current students

Submitting your PhD thesis

What to do

Let the Graduate School know

1.  Before you plan to submit, discuss with your supervisor the title of your thesis and the likely submission date.
2. Inform the Grad School that you are about to submit. The "Approval of Title" form needs to be signed by your supervisor and the director of CCFEA. Submit this form well in advance (2 months) before your intended submission date.
3. Submitting this form triggers all internal procedures. Amongst other things, CCFEA will be asked to nominate one internal and one external examiner for your viva. Both should be academic experts in the area of your thesis, and neither must have been involved in your supervision or research. They will then be contacted and asked whether they agree to examine you etc. This might take some time. You cannot (formally) suggest examiners.

Preparing your thesis

1. The official University guidelines on layout, word count, etc. are available online.
2. Your thesis must "speak for itself." Make sure everything is explained and presented properly -- and make sure it is "reader friendly."
3. Before you submit, ask someone, who's not directly involved in your research to proof read it. Ask them also on comments about the presentation. Take their comments on board: if they struggle, then so might the examiners. 
4. You have to submit hard copies of your thesis. These hard copies will be sent to the examiners. They then prepare comments for the graduate school.

The viva

1. The Graduate School sets the date and time for your viva. You will be informed well in advance.
2. The viva itself is mainly an oral exam on your thesis. Make sure you know your thesis well -- even those bits you wrote quite some time ago when you started your research! Plus, make sure you know all the (core) literature your work is built on. 
3. The examiners are aware that you have worked long and hard to come to this stage. They acknowledge that, by now, you should be an expert in your field and that you can contribute original and substantive knowledge to the academic community. However, it's their job to test and assess your expertise.
4. During the viva, you might be asked to give a brief general discussion of what you did in it and what you think your main contributions are. You will also be asked about the points the examiners had concerns about. Finally, you can also expect some question of a rather general nature about your methods, related areas, applicability of your results, etc.
5. Edward has prepared a list of 10 points on preparing for and surviving your viva -- highly commended!!

After your viva

1. Immediately after the viva, the examiners deliberate and inform you about the outcome.
2. The examiners will prepare a written report for the Graduate School. The Grad School then informs you officially about the results.
3. Most likely, you will be asked to prepare some revisions. Depending on how severe these revisions are, you will have different deadlines for re-submission. You will also receive a list with comments and suggested modifications -- not unlike a "referee's report" for a journal publication.
4. The final decision about "accept" or "reject" will be made on this revised version. There's no second round for revisions, so make sure that the revised version addresses all points satisfactorily! 
5. Further information on the possible outcomes of the assessment and viva (e.g. pass with minor corrections etc) can be found in the printed ‘Code of Practice: Postgraduate Research Degrees’ booklet.

Further support

• Discuss any open issues with your supervisor! They are there to help and support you.
• Talk to former PhD students about their experiences. Knowing the procedures and what might (or might not) happen can be re-assuring.
• The Learning and Teaching Unit organizes workshops etc. that can be helpful. Plus, it's a good opportunity to meet PhD students from other departments.