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I love it when an examiner talks about ''the PhD'' in general, rather than simply the particulars of the one under consideration. When this happens, we get an insight into what examiners are looking for. Usually, such reflection occurs when the examiner is trying to explain to the candidate how a thesis might be improved - this is the formative ...

I know it is hard enough actually stating what your thesis is, but once you have articulated it, you then have to be able to convince the world that it is important enough to be worthy of 3 years' consideration, and that what you have found is a substantial contribution to the world's knowledge.One of the most serious concerns relates to the need ...

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 ...

A pressing issue that often arises at the time of write-up is what to call yourself. Should you use ''I'', ''we'' ''one'' or try to hide behind a passive voice? Here are some examples: ''I showed in an earlier paper [Bloggs, 2005] that ...'' ''We showed in an earlier paper [Bloggs, 2005] that ...'' ''The author showed in an earlier paper ...

It's worth taking a moment to imagine the conditions under which your examiners are likely to read your thesis. If my experience is anything to go by, it won't be in their office. Recently, most of my assessment reading has happened at home or in my car at skateboarding carparks (my son's a skater). These comments are from one examiner who clearly ...

I remember reading somewhere that the Conclusion shouldn't mark the point where you have run out of energy. A recent examiner's report made the same sort of comment: ''My second major criticism is that chapter 8, 'Conclusions', is far too brief (3.25 pages) and restricted to summing up what has gone before to do full justice to all the hard work ...

Argumentation is the art of persuading your audience that your ideas are valid, or at least more valid than someone else's. The Greek philosopher Aristotle considered this subject at length and he classified the three different aspects that go into making up a good argument. These aspects are Ethos, Pathos, and Logos; all of them are ...

Examiners often comment on the quality of the argument made in support, or as refutation, of the thesis. Here's an example:''The thesis is frustrating for a number of reasons that I think are quiet independent of the difficulty of the task:In my view, the argumentation is often unclear or not convincing, and observations and hypotheses are often ...