As part of the thesis seminar, the student participates in a written language workshop (arts) or a written and spoken language workshop (technology). The written language workshops include the completion of exercises and examination of text examples, the examination of students' text samples and the person holding the workshop will provide personal feedback and support for writing. By participating a written language workshop, the student completes the maturity essay required of a thesis. Students of technology complete both the maturity essay required for their thesis and the mother tongue studies included in their degree programme by participating in lectures and written language and spoken language workshops. The grammar and spelling portion of the maturity essay includes participation on written language workshops and the processing of one's own text as well as an approved text sample. The teacher-in-charge assess the actual command of the field from the actual thesis.

The language in which a maturity essay was written (if it was written in Finnish or Swedish) can be separately specified on the degree certificates of students who have completed their comprehensive education in languages other than Finnish and Swedish.

A maturity essay must be approved before a student’s thesis is assessed.
Read more from Bachelor's Thesis Guidelines and Language Centre instructions

Abstract guide

Abstract form

The thesis author presents their final thesis in a thesis presentation session. Before the presentation session, the thesis is submitted for evaluation as instructed in the thesis seminar guidelines. Any other components belonging to the thesis must be submitted for evaluation as agreed with the teacher-in-charge. The student will have one week to finalise their thesis based on the feedback given in the presentation session.

Add an abstract to your thesis. It is recommended to use the thesis abstract form (above)

The finalised thesis is submitted as a PDF/A file as instructed by the student’s progamme/major. When submitting the final thesis for evaluation, the student also deposits the work to the publication archive of Aalto University.

According to Finnish archiving practices, the file should be saved in PDF/A format. PDF/A is an ISO-standardized version of the Portable Document Format (PDF) specialized for the digital preservation of electronic documents. PDF/A differs from PDF by omitting features ill-suited to long-term archiving. Library recommends ISO-standardized versions PDF/A-1a, PDF/A-1b & PDF/A-2.

Instructions on how to convert files to PDF/A -format using the different tools

• Aaltodoc Instructions
• Microsoft Word 2010: File » Save As ---> Save as type = PDF ---> Options ---> Choose: ISO 19005-1-compliant (PDF/A)
• PDF-XChange 4.0: Print ---> PDF-XChange 4.0 ---> Properties ---> General ---> Choose: PDF/A-1b (RGB)
• Open Office 3.2 Writer: File ---> Export as PDF ---> Choose: PDF/A-1a

Convert the PDF file so that it is suitable for web publishing. The recommended size for the pdf/a document is under 20 Mb and for Theses including a lot of images under 100 Mb. If your document is over 100 Mb, you should resize it before saving, because readers may experience problems with opening large documents over the web. The maximum limit for documents is 1,5 Gb including the documentation of the artistic component.

It is the student's responsibility to check that the PDF/A file has been correctly converted and that it is identical to the submitted thesis copies.

Naming the PDF file

You should name the file without Scandinavian letters (e.g. ä and ö) and special characters to the following format: school'sabbreviation_publishingyear_lastname_firstname.pdf, (e.g. arts_2013_meikalainen_matti.pdf).

• Convert your thesis to PDF/A form. The work is archived as one document (including the abstract and  possible other attachments).
• If you wish, you can save the cover page as a separate file (png image file format).
• The artistic component of the thesis is archieved in digital documentation. If you have separate digital documentation of your artistic component (pictures, audio, video material), you can save it as a separate file(s), remember to add also credentials and meta information for the documentation. Please note that if the documentation is included in the written part there's no need for separate documentation material.
• Login to eAge with Aalto user name.
• NOTE: the information you will be asked after logging in:
  • YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION (also student number)
  • STUDY INFORMATION (the degree that you are aiming at)
  • META INFORMATION OF THE THESIS WORK AND DOCUMENTATION:
  • Teacher-in-charge's firstname and lastname
  • Advisor's firstname and lastname, degree, employer and concact information (phone, email)
  • Information if the the thesis was done on commission for a company or other external party
  • KEY WORDS
  • 6-12 most important words or terms that describe the content of your thesis
  • Assigning subject headings to your thesis
  • Fill in the form in the Thesis information sheet and click Save.
    • Add the PDF file of your thesis to the Thesis sheet.
    • You can add the image file of the cover page on the sheet Thesis cover. The cover picture will be shown in the Aaltodoc publication archive together with the metadata of your thesis.
    • Submit your thesis by clicking Submit in the Case details sheet

The theses and the metadata of all theses will be archived in the Aaltodoc publication archive. The term metadata refers to the data that describes your thesis for example the title of thesis, the language, keywords and the advisor of thesis. When submitting the thesis in eAge you can give permission to publish the whole-text and/or the abstract through the Aaltodoc publication archive.

The thesis publishing date can be postponed by a maximum of one (1) year. Hence, students don’t have to publish the thesis immediately if they wish to postpone publishing for reasons related to other publications, patent applications or corporate secrets, for example. However, please note that the thesis is still a public document and it will be displayed publically. The public copy can be seen in the Learning Centre customer computers or sent via email by request.

If you do not grant permission for publishing, the archived PDF file will be available for anyone by request but it is not published online. The Learning Centre is obliged to send the digital version to anyone who wants to read the thesis.

If you have any questions related to thesis submission or saving, please contact your study coordinator or Learning Services.

If you have any comments regarding the data of your thesis, or you wish to make corrections, please send an email to [email protected]

Please note that you have to submit the final version of your thesis to the eAge system.

If the contents of your thesis, such as the text or a table, is found erroneous after the thesis has been approved, the errors can be corrected on a separate errata page (http://tieteentermipankki.fi/wiki/Tekstuaalitieteet:errata). Once your thesis has been approved, it cannot be altered or resubmitted to the eAge system. Instead, any errors found in it are collected on an errata page, which lists the page numbers of the errors and gives a corrected version of the text or item. The errata is attached to the thesis metatext in the Aaltodoc publication archive (aaltodoc.aalto.fi).

Please follow the instructions below.

• Write the errata and save it in PDF/A format (not PDF/A-3).
• You can download a Word-format errata template from Aaltodoc.
• The errata must include the following details: the thesis author and thesis title, page number of the error and a corrected version of the text or item.
• Please send the errata page to your thesis supervisor to obtain their approval for it.
  • If you cannot reach your supervisor, send the errata to the learning services of your school (addresses provided below).
  • send the supervisor’s approval to [email protected]
• Append your approved errata page to the metadata of your thesis on Aaltodoc in accordance with the instructions given on Aaltodoc.
  • If prompted, log into Aaltodoc using your Aalto username and password; you will find the link in the top right corner of the page.
  • If you no longer have a valid Aalto username and password, request a one-time login link from [email protected]
  • Append the errata page to your thesis in Aaltodoc using the form on Aaltodoc.
  • Log out.
• The errata page is now be visible on Aaltodoc together with your thesis.

Contact details for the schools’ learning services

    ARTS: email addresses to the programmes
    BIZ: [email protected]
    CHEM: [email protected]
    ELEC: [email protected]
    ENG: [email protected]
    SCI: email addresses to the programmes