Formatting requirements for a thesis in Poland: margins, fonts and przypisy

How to read your department’s guidelines

The guidelines are usually called wytyczne dotyczące pisania prac dyplomowych, zasady redakcji pracy dyplomowej or something similar. They are published on the faculty website or in USOS (the university student information system). Before you open your word processor, find the answers to these questions:

1. What margins, font, font size and line spacing are required?
2. Single-sided or double-sided printing?
3. Which referencing style: przypisy dolne (footnotes), APA or another?
4. How should the bibliography be formatted, and in what order?
5. Where do table and figure captions go — above or below?
6. Is there a template for the title page and the required declarations?
7. In what format is the file submitted to APD (Archiwum Prac Dyplomowych, the thesis archive) or USOS?

If the guidelines contradict your promotor’s preferences, which does happen, ask your promotor in writing which to follow. Requirements agreed with your supervisor usually take precedence, but it is better to have that confirmed.

A useful habit: summarise the requirements from the guidelines on a single page and keep it to hand while you write. That makes it easier not to overlook the details.

Set up your Word template on day one

The students who spend the most time on formatting are those who write the whole text first and only then try to bring it into line with the requirements. It is much easier to set up the document once, at the start:

1. Create a file with the correct margins, font and spacing.
2. Set up styles: body text, three levels of headings, table and figure captions, przypisy.
3. Add a title page based on the template and an empty automatic table of contents.
4. Link a reference manager to your word processor and select the required citation style.
5. Save this file as a template and write all your chapters in it.

When you paste text from other files, use “paste without formatting” so that stray styles and fonts do not end up in your document.

Page layout: margins, fonts, spacing and numbering

Typical settings

Here is an example of requirements that are common at Polish universities:

Again, this is only an example. Some departments require single spacing in tables; others require different fonts or margins.

Page numbering

Pages are usually numbered in Arabic numerals at the bottom or top of the page. The title page is counted, but no number is shown on it. The position of the number (centred or right-aligned) is set by the guidelines.

Headings

Chapters and sections are usually numbered decimally: 1, 1.1, 1.1.1. Each chapter often starts on a new page. Use your word processor’s built-in heading styles: the table of contents will then be generated automatically, and you will not have to update chapter titles by hand.

Referencing: przypisy dolne or APA

Two main referencing systems are used in Poland.

Przypisy dolne

Footnotes are the traditional system, especially in the humanities, law and some economics programmes. A number goes in the text, and the details of the source go at the bottom of the page. A commonly used format:

• first reference — full details: author’s initial and surname, title in italics, publisher, place, year, page;
• subsequent references to the same source — a shortened form using tamże, op. cit., dz. cyt. or a short title.

Which abbreviations are allowed is set by the guidelines.

APA and other author–date styles

Psychology and some economics and engineering programmes often use APA or similar styles. The text gives the author’s surname and the year in brackets (plus the page if needed), and the full details appear only in the bibliography. Check which edition of APA your department requires, and do not mix styles within one thesis.

Comparison

Whatever the style, every quotation and every paraphrase needs a reference. We explain how this relates to the plagiarism check in our guide to how the JSA plagiarism check works.

How to format the bibliography (bibliografia)

The bibliography (bibliografia, wykaz literatury) contains all the sources you cite in the text. Typical requirements:

• alphabetical order by author’s surname;
• sometimes a division into groups: books, articles, legal acts, online sources;
• for online sources, the URL and the date accessed;
• a consistent format for all entries.

The easiest approach is to keep your bibliography in a reference manager (Zotero, Mendeley, etc.) and select the required style. Once it has been generated, still check the result by hand: automatically generated entries often contain errors in titles and years. If the list needs a full cross-check, see our thesis bibliography and referencing service.

Table and figure captions: Tabela, Rysunek, Źródło

In most guidelines, tables and figures (charts, diagrams, screenshots) follow the same rules:

• each type is numbered separately: Tabela 1, Rysunek 1 or Wykres 1;
• each has a title that explains its content;
• the source is given below: Źródło: opracowanie własne or Źródło: opracowanie własne na podstawie… with a reference;
• every table and figure is referred to in the text.

Tables are often captioned above and figures below, but some departments require captions above for everything. Lists of tables and figures are often added at the end of the thesis.

Polish typography if you write in Polish

If you are writing in Polish and it is not your first language, check not only the grammar but also Polish typographic conventions: quotation marks „like this”, no full stop after headings, correct abbreviations. Our Polish proofreading service can help you polish a text written in Polish.

Printed copies and the electronic version in APD

At many universities, the electronic version in APD has become the main one, but some departments still ask for printed copies for the promotor, the reviewer or the archive. Check how many copies you need, whether they must be bound and whether to print double-sided. Before printing, convert the file to PDF and look through the whole document: this is exactly the stage at which tables and figures tend to shift out of place.

Checking thesis formatting before submission

Formatting is easier to check at the end, once the text is no longer changing. You can do it yourself using the checklist below or order a thesis formatting check: a review of your thesis against your department’s guidelines, with a list of corrections.