Undergraduate Thesis Formatting Guide (Series) 03: Page Numbers and Sections — Why Front Matter and Main Body Often Use Different Numbering

In an undergraduate thesis, page numbers are not decoration. They serve three rigid tasks:

1. Location: comments, defense discussions, and advisor edits rely on page numbers for fast targeting
2. Navigation: a TOC/bookmarks only matter if they point to the correct page
3. Archiving/printing: binding, scanning, and electronic archiving require stable ordering and header/footer rules

So the goal is not “comfort”. It is stable, traceable, maintainable.

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2.1 They serve different reader tasks

• Front matter (abstract, TOC, lists of figures/tables) is the navigation UI: it helps readers decide where to enter
• Main body is the argument: page numbers become coordinates for review and discussion

So a common design is:

• front matter uses one numbering convention (or shows numbers more subtly) to emphasize navigation
• the main body starts at “1” to emphasize “the argument begins here”

2.2 “Main body starts at 1” is a psychological boundary

For reviewers, page 1 of the body often means “the argument starts”.

If the cover/acknowledgements/TOC consume pages 1–5 and the body starts at 6, the communication cost rises — especially for offline annotation and oral discussion.

2.3 Why front matter page numbers are often hidden or use Roman numerals

Regardless of whether your school requires Roman numerals, the rationale is:

• the cover page often does not display a number, but it is still a page in the document
• the abstract/TOC need page numbers for navigation, but you don’t want them to “compete” with the meaning of body page 1

So two common approaches appear:

• front matter uses a different numbering system (e.g., i, ii, iii…)
• or front matter hides/weakens numbering while still keeping TOC numbers accurate

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Many people think page breaks can solve everything. Page breaks only change pages.

Sections exist to change rules from this point on, such as:

• page number format (Roman/Arabic), restarting at 1
• header/footer content (front matter without chapter titles; body with chapter titles)
• “different first page” behavior (chapter first page without header or without page number)
• page orientation (landscape pages in some cases — not covered here, but note it also relies on sections)

In one sentence: if rules must change “from here”, you need a section break.

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Page numbers and headers/footers are “positioning guides”. Their job is to let the reader quickly know:

1. where they are now (page number)
2. where they are in the structure (chapter/section, often in the header)
3. whether navigation is trustworthy (after jumping from the TOC, are numbers continuous and correct?)

So they must be stable and restrained. If a few pages are manually altered or suddenly different, readers intuitively feel “this document is unreliable”.

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Think of an undergraduate thesis as three zones:

[Zone A] Cover (often no visible page number) [Zone B] Front matter: abstract / TOC / lists (may use different numbering rules) [Zone C] Main body: starts at Introduction (often restarts at 1; headers/footers enter “work mode”)

This typically requires at least two section boundaries:

• A → B (cover → front matter)
• B → C (front matter → main body)

That is why templates keep warning you not to “simulate the look” with blank lines and page breaks — because you need rule boundaries, not just visual page changes.

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6.1 Simulating sections with many page breaks / blank lines

It may look correct at the moment, but as soon as you update the TOC, insert pages, or delete content, everything collapses.

6.2 “Link to previous” is not broken after a section break

You change the body header, and the front matter changes too; or you try to restart numbering at 1, but the front matter numbering is inherited.

6.3 The main body does not truly restart at 1 (or numbers skip/duplicate)

• the TOC becomes untrustworthy
• annotations become ambiguous (“page 3” of which part?)

6.4 First‑page rules are messy

Cover pages and chapter first pages often need different behavior (no header, no page number).

If you delete page numbers manually instead of using “different first page”, maintenance becomes a disaster.

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This is the natural entry point for a checker: validate maintainability and locatability rather than aesthetics.

7.1 Section structure acceptance criteria

• a clear section boundary exists between front matter and main body
• section breaks are true “Next Page section breaks”, not a stack of page breaks
• headers/footers inheritance is correctly broken where required (“link to previous” handled)

7.2 Page numbering system acceptance criteria

• cover page has no visible number (if required) but still counts in the document
• front matter numbering is continuous and matches the TOC
• main body restarts at 1 (or follows the official template’s start rule)
• no duplicate, skipped, or missing page numbers

7.3 TOC consistency (page-number focus only)

• after updating the TOC, its page numbers match the actual pages
• after inserting/removing content, the numbering system remains stable (not dependent on manual repair)