KANDIDATUPPSATS I FÖRETAGSEKONOMI
Civilekonomprogrammet
Att utforma ett
examensuppsatsmanuskript
Riktlinjer för examensuppsatsskrivare vad
gäller utformning av manuskript
Per Frankelius
Henrik Nehler
Handledare:
Gunilla Söderberg
29 maj 2012
Titel:
Att utforma ett examensuppsatsmanuskript – Riktlinjer för examensuppsatsskrivare vad gäller utformning
av manuskript
English title:
Designing a Master’s thesis Manuscript – Guidelines for Master Thesis Authors to design a manuscript
Författare:
Per Frankelius och Henrik Nehler
Handledare:
Peter Gustavsson
Publikationstyp:
Kandidatuppsats i företagsekonomi
Civilekonomprogrammet
Grundläggande nivå, 15 högskolepoäng
Vårterminen 2012
Inlämningsdatum: 29 maj 2012
ISRN: XXXXXXXXX
Linköpings universitet
Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling (IEI)
www.liu.se
Kontaktinformation, författarna:
Per Frankelius: 0708-12 34 56, per@frankelius.com
Henrik Nehler: 0701-12 34 56, henrik@nehler.com
© 2012 Per Frankelius och Henrik Nehler
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Summary
These guidelines deal with questions of the formal aspects of designing Bachelors theses written at the Department of Management and Engineering at Linköping University.
The purpose of these guidelines is to bring about a common layout for design and format used in the PDF-file that is to be handed in. The compilation can largely be considered an example and suggestion of what guidelines should apply.
One goal was to create a layout template that is good enough from an “academicesthetic perspective” but at the same time simple and clear enough to fit with different
computers and different background skills in layout techniques. We wanted also to be
flexible, so that the layout is suitable for both one-side and two-side print (therefore we
did not make the ”inner marginal” shorter then the ”outer marginal” which is recommended in book formats for example. We also use the old classic typeface Times New
Roman, instead of modern typefaces that may not exist in all kinds of computers.
The design of the first pages of the report is important. The layout of the first pages
is shown first in this publication. After this you will find suggestions for appropriate
typeface, signs, margins, headings, etc. Then the organization of sources, footnotes and
references is suggested. It is self-evident that there is no referring to a “correct formula”
for designing an Bachelors thesis. It is therefore important to see this document as a
model for or example of a possible layout and organization.
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1 The first pages of the report
1.1. Front page
The design of the first pages depends on what format the thesis is to be printed in. If the
writer wants to print the thesis in A4 format the following can be the guideline:
Page 1 should have the layout as shown in this document. Notice these details:
– The logo shall be in the version shown here or the same but English if the report is
written in English.
– The logo shall be placed in the page head, after a blank line (in normal format, that is
12 points Times New Roman). There shall be no blank line below the logo in the
head.
– In the page zone you start with one blank line (normal format) and then place the text
“EXAMENSARBETE I FÖRETAGSEKONOMI” (or the text “EXAM THESIS IN
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION”, capitals, 14 points Times New Roman, centered.
– Directly under that line (no empty line between) you then write “Civilekonomprogrammet” (or “Internationella Civilekonomprogrammet” or “Fristående kurs” it that
is the program you attend in) with the same text format (14 points).
– Under that line you then put in exactly 8 empty lines (normal format, 12 points
Times New Roman).
– Then your main report title appear in 28 points Times New Roman and centered.
– Under the main report title, you can (if you want) place a subtitle. In that case use
one blank page between them (format normal), and write the subtitle in 22 points
Times New Roman, normal (not fat) and centered (and no dot after it). Notice that
you do not need any dash before that subtitle (but use a dash in cases when you write
out your full title in plain text).
– Under the title or subtitle place 4 empty lines.
– Then writhe the authors names in Times New Roman, 18 points, centered.
– Under this you should write the word “Supervisor:” (Handledare:) and then tutors
name on next line. After that place 2 empty lines and than write the date in this format: “20 maj 2013” or in English: “May 20, 2013”. Because different titles are differently long and because different projects can have one, two or more authors, we
have to adjust the number of empty lines between the last author name and the line
“Supervisor:” Make sure that there is one empty line under the date line.
Notice that “Normal format” mean not only 12 points, Times New Roman, but also single spacing and no other extra points above or below the line.
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1.2 The following intro pages of the report
Page 2 (the next page after the front page) contain publisher’s information starting with
the title in both Swedish and English. Notice that you here write the subtitle (if you have
that) directly after the main title and with a dash [tankstreck] between as well as one
empty space on each side of the dash). Then follows authors, supervisor, type of publication, Date for publication/hand-in-date, ISRN-number, Linköping University, Department of Management and Engineering (IEI), www.liu.se, contact information to
authors, and copyright line (see example in this report). Please notice that the spelling of
Linköping University and the department is different in Swedish and English regarding
capital letters. In Swedish Linköpings universitet, should be spelled like this (not Linköpings Universitet), for example.
Page 3 is the abstract-in-English page. We suggest the following structure of this page:
– Start with the title (with a dash between main title and subtitle it you have a subtitle).
Then follows a new empty line and then “Authors:” and the author(s) name(s) on the
same line. Under that write some document information and supervisors name. Then
comes the abstract text. We recommend you to use maximum 200 words. End up with
five to seven appropriate search terms (key words). See the following example (in miniature).
Abstract
Att utforma ett examensuppsatsmanuskript – Riktlinjer för examensuppsatsskrivare vad gäller utformning av
manuskript (Designing a Master’s thesis Manuscript – Guidelines for Master Thesis Authors to design a manuscript)
Authors: Per Frankelius and Henrik Nehler
Bachelors thesis in business administration
Linköpings University, Department of Management and Engineering, 2012.
Supervisor: Gunilla Söderberg
Abstract
These guidelines deal with the formal aspects of designing MSc theses at the Department of Management and Engineering at Linköping University. The purpose is to bring about a common layout for design and format used in the
PDF-file that is to be handed in. One goal was to create a layout template that is good enough from an “academicesthetic perspective” but at the same time simple enough to fit different computers and different background skills.
The design of the first pages of the report is important. The layout of the first pages is shown first in this publication.
After this you will find suggestions for appropriate typeface, signs, margins, headings, etc. Then the organization of
sources, footnotes and references is suggested. It is self-evident that there is no referring to a “correct formula” for
designing an MSc thesis. Look at this document as an example of a possible layout and organization.
Key words: thesis manual, guideline, master thesis, document layout.
Page 4 is the summary page (or start of it, if you use more than one page). This is not an
abstract (which is very short) but longer. We recommend 1-3 pages. This summary content must contain background, aim, method used, result and conclusions. It is written in
the same language as the report text and the heading should be “Summary” or “Sammanfattning”.
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This page should not be numbered.
Page 5 should include the preface, if any.
Page 6 has the heading “Contents” and here starts the “Table of Contents”. After the
Table of Contents the figures are listed. Title: “Figures” (“Tables”). Here the reader is
provided with numbers, titles and page references.
Page 6 is the first text page (probably heading like “Introduction” or something refering
to the core content of the report) and here the pagination, if possible, starts with Page 1.
This page must always be a right-hand page (that is uneven number). If the Table of
Contents has an uneven number of pages, a blank page must be inserted before this first,
numbered page.
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2 Booklet format
If the writer wants to publish the thesis in S5, i.e. booklet format, you can use the same
guideline as mentioned before. The difference is that you need to put in blank pages
behind the abstract, for example, so that each new part of the beginning pages starts on a
right (non even number) page.
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3 Layout (suggested)
3.1 Margins and typefaces
This text was written in MS Word. In this instruction the format of the document has
been defined by using head margins of 2.5 cm, foot margin and left- and right-hand
margins of 3 cm. The text width (that is, the ruler) then will be 15 cm. The article was
written with aligned left-hand and right-hand margins and the spacing is 17 points (that
is, full width), which can be justified under “paragraph” in MS Word. Seventeen points
equals spacing of between 1 and 1.5 points. The typeface used here is Times New Roman, 12 points. This information is very important if the thesis is to be printed in S5format.
The reason why we use spacing of 1.5 points for the “normal” text is that the report
is to be photographed down to 81% of full size when it is printed in the S5-format (in
the case that the department decides to print the thesis in a booklet format). In that case,
12 points may be difficult to read. If the report is going to be printed as a “little book”, it
is important that the margins should be wide enough so that the text near the inside
margin is readable. We have chosen 3 cm as the minimum width for that margin.
If you choose another layout, try to reduce your A4-page to 81% on a photocopier
and you will then see what the layout will be like.
3.2 Page numbers
The pages should be numbered (also in working versions of the manuscript). The front
pages shall not have a visible page number. Mark the ”special frontpage box” (annorlunda förstasida) at ”Document layout” (under the Format menu). If possible do not
show the page numbers on the first pages before and incuding the table of content.
The page numbers, in 18 points (with a dash on each side), are centred at the bottom
of the page. We suggest this format (instead of 12 points for example) to give the reports a little “graphical touch”.
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4 Typefaces in headings
In the text, chapter headings are set in, for example, 24-point type, lowercase, boldface,
centred. Between the heading and the text two line spaces are inserted (two “return”).
The next level heading should be centred as well, bolded, 18 points, and lowercase. The
third level, 14 points, lowercase, boldface and centred:
1 Chapter One
1.2 Level heading two
1.1.1 Level heading three
Avoid a fourth unnumbered level
Regarding blank spaces above and below different kinds of headings this is the recommendation:
Between a paragraph and a new heading two line spaces are added (two “returns”). The
only exceptions are the following:
– Efter a chapter heading where plain text follows, use three empty lines.
– After a chapter heading where a new heading follows directly, use only one empty
line.
See example below. Notice that all empty lines should have the ”normal format”, that is
Times New Roman, size 12 – otherwise the spaces will differ.
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5 Quotations
Quotations are always followed by a reference to the source and it goes without saying
that quotations must always be accurately reproduced. Avoid numerous quotations and
too long quotations as they make heavy reading.
Use quotation marks to set off a quotation and, if appropriate, indentation and italics.
In the example below, the quotation has been indented; 1 cm on the left-hand side and 1
cm on the right-hand side, and it is printed in italics, in 12-point type. The source and
the page number of the cited work are always placed beneath the quotation, in 12-point
type. A quotation may look like this.
“Att direkt använd andras formuleringar utan att ange källan betraktas som
ett slags stöld.”
Source: Wiedersheim-Paul & Eriksson, 1987 (p. 109)
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6 References
According to Wiedersheim-Paul & Eriksson (1987), references should always be given
for indirectly reported statements. It may also be appropriate to give references in order
to find support for an argument and account for which of the writer’s thoughts are based
on specialized literature.
A neat way of referencing is to refer to the cited writers consecutively. In that case,
the writer’s surname and the work’s publication year are enclosed in parentheses in
connection with the argument (see Wiedersheim-Paul, 1987). Otherwise, the source is
incorporated as part of the text as in the example below.
“…liknande resonemang framför av bl.a. Lundahl & Skärvad (1982) vilka poängterar
vikten av att använda källhänvisningar för att styrka ett resonemang”. …eller ”Som
bl.a. Weber (1920) påpekar, så måste organisationen…”.
If you base an argument on several writers, you can note that in parentheses after the
paragraph or the sentence (see eg Kotler & Armstrong, 1991; Keegan, 1984; and Alvesson, 1989) or (cf Hofstede, 1991; Knutsson, 1984; Frost et al, 1986). Thus, names and
years are written in the main body of the text whereas the complete reference is placed
in the systematic list of references at the end of the thesis. If references are used consecutively in the text, the footnotes may instead be used for providing explanations or “extra” information1.
1
The footnotes should be numbered in consecutive order and placed on the same page
as the reference.
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7 List of references
In the list or references works referred to are given in alphabetical order according to
writer’s name, publication year, title, publisher, and place of publication. See example
below.
Dwyer, F. R., Schurr, P. H. & Oh, S., 1987, Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships,
Journal of Marketing, Vol. 51, No. 3, pp. 11-27.
Frost, P. J. et al (eds.), 1985, Organizational Culture, Sage Publications, Inc., Beverly
Hills, California.
Lundahl, U. & Skärvad, P. H., 1982, Utredningsmetodik för samhällsvetare och
ekonomer, Studentlitteratur, Lund.
Wiedersheim-Paul, F. & Eriksson, L. T., 1987, Att utreda och rapportera, Liber Förlag,
Malmö.
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8 Report language
You are allowed to write the report in Swedish or English. In either case it is not the
responsibility of the author(-s) to make sure that the languages used i properly and correctly used in the report. In those cases the students write the report in Swedish it is
storngly adviced that the recommendations of the ’Svenska Skrivregler’ is followed
throughout the report design as a lex generalis. Thus it is adviced that those who are
about to start their thesis writing acquire a copy of the booklet ’Svenska Skrivregler’ if
writing in Swedish, and if you are writing in English, you are recommended to acquire a
book to help with the language and formality issues of report writing (e.g. Howard S.
Becker ’Tricks of the Trade – How to think about your research while you’re doing it’,
The University of Chicago Press, 1998 (ISBN 0-226-04124-7)
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9 Instruction for converting a doc.format (Word) to a PDF-format
1. Open the word-document
2. Choose ‘Print’, but instead of the regular printer choose to print with ‘Acrobat
Distiller’ (See image below). When Acrobat Distiller is chosen press OK and
decide where the file is to be saved (for instance your file storage). The PDF-file
now has the same name as the word-file.
3. Done! If everything is done correctly the PDF-file should now be in your file
storage.
OR
1.
2.
3.
4.
open the word-document
Choose ‘Save as’ command and mark the ‘pdf’-alternative in the menu.
Clic ‘ok’
Done
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