MSC THESIS WRITING INSTRUCTIONS

Hannu Koponen MSc thesis writing instructions MSc thesis MSc degree program in Environmental Biology and Biogeochemistry University of Kuopio, Department of Environmental Science August 2008

CONTENTS 1. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS 2. LAYOUT 3. TABLES AND FIGURES

3.1 GENERAL 3.2 BAR CHART 3.3 LINE CHART 3.4. PIE CHART 3.5 SCATTER DIAGRAM 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 9 9 9 10 11 11 11 11 12

4. STRUCTURE
4.1 TITLE PAGE 4.2 ABSTRACT 4.3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4.4 ABBREVIATIONS AND DEFINITIONS 4.5 CONTENTS 4.6 INTRODUCTION 4.7 LITERATURE REVIEW 4.8 THE AIM OF THE WORK 4.9 MATERIALS AND METHODS 4.10 RESULTS 4.11 DISCUSSION 4.12 CONCLUSIONS 4.13 REFENCES 4.13.1 GENERAL 4.13.2 Harvard-system of referring 4.13.3 Vancouver system of referring 4.14 APPENDIXES APPENDIXES 1 MODEL FOR TITLE PAGE 2 MODEL FOR ABSTRACT PAGE

Name of the Author: Title of the Thesis

1. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
MSc thesis includes following sections:

Title page Abstract (max 1 page) Introduction Abbreviation Contents Introduction Literature review The Aim of the Work Materials and Methods Results Discussion Summary and conclusions References Appendix

2. LAYOUT
The following parameters are used

Page: A4, horizontal. Vertical can be used in case of tables/figures. Margins: Left and right 2,5, top and bottom 2,5 Columns: single column Alignment: Align both edges of your text Syllabication: Do not use syllabication Page numbers: Centre top margin. Pages are counted from TITLE PAGE. Page numbers are shown from Introduction. Page numbering is started from the beginning in each appendix. Font type and size: Times New Roman; Main text font size 12. Main headings CAPITAL font size 14. Other headings 12.The 1st and 2nd category headings with bolding, lower level headings with normal font. Spacing: 1 Spaces: Prior headings 2 empty lines, after headings and between paragraphs one empty line. Figures and tables are separated from the text by 2 empty lines. No tabulator.

3. TABLES AND FIGURES

3.1 GENERAL Tables and figures are meant to illustrate the results and as such shorten the text. Tables/figures should contain the most important results.

University of Kuopio Department of Environmental Science MSc Thesis

Name of the Author: Title of the Thesis When making figures/tables pay attention to:

Always refer to table/figure in text Tables/figure should fit to one page (this means no page breaks). Place the tables/figures close to the text that refers the table. Title of the table is placed on top of the table. Title of the figure is place at the bottom of the figure. Title should include all the information required to understand the figure/table. Tables/Figures are numbered by the order of appearance (both tables and figures have separate numberings i.e. Table 1, Figure 1) All the variables should include the SI units Tables and figures should be easy to read. In tables, the leftmost paragraph is used for the parameters or the phenomenon studied. Observations are placed to different rows. Avoid unnecessary lines in the table. Avoid raster. If figures are illustrated black and white pay attention to line types and raster. The differences should be easy to see. Use appropriate program for figures. Different figure types are presented in more detailed in the following subchapters.

3.2 BAR CHART

Good for comparing different values when intermittent variables (e.g. different treatments) In special occasions also for describing time dependency Vertical more clear than horizontal bar chart Histograms is used when describing distribution If necessary bar chart can include statistical parameters (min, max, etc) Avoid presenting too many parameters in one figure. If bars are divided into sections, perhaps pie chart is a better option

3.3 LINE CHART

Good for presenting the effect of time/distance to the parameter One figure can contain several lines. Keep the readability of the graph in mind when including many lines to one figure. Usually averages are presented. When using averages show the standard deviation (or standard error). Scaling should be adjusted so that coordinates of individual observations are easy to read. Scaling of the axes should be adjusted so, that the diagram fills the figure Coordinate axes should include the SI unit

3.4. PIE CHART

Good for presenting ratios and proportions If data requires many pie charts consider using bar chart instead Sectors should be arranged by size If printing black and white, pay special attention to visibility of different sectors Too many sectors make the pie chart hard to read

University of Kuopio Department of Environmental Science MSc Thesis

Name of the Author: Title of the Thesis 3.5 SCATTER DIAGRAM

Good for presenting the dependence between two variables Also regression curve can be drawn. In that case give equation of the regression and R2 value. Why to show regression curve if there is no regression?

4. STRUCTURE
4.1 TITLE PAGE Title page is shown in appendix 1. Title page includes:

Title of the work author Name of the university and name of the department month and year when published

4.2 ABSTRACT The length of the abstract page is 1 page. Abstract page is shown in appendix 2. Abstract page includes:

UNIVERSITY OF KUOPIO, Faculty of Natural and Environmental Science, Department of Environmental Science author: title of the MSc thesis MSc thesis, number of pages, amount of appendix, page numbers Supervisors and the organizations date (month and year) 5 - 10 keywords Short abstract (approximately pages). Abstract should include the premise and objectives of the studies, materials and methods in general level, key results and key discussion.

Abstract is short, independent disquisition on the thesis. The purpose of the abstract is to explain briefly the purpose of the work, what is studied, why it is studied, what the methods were and what the main results and conclusions were. Abstract helps the reader to decide if the work should be read completely. As such it can give information for reader who is not totally familiar with the subject. Abstract works also for scientific communication: it can be published in international databases and in universitys www-pages.

Abstract can be either informative or INDICATIVE. When abstract is informative it explains the purpose of the work, what is studied, why it is studied, what were the methods and what were the results. INDICATIVE abstract describes the content and discussion more general. Scientific publications are mostly informative. Indicative abstract fits for more wide illustrations, reviews, and guides.

University of Kuopio Department of Environmental Science MSc Thesis

Name of the Author: Title of the Thesis

4.3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS An acknowledgment is normally one page. In introduction the time and place of the performance of the work is mentioned together with possible sponsors and the purpose of the work. If more people are involved, the role of them is described in general level. Also those persons and institutions who have involved in the study should be acknowledged. The supervisors and reviewers of the work should be acknowledged. Acknowledgment can be signed by the author.

4.4 ABBREVIATION AND DEFINITIONS If the text includes lots of abbreviations and special terms, they can be listed with explanations.

4.5 CONTENTS Contents include all the titles from acknowledgments, but not the first pages of the report. Pages are counted from label page, but page numbers are shown from the actual text (introduction). In text main chapters are separated into separate pages. Chapters are numbered, indentation when the level of chapter is changing (chapters, subchapters, subsubchapters). Appendixes are listed but general title Appendix is neither numbered nor included into total number of pages. However, individual appendixes are numbered and titled. In index titles are given in the same form as in the text. Main chapters, capital letters, font size 14, bold. The first level subchapters, capital letters font size 12, bold from the second level on, subchapters' normal letters, font size 12, bold.

4.6 INTRODUCTION Introduction is normally 1-2 pages. The purpose of the introduction is to familiarize the reader to the subject of the thesis. Introduction describes the most crucial background information related to the subject studied, including research problem, the history and state of art of the subject in general level. Introduction is not a literature review, and as such it is not required to refer to literature in it. Introduction is written in standard language, special terms and abbreviation should be avoided. The last paragraph of the introduction includes the aims of the work condensed into a few words. In short report no such paragraph is required. However, when literature review is long and the subject is discussed widely in it, the aims of the work should be written down in more detailed prior the materials and the methods.

University of Kuopio Department of Environmental Science MSc Thesis

Name of the Author: Title of the Thesis 4.7 LITERATURE REVIEW The purpose of the literature review is to give the reader a general idea concerning the subject of the thesis. Literature review can cover the theory behind the research problem, the development of the theories, the occurrence of the problem/phenomenon, the importance of the phenomenon, the factors affecting the phenomenon, the methods used for studying the problem/phenomenon, and/or the guides, instructions, recommendations, limiting values. Literature review should be planned carefully: all the subjects raised up in the literature review should have a clear connection with the work reported in the thesis. The reader of the thesis should be able to piece together the connection between the literature review and the work. The structure of the literature review should be clear. All the subjects should be presented in logical order. The structure can be formed from general overview to more detailed subjects. or from historical development into the present state of art and further to the future perspectives. Subtitles make the structure more clear. However, too many subtitles make the structure fragmented and hard to follow. A general rule is that a subtitle should include at least two paragraphs. Special attention should be paid on the division into paragraphs. Paragraphs with one or two sentences can stress the message, but if used continuously they make text harder to read. Literature review is a synthesis from the literature. In literature review all the relevant information from the subject is presented under joint title. Synthesis means that the writer collect and connect the present knowledge from the subject presented in the literature. The writer should present the connections and contradictions presented by other authors in condensed form. Describing the results from one author in one paragraph and other author in next paragraph is not synthesis. In this case the connections between different studies are not presented. Only the most relevant information related to the subject of the thesis is taken from the literature. However, the information should be presented in such form, that the reader can easily understand how these conclusions are made. For example, method used and/or the most crucial background information should be presented. In general, literature review should include at least those studies that are cited later in discussion. Author cannot cite the work presented in the thesis in the literature review. Literature review should not include authors' personal opinions, but the text is based on the literature alone. Author should not select the literature according to his/her personal opinions, but the literature review should include different aspects and views of the subject studied in the work. Summary tables and figures based on the results from several different studies are a good way to create synthesis. Tables and figures also help reader since in this case it is not required to repeat the values presented in figure/table in the text. Note that there are different practises in constructing Introduction and Literature Review, depending on the field of research and research group. You should discuss with your supervisor on this topic, and finally you can decide the final construction together.

4.8 THE AIM OF THE WORK The aims of the thesis can be present in separate chapter, even if they are given in introduction. The general aims of the study including the hypothesis are given. If possible the

University of Kuopio Department of Environmental Science MSc Thesis

Name of the Author: Title of the Thesis aims and hypothesis are presented as a whole. After this the aims are listed in more details. This chapter is normally not more than 1 page (usually shorter).

4.9 MATERIALS AND METHODS In this chapter all the materials and methods are described so that the study can be repeated if necessary. This chapter can be rather long, since it includes detailed information concerning the analysis, analytical devices etc. Using appropriate subchapters makes this chapter easier to read. The selection criterion for the materials (or testee) is described. Methods include the criteria for selecting such methods and the suitability for the study, the principles, detection limits, sources of errors, quality control and detailed description of the study performed. If the methods are described in details in literature, only the essential information is written and the reference is used. If the method is not followed completely, the differences from the original methods are stated clearly. Research frame and/or the progression of the study is described using graph or table if possible. The conditions and order used should be included in the description. In case many people are involved, the distribution of the work can be indicated here. The statistical analyses used are described in this chapter.

4.10 RESULTS Results are presented in logical order using subchapters. Raw data can be presented in appendix, if required. Results should be given clearly, using illustrative figures/tables. The data given in the figure or table should not be written in the text. The data is given either in figure or in table, not in both. Attention should be paid on the accuracy of the results. The precision of the analysis determines the precision used in the results section. General rule is to use three significant numbers. In general, discussion is not included in results. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish the results from discussion. The discussions that can be concluded directly form the results and does not require further background information from the literature can be presented in the results. In results section no references to the literature are made.

4.11 DISCUSSION Discussion is authors' interpretation from his/her results. It also includes comparison to previously published data. In discussion author gives reader his ideas from the study performed. Author gives his opinions to reader. This is why it is important to make discussion accurate, with expertise. Though discussion includes authors opinions, all the opinions must be based on the results from the work or from the published results by the others. Opinions that are not based on the results should not be presented. In case of short report, results and

University of Kuopio Department of Environmental Science MSc Thesis

Name of the Author: Title of the Thesis discussion can be combined. However, this is not recommended, since in his case the risk for superficial discussion is high and not enough the comparison to literature is done. In discussion the order of the subchapters must be considered carefully. In the beginning the possible sources for errors, the evaluation of the methods etc. can be given. After that the most obvious results can be discussed. Finally, the new findings are shown. All the results should be discussed. However, repetition with Chapter results should be avoided. Result can be repeated shortly, a reference (e.g. Figure 2) is normally enough. Each paragraph includes one result from the study. Since this is already presented in literature review, only the most relevant references are given. There is normally no need for describing the experimental setup. However, if the setup is important when comparing the results, it can be described briefly. After describing the previous knowledge, the result from the work is given in context to the results from the literature. Author should pay attention to following aspects: 1) does the result fit to the results from literature? 2) If not, can author explain why they do not follow the results from literature? 3) What new aspects does the results give? In discussion author should also explain the comparability of the results; if the experimental setups differ and this could explain the difference in the results this must be mentioned. Conclusions from the results are written in the end of the paragraph. Finally author should think the aims of the work and compare them with the content of the results and discussion. From each aim given, result and discussion from the result should be found. Last paragraph of the discussion is the generalization. A successful study gives new observations and these observations can be generalized to create new theories. These new observations should be stressed in discussion. However, results that confirm the theories from other authors should be also mention, together with possible disagreements. The usability of the results should be explained, especially if the report does not include separate conclusions. Also, if the study raised up some new questions, it should be mentioned. Author should also think how this study contributed to general knowledge from the subject studied. Too speculative or provocative discussion should be avoided. If the report includes separate chapter "conclusions", this last paragraph of the discussion can only include the key results and the conclusions from them.

4.12 CONCLUSIONS Conclusions and summary should be presented in one chapter. In conclusions and summary the text is condense and no references are given. The length of this chapter is max 1-2 pages. No individual results are given, but the generalization and the importance of the results are explained. Each conclusion is given in separate paragraph. The importance and usability of the results, together with possible applications are explained. The possible effect to studies in future is speculated. Author should clearly write down those conclusions he/she wants the reader to remember from the study.

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University of Kuopio Department of Environmental Science MSc Thesis

Name of the Author: Title of the Thesis 4.13 REFENCES 4.13.1 General The bibliographical information from all the literature referred in the text must be presented. This way the references can be identified and the original publications can be found. Text should include references to the original publications used. References are shown also, when presenting tables/figure etc. collected from data in publications. There are two systems for organizing the references: Harvard-system is based on the name of the author and the year of publication while Vancouver-system is based on the order of appearance in the text. Harvard-system is used widely in social sciences, Vancouver-system in natural and medical sciences. However, Harvard-system is more useful for writer and the risk for errors is smaller than in Vancouver-system, therefore Harvard-system can be recommended for MSc theses. The most important thing is that once the system is selected, it's used throughout the text.

4.13.2 Harvard-system of referring In Harvard-system the references are listed in alphabetical order. All the references are given in text in form "name of the author, year of publication, e.g. (Smith, 1997) or "According to Smith (1997)..." List of references is organized in alphabetical order. If two or more references have same authors, the references are organized by the year of publication. If referred to the publications from the same author published in same year, the references are separated by small letters, e.g. Smith 1997a and Smith 1997b).

4.13.3 Vancouver system of referring In Vancouver-system the references are listed and enumerated by the appearance in the text. In text, only the number is given. Numbers are given in parenthesis or in brackets. Toisinaan kytetn mys em. jrjestelmien vlimuotoa, jossa viitteet jrjestetn tekijnmukaiseen aakkosjrjestykseen ja viitenumero annetaan sen mukaan. List of references should include following information:

Article: o Authors: last name and initial(s) of the first name(s) o Tile of the article o name of the journal (or official abbreviation), volume, number (not necessary) page number of the article and year of publication Book:
o

Authors and/or editors: last name and initial(s) of the first name(s)

University of Kuopio Department of Environmental Science MSc Thesis

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Name of the Author: Title of the Thesis

o o o

Title of the book Place of publication: Publisher, edition (if not 1st) year of publication If referred only to section (chapter) of book, reference is the title of the section/chapter. In this reference includes authors of the section/chapter, title of the chapter, page number and Authors/editors of the book, title of the book, place of publication, publisher, and the year of publication.

Proceeding, e.g. in conference proceedings o Authors: last name and initial(s) of the first name(s) o Tile of the article o Editor(s) ; last name and initial(s) of the first name(s) o Name of the proceeding, volume, year of publication, publisher. Also, information concerning from where the publication can be found, e.g. the organization. Reports, standards etc. o Authors: last name and initial(s) of the first name(s) or the organization that made the report o Name of the report, and identification codes (register number, code, page numbers etc.) o Publisher, name and number of the series, organization published the report, place of publication, year of publication

All the published material is written according to these instructions. Electronic material is reported using the same principles. Electronic material reference must include all the same information as the printed reference. The format is then given in square brackets e.g. [online] or [CD-ROM]. URL address and date is mentioned when referring www pages. Be careful with special symbols.

4.14 APPENDIX Appendix comes after the reference list. Appendixes are listed in index. Appendix is numbered by using a running numbers. Each appendix has individual page numbering. Page numbers are located top right corner of the page. Each page includes page number and total number of pages (e.g. 1(4)). If appendix includes material from other publications, the details of these publications are listed in list of references.

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University of Kuopio Department of Environmental Science MSc Thesis

Model for Title Page

APPENDIX 1 1(1)

TITLE

AUTHOR Title of the MSc thesis MSc Thesis Name of the training program University of Kuopio, Department of ______ ______ 200__

Model for Abstract

APPENDIX 2 1(1)

UNIVERSITY OF KUOPIO, Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences Name of the training program, major Author: title of the thesis MSc thesis __ pages, __ appendixes (__ pages) Supervisors: _____ 200__ ________________________________________________________________________ keywords: (1-5 words) ABSTRACT Abstract is short, independent disquisition on the thesis. The purpose of the abstract is to explain briefly the purpose of the work, what is studied, why it is studied, what the methods were and what the main results and conclusions were. Abstract helps the reader to decide if the work should be read completely. As such it can give information for reader who is not totally familiar with the subject. Abstract works also for scientific communication: it can be published in international databases and in universitys www-pages.

Abstract contains at least: 1. Title of the study. The study problem and aims of the study 2. The materials, population, area etc. 3. Methods used. If theoretical study, based on literature; most relevant literature should be mentioned. If empirical; methods used should be mentioned. 4. Key results and key conclusions. Possible suggestions for actions.