Anticipating expectations
One of the first things you learn in any writing course is to model the reader. Here is a quote from a recent examiner's report where the candidate has clearly done this very well:
"This thesis was an interesting one to assess. There is much very good material contained in the work and the presentation and level of analysis are exceptional.
Overall it is clearly passable without changes.
I started examining this thesis by making a list of the key authors and work I would expect to encounter. The thesis cleared all of these first hurdles I had thus set up with some daylight to spare. I then wondered about the method employed and set up an expectation of encountering principal components analysis, which prompted some curiosity as it failed to make a significant early appearance. My fears were subsequetly more than settled by a very competent analysis and explanation as to why such an approach was inappropriate or not the best in this case.
My favourable impression of the work on these counts was added to significantly by the clarity and extent of the literature reviewed and analysed with the summary tabulations of the empirical research findings on XX being noted as particularly effective."