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Music Graduate Office



 

Styles Guidelines for Doctoral Final Project or Dissertation

Documentation Style  ·  General Appearance of the Page  ·  Musical Examples  ·  Figures and Tables  · 

Lists  ·  Symbols, Terms, and Abbreviations  ·  Further Information

General style guidelines

Ph.D. and D.M.E. students should also consult the Graduate School's handout "A Guide to the Preparation of Theses and Dissertations" available at http://graduate.indiana.edu/thesisGuide.php. Be aware that some items in that handout, such as scheduling procedures, will differ for School of Music students, who should follow the procedures outlined here.

  1. Documentation Style

    1. The Director of Graduate Studies recommends the employment of a consistent literary and documentary style based on either A Manual of Style, current edition (The University of Chicago Press), or Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, current edition (The University of Chicago Press).

    2. Music education students should use the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, current edition.

    3. For style matters unique to music, consult D. Kern Holoman, Writing About Music (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988).

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  2. General Appearance of the Page

    1. The dissertation or document must be typed and double-spaced (except for matter that is set apart form the body of the page and indented from the normal margins, such as lengthy direct quotations, which are single spaced.) These quotations are not in italics.

    2. Margins: Left margin should be 1.5 inches. Top, bottom, and right margins should be 1 inch.  Print only on one side of each page.

    3. Paragraph indentations: 5 or 7 spaces. The choice must be used consistently.

    4. Page numbers:
      1. Beginning with the first page of text, use Arabic numbers consecutively throughout the dissertation or document including all appendices, bibliographies, and indices.
      2. Page numbers should be placed either in the upper right=hand corner of the page flush to the right margin, or centered at the top of the page.
      3. The first page of the text, and first page of subsequent chapters, should have the page numbers centered at the bottom of the page.
      4. Prefatory pages (acceptance page, table of contents, etc.) should be paginated consecutively in small Roman numeral, centered at the bottom of the page. The title page should be counted as the first page, but should have no number.
      5. In all cases, page numbers should appear without punctuation or other ornamentation.

    5. Footnotes: Footnotes should be placed at the bottom of the page on which the reference occurs. Use a consistent style for footnotes throughout. Both bibliographic and explanatory footnotes should be numbered in one consecutive series throughout each chapter.

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  3. Musical Examples

    1. Reproduction: Only very brief musical examples (one or two measures) may be drawn onto the page in black ink. If the example is less than a line, it should be centered on the page; otherwise normal page margins should be observed. Standard page size and regular margins must be maintained. Examples may run over several pages, in which case they are inserted into the dissertation or document and paginated as regular pages of text.

    2. Numbering: Except in those cases where a short example is included as part of a sentence in the text, all musical examples should be numbered and should have captions. A consistent numbering system should be used throughout the paper. Examples may be numbered consecutively throughout the dissertation or document (Example 1, Example 2, etc.) or, for large numbers of examples, may be numbered consecutively by chapter (Example 2.1, Example 2.2, etc.). One of the following formats should be used consistently in this case: 2.1, 2-1, II-1.

    3. Captions: Captions should appear consistently either centered under the example or above the example, and flush left. Captions should include the composer's name, title of the composition, and place in the composition. In the case of a dissertation or document dealing with only one composer, the composer's name may be omitted. Complete information (edition, etc.) should be included in the bibliography. "Place" in the composition is usually indicated by movement and measure number. Other indications, especially for twentieth-century works, may be used if necessary. In the case of examples that cover more than one page, the caption should appear on the first page of the example. The succeeding pages should have the caption: Example (number), continued.

    4. Copyright information: Permission to use copyrighted musical examples should be obtained from the copyright holder. Ordinarily, the copyright holder will designate the manner in which use credits are to appear. If the use credit must appear with the musical example, this statement should appear as part of the caption after the composer's name, title, and place in the composition have been given.

    5. Other types of examples: Multiple short examples of a process may be grouped under one example number and caption. Examples of items other than those from musical scores should also be numbered and should have captions descriptive of the example

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  4. Figures and Tables

    1. Figures: Figures should be numbered separately from musical examples and should follow the same numbering format. Each figure should have a caption centered above it or below it, flush left (e.g., Figure 1. Formal diagram of Beethoven's Sonata Op. 53, first movement).

    2. Tables: Tables should be numbered separately from either musical examples or figures and should follow the same numbering format. Each table should have a title at the top of the table, centered.

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  5. Lists

    1. In the prefatory pages after the table of contents, a list of examples by number, a list of figures by number, and a list of tables by number (if applicable to the document) should be given separately, with the appropriate captions and page numbers.

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  6. Symbols, Terms, and Abbreviations

    1. Any abbreviation may be used consistently so long as it is defined in an appropriate way upon its first usage.

    2. "Measure" may be abbreviated: m. 12 or mm. 12 - 15.

    3. Unless a number of references will be made to keys, they should be written out: C major and C minor. If key references occur often, uppercase letters may be used for major keys and lowercase letters for minor keys (C and c).

    4. Sets of symbols, such as letters referring to formal sections and Roman numeral symbols, should be used consistently throughout. If there is potential confusion about the symbols, they should be explained when they are first used.

    5. Common musical terms, especially tempo terms, need not be underlined or italicized as foreign words.

    6. Sections of musical compositions, such as exposition, should not be capitalized.

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  7. Further Information

    1. Title page: For D.M. documents, D.M. piano essay, and D.M.E. dissertations, follow this model. The title page should be the first one in every dissertation, document, or essay. For Ph.D. students, see note VII C below.

    2. Acceptance (signature) page: For D.M. documents, D.M. piano essay, and D.M.E. dissertations, follow this model. The acceptance page should immediately follow the title page. For Ph.D. students, see note VII C below.

    3. For Ph.D. students, further information on the title page, the acceptance page, the vita sheet, etc., may be found in "A Guide to the Preparation of Theses and Dissertations," provided by the University Graduate School.