The oral exam

robyn.owens — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 06:47:00 GMT

Some examiners assume that there will be a viva.

Overall, the experimental methodologies and statistical analyses applied are appropriate for the research undertaken, and the thesis is easy to read and understand. However, the candidate has used different symbols to denote the same variables in different parts of the thesis. The candidate needs to explain the differences between these symbols during the oral examination.

During the oral exam the candidate should report on the status of the papers submitted to journals.

Precision adverbs

robyn.owens — Mon, 21 May 2007 13:45:00 GMT

An examiner of a scientific thesis wants a ban on words indicating a probability not entirely certain:

"Page N: 'Although the correspondence between the XXX and YYY frameworks is not clear, it is likely that ...' Hmmm. Scientific sentences containing adverbs such as 'likely' (or 'very', 'hardly', 'quite', 'almost', 'nearly' ...) are highly likely to be not very scientific. Either write something concrete about the relationship between the XXX and the YYY, or don't write anything at all."

I expect the same precision is required in a humanities thesis.

theEzone : Precision

The oral exam

Precision adverbs