BASIC INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS

The basic instructions for written assignments (such as short written papers, seminar papers,
project papers, final and graduate papers, science and research articles) provide information on
their structure and necessary technical instructions at Euro-Mediterranean University
(EMUNI).

More:

• About APA https://apastyle.apa.org/

• Guidelines for paper format https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-
format
• Guidelines for references https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references

1 STRUCTURE OF WRITTEN PAPERS

The structure of written assignments is the following: (1) head part: front page,
acknowledgments, authorship statement, abstract, tables of contents, table of tables and table
of figures, abbreviations; (2) main text: Introduction (determination of the main topic with
precisely defined aims and objectives), middle part (contribution of the research to the expert
field and theory with theoretical premises and empirical part of the research) and conclusion
(with research findings); (3) final part: literature and appendices. The thesis should be between
20,000 and 25,000 words and may not exceed 35,000 words in length.

2 TECHNICAL INSTRUCTIONS

2.1. Formal writing voice

Do not use first-person pronouns (such as “I”, “we”, “my”, “us”, etc.) when referring to the
written work itself. Instead, use passive voice and refer to the academic work in scope. Also,
avoid second-person pronouns (such as “you”, “he”, “she”, etc.) when referring to the audience.
Some examples are provided in Table 1.

Table 1: Examples of avoiding first- or second-person pronouns in formal academic writing.

Using pronouns Avoiding pronouns
My thesis has the following research The research questions of this thesis are as
questions: follow:
 I have selected the sample using the The sample was selected using the following
following criteria: criteria:
We used the focus groups method to… Focus groups method was used to…
I would like to point out that… It worth noting…/Note that…
…as you can see… …as can be seen…

2.2. Font

Lowercase letters in Times New Roman black font are used throughout the whole main text.
The font size should be 12pt, with a (multiple) line spacing of 1.2. Font size of all headings is
12pt. Font size in tables or figures is 12pt and can be smaller for the sake of transparency (10
or 11pt). Sources and notes under pictures and tables are size 11pt and have line spacing of 1.2.
Footnote size has to be 10pt, with single line spacing. Page number font is Times New Roman
size 11pt. Avoid underlining text, emphasized parts of the text are written in italics; bold text
is only used in titles.

2.3. Table of Contents

The table of contents should have up to three levels of chapter titles. The first level must be left-
aligned, the second line has to be indented by 0.39 cm, and the third line has to be indented by
0.78 cm. The number of the page where the chapter starts has to be to the right of the titles. The
line spacing has to be of 1.2. The table of contents is titled ‘CONTENTS’ in bold capital letters,
font size 12pt. The first level of titles is written in capital letters, whereas the other levels are
written in lowercase letters with capitalized 1st letter. Bold text or italics should not be used in
the table of contents. The head parts and table of contents, figures and charts should not be
included in the table of contents.

2.4. Table of tables and table of figures

Separate tables have to be used for tables and figures. The titles of the tables have to be
‘TABLES’ and ‘FIGURES’, respectively, written in bold capital letters sized at 12pt. The line
spacing has to be 1.2. The tables should include the labels, numbers, titles and page numbers of
tables and figures. The tables of tables and figures have to be listed after the table of contents
on a separate page. If the tables and figures combined are not longer than one page, they can be
listed on the same sheet.

2.5. Page numbering

The cover page, acknowledgments and authorship statement shall not be numbered. The
numbering starts with the abstract, tables of contents, tables and figures, and abbreviation lists.
The pages have to be numbered with Roman numerals, centred in the page footer in Times New
Roman size 11pt. Start with the Roman numerals that follow the previous pages (e.g., if the
paper contains the cover page, thank you note page and authorship statement, the abstract page
number is Roman IV; hardcovers are not numbered.). The Roman numbering is not listed in the
tables of contents, tables or figures. The main text pages are numbered with Arabic numerals,
centred at the bottom of the page in Times New Roman size 11pt. The first page starts with the
introduction and the last page finishes with the list of appendices (if any). Appendices are not
numbered.

Table 2: Page layout and numbering

Text components Page layout and numbering
Cover page Odd page number (not numbered)
Acknowledgments Next page (not numbered)
page
Authorship Next page (not numbered)
statement
Abstract Next page (Roman numeral IV, if the abstract follows cover page,
thank you note page and authorship statement)
Table of contents Next page (Roman numeral V, if the abstract follows cover page, thank
you note page, authorship statement and abstract)
Table of figures Next page (next Roman numeral)
Table of charts If the table of tables and table of figures are up to one page together
total, they are listed on the same page. Otherwise, the table of figures
is on the next page (next Roman numeral)
Abbreviations Next page (next Roman numeral)
Introduction Odd page number (next Arabic numeral)
Main part Page that follows introduction (next Arabic numeral)
Conclusion Page that follows the main part (next Arabic numeral)
Literature Page that follows conclusion (next Arabic numeral)
Appendices Page that follows list of literature and sources (next Arabic numeral)

2.6. Page layout

The page layout has to be on an A4 page, portrait orientation, with 2.5 cm margins (upper,
lower, right, left). A full page has 40 text lines, with the line spacing of 1.2 in Times New
Roman font size 12pt. The text is justified; line spacing has to be 1.2 throughout the text,
including head part (cover page, acknowledgments page, authorship statement, abstract, tables,
figures, abbreviations) and final part (literature, appendices). There has to be one empty line
between paragraphs and between the titles and text (does not apply to spaces between bullet
points when listing items).

2.7. Text distribution

The text has to be divided into chapters and subchapters. The chapters can be divided into up
to three levels. A divided chapter must contain at least two subchapters (subtitles), for instance,
title 2 should entail subtitle 2.1 and subtitle 2.2. The chapter title should not be longer than one
line. Title chapters have to be written in bold capital letters, whereas subchapter and sub-
subchapter titles are written in bold lowercase letters with capitalized first letter. Subtitles after
the three-level division, are not numbered and are written in lowercase italic letters (not bolded).

2.8. Tables and figures

Every table and figure shall be marked with the chapter number and the consecutive number of
the table or figure (e.g. Table 2.1, Figure 2.3, etc.) and followed by the table or figure caption
in non-italicized letters. The caption shall not be repeated within the table or the figure itself.
The number and caption have to be placed above the table and below the figure.

When there is more data to be included, the table text font can be a smaller size (10 or 11pt).
The table should be on one page (including its title, sources and notes). If it is longer than one
page, the caption line should be added on every next page as well with ‘(continued)’ in brackets
at the end. Alternatively, the whole table can be placed in an appendix. If the tables and figures
are wider than the margins allow, they should be included as an appendix. The tables need to
be left-aligned while the figures need to be centred on the page. The sources and notes are
written under the table or figure in font size 11pt with a line spacing of 1.2. The list of sources
is followed by a full stop and is only stated if the data in tables and figures are not the work of
the assignment’s author. Abbreviations and symbols are explained in footnotes. Captions,
sources and notes in tables are left-aligned; in figures, they are centred.

2.9. Abbreviations

If there are several special, less-familiar abbreviations in the text, they should be explained in
the list of abbreviations, placed on a separate page after the table of tables and table of figures.
At first mention, the full name/title of the item in question has to be stated with its abbreviation
in brackets. For instance, Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI). Only the abbreviation is
used from there on. The list of abbreviations is entitled ‘ABBREVIATIONS’ in bold capital
letters size 12pt and line spacing of 1.2.

2.10. Crediting literature sources

EMUNI chose to follow the American Psychological Association (APA) citation style (which
is an “author-date” style) for all students’ written work. All written work has to follow the 7th
edition of the APA Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020). Free
resources on the APA style can be found at:

• The APA’s Style and Grammar Guidelines page (American Psychological Association,
n.d.); and
• The website of the Purdue Writing Lab (Purdue Writing Lab, n.d.).

The author-date system has long been used by those in the physical, natural, and social sciences.
In this system, sources are briefly cited in the text, usually in parentheses, by author’s last name
and date of publication. The short citations are amplified in a list of references, where full
bibliographic information is provided. The following examples illustrate citations using the
APA style. Each example of a reference list entry is accompanied by an example of a
corresponding parenthetical citation in the text.

2.9.1. Books

One author

In references: In text:
Spring, J. H. (2009). Globalization of education: An introduction. (Spring, 2009)
Routledge.

Two or more authors

In references: In text:
Everitt, B. S., & Hothorn, T. (2010). A handbook of statistical (Everitt & Hothorn,
analyses using R (2nd ed.). Taylor and Francis. 2010)

Book with author(s) and editor(s)

In references: In text:
Immerfall, S., Priller, E., & Delhey, J. (2010). Association and (Immerfall et al.,
community. In S. Immerfall & G. Therborn (Eds.), 2010)
Handbook of European societies: Social transformations in
the 21st Century (pp. 7–35). Springer.

Book with editor(s), but no author(s)

In references: In text:
Walther, A., Batsleer, J., Loncle, P., & Pohl, A. (Eds.). (2019). (Walther et al., 2019)
Young people and the struggle for participation: Contested
practices, power and pedagogies in public spaces.
Routledge.

2.9.2. Book chapter

In references: In text:
Curtis, J., & Seyd, B. (2003). Is there a crisis of political (Curtis & Seyd, 2003)
participation? In A. Park, J. Curtice, K. Thomson, L. Jarvis,
 & C. Bromley (Eds.), British social attitudes: The 20th
report; Continuity and change over two decades (pp. 93–
107). Sage.

2.9.3. Journal article

Article in a printed journal

In references: In text:
Ball, S. J. (2015). Policy actors/policy subjects. Journal of (Ball, 2015)
Education Policy, 30(4), 467–467.

Article in electronic journal

Include a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) if the journal lists one. A DOI is a permanent ID that,
when appended to http://dx.doi.org/ in the address bar of an Internet browser, will lead to the
source. If no DOI is available, list a URL. Include an access date only if one is required by your
publisher or discipline.

In references: In text:
Ball, S. J. (2015). Policy actors/policy subjects. Journal of (Ball, 2015)
Education Policy, 30(4), 467–467.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2015.1038454

2.9.4. Article in a newspaper or magazine

In references: In text:
Andrews, P. (2014, May 6). OECD and Pisa tests are damaging (Andrews, 2014)
education worldwide—Academics. The Guardian, 5.

If the article is online, include the link to it:

Andrews, P. (2014, May 6). OECD and Pisa tests are damaging education worldwide—
Academics. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/06/oecd-pisa-
tests-damaging-education-academics

2.9.5. Book review

In references: In text:
Shelton, T. (2015). Research resource review [Review of the (Shelton, 2015, p. 413)
book The data revolution: Big data, open data, data
infrastructures & their consequences, by R.
 Kitchin]. Progress in Physical Geography, 39, 412-
413. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0309133315575783

2.9.6. Thesis or dissertation

In references: In text:
Abbarno, A. (2014). The behavioral consequences of political (Abbarno, 2014)
tolerance [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of
Pittsburgh. http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/20203/

2.9.7. Paper presented at a conference

In references: In text:
Levin, I. (2014, May 19–23). Cultural trends in a digital society (Levin, 2014)
[Conference presentation]. TMCE 2014, Budapest,
Hungary.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262414154_CULT
URAL_TRENDS_IN_A_DIGITAL_SOCIETY

2.9.8. Web pages

Web pages often do not have a date of publication. In such cases, the date is added as “n.d.”, as
in the example below.

In references: In text:
Purdue Writing Lab. (n.d.). General format. (Purdue Writing Lab,
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/ n.d.)
apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html

Sometimes the web pages also don’t have a listed author. In such cases, the title of the source
is placed first and is italicised like in the example below.

In references: In text:
Reference semantics. (2021, February 20). https://cran.r- (Reference Semantics,
project.org/web/packages/data.table/vignettes/datatable- 2021)
reference-semantics.html
2.9.9. Blog post

When citing blog posts, the entry in the reference list has to include the name of the blog in
square brackets.

In references: In text:
Sahlberg, P. (2012). Global Educational Reform Movement is here! (Sahlberg, 2012)
[Finnish education reform]. https://pasisahlberg.com/

2.9.10. E-mail and personal communication

E-mail messages and personal communication are cited in the text, but not included in the list
of references.

In references: In text:
As discussed with A. Thomas (personal communication, April 10,
2019)…
…was apparent from the trial (A. Thomas, personal communication,
April 10, 2019)…

2.9.11. Exact in-text citations

When the citation is literal, the text has to be enclosed in quotes and the in-text citation includes
the page number:

Kifer (2001, p. 31) outlined three major purposes for large-scale assessments: to “measure or
increase academic achievement, provide accountability information, and, in a formative sense,
improve instruction”.

If the quoted text is longer than 40 words, the citation has to be placed in an indented paragraph
on its own and without quotes:

This concept is also reflected in strategic documents:

To meet the realities of the 21st century global economy and maintain America’s
competitive edge into the future, we need students who are prepared to compete not
only with their American peers, but with students from all across the globe for the
jobs of tomorrow (National Governors Association, Council of Chief State & School
Officers, & Achieve, Inc., 2008, p. 1).

2.9.12. In-text citations of sources with more than two authors

When work of more than two authors is cited, the in-text citation list the first author and the
rest appear as “et al.”:
(Mullis et al., 2007)

3 HARDCOVER, PRINTING AND BINDING OF PAPERS

A short-written assignment, seminar paper or project paper can be bound by a spiral or put in a
U-folder or clamped together. Final papers should be hard-bound.

4 References

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Style and grammar guidelines.

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American

Psychological Association (7th ed.).

Purdue Writing Lab. (n.d.). General format.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_
guide/general_format.html