Queries related to preparation and presentation of a research thesis, specifically for the award of Ph. D.
2
votes
3answers
168 views
Pros and cons of sharing dissertation on a specialised website
I am wondering what are the advantages/drawbacks of sharing a dissertation on a specialised website (for example here). There are a number of repositories available and they seem to be more widely ...
6
votes
4answers
463 views
Can I ask for payment if my employer wants to use my dissertation?
I completed my PhD research as an industry based researcher. My employer was fully aware of my research. There was no support given by the employer other than encouragement. However, I used the ...
12
votes
4answers
292 views
Prolonging a PhD to improve research CV, is this good ?
I am in my 4th year of PhD. Few months ago I presented my thesis proposal which already included some of the results (that are actually published). I proposed to add another chapter (call it Chapter ...
8
votes
3answers
267 views
Can I successfully adapt to an advisor who will not push me to work?
I am currently a first-year graduate student, now in the process of figuring out who I'd like to have as my thesis advisor. Of course, compatibility of research interests is quite important, but ...
6
votes
1answer
214 views
How to cope with gap after PhD?
I submitted my PhD recently and am waiting for the oral examination. Though I have started looking for postdoc positions, the possibility of being without a job, even if for a small period after the ...
8
votes
3answers
254 views
Article-based PhD and advisor's (new) role?
My engineering university offers a relatively new option to do an article-based dissertation, where the primary research is submitted (and hopefully published) in several scientific journals (at my ...
6
votes
1answer
190 views
Is there anything to do while waiting for results of a thesis examination?
I handed in my PhD thesis for examination. From reading the examination instructions it appears that if I get my degree, it could be between 6 weeks to a year. It all depends upon the comments I get ...
13
votes
4answers
291 views
How do you thematically include accidental findings (“serendipity”) in a dissertation or paper?
I'm asking for approaches to include interesting, but not perfectly fitting results in a dissertation or a paper.
During my PhD project I have made an accidental discovery, which is what I believe ...
7
votes
1answer
89 views
Issues with publishing dissertation on an interest/advocacy group's website
I am wondering if it would hurt me (professional creditability etc.) if I publish my dissertation on an interest / advocacy group's website.
My dissertation is in one of the areas that this group has ...
5
votes
2answers
168 views
What is a “publishable” thesis?
What is a "publishable" thesis?
I have often heard this term thrown about in conferences and even as advice to new grad. students.
From what I know, it is indeed rare for a thesis to be published ...
4
votes
1answer
95 views
How can my colleague use our joint results in his PhD thesis?
Over the past two years, I've been collaborating with a PhD student. He did experimental work, and I did modeling and data analysis based on his experiments. Now that my colleague is about to write up ...
13
votes
2answers
147 views
What is a good checklist for last minute changes before submitting a PhD thesis?
I have finished my thesis, it's been proofread by my advisor and myself, yet I have 24 hours to make last-minute changes to it. What should I be looking for? I will not make any substantial changes to ...
15
votes
3answers
344 views
Co-authorship for not very involved supervisor
I have now completed my PhD by research.
I received support from my supervisor in the form of advice on my chapters (for which I am indebted to him; we have a very good working relationship).
The ...
4
votes
6answers
370 views
Publishing PhD dissertation as a book
I have just completed a PhD by research, which I think has some merits in being available as a book (This is, of course, my personal opinion). The research cuts across several fields (e.g. sociology, ...
12
votes
4answers
349 views
Are overlapping dissertations ethically acceptable?
Would it be ethical for students working on the same team to include in their Ph.D. theses results arising from joint publications, ending up in different dissertations containing almost identical ...
5
votes
2answers
268 views
Research approach for PhD thesis in Taoism: top down vs. bottom up
Originally I conceived of posting a "Roadmap for researching x" but I assume that would be too localized for this site.
Background: After much dilly-dallying, I have finally zoned in to pursue ...
12
votes
6answers
339 views
How to skim through Phd Theses
My adviser asked me to go over some PhD theses over the weekend, and by some he meant three 200~ pages theses.
Is there an effective way to skim through theses that you have figured out, as more ...
7
votes
2answers
131 views
Value Vs. Uniqueness of Research
I am a PhD student and I am often faced with several ideas to explore. Two criteria often I consider in making a choice between approaches are based on the value proposition/ addition and the ...
74
votes
13answers
4k views
How to avoid procrastination during the research phase of my PhD?
I just finished all of my coursework for my PhD program, and am entering the research phase of my degree with a topic already in mind. I've already started the research, but I'm already finding that ...
4
votes
2answers
64 views
Are there guidelines for amount and content of text in figure captions for theses?
In writing my thesis in geosciences I have a number of figures with a fair amount of text content. Is there some limit I should adhere to -- say for example max 5 lines -- before I should just write ...
16
votes
5answers
825 views
Is publishing papers before the evaluation of thesis a good idea?
Is publishing papers before the evaluation of thesis is a good idea?
Isn't there a risk of making the idea public?
12
votes
4answers
488 views
Use of first person in a PhD Thesis
Is there a non written rule to which person to use in the PhD thesis, 5 years of using "We" in the papers have brought me to the innate necessity to do it every time I describe something.
Recently, ...
6
votes
1answer
106 views
What are the standard practices for hyphenating/spelling scientific words
I would like to know what are standard practices when words are spelled differently across the literature and/or dictionaries (when these words can be found in dictionaries). A few examples of the ...
6
votes
2answers
172 views
Where to define nomenclature in a proposal or dissertation?
I am writing my proposal and I am borrowing heavily from one of my publications. The published paper has a Nomenclature section at the very beginning (just after the abstract).
What is the ...
4
votes
1answer
74 views
Is it necessary to obtain permissions for copying figures from published articles in your proposal/dissertation?
I am currently writing a proposal for my research topic and I want to copy figures from published articles into my proposal document. To put it in perspective, almost all the copied figures are to go ...
10
votes
2answers
297 views
How to select a dissertation committee member wisely?
I'm currently developing my dissertation proposal, and am in the process of choosing my committee members. I have heard that one should carefully choose their committee members, since they ultimately ...
9
votes
2answers
401 views
What is a committee looking for in a dissertation proposal?
I've started narrowing down the scope of my dissertation, and I have one year before I need to defend my proposal. I'm curious to know what is expected from a dissertation proposal. What are the key ...
7
votes
1answer
167 views
Are there any particular grants or fellowships in the sciences specifically for non-traditional students?
After obtaining my masters degree, I spent four years doing other things before returning to pursue my PhD. My advisor has a Dept. of Energy grant which has funded me, but the grant will not be able ...
9
votes
2answers
902 views
Can I publish parts of the Ph.D thesis as a paper in a journal?
I recently finished my PhD thesis which will be published as a book soon.
Now I'm wondering if it's possible or allowed to submit parts to a journal?
Normally the process would be the other way round ...
7
votes
2answers
294 views
Switching fields after graduate school
How successful would someone be who completed his PhD in something such as computational biology or neuroscience but wanted to pursue post-doctoral training and beyond in computer science?
I say ...
5
votes
3answers
466 views
PhD thesis layouts from around the world
About to do this PhD thesis here - but am not really satisfied with my layout. Could somebody point me to some interesting layouts, templates or whatever?
7
votes
2answers
394 views
Dismissed by my committee
I attended a doctoral program and was completing it in 3 to 4 years. I got a life-threatening sickness that set me back several years. When nearing my dissertation I was dismissed. I was told that I ...
13
votes
2answers
940 views
Can I use the work in my journal/conference publications as chapters in my dissertation?
At my institution, I am required to publish four papers in addition to my PhD thesis. Of course my planned papers are related to my dissertation project, but I'm not sure if it could be considered ...
11
votes
1answer
1k views
Dissertation acknowledgements
I'm at the stage in writing my dissertation where most of the substantive aspects are finished and the only tasks left are more or less administrative. However, one thing that I've been avoiding is ...
4
votes
1answer
153 views
Does getting awarded your PhD in physics depend on the quality of university?
Say you wrote a good thesis on some discovery you made in physics.
If it was a mediocre discovery, nothing special, are you more likely to get awarded the PhD at a 'not very good' university than at ...
16
votes
4answers
2k views
Who is responsible for detecting plagiarism in a PhD thesis?
Background
I am asking this question in the context of the long running plagiarism scandal in Germany.The most prominent victim of the scandal of plagiarized doctoral dissertations by politicians was ...
3
votes
2answers
316 views
How to accredit my Ph.D. in USA
I got my Ph.D. from the Faculty of Computers and Information Technology, Cairo University in 2007. I want to know if it is possible to compensate or to accredit my Ph.D. from USA. If it is possible, I ...
8
votes
1answer
93 views
What are the essential points that should be covered in a dissertation abstract?
I need to prepare a 2-page abstract of my dissertation as part of a funding application. What are the essential points that such an abstract should cover?
This opportunity (and my PhD) is in the ...
8
votes
1answer
136 views
What are the most important points to emphasize while pitching for a dissertation to be published as a book?
An editor for a major publishing house is visiting our institute, and some PhD students will get the chance to have a 15 min talk with them and discuss the publication of their dissertation as a book.
...
6
votes
2answers
196 views
Should I do a PhD in Sound and Music Computing?
I have recently applied to two PhD programs (in Europe) under professors working in the area of Sound and Music Computing (SMC). Both programs are very well regarded in this area.
SMC covers topics ...
10
votes
4answers
299 views
How to choose the most worthwhile research papers to define my thesis?
I'm a first year PhD student. I'm just reading background papers trying to find a topic for my thesis: my subject is turning around tree different elements (XML (as a tool), complex data, and the ...
14
votes
3answers
362 views
How can I find out which universities allow a sandwich (stapler) PhD thesis?
Following on from What is a "Sandwich thesis"? , is there an easy way to find out which departments at which universities will allow a sandwich thesis (aka a stapler thesis, portfolio ...
31
votes
2answers
1k views
What is a “Sandwich thesis”?
Googling on the internet, I have found that some people have graduated with a PhD by means of a "sandwich thesis". Could anyone explain what it is?
