18 November 2010Finishing the Thesis Finishing and Producing your Ph.D. Thesis Anthony Bale (English...

18 November 2010 Finishing the Thesis

Finishing and Producing

your Ph.D. Thesis

Anthony Bale (English and Humanities) & Caroline

Goodson (History, Classics & Archaeology)

Birkbeck College


1.When to stop researching?

2.When to stop writing--and start editing?

3.How to edit efficiently?

4.Submission: how, where, what, when

5.The Viva


In general,

• Arts/Humanities theses are written chapter by chapter throughout the PhD programme

• Scientific theses are written once the data have been collected at the end of the PhD programme

• (Archaeology theses are a mix between these two, depending on the dataset)


When to finish researching and data collection?• when you are no longer surprised by findings• when you find yourself bored by the subject because you know, or can anticipate, your findings or other people’s research

When to finish writing?•when there is a clear progression of the argument through the text•TIP: look at the paragraphs of a chapter and write a sentence summarising what each paragraph does or says. Looking at the sequence will make clear where you need more and where you can cut.


At least four months before you intend to submit, you should:

• Download the relevant forms from http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/services/forms

• Complete the following and return to BBK Registry, attention of Miss Carla Bull, Research Student Unit (for Arts and SSHIP)1. Entry form, signed by you and your supervisor. This

includes the permission to reproduce the thesis and the certification that you have received and read a copy of the regulations.

2. Address Label, with a permanent addressYour advisor must nominate examiners, and these must be

approved. S/he must submit the form to Registry. It is your advisor’s choice who is nominated, though you may contribute suggestions.


http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/services/forms


When you eventually submit the thesis, you must include these forms:

1. Declaration of Number of Words for Mphil and PhD Thesis

2. Abstract of Thesis - this is official, and will be widely available to researchers, so make certain there are no errors!

3. 2 copies of the thesis for the readers, these can be soft-bound, in blue binding, with the name of the student on the spine in gold letters, according to regulations. The student must bring a copy for him-/herself during the examination, though this need not be bound.


How to edit efficiently?•Use a spell checker and use a grammar checker. Do not accept their changes blindly but review each sentence.

•Use a Style Sheet. The College does not specify one for use in PhD thesis, because it is important that you modify the formatting to reflect conventions in your field. You may develop a style sheet yourself, adopt one from an important journal in your field of research, or use a widely recognised format, such as the MHRA Style Guide (strongly recommended for English theses), the Chicago Manual, or the MLA.

•BE CONSISTENT. If you decide half-way through to change ca. to circa, use Find and Replace to correct ca. in the entire text at that time.


•When editing, divide your tasks and focus on one thing at a time. For example, read a chapter or the thesis first for punctuation, checking commas, full stops, single or double quotes and apostrophes. Then read again for consistent spelling. Then read again for citations and abbreviations. Then read again to check the footnotes.

•TIP: Read assuming there are errors and find them. Read the text aloud or backwards (especially helpful for spelling errors).


Final stages of producing the text and

editing before submission•Front matter•Abstract•Acknowledgements•Table of Contents•Chapters•References•Appendices•Printing•Binding


Front Matter • Title page (numbered page 1)Officially approved thesis title, that which is on the forms that you submitted months before.

Candidate’s full nameBirkbeck College, University of LondonDegree for which thesis is submitted and month/year of submission

It is assumed that submission of the thesis implies it is entirely your own work and not plagiarised.


Intracellular Signalling and Phagocytosis

by Haemocytes of Manduca sexta Larvae

Maria Patricia de Winter

Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences

Birkbeck College, University of London

Submitted for the degree of Doctor of

Philosophy, November 2004

1


Abstract of Thesis

• Follows the Title Page • 300 words maximum• Summarises context, methods, results and conclusions contained in the thesis

• A duplicate Abstract must be submitted to the registry with the thesis

• Published in ASLIB Index of Theses


Acknowledgements

• Optional, but most people include them (in the final submission) and acknowledge those who supported and helped them throughout their Ph.D., including libraries, repositories, and archives.

• If you include these, do keep acknowledgements to one side of A4.


Table of Contents• Follows Abstract, or Acknowledgements where included

• Must include all headings and subheadings and their page numbers

• Includes a list of Figures or Tables• MS Word can create a TOC for you if you merge all your chapters into one document or you can generate your own (make a two-column table without borders)


Chapters

• Each chapter must be numbered sequentially, and the pagination must be continuous from 1 onwards. Use Arabic numerals (ie 1, 2, 3).

• You may chose to number your footnotes sequentially or restart at each chapter.


References

• Use a reference system that is recognised by your discipline.

• Examiners are fond of checking for missing references so check that each of the items in your footnotes appears on your final bibliography (nb this takes hours!).


Appendices

• Include extra material that does not need to be in the body of the thesis. These might be tables, transcriptions of documents, texts in original language or editions of texts, or other information relevant to the thesis but not included in full in the body of the text.


Production time

• Allow at least a WEEK to assemble, check, print and correct last-minute errors that you have missed.


Word limit

• 100,000 words including footnotes and tables, but not including appendices.

• It is possible, under extenuating circumstances, to apply for an extension to this limit but this application must by approved by your examiners, and the College, before you submit the thesis. There must be a very serious reason for which you need this extension, such as your examiners’ requiring the addition of a new chapter as part of the major revisions to the thesis.


Birkbeck does NOT stipulate

the following:-the font type or size to use (best to use a serifed font (such as Times) for body text and a sans serif font (such as Arial) for figures such as graphs)

-reference formats or bibliography formats.

-American or British English spelling or conventions.

-specific chapter or thesis formats


Birkbeck DOES stipulate the following formatting

points:-theses must be typed or printed on good quality A4 paper and on one side only

-line spacing should be double or one-and-half, except for for indented quotations or footnotes where single spacing may be used.

-the binding edge margin must be at least 40 mm and other margins at least 20 mm

-photographs etc. must be permanently mounted and bound in with the theses


-the use of sellotape or similar is prohibited-errors must be corrected before final submission-all pages must be numbered, including any bound in material

-the thesis must include a title page, an abstract, a table of contents and a list of tables and figures

-collaborative work must acknowledged and certified by supervisor.

The examination copies, and the final submission copies, MUST be bound according to regulations


Printing• Allow at least TWO days just to print and check your thesis - it really does take this long.

• Print a draft copy first and check for errors before printing final copies - get a friend or partner or parent to proof-read the thesis to check for typos that you will not be able to see.

• Having a professional printer print the final copy has much to recommend it, though it can cost over £20 per copy, not including binding.


• Check each thesis copy to ensure that all the pages are numbered sequentially

• Birkbeck initially requires two copies, either two soft-bound or one soft and one hard-bound

• Make an extra copy for yourself, which you should take with you to the viva, and one for your advisor if he or she is attending the viva.

• Don’t make any extra copies at this stage - there are certain to be corrections to make

• If you submit two soft-bound copies and there are no correction, you will eventually have to submit a hard-bound copy after the viva.


All theses (whether soft or hard-bound) must •Be covered in medium blue cloth (e.g. water resistant material)•Be lettered in gold up the spine with Degree, Year, and Surname and Initials in the same form as the College records, with letters 16 or 18 point (.25 inch) (The date on the copies of the thesis submitted for examination in November and December should be that of the following year).

If the thesis has to be bound in two volumes, the spine should indicate this clearly, e.g. Vol 1 and Vol 2.


BindingFor the examination, you can submit either-Two soft-bound copies, or- One soft-bound and one hard-bound copy.

For the final official submission, you must submitOne soft-bound and one hard-bound copy.

Soft binding costs about £13.00.Hard binding costs about £21.00.

A list of binders in the area is available at http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/services/forms/binding.doc


Hints on producing a thesis

• Save each chapter as a separate MSWord file, and put them together at the very end, or keep them separate and change the page numbering on each file to be sequential to the last.

• Back up all work regularly: daily if you are working on it daily. (You can save it on your Birkbeck account, by logging into a Cluster computer and saving it in your Documents folder, as this is backed up and recorded on tape off site).


• Figures and tables should preferably not be inserted into text - put them on individual pages at the end of the chapter, or the text.

• Save figures and tables as separate files and either print separately or insert into chapter only when you are about to print.

• Inserting figures into (borderless) text boxes anchors them on a page and makes positioning them easier (in MS Word).

• You may use reference management software (e.g. Endnote, zotero) to insert citations and create a bibliography/reference list BUT manually check all your references in the completed thesis nonetheless.


Submitting the Thesis

• Take two copies of the thesis together with the completed – Abstract of Thesis form – Declaration of Number of Words

• The title of the thesis must correspond EXACTLY to the title on the Exam Entry Form previously submitted


After submission

• Your examiners will read the thesis and each write a preliminary independent report.

• They will confer before the viva and usually plan how they will conduct the viva and which areas they will want to cover.


The Viva


Based on their reading, and the viva, the

examiners will have to certify that the Ph.D.

thesis :• is genuinely the work of the candidate• forms a distinct contribution to knowledge of the subject

• affords evidence of originality: 1) by the discovery of new facts and/or 2) by the exercise of independent critical power

• is an integrated whole and presents a coherent argument [NB a series of papers is not acceptable but published papers may be adapted and included in the thesis]


•gives a critical assessment of the relevant literature; describes the method of research and its findings;•includes discussion of those findings and how they advance the study of the subject;•in so doing demonstrates a deep and synoptic understanding of the field of study, objectivity and the capacity for judgment in complex situations and autonomous work in that field;•is satisfactory as regards literary presentation [NB in English];•includes a full bibliography and references;•demonstrates research skills relevant to the thesis;•is of a standard to merit publication in whole, in part or in a revised form.

18 November 2010Finishing the Thesis Finishing and Producing your Ph.D. Thesis Anthony Bale (English...

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