What do examiners look for in a phd thesis

Winter, Griffiths and Green asked examiners to reflect on the criteria they used to decide whether a PhD was acceptable. How Do Examiners Examine a Thesis? Examiners judge a theses by the end of the first and second chapter they make a judgement about the quality of thesis when reading just Chapter 1 Introduction and Chapter 2 Review of Literature while they skim the abstract based on this they decide whether the thesis is going to be an enjoyable read or otherwise If they have a good first impression, they feel they can relax and enjoy the thesis; if not, then they read more critically, looking for problems.

Examiners favour a coherent thesis [What is coherence? Examiners may have forgotten Chapter 1 by the time they read Chapter 5. Coherent thesis connect the research question with an answer Examiners tend to see themselves as gatekeepers Examiners see themselves upholding the standards for a doctorate.

Examiners treat a thesis as a work in progress They offer advice how to improve a weak thesis Eager to offer constructive feedback rather than condemn thesis.

Studies in Higher Education Volume 27, No. The time and effort put into the examination process is a credit to examiners, and a comfort to postgraduate students.

Sloppiness might be demonstrated by typo- graphical errors, or mistakes in calculations, referencing and footnotes. Characteristics of a poor thesis were: lack of coherence lack of understanding of the theory lack of confidence researching the wrong problem mixed or confused theoretical and methodological perspectives work that is not original not being able to explain at the end of the thesis what had actually been argued in the thesis.

Sources: Ballard, B. That you have demonstrated control and coherence in all the elements of research, writing and presentation. Remember that examiners will respond more favourably to a well-structured thesis. Based on your University thesis structure: the thesis-as-argument can be introduced in the Introduction subsequent chapters can elaborate and develop the thesis each chapter can deal with a specific aspect of the thesis.

Reference: Adams. Victoria University. Ron Adams 8 posts 0 comments. You might also like More from author. Publishing tips. Sign in. Welcome, Login to your account. Forget password? Remember me. RSS - Posts. Skip to content. Home about me my research my books contributions and comments.

Because they can do this in between meetings Examiners will are likely to look first at one, some or all of: the thesis abstract The examiners expect an abstract to be a succinct summary of the thesis which tells them what it is about and what is coming provides key details — why the research was done, how, where and with whom, the results and the implications.

Like this: Like Loading This entry was posted in examiner , thesis , thesis abstract , thesis warrant , Uncategorized and tagged examiner , Pat Thomson , thesis , thesis examiner. Bookmark the permalink. April 3, at am. Haitham Al-Sheeshany says:. Thanks again Pat. April 3, at pm. Congratulations Dr Haitham Like Liked by 1 person. April 4, at am. Thanks A LOT! My viva is Friday! Thank you for this!!! Best wishes. MichaelEdits says:. April 10, at pm.

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