Frequently Asked Questions

Through our nearly 20 years of thesis binding experience, we’ve pinpointed a certain number of questions that we hear over and over again. We’ve created an FAQ list for your convenience. If the answer you seek is not here, please email princeton@pequod.com and we will get back to you ASAP. Thank you!

1. When is the latest I can place my thesis order and have it ready by my department's due time?

   If you want to order goldstamping for your cover, you will need to order that at least 24 hours ahead of time. Title stamping is the most time-consuming part of the process and we need to have that ordered a day ahead of time. All you will need to know is your title and an approximate page count (+/- 5 pages). For the copying and binding portion of your thesis, the cutoff for ordering the copies from our online site is 9:00 a.m. the day of your due date.

2. What formatting should I use?

   Because the binding on the left side takes up some room, we recommend that you format your thesis to have a 1.5” margin on the left and 1” on the right. This will give your thesis a centered look once it is bound. We also ask that if you are giving us a digital file of your thesis for outputting, that you convert the file to a PDF. Also, if you have images in your thesis, we recommend that you make sure they are at least 300 dpi for best reproduction quality.

3. What are the most popular binding/paper options?

   For the most part, Princeton seniors tend to go with the Traditional Hard Binding. It fulfills all undergraduate thesis requirements and is the gold standard of the Pequod line of thesis products. In the end, though, the decision really should just boil down to what you think looks the best. It is, after all, your thesis; not Princeton’s. In terms of the paper choices it is again a matter of personal preference. A large majority of students opt for one of the acid-free, archival cotton papers as opposed to standard copy paper as most departments due require theses to be on acid-free, archival paper. We do recommend that if you are using color images in your thesis that you select the Bright White paper as opposed to the Natural White because the color images stand out better on Bright White.

4. Can I bring my own copies in to be bound?

   You can bring in your own copies to be bound, but we don’t recommend it. We strongly suggest you have us print your thesis. We say this for two reasons. The first is that laserprinters tend to curl the pages. We’ve seen instances where students have had their own laser-printed copies bound and not been pleased because of the curling of the pages. The other reason is that if you bring in your own copies, it could affect your cover size and if you pre-ordered title stamping; then your pages may not fit in the cover your title was stamped onto. Different types of paper have varying thickness. For example, 25% and 100% cotton paper are a good deal thicker than regular copy paper. Our cover sizes are based off of our cotton paper. Therefore, if you pre-order a cover that is sized for 100 cotton pages, and then bring in 100 regular copy pages, the cover will end up being too big for your pages. Something like that is usually not a problem as there are "spacers" we can put in to make the pages fit snugly in the cover. The real problem is if you use a stock that is thicker than our cotton papers; then your cover would end up being too small to fit the pages and there's nothing we can do about that except to recopy the pages on our paper. If you plan on bringing in your own printed out copies, we strongly recommend that you place your title stamping order (if desired) in person at our U-Store office. When you do so, bring an amount of the paper stock you plan to use equivalent to your estimated page count. That way, our people at the office can measure your paper and ensure that we set you up with the right size cover.

5. What if I need to make a change to my order after I have placed it?

   Changes can be made to an order after it is placed. The most important thing is to let us know immediately. If you notice a problem with either your title stamping order, or a problem in your PDF file, please email princeton@pequod.com as soon as possible with a detailed description of the error. You may also contact someone at our U-Store office at 609-921-7888 or princeton@pequod.com. Again, we stress that you do this as soon as you notice there’s a problem. During the month of April, we get very busy with orders, and many orders will go rapidly into production, sometimes within an hour of the order being received. There is always a chance that your order may get run anyway before you notify us of the problem; or before we get the email/voicemail. To prevent this from happening, students are encouraged, no begged actually, to PLEASE REVIEW YOUR PDF FILE AND TITLE STAMPING PROOF CAREFULLY BEFORE SUBMITTING FINAL ORDER!!!

6. What if I didn't get a confirmation email after I placed my order?

   If you did not receive a confirmation email after placing your order, please email princeton@pequod.com to confirm that your order was received. Many times this will happen because the student forgot to put an email address in their order, put an incorrect email address, or the confirmation email gets filtered out by spam filters. Whitelist us, NOW!