All publication series require that the layout of the theses is consistent. The Humak instructions for theses, references and bibliographies should be observed in all theses completed at Humak. With precise references, the reader knows at all times which text is the author’s own contribution and which is quoted from sources. With the reference list, the reader is able to obtain further information and to check the accuracy of the quoted material. In addition, the references give credit to and respect the copyright of the original author. Insufficient referencing is considered a failure in research ethics. You can find instructions on how to comply with standardized Humak references from the Humak citation guide.
Theses must be accessible. This is required by digital service distribution law (306/2019) and EU’s accessibility directive (2016/2102). Works that completely disregard accessibility cannot be accepted for evaluation. Accessibility requirements for theses can be found here.
A thesis is written on a thesis template (Choose: Other forms needed for your thesis). It has the right layouts for a thesis text, but it doesn’t yet include accessibility options. A student needs to follow the template’s layout and add an alternative text to pictures, add subtitles to AV-material and sent a PDF/A-format text for final evaluation.
The page numbering is started from the cover page, but the page number should not be visible on the cover page, the abstracts and the table of contents (in a word processor, this may require section breaks to separate the first pages from the body text). The numbering should be continued as running numbers throughout the bibliography and appendices.
The headings are numbered and start at the left margin. The main headings are capitalised, and the subheading written with lowercase letters. Headers must use the styles used in the template (header styles, running text etc.) A blank space must be left above and below both the main headings and sub-headings. If you want to emphasise something in the text, using bolding rather than cursive. Usually even bolding isn’t necessary. Direct quotations longer than three lines are indented and typed with line spacing 1.
Abstracts are written on the dedicated form template. The abstract is placed immediately after the cover page. If the thesis of a Finnish degree programme is written in a language other than Finnish, the thesis will also have to include a Finnish abstract. Theses of English degree programmes do not have to include a Finnish abstract. Detailed bibliographic information and key words of the thesis are recorded in the abstract for the purposes of information search. References or page numbers should not be included in the abstract. The maximum length of an abstract is one page with line spacing 1. The passive voice should be used when writing the abstract. As a rule, the past tense should be used, except for the commentary of generic results and conclusions, which should be written in the present tense. It is worth putting a lot of effort into the quality of the abstract, because the reader often decides whether or not to read the thesis further based on the abstract.
The table of contents is placed after the abstracts and the heading “contents” or “table of contents” is used. The page number should not be visible on the table of contents page. The abstract is listed at the beginning of the table of contents in capital letters before the actual content of the thesis. If the thesis includes appendices, “APPENDICES” will be added to the end of the table of contents in uppercase letters with the page number from which the appendices begin.
It’s a good idea to use figures and tables to illustrate the text, although this should not be overdone. Figures, tables and images should be named and numbered. The name and number of the figures and images are placed under the image, and for tables, above the tables. Both have their own sequential numbering. Photographs must contain a caption which must complement the other information and not simply copy what has already been said in the text.