MU3391 Special Study: Dissertation/MU3392 Special Study: Theory and Analysis

GUIDELINES

1 General

Presentation

The text should be in a standard font (such as Times New Roman), in font size 12; (footnotes/endnotes can be in a smaller font size, usually font size 10), 1.5 or double-spaced, on one side of A4 paper. Pages should be numbered, with a title page (see Format below). Spiral binding between semi-hard transparent plastic covers is perfectly adequate and recommended.

Length

10,000-11,000 words, inclusive of footnotes/endnotes, but exclusive of bibliography, appendices, abstract, acknowledgements and other front matter.

Expression

Competent written expression is important: correct spelling, punctuation, grammar and syntax are not only matters of professional presentation, but also crucial to the formation and expression of argument and its communication to the reader.

Plagiarism

See the Department Guide, 7.7. Any use of other people’s work must be credited by means of references (see Referencing and Footnotes below). Passages which are direct quotations should be marked appropriately in the text, either by inverted commas or as indented block quotations, depending on the length of the quotation.

Number of copies

You should submit TWO copies of your dissertation.

2 Format

The following format covers most possibilities for what needs to be included in a dissertation. It is not intended to be narrowly prescriptive: the precise format of your dissertation, which might omit some of the following items and include others not mentioned, will be worked out by you in consultation with your supervisor. This is a standard template to adopt or adapt as appropriate.

Cover/Title page (= page 1, but do not print the page number on this sheet)

The title page should give the title of the dissertation (centred), your candidate number (centred) and ‘MU3391 Special Study: Dissertation’ / ‘MU3392 Special Study: Theory and Analysis’ as appropriate (centred), with space between these lines. After more space, put ‘2013’ (centred). The inclusion of decorative material on the cover/title page is a matter for individual discretion but it is advisable to avoid ornamental fonts and pictorial representations in favour of an elegant simplicity.

Abstract (= page 2, but do not print the page number on this sheet)

The abstract clearly and concisely summarizes the contents of the dissertation.

Contents page (= page 3, the first page number to be shown; continue numbering pages hereafter[1])

Other front matter Includes lists, with the relevant page numbers, of any figures, examples, tables and so on which appear in the course of the text; a list of abbreviations; and any other front matter as appropriate.

Acknowledgements It is a usual courtesy to acknowledge the assistance you have had from persons or institutions in the writing of your dissertation. Remember that acknowledgements are a public, not a private, statement: avoid an effusive, intimate or jocular manner.

Preface (if appropriate)

The preface can give an objective justification of the choice of topic; the aims and limits of the dissertation; reasons for the chosen organization of the material; any other preliminary remarks; and may include acknowledgements of assistance, if these have not formed a separate item.

Introduction The introduction begins the main text and the engagement with the topic, as distinct from the preliminary remarks of a preface.

Chapters (as many as are appropriate to the topic and its treatment)

Conclusion (if appropriate)

This sums up the dissertation and brings the main text to an end.

Endnotes (if you adopt this format; see Footnotes/endnotes below)

Appendices (if appropriate)

Appendices present material relevant to the main text but not appropriate for inclusion within it. They may include, for example, any transcriptions of manuscript material; lists, tables, questionnaires and so on.

Bibliography This should be selective, giving the writings that you have found relevant to your dissertation. A bibliography does not need to include every work you have consulted in the course of the preparation of your dissertation but should include every work to which you make reference. Relevant internet sources should be listed here.


3 Referencing and Footnotes

Either:

(a)  reference the literature consulted or quoted using the author/date/page system - for example, (Feld 2000:63). This is standard practice in ethnomusicology and the social sciences, where footnotes tend to be reserved for additional information Or:

(b)  reference the literature consulted or quoted, and additional supporting information, using footnotes. (Footnotes are preferable to endnotes in that they avoid tiresome page-turning from the point in the main text to the appropriate note). Referencing using footnotes is common in historical musicology.

4 Style

In the absence of a preferred style advised by your supervisor, see Herbert, Trevor, Music in Words: A Guide to Researching and Writing about Music (ABRSM, 2001) for the setting-out of titles, quotations, references, footnotes, endnotes, bibliography and so on. There is no mystery in all this; the purpose of accepted styles is to facilitate reference. Whatever style you adopt, employ it consistently.

5 Music examples

These come best where they are needed in the argument, that is, within the text. It is possible that music examples might be grouped together at the end of a chapter or, if extensive, as an appendix. Music examples should be numbered (‘Example 1’, not ‘e.g. 1’) and given a short heading (‘Symphony No. 50, finale: mediant reprise’). They should be intelligible to the reader in that the instrument(s)/voice(s) should be indicated, and movement (if appropriate) and bar numbers given, so that the extract can be located in the piece itself. Quotation of the beginning of a piece or movement should include any title and tempo indication (‘Menuetto. Presto’; ‘Finale. Vivace assai’) that stands in the quoted source. It may be appropriate, if the example is drawn from within a piece or movement, to indicate in square brackets the current tempo.

6 Keys, accidentals, pitches

Name keys by capital letters, with sharp/flat spelled out: ‘F sharp major’ (not ‘F# major’); ‘C minor’ (not ‘c’). Name individual pitches in italic, with any sharp/flat indicated by the musical sign: c#. One system[2] for the designation of octave is:

c´´´–b´´´

c´´–b´´ (c´´ = octave above middle C)

c´–b´ (c´ = middle C; c#´ = semitone above middle C)

c–b (c = octave below middle C)

C–B

C1–B1

7 Additional material

Any additional supporting material such as a CD should be enclosed in a folder of some kind, bearing the same details as the cover/title page. Indication of the contents of additional material should be given in the front matter of the dissertation, after the contents page.

[1] The alternative style of numbering is lower-case Roman numerals (ii–) for the first numbered page as far as the main text, beginning with the introduction; the main text and all that follows is then numbered in Arabic numerals (1–).

[2] See ‘Pitch names’ in The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, p. 640, for a concordance of three systems for the designation of pitch, of which this is the first.