Finishing and Producing your Ph.D. Thesis

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Finishing and Producing your Ph.D. Thesis

• Anthony Bale (English and Humanities) Caroline
  Goodson (History, Classics Archaeology)
• Birkbeck College

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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

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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)

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• 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 peoples 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.

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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)
• 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.
• Address Label, with a permanent address
• Your advisor must nominate examiners, and these
  must be approved. S/he must submit the form to
  Registry. It is your advisors choice who is
  nominated, though you may contribute suggestions.

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http//www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/services/forms
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When you eventually submit the thesis, you must
include these forms

• Declaration of Number of Words for Mphil and PhD
  Thesis
• Abstract of Thesis - this is official, and will
  be widely available to researchers, so make
  certain there are no errors!
• 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.

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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.

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• 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).

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Final stages of producing the text and editing
before submission

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

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Front Matter

• Title page (numbered page 1)
• Officially approved thesis title, that which is
  on the forms that you submitted months before.
• Candidates full name
• Birkbeck College, University of London
• Degree 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.

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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
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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

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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!).

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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.

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Production time

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

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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.

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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

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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

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• -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

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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.

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• 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.
• Dont 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.

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• 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.

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Binding
For 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/bin
ding.doc
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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).

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• 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.

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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

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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.

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The Viva
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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

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• 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.