What work actually belongs to the candidate?
Examiners often worry about who did what in a thesis, especially when the research has resulted in joint publications with the supervisor and possibly others. The
UWA Style and Formatting Guidelines do make clear that a statement addressing the candidate's contribution should form part of the thesis, however this is often missing and can result in examiners' comments along the lines of the following:
"At times, it was not clear exactly what contribution was made by the author in performing the work reported here. For example, on page 97 it is stated that "... a novel algorithm was developed in conjunction with XXX". It would be helpful to know exactly what the author contributed to this and other developments described in the thesis. Specifically, what percentage of this development is due to the author and what was Dr XXX responsible for? This is a pertinent question, given that it is the author's PhD research that is being examined here. This examiner would like to see a statement somewhere in the thesis that summarizes the author's contributions to the work described herein."