How To Write A PHD: Marie - Claude Boily Dide, Icl
How To Write A PHD: Marie - Claude Boily Dide, Icl
How To Write A PHD: Marie - Claude Boily Dide, Icl
T O
W RITE
A
P HD
Marie-‐Claude
Boily
DIDE,
ICL
PHD
àTHESIS
¡ High
quality
presentaIon
that
reflects
the
hard
work
&
new
knowledge
&
experIse
acquired
during
the
PhD
§ Exercise
of
paIence
&
frustraIon
(not
afraid
to
start
again)
§ Learn
and
develop
skills
to
navigate
the
unknown
&
be
your
own
judge
§ Opportunity
to
make
friends
and
new
colleagues
(build
network)
Ø Use
this
to
your
advantage
when
wri6ng
the
thesis
PHD
THESIS
h]p://www3.imperial.ac.uk/registry/exams/thesisandvivas
REQUIREMENTS
(1)
(1)
RegulaIons
for
a
PhD:
www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-‐college/administraIon-‐and-‐support-‐services/registry/academic-‐governance/public/regulaIons/2015-‐16/academic-‐
regs/PhD-‐(including-‐MPhil).pdf
;
(2)
See
page
6
of
above
document;
(3)
Reproducing
third
party
or
own
work
in
a
thesis
www3.imperial.ac.uk/scholarly-‐communicaIon/spiral-‐digital-‐repository/phd-‐theses/third-‐party-‐copyright;
(4)
www3.imperial.ac.uk/registry/exams/
thesisandvivas.
TIMELINE (1)
Thesis
for
CRP?
Thesis
VIVA
VIVA
Final
Entry
form
Submission
Submission
Registra6on
Time
in
Time
(months)
months
Full
Time
36
44
48
<12
Part
Time
60
68
72
<12
%202014.pdf;
(3)
h]ps://workspace.imperial.ac.uk/registry/Public/Current%20Students/Submission%20Checklist%20for%20Imperial%20College%20Degrees_Dec%202014.pdf
A
GOOD
THESIS
(1)
¡ NO-‐NO:
§ Lack
of
objecIvity
§ Small
or
badly
described
problems
§ Poorly
reasoned
&
pre-‐conceived
idea
not
based
on
data
§ Badly-‐designed
&
executed
experiments
§ Poorly
present
methods
–
not
reproducible
§ Insufficient
analysis
quanItaIve
analysis
–
only
describe
and
does
not
explain
results
§ Repeats
or
confirms
well-‐established
facts
§ Has
poor
presentaIon
and
choice
of
graphs
and
illustraIons
§ Overselling
and
under
selling
results
§ Errors
and
Badly
reference
own
or
third
party
work
§ Conclusions
not
aligned
with
results
§ Too
many
grammaIcal
and
typing
errors
&
lots
of
repeIIons
§ Poor
use
of
English
&
lack
of
precisions
§ Sloppy
presentaIon
§ Arrogance
and
failing
to
acknowledge
contribuIon
of
others
h]p://www3.imperial.ac.uk/registry/exams/thesisandvivas
TYPICAL
THESIS
CONTENT
¡ Make
the
presentaIon
clear
and
simple
but
precise
&
to
the
point;
avoid
verbose
¡ Think
of
the
reader/reviewer
–
“lazy”
¡ Give
all
the
informaIon
in
a
user-‐friendly
but
unambiguous
way:
§ Assume
total
ignorance
(or
research
subject
but
not
dumb!)
on
the
part
of
the
reviewer
§ Provide
all
of
the
required
conceptual
background
–
basic
and
in
simple
terms
§ No
abbreviaIons
or
acronyms
without
definiIon
§ Use
diagrams
to
illustrate
concepts
and
models
or
conceptual
framework
–
well
labeled
and
explained
§ Make
sure
figures
and
tables
are
introduced
and
referred
to
-‐
or
omit
them
§ Use
formaYng
for
emphasis
-‐>
not
too
much
§ Use
key
words
-‐
don’t
worry
about
repeIIon
of
terms
LINK
YOUR
WORK
TO
YOUR
FIELD
¡ Describe
exisIng
research
and
how
your
work
builds
on
it:
§ Are
you
contesIng
a
view?
§ Are
you
making
exisIng
theories/evidence
more
robust
with
addiIonal
perspecIves?
§ Are
you
filling
a
gap?
¡ How
are
you
adding
value
to
your
field?
¡ Be
pro-‐acIve
¡ Take
the
lead
of
your
PhD
&
thesis
¡ Style
and
wriIng
reflect
quality
of
the
work
¡ Allow
&
agree
on
sufficient
Imeframe
for
feedback
&
chapter
revisions
§ E.g.
some
supervisors
cannot
judge
the
work
unless
it
is
presented
completely
à
present
a
neat,
complete
version
of
each
chapter
§ Some
supervisors
stop
reading
if
too
many
mistakes
à
proof-‐read
thoroughly
and
spell
checked
§ Don’t
expect
a
chapter
to
be
read
many
Imes
¡ ConIngency
plans
for
unexpected
delays
à
Your
supervisor
wants
you
to
have
a
good
thesis
but
it
is
your
responsibility
to
deliver
REVISING
A
DRAFT
(STYLE)
¡ The
decision
to
submit
a
thesis
rests
with
the
candidate
alone.
¡ Opinion
of
supervisor(s)
ma]er
!
¡ Checklist
SUMMARY
-‐
TIPS
¡ T h e s i s
s u b m i s s i o n
a n d
v i v a
§ h]p://www3.imperial.ac.uk/registry/exams/thesisandvivas
¡ P a s s i n g
y o u r
v i v a
&
e x a m i n e r
p e r s p e c I v e
§ h]p://www3.imperial.ac.uk/graduateschool/currentstudents/onlineresources/
passingyourviva
¡ P r e p a r i n g
y o u r
t h e s i s
f o r
s u b m i s s i o n
t o
t h e
S p i r a l
D i g i t a l
R e p o s i t o r y
( p e r m i s s i o n
t o
r e p r o d u c e
o w n
o r
t h i r d
p a r t y
w o r k ,
p l a g i a r i s m
a w a r e n e s s )
§ h]p://www3.imperial.ac.uk/scholarly-‐communicaIon/spiral-‐digital-‐repository/phd-‐theses
¡ C o m p u l s o r y
c o u r s e
h ] p : / / w w w 3 . i m p e r i a l . a c . u k / g r a d u a t e s c h o o l / p l a g i a r i s m a w a r e n e s s c o u r s e
§ h]p://www3.imperial.ac.uk/scholarly-‐communicaIon/spiral-‐digital-‐repository/phd-‐theses
¡ C o m p l e I n g
R e s e a r c h
S t a t u s
-‐
W r i I n g -‐ U p
§ h]p://www3.imperial.ac.uk/registry/researchdegrees/wriIngup
§ h]ps://workspace.imperial.ac.uk/registry/public/Exams/ethesis_FAQ.pdf
¡ A c a d e m i c
l a d d e r
¡ h ] p : / / w w w . I m e s h i g h e r e d u c a I o n . c o . u k / n e w s / h o w -‐ n o t -‐ t o -‐ w r i t e -‐ a -‐ p h d -‐ t h e s i s /
4 1 0 2 0 8 . a r I c l e
GOOD
W RITING