Thesis Examination at ANU

Greetings from the Australian National University where Margaret Kiley iS speaking on "Everything you ever wanted to know about thesis examination, but were too afraid to ask". She explained that the thesis is just the end of a process which starts with the entry process. Previously at least a first class honors, or equivalent, was required for a PHD. There are now students who are ready to learn, but may not have this background.

ANU has "Research Theses Submission and Examination: Information for Higher Degree Research Students". The engineering college of ANU is an example of a detailed step by step process for a PHD, with Progress Milestones.ANU also allows a "Thesis by Compilation".

Dr. Kiley described a European approach where the candidate has to publicly defend their work, with anyone able to ask a question. Under the UK system students are asked questions in a "viva", with external experts asking questions in a closed group. Canada has an external expert assessing the thesis, followed by a small group asking questions  (I am a Canadian distance education student, where the questions are asked on-line). In Australia only the written thesis is examined by two or three anonymous examiners. I asked Margaret f there were any universities which conduct a double blind process (the examiners do not know who the candidate is, as well as students not knowing the candidate), she didn't and argued that the examiners knowing who the candidate is a good thing.

One aspect which worries me is that the examiner is paid only a token few hundred dollars to examine a thesis, when the work required would cost thousands of dollars. Margaret explained that the examiner does the job not for the money, but as a reciprocal arrangement and because they then have access to detailed new research. It would seem to me the result will be that only salaried academics (and full time researchers) will therefore be able to be examiners. It would be prohibitively expensive for someone who is paid by the hour to spend a week examining a thesis for a few hundred dollars. Also this process of favors may not meet the requirements of ethical standards. Universities in several Australian states are subject investigation against commissions against corruption. The situation where academics trade flavors with supposedly independent examiners may be seen as corrupt.

ANU currently has no set period for examiners to return their comments (four to six weeks looks reasonable).  One enhancement which could be made to the ANU system would be for the degree to be conferred electronically as soon as the student has met all requirements. This would allow the student to receive their degree weeks, or months, earlier. The award ceremony with gowns and pieces of paper could still be held, but this should not hoold up awarding of the degree.

Event Details

The examination process is one of the least discussed aspects of research candidature. Candidates and supervisors are often so busy getting research done they spare little time for thinking about the examination process until the very end. There is a surprising amount of literature on how examiners approach and respond to thesis text which can be a rich source of information about how to write one in the first place. In this session Margaret Kiley, author of the seminal paper It's a PhD, not a Nobel Prize discusses her research on the issue and the subsequent research that has been conducted.
How does the Australian examination process work and how does the examination of ANU PhDs stand up to international best practice?
Why do people fail or asked to do major corrections?
How can supervisors better prepare candidates for thesis submission and the examination process and what can ANU do to help?

Learning to Supervise Academic Writing

Greetings from the Finkel Lecture Theatre at the Australian National University in Canberra, where I am attending a workshop on Academic Writing by Rowena Murray, author of "How to Write a Thesis" from University of the West of Scotland. Suggests that 90 minutes is the optimal time for concentrated writing.

One issue which writing for a thesis raises for me is if we are doing the students a disservice for making them do this. A thesis is not a particularly useful form of document: it is used as a form of assessment, rather than to communicate information.Why make the student write a document which hardly anyone will read and develop a skill which they will never use again?

I suggest it is better to have students write much shorter academic papers and reports, as these are read and it is something they are likely to do in the future. The quantity of work needed to award a Masters or Doctorate can then be demonstrated by a collection of such work. Unfortunately such a Thesis by Compilation is seen as not as prestigious, even where it is allowed by a university.

Another issue is collaboration in writing. Students are normally required to attest their work is their own. But employers want (and universities claim), that their graduates can work in teams. Some student activities may be in small groups, but in the case of writing in the workplace may involve dozens, hundreds or thousands of people.

The workshop included a short writing exercise where we had to write about our writing. This was an interesting exercise in thinking about what I needed to write and when I needed to write it, rather than being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task. But in terms of the mechanics of planning the writing process, students should be able to apply whatever project management techniques they learn in their discipline. As an example, computer professionals and engineers are trained in formal project management methodologies, used to undertake multi-year projects with large teams of people. Students who have been trained to organise large projects should be able to apply these skills to managing their writing.

Rowena suggested using the phrase : "The purpose of this paper is to ...". A version of this is routinely used for engineering documents: "The purpose of this document is to ...". But when I tried using it in a sociology paper my tutor told me this was plagiarism (which seemed a bit silly, but as a good student I changed it).

Teaching academic supervisors some techniques to help their students to write is useful, but this is the most effective and efficient approach. It would make more sense to have specialists teach the students about writing in specialised courses. As an example, ANU Master of Computing students undertake a course in Communication for Computing Professionals. Previously I have have noticed that about one third of my masters students have difficulty with writing and asked for a course to address this. So far the new course seems to be working. There is no reason why doctoral students should not undertake similar courses.

ANU will run "Scrivener: thesis writing made easier", 24 September 2014, on the use of the Scrivener  Writing Tool for Ms-Word. See also "Writing a novel in Scrivener: lessons learned".