      • H4: Reference List
    • H3: MLA
  • H2: Resources

For larger documents, it is okay to have more than one heading level. Best practice is that there is only one heading level 1, but due to the length of some thesis or dissertation documents, it may make readability easier if there is more the one heading level 1. Headings should still follow the same hierarchical order and rules for increasing one at a time. For example, a five-chapter dissertation could be set up like:

• H1: Title of Dissertation
  • H2: Approval Page
  • H2: List of Tables
  • H2: List of Figures
• H1: Chapter 1
  • H2: Research Methodology
• H1: Chapter 2
• H1: Chapter 3
  • H2: Research Design
  • H2: Data Collection
    • H3: Participants
    • H3: Sampling
      • H4: Sample Size

To apply headings, in Word documents, on the home page, there is a Styles option that lets users select the heading. Word has a generic heading format, but if users would like to update it, there is an option to Modify the heading so that it fits with the visual styles of the paper.  In Google, there is a Styles combo box on the editing bar so users can adjust the heading levels.

Adding a Document Title

Document titles should also be clear to readers. The document title is a part of the metadata. While the text name may be the same, this is separate from the heading level 1. The heading level 1 is the title of the main content, but the title document is the title of the metadata / document itself. To add a document title in Microsoft Word, go to Info, then to Properties. There is an “Add a title” option. In Google docs, adding a title is the document title.

Heading Resources

• Headings resource (DAO)
• Using Styles for Proper Heading Structure in Microsoft Office
• Headings in Microsoft Word (video)
• Headings in Google Suite

Tables

Tables should be used for tabular data, not visual layout (e.g., using a table to align pictures in a grid for purely aesthetic value or creating columns on a page). The top row is called the row header, which describes each of the columns beneath it. There is also a column header which describes the row information. The column header is required whereas row headers are not but are generally nice to have but depend on the data and layout. An example is provided below:

In addition to the headers, the table should be described in the text or a caption so it is clear what the table is about. Lastly, avoid empty data cells. This can cause assistive technology to skip over the column, making it difficult to understand the information. Instead of empty cells, use “N/A” or “not provided.” There is one exception to this rule: if there are column and row headers, then the top left data cell A1, can be left blanks. However, it is not typical to have this type of table in APA Format.

In Word, to add a header, highlight the top row, then go to the Table Design tab. Select the checkbox for “header row.” Then, go to the Table Layout tab and select properties. Go to the row tab and select “repeat as header row at the top of each page.” This will repeat the top row (column header) when there is a page break, making it easier to visually read the table.

Table Resources

• Table resource (DAO)
• Accessible tables in Microsoft Word (video)

Figures

To make figures accessible, alternative text should be provided. Alternative text, or “alt text,” is a written description of the visual content in the image. Alt text is concise and short. If your alt text is longer than a few sentences, then a figure caption or long description should be used as well. If the image is decorative and does not have any meaningful content, then the image should be designated as such.

For figures that have text in the image, the alternative text needs to include the text as assistive technology cannot read it off of an image. If it is too much for alternative text, then the text should be repeated in the surrounding written text and the image marked as decorative.

For Word, when there is an image, select it and go to the Picture Format tab. Select Alt Text. In the desktop version, you can right-click on the image and select View Alt Text. A text field to add the alt text will appear in the right-hand navigation pane. In the desktop version, there is a checkbox to mark an image as decorative. There is a way to “Generate alt text for me.” These results have not been very accurate, so it will need to be reviewed by the content creator. In Google and Microsoft Office Online, there is no way to mark an image as decorative.

Graphical Data

For graphs or visual representations of data, the figure needs alternative text. It is important for the content creator to identify why they included that graphical data and what the information they want readers to get. If there is a trend or important data points to call out, then that can be included in the alternative text.

Figure Resources

• Alternative text resource (DAO)
• Microsoft Word alternative text

Visual Style

Visual styling is another important consideration for accessibility. Visual style can refer to any visual formatting like text, italics, bolding, underlines, punctuation, and color. Visual styles can be very helpful to improve comprehension or the emphasize points. However, visual styles should not be the only way that meaningful information is conveyed.

Some things to keep in mind: