Category Archives: examiner

required, desirable and delightful elements of academic writing

Posted on May 3, 2021 by pat thomson

This is the time of year that I run writing workshops and courses. And because I’m preoccupied with teaching, I’m also thinking about new and different strategies for authoring and revision. Authoring and revision strategies are inter-related – heuristics used … Continue reading →

Posted in examiner, Kano Analysis, revision, thesis | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

PhD by publication

Posted on June 24, 2019 by pat thomson

I’ve been asked a few times recently about the text that accompanies published papers for the PhD by publication. So who am I to refuse? This is a slide show that I use to raise some key questions that people … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, examiner, journal article, journal publication, PhD by publication, viva | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

don’t give your thesis examiner a bad first impression

Posted on May 27, 2019 by pat thomson

My hunch is that I’m a lot like most thesis examiners. When we get sent a thesis we often don’t plunge in straight away. We have a bit of a look around first. That’s not an unusual response to a … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, examiner, proofreading, thesis, thesis abstract | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

writing the thesis – the theoretical framework

Posted on March 12, 2018 by pat thomson

Please note that I write my blog on weekends. It is not part of my workload or job description. I support the #USSstrike and “teach out” online.  Not every thesis has a section or chapter devoted to a theoretical framework. … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, chapter, examiner, theory, theory chapter, thesis | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

three things examiners look for in methods chapters

Posted on June 26, 2017 by pat thomson

Once upon a time, when I worked in schools, early childhood teachers routinely issued young children with a ‘pen license’. A pen license was much sought after as it meant that a child could ‘advance’ to using a pen instead of … Continue reading →

Posted in data, data analysis, examiner, methods, methods chapter, research methods, thesis, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

how an examiner reads a thesis

Posted on April 3, 2017 by pat thomson

About this time every year I post something about the reading habits of thesis examiners. At the risk of repeating myself – again – it is worth knowing what they/we examiners do when they/we receive that big fat tome the … Continue reading →

Posted in examiner, thesis, thesis abstract, thesis warrant, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

thesis know-how – don’t write an essay

Posted on January 26, 2015 by pat thomson

Examiners do not want to read a thesis that contains a lot of mini-essays. To understand the problem with the thesis-as-essay, imagine the examiner reading a methods chapter. It starts off badly. While not in these words, the writer basically says … Continue reading →

Posted in essay, examiner, expert, literature review, methods chapter, thesis | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

handing in the PhD – yes, it’s a checklist!!

Posted on August 28, 2014 by pat thomson

There’s nothing quite like the countdown to handing in the PhD. Puff pant, puff pant. I think I can, I think I can. But…. On the one hand, you may be absolutely sick of the sight of the text and … Continue reading →

Posted in doctoral research, drafting, examiner, revision | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

the audit trail – a common omission from methods chapters

Posted on August 14, 2014 by pat thomson

It’s really important to put an ‘audit trail’ into your methods chapter. Audit trail? Well, it doesn’t actually matter what you call it, it’s the section in the chapter where you give the examiner the nuts and bolts information about … Continue reading →

Posted in evidence, examination criteria, examiner, methodology, methods chapter | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

choosing a thesis examiner

Posted on March 31, 2014 by pat thomson

Most supervisors want to discuss the choice of thesis examiners with the doctoral researcher. This may well be more than a single conversation; instead a rather long intermittent musing. There may be a short list of examiners early on, but … Continue reading →

Posted in examiner, thesis | Tagged , | 17 Comments