- Schools & departments
Thesis requirements
The criteria for award.
Award criteria
The criteria for the award of research degrees as set out in the Postgraduate Degree Regulations or otherwise agreed by the Senate Education Committee are that the thesis must:
- Be the student’s own work, except where indicated throughout the thesis and summarised clearly on the declarations page of the thesis, and must not have been presented for any other degree except as specified on the declarations page.
- Present a coherent body of work.
- Make an original and significant contribution to knowledge in the field of study.
- Relate particular research projects to the general body of knowledge in the field and show adequate knowledge of relevant literature.
- Demonstrate critical judgement of the student’s own work and that of other scholars in the field.
- Present the results of the research in a critical and scholarly way.
- Contain material worthy of publication.
- Demonstrate that any publications included in the thesis are the students own work, except where indicated throughout the thesis and summarised clearly on the declarations page.
- Be presented in a clear, consistent and accessible format.
The Institute for Academic Development provides more information and advice on writing up your thesis.
Writing up your PhD
Additional information
More information on thesis submission, including thesis submission forms, is available on the University website.
Doctoral thesis submission
Postgraduate Degree Regulations
This article was published on 2024-07-29
- Schools & departments
Writing up your PhD and Preparing for the Viva
Writing up and submitting your thesis on time should be your priority in your final year, but you should also make time to prepare for your next steps.
Typical milestones
These are the sorts of actions you will need to consider taking during the end phase of your PhD.
Completing your research :
- draw up a plan to cut writing up into manageable pieces
- chapter by chapter; complete a first draft
- submit thesis and practice for the viva
- viva, corrections and graduation....celebrate!
Communicate your findings :
- present research findings at conferences / seminars.
Plan your career :
- Visit the careers service and work on updating your CV.
- Apply for jobs or funding, or think about entrepreneurial activities, like starting your own business or ‘spinning out’ your research.
Remember to add your own additional actions that relate to your own personal circumstances and project.
Support from your supervisor and School
As you near completion, you will be the expert in your field, your relationship with your supervisor has probably changed dramatically since day one. Now your meetings should focus on critically discussing your work. Let them advise you on the process of submission and learn from their experience.
It is vital at this stage that you revisit the PhD regulations, particularly those on submitting your thesis. Remember that the guidance may have been updated since you first started your PhD.
Codes and regulations for research students
Writing up qualitative research
This independent self study pack is aimed at Postgraduate Researchers working on a qualitative thesis who have completed their data collection and analysis and are at the stage of writing up.
Note: this self-study pack was written in 2013 so is not an expecially up-to-date resource, but it may still contain helpful general information.
The units available for download are:
Writing up: course introduction (PDF - 3 pages)
Unit 1: structure and introduction (PDF - 13 pages)
Unit 2: literature review (PDF - 15 pages)
Unit 3: methodology (PDF - 9 pages)
Unit 4: data chapters (PDF - 17 pages)
Unit 5: the final chapter (PDF - 19 pages)
Unit 6: the first few pages (PDF - 9 pages)
Independent study notes (PDF - 11 pages)
Preparing for the Viva
A Guide for Viva Preparation (PDF)
Preparing for an Online Viva (PDF)
It may be particularly important now that you get advice and support on your next career steps. Read out career management section for some timely advice, and an overview of support you can access from the University’s careers service.
Career management advice for PhD students
Training courses
To help you in the final stages of your research programme, we recommend attending some of the following IAD courses:
- 7 Reasons you'll Pass your Viva
- Thesis Workshops - School Specific
- Viva Survivor
Doing a skills audit to help plan your development
Revisit your skills audit and update it, you will have learnt a lot in during your PhD, and the chances are your development needs have now changed. Your focus for future development should now be on the skills you need to move forward into your career. Think about these carefully and if you want to, seek advice from the Careers Service.
Get help from the University Careers Service
If you haven’t done a skills audit before, doing an audit (i.e. an assessment) of your skills is useful; if you can identify what skills are important to your research success, and whether you are strong or weak in these areas. You can then focus your precious time on developing the areas that will help you most.
Other sources of support
Vitae: The Vitae resources on writing up, submitting and defending your thesis are particularly helpful at this stage.
Vitae guidance on completing your doctorate
This article was published on 2024-02-26
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VIDEO
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Your College Office will invite you to submit your final thesis and provide guidance on how to do this. More information can be found on College webpages, the University Library’s theses …
Bookable sessions and online self-help in Word for theses, literature review resources, reference management, poster production... Digital skills and training.
Thesis Format Guidance. Purpose of Guidance. The guidance sets out standards for the format of postgraduate research theses to provide clarity and consistency. This applies to theses …
PhDs. Depending on the field of study you are interested in, you may be able to apply for a pre-defined PhD project, or you may need to develop your own research idea. …
Choosing your dissertation or project. Whether you are choosing your dissertation from a selection of topics or you are proposing your own, there are a range of factors to consider. For …
These are the sorts of actions you will need to consider taking during the end phase of your PhD. Completing your research: draw up a plan to cut writing up into manageable pieces. chapter by …
Find guidance on how to write your PhD research proposal and a template form for you to use to submit your research proposal.
The third, and main, assignment is the doctoral thesis project, which is outlined in Section 4 of this handbook. The thesis consists of a systematic review/meta-analysis and an empirical …