Sibelius Academy Guide for Doctoral Studies in Music: Opening Pages of a Written Thesis

First Titel Page

• The first page displays only the name of the book.
• The name of a written thesis must be short and precise. You may add an explanatory subtitle.
• See the example
• N.B. It is customary to include a separate sheet between the covers of a (scholarly) doctoral dissertation stating the university and faculty, name and author of the doctoral dissertation, the words “Academic doctoral dissertation”, and finally the text: “To be public examined by permission of the Academic Council of the Sibelius Academy + place + time.”

Blank Page (Back of the First Title Page)

The first title page and the extra blank page on the back are not necessary, however they are elegant.

Title Page

• Author
• Name of the book (title)
• Publication series
• Publisher, year
• See the example

Publication Details (Black of the Title Page)

• Supervisor(s)
• Pre-examiner(s)
• Chair /  Custos
• Opponent(s) OR: examiner(s) of an artistic dissertation
• Publisher information
• Description of the type of work (academic doctoral dissertation, artistic thesis etc.)
• Series information
• Cover design
• Cover image
• Printed by
• ISSN number (if published in a series)
• ISBN number (print)
• ISBN number (PDF)
• Place and year
• See the Example

Abstract

The abstract is a brief, roughly one-page long summary of the written thesis and is written in Finnish or Swedish and English. The abstract provides the reader with the bibliographical information of the thesis and gives a general picture of its content. The library uses the abstract when entering information about the thesis into data systems. So keep in mind that the keywords in the abstract are used to search for information only in the abstract. You should therefore include all of the key terminology and core concepts of your thesis in your abstract.

The abstract should be an independently readable, straightforward text (no bullet points!) and it should contain only things stated in the written thesis. It should not refer to the actual text and it should not include unestablished abbreviations, underlining, or spacing.

I Bibliographical Information

• Name of the author
• Name of the written thesis
• Place of completion / which degree or other is the thesis included in
• Year of publication
• Number of pages (possibly the actual text separately + appendices)

II Information Concerning Content (as Applicable)

• Main idea(s) of research
• Research topic
• Research method
• Research results
• Conclusions, significance of research

III Keywords

Keywords describing the content of your thesis (1–7 core concepts of your thesis). These do not have to be indexing terms that comply with library standards, but you may add your own.

Please note that future citers of your thesis may find your thesis based on these keywords, the (standard) indexing terms provided by the library, and the text in the abstract.

Foreword

A foreword is not necessary. In a foreword, you may shed light on the background of the thesis, however so that the information necessary for understanding the work is not given until the introduction.

In the foreword, you may also thank individuals who have helped you outside their regular duties or have been exceptionally active in helping you. (The actual supervisor who works within his/her job description is not such a person, although he/she is often also thanked.)

The foreword is often signed similarly to a letter (place, date, name).