The Thesis
I have recently been examining a PhD thesis of a student from another university (in another country). Overall, it was, in my opinion, an adequate dissertation: the candidate had clearly done a lot of work, there were some original contributions (although they were difficult to find in the presentation), and the written style was passable. While this might not sound very positive, my overall recommendation was "Pass, subject to the questions in my report being addressed at the oral examination, and the revisions in my report being undertaken in the thesis." This recommendation was one of the choices I had, and common to all examination procedures I have ever seen, it required ticking a box.
What I found most difficult in this examination process was identifying what the candidate's actual thesis was; that is, the argument that was being developed
over 150 or so pages so as to convince me that this new approach to XXX either had promise as a practical system, or that it gave some
insight into existing biological systems. The Graduate Research School webpages give the following advice about the thesis (adapted from Anderson, J. and Poole, M. (1994) Thesis and assignment writing John Wiley and Sons, Brisbane):
"A thesis is not the same as a topic to be investigated. While a
topic may be the structure of a particular crystal or the novels of
Miles Franklin, a thesis is a statement that says, for instance,
something about crystals or an author’s novels. The distinction
is important since in many ways the statement of a thesis determines
the approach and stance writers take towards their topics or research
questions.
A thesis is an idea or theory that is expressed as a
statement, a contention for which evidence is gathered and discussed
logically. The statement nearly always begins with the word that.
…that the move towards republicanism in Australia began at the end of the last century.
…that use of sapphire as a test mass material in a gravitational wave detector will significantly reduce thermal noise.
…that failure of apparent pregnancies in sheep in the Merredin area is due to high temperatures at the time of mating.
A
thesis is a sustained argument. The thesis statement usually appears in
the first chapter where the background to the study is described. It
will often determine the framework for the literature review and the
data collection and it is revisited in the last chapter. It permeates
the whole study."
Since I have challenged the candidate I am examining to state his thesis, I now offer the same challenge here: can you state your thesis, in one phrase, starting with the word "that"?