Formatting Guide 2025

How to Change Styles?

Before you start writing it is best if you modify the styles into Hanken’s standardized format. Words standard settings are not the settings you should use when you are writing a academic paper at Hanken. When you have modified all the styles to the appropriate settings you can simply choose the correct style without having to do them manually every time you write a paper. If you do feel like doing it manually you can by all means do that but it's not time efficient. These instructions will help you to save time when writing academic texts.

Modify Styles

This guide will explain what the different fields in the Modify Styles window means. How to find the Modify Styles window and how to create New Styles are found down below. ↓

1. Name of the Style. If you create a new style make certain to give it a name that explains its function.

2. Style based on means that any changes made to that style will also affect this style. For most styles just have (no style). The one exception is TOC 1-4.

3. Style for following paragraph means that once you choose a new paragraph (clicking enter) the style will change to this style. With a few execeptions this style will be normal. In the style chart Next will tell what style should be here. 

4. Here is the name of the font (Georgia) and font size. Here you can activate bold and italics. Change the font color to black if it is something else.

5. Paragraph alignment. Unless it says Centered or Justified in the Style Chart the alignment is Left.

6. In Format you find other important window functions such as Font, Paragraph and Shortcut key.

Once you have desired format for the style remember to choose  New documents based on this template that way your choosen style will be saved for future documents.

Font

In the Font menu you find the All caps function that certain styles use.

Paragraph

7. Certain styles (Headings, References) uses Hanging se the specific styles for the exact cm. If not otherwise mentioned all other styles have (none) here. 

8. In Spacing all styles have their own values, see style chart. Also in Line Spacing unless the style mentions Single it should be 1,5. TOC Heading is an exception to the line spacing.

There are two Styles (Heading 1 and References Heading) that need to have a Page break before. It is found in the Paragraph Window under Line and Page Breaks.This means that every time the style is choosen it always starts on a new page and any text that goes over to the page with the style sends the style with the Page break before to the next page. Make certain that no other styles use this function!

The correct styles are in the chart below:

* = Visible only after a function is used.

Style Chart:

New Styles

Page Layout

The correct styles are in the chart below:

* = Visible only after a function is used.

Style Chart:

New Styles

Page Layout

Cover Page

By following these instructions you can create a cover page which can be reused through out your time as a student. It is recommended that you start with creating a template for the cover page. However, do not choose “Cover Page” from “Insert” menu! “Cover Page” will give you only ready made model which does not correspond with the correct format that you should use for Hankens academic writing. Bachelor’s and Master’s dissertations uses the cover page. Doctoral dissertations do not use the cover page instead it has it’s own title page!

The cover page should include Hankens logo, Title of Work, name of author (your name) and name on your institution, location and year. The cover page should look like this:

Logo

Choose a blank page at the start of your document and put in Hankens logo on the page. 

Download Hanken logo

Save Hankens logo on your computer and paste the logo on the upper right corner of the page. Choose “Align right” in the paragraph menu so that the logo is on the correct side.

Right click on the picture of the logo and choose “Size and position”. Height and Width should be 3 cm.

Text Box

On the cover page there should be space for 3 text boxes. None of the text is put directly into the page but are in their own boxes. When the text is inside the boxes they will not affect the placement of the rest of the text, meaning that if you write long sentances they will not effect the placement of other parts of the document.

You will be able to create the text boxes by “Insert” > “Text Box” > “Draw Text Box”:

Draw a text box on the cover page:

The text box should not have outlines! Remove the outlines by right clicking on outlines of the box and choose “Outline” > “No Outline”:

You can change all the measurements of the boxes by choosing “More Layout Options”. All three text boxes have their own measurement.

You do not need to change the boxes “Text Wrapping” as long as it is in front of text:

Title

The first text box should only include the Title. Remember that the style should be Georgia 19 Centered. When you create the box for the first time you can only include the Title of Work as a placeholder and change it every time you write your next assignment.

To get the text box at the correct height use the following measurements in “More Layout Options” :

Author

The Author text box should come under the Title text box and should have the style Georgia 16 Centered. You can insert directly your own name in this box so that you do not need to write it in every time you choose the cover page.

Use the following measurements in “More Layout Options” for the Author text box:

Department, University, Location and Year

The last box should be on the bottom of the page and have information on the department, university, location and year. Once you know to which department (your major) you belong to, you can have that information inserted in the box. The same thing applies to the university which is by default Hanken School of Economics and the location. The location is dependent on if you are studying in Helsinki or Vaasa. Choose one location not both! The year is changed according to the year you are writing you text. The style is Georgia 12 Centered.

The measurements for the last box should be the following in “More Layout Options”:

Save the page as a Cover Page

After you have followed the instructions above you can save the page as a Cover Page.

Windows: 

Select the page so that it can be copied. Open up the “Insert” menu and choose “Cover Page“.

Choose “Save Selection to Cover Page Gallery“:

Give the cover a name so that you can find the cover page in the future:

Choose the new cover page and write in the relevant information!

The page you created according to the instructions is only a ordinary page, you should still choose the new cover from “Insert“>”Cover Pages” so that the document recognizes that the page is a cover. Once you have the cover in the document you can erase the text and picture you used to create the cover otherwise it will be double in text. Remember save the settings!  When you close the Word program for the first time once you have created the cover the program will ask if you want to save, answer yes! In the future you get the page automatically from “Insert“>”Cover Pages“. Write in the relevant information for the current writing project you are doing. The new cover page will have page break after the logo as long as you created the correctly the text boxes. This is not a problem since the text boxes do not impact the page the same way text does and are immune from the page break.

Mac: 

For Mac users you cannot use the above method to save the cover, instead you should save it as a template. However, it is recommended that you save it as template only after you have completed all formatting for the in the document: One can create a template where section, page numbers and table of contents are ready made in the document. When the cover looks like it should and all the formatting is correct choose “File“>”Save as Template“:

Write in the relevant information!

With Mac you do not need to choose the cover page again as long you have followed the instructions above you have all the correct settings you need. Once you have saved your settings as a template you can write in the relevant information on the cover page.

In the future you can choose the same settings and cover page by choosing from “New from Templates” the Hanken template:

Headlines and Numbering

The Table of Contents and the headlines are connected to each other. If the headlines do not have the correct style (such as just manually changing Normal style so that it looks like the Headings) then they will not display correctly in the Table of Contents. In order to display correctly in the Table of Contents you must use the Headings!

Main Headline (Heading 1)

Heading 1 will be your main headline in your paper and will have different settings than any other style. So be aware that the other styles should not have the same format and functions as Heading 1! 

Depending on you language settings such as Finnish or Swedish the name can be Otsikko 1 and Rubrik 1 respectively. 

Choose “Modify Style” for Heading 1:

It is important that you format all respective styles according to the style chart above.

If the font color is something other than black it can be changed through the following box:

The important thing with Heading 1 and all other headlines (Headings) that all styles that comes after it should be normal text. This means that when you press enter ↵ (next paragraph) the text after the headline is normal text. What the style that comes after the paragraph is put in the “Style for following paragraph” box.

The line spacing should also be like the other styles be 1,5 lines. Put also the spacing before and after Heading 1 should be 12 pt:

However, Heading 1 should have a automatic page break which no other style has! To use this setting go to “Format>”Paragraph”>”Line and Page Breaks”>”Page break before”:

If some reason another style has this automatic page break in use it can be removed by following these instructions.

Heading 1 should also written in big letters which can be used automatically by activating ”Format”>”Font”>” ALL CAPS”.

Have also the following settings chosen if they already are not when you accept the changes (use these for all styles!):

Other Headlines (Heading 2, 3, 4)

The other Headlines meaning Heading 2, 3, and 4 have all their own style with bold and italic.

The only thing they have common is that they do not have Page Break Before in Paragraf > Line and Page Breaks and Line Spacing is 2 pt before and 6 pt after.

No automatic Page break before.

Numbering of headlines

After you have created the headline with the style Heading 1, place the cursor on the headline and click on “Home”>”Multi level list” choose the list which displays headings in numerical fashion. All main headlines will be numbered with whole numbers (1,2,3..) and subheadings will be numbered with something resembling decimals where the first number is the number of the main headline (1.2,1.3,1.4 etc.). Note that the multi level numbering list should mention heading because a without it it will not follow the headlines. Depending on the language settings of Word this will have the respective name of the headlines in that language (Otsikko 1, Rubrik 1, etc.)

If the automatic numbering works as intended, it should have correct Hanging for each Heading style. Hanging means that the second line in a paragraph is indented so that the headline text will not be under the numbering if it goes over the first line.

Usually, you don’t need to do anything as it should work automatically, but in the case the indent does not work you can see the correct indent in the table below. You can change Hanging in the Heading styles paragraph. Modify Style>Format>Paragraf

Note! Section breaks can not be removed with backspace ← ! If you have made a mistake with the section break (the break is on the wrong page or to many) they can only be removed with the Delete-button. Have the cursor besides the section break (formatting symbol ¶ must be turned on so that you see were the section break is) and press the Delete-button on the keyboard. Mac-users: Mac computers usually do not have a delete button but you should use Ctrl + D instead to get rid of unnecessary section breaks.

The First sections break:

The first section can be made two different ways. Either remove the page number by having a different first page with using “Different First Page”:

The other way to separate the cover page from the page numbering is to put a section break directly on the cover page. If you use this method then you should also separate the sections from each other (according to the instructions below) so that the cover page is its own section from table of contents, abstracts etc.

Second sections break:

The second section follows directly after the table of contents, figures, charts and/or appendices.

Separate the sections from each other:

If it says the “Same as Previous” on your Header (double click on the page head so that it is activated and that you can see this text) that means that Word interprets that the page head for the second section is the same as in the first. Click on the “Link to Previous” button so that it is inactivated and that the text “Same as Previous” disappears. In this case the checkbox for “Different First Page” should not be marked.

Page numbering

Once you have created the section breaks according the instructions above it is time to number the pages.

Page numbering of the first section:

The first section uses roman numerals. Regardless on the way you created the cover page it still should not have any numbering. Choose the page were the numbering should start (after the cover page) and choose “Page Number” > “Top of Page” och “Plain Number 2”. The page header should be open so that you can see the “Design” field:

The page number should be centered on the upper page with roman numerals. To get the numerals choose: “Format Page Numbers” and roman numerals (i, ii, iii. …) from the “Number format”. If done everything correctly the page numbers for the first section should have roman numerals until the second section starts.

Page numbering of the second section:

The second section where the body text is and where your academic text starts should be page 1. In similar fashion open the page header på by double clicking on the top of the page and choose the “Design” field “Page Number” > “Top of Page” and “Plain Number 2”:

As in the instruction above “Link to Previous” must deactivated. The page is displaying anything else than page 1 use “Page Number Format” and “Start at:” and choose 1.

Now the page number should begin and end at the correct places as long as you have followed these instructions.

Table of Contents

The Table of Contents and the headlines are connected to each other. If the headlines do not have the correct style (such as just manually changing Normal style so that it looks like the Headings) then they will not display correctly in the Table of Contents. In order to display correctly in the Table of Contents you must use the Headings!

Have a blank page after the cover page (if you are writing a dissertation the table of contents should be after the abstract). Open up “References”>”Table of Contents” and choose automatic table:

The Table of Contents should look like this if you have no headlines with the style Heading in use:

Style of the Table of Contents:

When you have created a Table of Contents you should put in the correct style settings so that they are in use every time you use the Table. The styles are TOC Heading and TOC 1 do not exist in the style gallery before you have created a Table of Contents!

If you followed the instructions above every headline, sub-headline and page number (remember to section correctly) should be visible and correct in the Table of Contents:

Problem Solving for the Table of Contents

In normal cases you do not need to modify the settings of the Table of Contents beyond what is presented in the above instructions, but if for some reason something is not displaying correctly here are some ways to try to solve the problem. Go to “References”>”Table of Contents”>”Custom Table of Contents”. If everything is correct with the headlines in the Table of Contents you do not need to follow these instructions.

Make sure all settings are correct. (You can remove the check mark from “Use hyperlinks instead of page numbers” under the “Web Preview”. If this setting is on or off only matters the text is in web format.) If the page numbers are missing from the Table of Contents make sure the “Show page numbers” checkbox is marked:

If all heading styles do not show in the Table of Contents make sure the level is high enough for the style. Level 3 means that everything from Heading 1 to Heading 3 is visible in the Table of Contents. Hanken uses 4 levels to Heading 4. If you want to have more or less headlines visible in the Table you should either increase or decrease the level:

If you need to include styles or remove them from the Table choose “Options”:

You get a window where you can include or remove all the styles that should be visible in the Table of Contents. You can also control at which level a specific style should be at in the Table. However, all styles should not be visible in the Table of Contents!

Appendices, Figures and Tables

All are created by choosing “Insert Caption”:

You will get at pop-up window where you can write in the “Caption” field the name of the appendices, table or figure. To get correct appendix, table or figure you must choose in the “Label” field the appropriate thing you need. For example if you want at table search it in the “Label” field. That way it will it will display automatically that it is a Table and which numbered table it is in your text.

Remember that the number is not dependent on the order the appendix/table/figure is in the text but the order in which you inserted it in the text! The numbering can end up incorrect if you start using “Insert Caption“ from the end of the text.

If there is not a correct label (such as being the wrong language for your purposes) you can create a new label by using “New Label”. Write in what you need and then choose the label.

Style for Figures and Tables

Once you have a figure or a table the text is probably not in the correct style. You can change the style by looking up in the style gallery Caption. If Caption is not visible then you have not yet used “Insert Caption”. The style will appear once you have used it.

Caption Sourcing

If your Figure or Table has a source then you can create a new separate style for it. It has the following formatting:

The Caption Sourcing should be under the Figure or Table that has the source. The source should be referenced as a regular reference as according to Hankens referencing rules with the full source exisiting in the Reference list.

Table of Figures

To create a Table of Contents (hereafter called a Table of Figures) for appendices, tables and figures one should use “Insert Table of Figures” and choose correct “Caption label“. The Table of Figures only includes everything which exists under the specific label which means that a Table of Figures should be created for all three labels.

Once you have created the Table of Figures the page number is displayed automatically for either appendices, tables or figures (as long as the page numbers and sections are correct).

The appendices, tables and figures are always after the regular Table of Contents and in the sam order: APPENDICES, TABLES and FIGURES. Have a section break after the last Table of Figures! Your academic text should begin after the last table .

Headline

The Table of Figures headline is not a part of the table and as such has so use TOC Headings for the headline. The headline should absolutely not be Heading 1 because that style interacts with the Table of Contents! 

Appendix

The Appendices are always included last in a academic text even after the References. You create appendices according to the instructions above “Insert Caption”>“New Label”>“Label” appendix.

The difference with figures and tables is that the appendices have a different format even if they are all created by using “Insert Caption”. Create a new style for the Appendices:

This way if you have used “Insert Caption” you can use the style Appendix so that you get the correct format for the appendices. Remember to use “Insert Caption” because without this the appendices will not function!

The Table of Appendices are created with the same instructions as above. Simply swap the Caption lable to Appendix.

Table

The Table text is usually over the table. Except for the description of the table, table of figures and the headline there are no standard rules over how the tables should look like. Usually the requirements of the assignment sets the standard of the table. Also the table can be created with Words own tools or in Excel. Various departments in Hanken have their own requirements which can be quite different from each other.

However, make certain that if it is a long table to have it legible on singular page and not split on several pages. You can use Page Break if you want to make certain it fits on singular page.

The Table text does need not be in the Normal style! Create a new style separately for  the Table text.

There is no requirements on this new text beyond that it should be Georgia. Depending on the table this new text could be smaller than font size 11 and should not have the same justified alignment or Line Spacing. Use whatever formatting that makes the text legible in the Table. There can also be several Table texts depending on the on how the Table should look.

Figure

The Figure text is usually under the figure. Except for the description of the figure, table of figures and the headline there are no standard rules over how the figures should look like. Usually the requirements of the assignment sets the standard of the figure. Various departments in Hanken have their own requirements which can be quite different from each other.

However, it might be good to create figures that function without colors and if the figure requires comparisions between different data points that they are legible and have clear contrasts between the data points.

References

The formatting guide shows how the References should formally look like in the Hanken style. It is not meant as a source on how you cite your sources correctly. For that you should use the reference guide. There you will find instructions on how to cite different types sources and authors. The list of references is placed after the text but before the appendices (as long as the academic text has appendices)

Some of the instructions below are repetition from previous instructions.

Reference text

When you are writing the text of your sources their format is Georgia 11 with single line spacing with Align Left . Also the spacing before the sources is 6 pt and 18 pt after the text. The reason for the spacing is so that you need to only once press enter and get the correct distance between the sources. In the paragraph window in Indentation – Special – Hanging should have 1,2 cm. This means that the next line in the reference will have an automatic indentation. Create the reference text as a “New style” according to the following measurements:

Remember that the title of the source should be in italics. The title is the name of the book or the journal where an article is from. This is something you have to do manually. The Reference guide gives you more instructions.

References Headline

The Reference headline should be its own style and can be created through New Style:

Follow the previous instructions on how to modify the style. There is a difference that this style needs to have its Outline level as 1 instead of Body Text. This way the style will be visible in the Table of Contents. Activate the Outline level in Format > Paragraph.