You can find useful resources on this webpage that can help with your academic writing. Note, however, that you must always follow the instructions as stated in your course syllabus and/or given to you by your teacher or supervisor.
Essay or Thesis
You need to use the "Template for Degree Thesis" if the course/module you are taking has the words "degree thesis" in its title and/or if is coded G1E, G2E, A1E or A2E (this will depend on the level and the type of degree).
If you are taking a vocational programme (yrkesprogram) that leads to a vocational degree (yrkesexamen – midwife, engineer, teacher, social worker, nurse, specialist nurse), then the course will be called “Examensarbete för … (name of the specific profession)”.
If your course includes an essay (uppsats), then use the essay template.
Find the templates using the information on our website: Templates for Students
Before You Start
Research Ethics Committee (FEN)
If your work involves people and/or personal data, you should find out whether you need to make an application to FEN. For more information about ethics (application/review), see the Research Ethics Committee (FEN) webpage.
Student Work for Publication in an Academic Journal
If the aim is to publish your work in an academic journal, you need to submit an application to the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Etikprövningsmyndigheten). If your work is published in an academic journal, your source material is considered research data and must be processed accordingly.
If you decide during the course of your work to publish the results of your study, then you need to halt your work and submit an ethics application before continuing.
Both the application and the decision must be filed in the Dalarna University filing system (diariet), contact registrator@du.se.
When you complete your work, your source material must be archived, contact arkiv@du.se.
Security, Storage and Transmission
If your work contains personal data, then you need to consider security requirements in terms of the type and amount of personal data and the way it will be processed. Requirements are stricter when it comes to sensitive personal data and when personal data needs to be transferred over the internet (for example, a web survey). Before the start of your study, you need to conduct a risk analysis that is documented – for example, in the description of the method for the study.
Students can store collected data on the university central storage system (the H: or home directory on your computer). This is recommended when you are processing sensitive personal data. There, data is protected and a back-up copy is made. When storing locally on a computer or on mobile devices such as a mobile phone or USB, you must ensure that the personal data is protected and that you make a back-up copy.
Rules for storing digital information at Dalarna University (pdf/Swedish text)
Work In Progress
Processing of Personal Data
Many research projects, student projects and placement reports involve the processing of personal data. All such processing must comply with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). More information and advice as well as guidelines on how to comply with these at Dalarna University can be found in the checklist (note this document is currently only available in Swedish):
Checklista för studentarbeten som behandlar personuppgifter (docx)
If you will process personal data, you must notify the data protection officer.
Report of personal data processing in student works
References and Copyright
Reference style manuals can help you with your academic writing and make you aware of what you need to do to avoid plagiarism. There are also programs that can help you reference correctly. The Swedish Copyright Act (1960:729) explains what to think about when you are copying text so as to protect both your work and that of others.
Completed and Approved Work
Personal Data
When you have completed your work and received a grade for it, you should let your informants know about your research results. You are responsible for ensuring that any empirical material/source material (such as surveys, audio recordings, video footage) is destroyed. The source material you use in your work must be preserved if you plan to rework your essay for publication.
Behandling av personuppgifter – ändring och avanmälan
Digitala Vetenskapliga Arkivet (DiVA)
Degree theses (examensarbeten) at the first-cycle level (Bachelor’s) (15 credits) and second-cycle (Master’s) must be archived and preserved in DiVA. If you do not want to publish in full text, an archive copy must be kept in DiVA. Student work of 15 credits or less are not archived in DiVA; instead, they are stored in the learning platform Learn and destroyed after five years. The exceptions to this is student work in the subjects History and Religious Studies. According to local regulations, these are to be preserved in paper form.
For the thesis to be published in full text in DiVA, you as the author must give your consent. You do this when you fill out and submit the university thesis template.
If your degree thesis is not available in full text in DiVA, then contact publexarb@du.se to consent to its publication.
For other questions about this subject, contact support@du.se.