INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING A THESIS

Transcription

1 INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING A THESIS Since the summer semester 2008, final theses that are supervised and written at the Medical University of Graz are published on MEDonline. For this reason, it is necessary to provide a digital version of the thesis in PDF/A format, which was developed for the long-term archiving of electronic documents and is compliant with the ISO standard The student is responsible for uploading the full text of the thesis in PDF/A format to MEDonline. For more information on the uploading process, please read the Information Sheet for Entering a Final Thesis in MEDonline available at the Medical University of Graz website under Degree Program > relevant degree program > Thesis / Dissertation / > Application for Assessment and Approval. In order to avoid complications and to save time and effort when submitting a completed thesis, it is strongly advised that you take the following restrictions into account already before you begin preparing your thesis: Fonts Only fonts that are not subject to third party rights may be used. Times New Roman and Arial are recommended. If you use a font that does not meet these requirements, it may be replaced during the PDF/A export, which may result in a change of the typeface used in the thesis in whole or in part. Images Images should ideally be in JPG format (for photos) or PNG (for diagrams or charts). Use exactly the same images for the export that were also used for the bound copies of the thesis. Therefore, be sure to use images with a resolution of 300 dpi already when preparing your thesis. Transparencies When exporting, transparencies are often lost or displayed incorrectly. Be sure not to use any effects such as shadows, watermarks or transparent backgrounds for images, diagrams and tables when preparing your thesis. Avoid using text boxes (with transparency effects) since the content can be lost or become illegible during PDF/A export. If it is absolutely necessary to use text boxes, please make a test export and check if the combination of software that you are using can display text boxes properly in PDF/A documents. This will help you to avoid extra work later. Special Objects Embedded audio and video data are not allowed and will be lost during export. Page 1/7 Version 02; 9. August 2011

2 INFORMATION ON FURTHER PROCEDURES AFTER PREPARING THE THESIS There are various options for creating a valid PDF/A file after you have completed your thesis. You should consider already before beginning your thesis that a change in software (for example from Word 2003 to Word 2007) may lead to additional effort on your part during the subsequent conversion as layout information may be lost. Please check the contents of the PDF/A file after the export. If you find errors in the typeface or missing elements, check the relevant passages once more with regard to the restrictions mentioned above. Please also note that under certain circumstances the typeface may be displayed differently than in the original document. This is not an error as long as the electronic version is identical with the printed version in terms of form and content. Validation and MEDonline It is not possible to determine if a PDF file is in the correct PDF/A format from the file extension as it is always displayed as pdf. The only way to determine if a file was exported correctly is through validation. This validation is performed automatically after the file is uploaded to MEDonline. Please note that it may take up to 15 minutes until the validation results are available. A relevant notice will be displayed after the file has been uploaded. If the uploaded document does not comply with the format specifications, the file name will appear red and crossed out. Page 2/7 Version 02; 9. August 2011

3 The following options are suggested for exporting to PDF/A format: Option 1: MS Office 2007, Office 2010 Platform: Windows Requirements: For Office 2007: The add-in Save As PDF or XPS for Microsoft Office 2007 must be installed. The add-in is not included with MS Office 2007 and must be installed separately. Instructions can be found in the Office Help file. Click on Save As. In the Save As dialog, select PDF in the File Type drop-down list and then click the button Options to open the preferences dialog. Check the box ISO compliant (PDF/A). Close the dialog by clicking on OK. Save the file to a location on your hard disk where you will be able to find it. Do not use spaces, accents, or special characters in the file name. Note: Excel Charts: If Excel charts are not embedded in Word as an image, the PDF/A export may, among other things, result in display errors that affect the readability of the document. See information on transparencies. Page 3/7 Version 02; 9. August 2011

4 Option 2: LibreOffice (or OpenOffice) Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Requirements: OpenOffice version 2.4 or above, no version restrictions for LibreOffice In the File menu, select Export as PDF. In the following settings dialog, check the box PDF/A-1a. Select Export and save the file to a location on your hard disk where you will be able to find it. Do not use spaces, accents, or special characters in the file name. Page 4/7 Version 02; 9. August 2011

5 Option 3: MS Office with Adobe Acrobat Platform: Windows Requirements: MS Office 2000 or above, Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional or above If Adobe Acrobat Professional is installed, additional menu options will automatically be displayed in the supported Office products. Please note that during the conversion process, Word may scroll through the document and the contents may appear distorted. The process does not alter the original document however. Office 2007 (with Adobe Acrobat 9) In the Ribbon Tab Acrobat, the option Create PDF will open a dialog window with an Options button in the bottom right corner which will open the settings dialog shown on the right. Ensure the box Create PDF/A-1a: 2005-compatible file is checked. Close the dialog by clicking on OK. Save the file to a location on your hard disk where you will be able to find it. Do not use spaces, accents, or special characters in the file name. Page 5/7 Version 02; 9. August 2011

6 Office 2003 (with Adobe Acrobat 8) In the menu Adobe PDF select the option Change Conversion Settings. In the following dialog, ensure the box Create PDF/A-1a:2005-Compatible File is checked. The setting PDF/A-1b:2005 (RGB) will be automatically selected in the Conversion Settings drop-down list. Close the dialog by clicking on OK. Choose a file name, and do not use accents, spaces or special characters. For Problems with the Conversion Under certain circumstance it may occur that not all fonts are embedded in the document during the conversion process. This can lead to a validation error. To fix this problem, open the Tools menu, select Options, then the Save tab, and ensure the boxes Embed TrueType fonts and Embed only the characters used in the document are checked. Then save the document again before proceeding. Notice: Please note that it may be useful to return this setting to the default after successfully converting your thesis, because this setting affects the file sizes of all Word documents. This may have undesirable consequences in daily use. Page 6/7 Version 02; 9. August 2011

7 CONVERSION LOCATIONS AT THE MED UNI GRAZ Should you not be able to create a valid PDF/A document on your own, computers (with Office 2007 and Adobe Acrobat Professional) are available for you to use to convert your thesis at the following locations: Computer training room in the Pre-Clinic Harrachgasse 21, Ground Floor, UR A-8010 Graz Library of the Medical University of Graz multimedia booths on the first floor Stiftingtalstraße 24 A-8010 Graz FEEDBACK AND INQUIRIES If you are having difficulties exporting your work in PDF/A format, or if you notice a mistake and want to pass tips on to us that will be included in the updated editions of this information sheet, please contact pdfa@medunigraz.at. FURTHER INFORMATION Difference between PDF/A-1a and-1b The designations 1a and 1b show different degrees of compliance with the PDF/A standard ISO : Part 1, where 1a provides a description for full compliance and 1b only provides a description of the minimum requirements for compliance. In practice, it means that PDF/A-1a- documents are structured such that they can also be displayed legibly with error-free wrapping (reflow) on display devices with limited screens (mobile device, PDA,...) or devices in accordance with section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act (guidelines for accessibility). This is not possible with PDF/A-1b documents since the tags do not contain the necessary structural information. With regard to long-term archiving and accessibility, PDF/A-1a is the preferred format. Page 7/7 Version 02; 9. August 2011