Template in A4 (Title of Thesis)Subtitle (if used)

Author Name

Thesis for B.A. degree

International Studies in Education

Template in A4 (Title of thesis)

Subtitle (if used)

Author Name

Thesis for B.A. degree in International Studies in Education

Supervisor: Professor name

Department NameUniversity of Iceland School of Education

Month of graduation, Year

Thesis title

This thesis satisfies xx credits towards a B.A. in International Studies in Education in Department Name, University of Iceland School of Education

© Author name, year This thesis may not be copied in any form without author permission.

Printed by: Name of printerCity, Year

Abstract

All B.A. theses must include an abstract. The abstract contains a short, concise description of the project. It includes the all phases of the project, the most important finding(s), and all the key terms of the work.

The abstract appears with the title of the thesis in Skemma or other databases where the thesis is housed. The abstract is searchable from the web in the same way as the title. On the basis of the abstract, a reader may decide whether the thesis is worth reading. Therefore, an accurate and well-written abstract is very important.

A traditional abstract is written as one section, without breaks, but still covers the following five sections:

1. Motivation for the project: academic or professional context of prior knowledge answering why we should care about the work.

2. Problem statement or research question the author is attempting to resolve.

3. Approach to solving the problem, including method of study, data collection or material produced.

4. The most important results or findings from the project.

5. Conclusion and implications of the results to the broader research or teaching community.

The abstract should be 100 to 200 words or half a page. This abstract contains 200 words.

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Table of Contents

Abstract..............................................................................................................................3

Table of Figures...................................................................................................................3

Table of Tables....................................................................................................................3

Preface................................................................................................................................3

1 Introduction..................................................................................................................3

1.1 Style sheet.....................................................................................................................3

1.2 Printing..........................................................................................................................3

1.3 About using the template..............................................................................................3

2 Figures and tables.........................................................................................................3

2.1 Figures...........................................................................................................................3

2.2 Tables............................................................................................................................ 3

2.2.1 Tables from Excel...................................................................................................32.2.2 Tab delimited tables in Word.................................................................................32.2.3 Tables made in Word using the table tools............................................................3

3 Conclusions...................................................................................................................3

3.1 Some final, practical advice...........................................................................................3

3.2 What do you say in the conclusion?..............................................................................3

References..........................................................................................................................3

Appendix A: Appendix Title.................................................................................................3

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Table of Figures

Figure 1. A short description appears under the figure.............................................................3

Figure 2. Actual division of time for students in full-time education where 6 lessons of 40 minutes per unit and 10 minutes for coffee or other break with each lesson................................................................................................3

Table of Tables

Table 1. Student working hours per week for the duration of the semester. The table shows the total number of hours worked by full-time students (30 units) in 10 credit courses and 6 credit courses....................................................3

Table 2. Tables are captioned above the table. Clarification of the subject, significance of individual items are below it...............................................................3

Table 3. This is the same as Table 1 using tabs. The options to format the table are not the same.........................................................................................................3

Table 4. Blank table with four columns and three rows created using insert table............................................................................................................................ 3

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Preface

The preface should not discuss the contents of the thesis. Instead, it is a place for the author to share their personal thoughts about the work and process and to thank anyone who has helped them along the way. There is no need to mention everyone who gave you help or suggestisons. Usually, there is no mention of library staff or paid proofreaders unless they provided very useful tips relevant to the content or organization of the work.

The name of your thesis advisor and the credit value of the thesis appear elsewhere in the document, so you do not need to put them here. You are free to thank your thesis advisor and others for their support, however.

The heading for the preface should be centered and unnumbered.

The preface must conclude with either the first or the second paragraph below:

This thesis was written solely by me, the undersigned. I have read and understand the university code of conduct (November 7, 2003, http://www.hi.is/is/skolinn/sidareglur) and have followed them to the best of my knowledge. I have correctly cited to all other works or previous work of my own, including, but not limted to, written works, figures, data or tables. I thank all who have worked with me and take full responsibility for any mistakes contained in this work. Signed:

This thesis was written solely by us, the undersigned. We have read and understand the university code of conduct (November 7, 2003, http://www.hi.is/is/skolinn/sidareglur) and havefollowed them to the best of our knowledge. We have correctly cited to all other works or previous work of my own, including, but not limted to, written works, figures, data or tables. We thank all who have worked with and take full responsibility for any mistakes contained in this work. Signed:

Reykjavík, ____.__________________ 20__

_________________________________ _________________________________

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1 Introduction

This template is designed for those who are writing bachelor theses (B.A., B.S. or B.Ed.) at the University of Iceland School of Education. The template may be suitable for any project that requires an A4 format, without the sections dealing specifically with the thesis requirements. The aim of the this template is to facilitate the completion of written assignments and a uniform appearance of theses in education.

The template was last updated March 14, 2014 by AMH and BS.

1.1 Style sheetTo use this template, you are advised to go through a Writing Centre course on editing large projects in Word. The template is based on using specific formatting options that define the look of headers and the body of the text. Twelve express styles have been defined. These should suffice for the most commonly used headings and body text styles in student projects. Quick style formating can be found in the home window in Word.

This version of the template is very abbreviated. A more detailed version is currently under construction. Because of this, only a few details regarding formating are below:

All headings should be formatted appropriate according to their hierarchy.

All regular text should be formated as body text.

The first paragraph after the heading should be formated as first body paragraph.

Other styles are largely self explanatory. Good luck!

1.2 PrintingThe thesis should be printed double-sided on A4 paper. A gutter or mirror margin of 0.5 cm is required to offset the the binding of the printed version.

1.3 About using the templateThe best way to use this template is to write or copy your own text into the first section of the template, erase what is written there and then continue on to the next section. Remember to choose the version of the highlighted text in the preface that is appropriate for your project and remove the highlighting.

Good luck!

Baldur Sigurðsson, Writing Centre Director

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2 Figures and tables

This section discuses how to set up tables and figures in the body of the thesis and label them correctly. Each thesis should contain both a table of figures and a table of tables if figures and tables are used. Using the correct headings on figures and tables will allow Word to create the tables for you.

2.1 FiguresFigures are often used in academic writing and refer not only to photographs, drawings or paintings, but also to any diagrams or graphs, such as pie charts, line graphs, bar graphs or flowcharts. Figures are numbered in simple, numerical order and can be referred to in the body text. It is important that each image is located on the same page where it is first referred to in the text. The description of the figure goes below it.

Figure 1. A short description appears under the figure.

When captioning a figure, highlight it, go to references and then insert explanatory text (insert caption). This will give a menu with several options, including picture, table or equation. Choose picture. In the top window there is a place for text and a number, Figure 1. Write the text in the window, or click OK and write the text under the image. Be sure to put periods in the right places. Figure captions should be short and concise

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Category

Left

Upper Lower

Right

All

descriptions of the content of the figures, see Figure 2.

Kennslustundir Kaffi og hlé Önnur vinna

Figure 2. Actual division of time for students taking courses full-time where 6 lessons of 40 minutes per unit and 10 minutes for coffee or other break with each lesson.

Usually, people create tables and graphics in Excel. Figure 2 is a pie chart that was copied directly from Excel and pasted into the text.

2.2 TablesTables are also numbered in numerical order. The caption and number appear above the table. There may also be a more detailed description of what the table shows in the comments and explanations of the individual items below the table. It is possible to create tables both from Excel and directly in Word.

2.2.1 Tables from Excel

If the tables and graphics are transferred from Excel, then it is easiest to highlight the table in Excel and copy it. When pasted into a Word document, it is possible to choose to keep the original format or to adapt the table to the format template. We recommended that you choose the option to use an accepted style or to connect to the original source using destination styles. Table 1 is inserted using this procedure.

When the table is successfully copied into the document, the columns, rows and cell borders will need formating. Table 1 has been formatted using the tool bar menu of table tools, then design/style.

Before changing the table format, highlight the entire table, take out all the lines and choose grid text, text styles. This unifies the font in the table. It is then possible to insert rows or center and justify the data in the cells. There should not be more lines than necessary to clearly read the table. See example in Table 1.

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Table 1. Student working hours per week for the duration of the semester. The table shows the total number of hours worked by full-time students (30 units) in 10 credit courses and 6 credit courses.

Per semester Per 10 credit course Per 6 credit course

Week Maximum900 hours

Minimum 750 hours

Maximum 300 hours

Minimum 250 hours

Maximum 180 hours

Minimum 150 hours

3 300 250 100 83 60 50

4 225 188 75 63 45 38

5 180 150 60 50 36 30

6 150 125 50 42 30 25

7 129 107 43 36 26 21

8 113 94 38 31 23 19

To caption a table, go to references and then insert explanatory text (insert caption). At the menu, select table and follow the instructions found in figures above.

Table 2. Tables are captioned above the table. Clarification of the subject, significance and explanation of individual items are below it.

xxxxxx

xx xx xx

1. xx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

2. xx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

3. xx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

4. xx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

* The difference between groups 1 and 2 is significant.

Table 2 shows the effect of shading on a table that otherwise has too many lines.

2.2.2 Tab delimited tables in Word

Simple tables can be done using tabs to create columns. The columns are defined by inserting special tabs at the top of the window. It is possible to choose from three different types of tabs depending on whether you want to justify the column to the left, right or center. The fourth option is to center the columns relative to the decimal point. This option is most commonly used with numbers. Columns are placed by clicking with the mouse on the ruler where needed. The type of column is selected in the little box to the left of the scale by clicking on the box. Types of tabs seem self-explanatory, but an explanation will appear when hovering the mouse over the tab. Tabs are removed by pulling them off the ruler.

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Table 3. This is the same as Table 1 using tabs. The options to format the table are not the same.

Per semester Per 10 credit course Per 6 credit courseMaximum Minimum Maximum Minimum Maximum Minimum

Week 900 hours 750 hours 300 hours 250 hours 180 hours 150 hours

3 300 250 100 83 60 504 225 188 75 63 45 385 180 150 60 50 36 306 150 125 50 42 30 257 129 107 43 36 26 218 113 94 38 31 23 19

2.2.3 Tables made in Word using the table tools

It is possible to create a table in Word from scratch using insert and selecting table. You can then choose how many columns and rows you want in the table. With the table tools, it is always possible to add or delete columns and rows. Tables made in this way behave similar to tables that are pasted from Excel by selecting a destination style.

Table 4. Blank table with four columns and three rows created by using insert table.

If the table continues over a page break, do the following:

1. Highlight the table as a whole.

2. Go to the home menu in the tool bar. Click on the small square in the lower, right corner of the paragraph menu.

3. Select line and page breaks and check keep with next.

If this is not enough, you can also check the keep lines together box. If that does not correct the issue, insert a page break before the table.

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3 Conclusions

3.1 Some final, practical adviceNow you have the tools to write your thesis and prepare it for printing and publishing. This template will help you to ease the work of organization, layout and finishing the project. Nevertheless, the author must always make sure that everything is as it should be. You can always visit the Writing Centre before finishing.

Here are a few ideas at the end:

Be sure all sources in the text appear in the References section and all sources in the References section appear in the text.

Start all new chapters on odd pages. You do this by placing a section break starting on the next odd page right before starting the new chapter.

Check the text justification and be sure that all tables and figures are correctly formated on the page.

If you are using numbered lists, make sure they all begin with 1. If the numbering is contintinuing from the of previous list, you can right-click the first number and select restart numbering.

Look for orphans and widows on pages. See the instructions in Chapter 2 for fixing tables that extend over a page break.

Any time there are changes to your pagination or headings, update the table of contents by right-clicking on it with the mouse, choosing update, then either update page numbers only or update all. Do the same for the table of tables and table of figures.

Be sure the printer you select knows the thesis guidelines. Contact the print shop for an appointment and to receive instructions on how to submit a project before submitting. The print shop should produce proofs of the thesis paper and cover. It is important to review these proofs for any possible errors. This is the last chance to make corrections before the thesis is bound.

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3.2 What do you say in the conclusion?Many writers struggle with the conclusion. Most people feel that they have said all they need in the discussion section. Instead of concluding, writers are tempted to fall into several traps.

Often, the writer suggests that the reader has had the fun of reading the thesis. It is a little late to make this argument. Either the author has written an engaging thesis or has not. Other students use the conclusion to point out the obvious fact that opinions are divided on the subject. Because of this, the author states that the work should not be taken too seriously. The reader asks him- or herself why on earth the author took the time to write the project in the first place. Finally, authors tend to apologize for the fact that the study is incomplete and the author cannot generalize anything on the basis of the results. All readers of student essays know that the studies are incomplete.

The appropriate place to point out the limitations of the study is in the methods or discussion sections. A small study does not create broad generalizations, but rather allows the author to experiment with academic theories, hypotheseses and inferences. Instead of apologizing and making little of the work, the author should clearly identify the benefits and importance of the project, even though it is flawed. All good projects contain some truth, some spark that gives them value so use this space to point that out. Solid data analysis and clear arguments can lead to wise conclusions from a small study without needing to generalize anything. Generalization is not the same as a resolution.

The conclusion is the final space for the author to bring home the central point of the thesis. It may be the perfect section to consider the findings in light of the author’s experience and knowledge in a more personal way than felt comfortable in the discussion section. This allows the author’s voice to come through one last time.

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References

The heading is centered and unnumbered, as shown above.

Source 1. In formatting the bibliography, include a hanging indent of the first line (0.7 cm), and a little extra space below. Full instructions are found at the Writing Centre.

Source 2. You highlight all your sources and click bibliography in the style sheet. If you mark them all at once, any italics will remain unchanged.

Source 3 A bibliography made automatically, for example in Word or EndNote, can be easily identified by using the style sheets available in the source manager.

Source 4. Remember to update your thesis through the automatic source manager before finishing. You need to go over the list to make sure it follows the rules of the APA system, which takes time. Pay special attention to correct punctuation and spacing.

American Psychological Association. (2009). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition). Washington: Author.

Frederick H. Jonsson Sigurdur J. Grétarsson. (2007). Informatics catechism for university students (4th edition). Reykjavik: Háskólaútgáfan.

Helga Birgisdóttir, Sigrun Tómasdóttir, Ingibjörg Kjartansdóttir and Baldur Sigurdsson. (2014). Leiðbeiningavefur ritvers Menntavísindasviðs. Retrieved from http://skrif.hi.is/ritver/

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Appendix A: Appendix Title

Material which is not central to the thesis belongs in an appendix. This can include questionnaires, tests, letters or other original or supporting documents. If there is more than one appendix, each is labeled alphabetically in the order it appears in the body of the tesis. Appendices are numbered by continuous page numbers. Each appendix begins on a new page with an unnumbered, centered title.

All the appendices are shown in the table of contents by title.

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