How to choose your Examiners or supervisors for your PhD Research

Choosing examiners depends on

1. Expertise
2. Reputation
3. Publications
4. Experience (Bourke et al., 2001)

How do they look at your dissertation / thesis: Examiners perspective?

1. Whether clear objectives are identified
2. A critical appraisal of the published works and experimental results is one and
3. The need for an existing study is justified
4. A proper model /methodology is used
5. Thorough understanding of the technique is exhibited
6. Results are sensible in the light of the model and significance
7. The study makes an original and significant contribution to the existing body of knowledge

However, if your thesis has to be vetted judiciously, a fair selection of supervisor or supervisory committee is important. The examiners should be knowledgeable in the relevant discipline and recognized in their fields.

Independency and Continuity of examiners

The examiners you select should be independent and should not contact with each other. Their decision on the thesis should be written down and forward to the referees’ committee. In case, the dissertation/thesis is failed and asked to resubmit the work with major revisions, and the same examiners should be used so that the continuity of examiners is maintained. If you try to choose a different set of examiners to get the desired results, will result in a faulty one and considered as wrongly manoeuvring a process.

Consultation between Differing examiners: Two diametrically opposed assessment.If your reviewer comments found to be two opposed output, the chairperson can facilitate consultation between the examiners.

What are the different criteria considered to award a PhD degree?

• A pass is awarded with no changes
• A pass is awarded with minor changes
• A fail is awarded when the dissertation requires major or substantive changes and re-submission is permitted.
• A fail is awarded, and re-submission is not allowed.

Major changes: Content related changes, such as revision of the basic conceptual model, will require a new study or methodology, or experimentation. Stylistic or editorial changes are normally not considered major changes and are referred to as minor changes.

Since the American PhD certainly provides a good grinding in the discipline through courses, and the comprehensive examination ensures that the candidate has a good general knowledge of the discipline, Indian Institutions have started adopting the American model of doctoral education.

Importance of Academic Publications

Research is “the application of the scientific approach to the study of a problem” (Ary et al., 1990, p. 22) to acquire reliable knowledge. The knowledge from the research is disseminated through avenues such as conferences, books and journal papers. Dissemination of knowledge through the conference is done through proceedings. Further publishing books also a good source of information, but it’s outdated in particular research. Moreover, books are also published under commercial value and hence publishing the work through journals offer good potential to a researcher as they can able to provide up to date research. In order to accept and get published in research journals, the researcher should have up to date knowledge of the field and familiarity with writing research papers.  Writing an academic article demands cutting edge knowledge in their field of study. Replicating research, unless there is a justification on how the phenomenon might be different due to contextual factors, may not represent a “me too” syndrome.

Important criteria to select a journal to publish your PhD Thesis

Each section of a journal paper has its function to play. However, before writing a journal paper, sometime should be sent selecting the appropriate journal so that the paper can be written with the requirements in mind. Familiarity with the targeted journal includes attention to the scope of the journal (e.g. theoretical versus application), the preferred style for the organisation of content and formatting requirements (e.g. headings, font-type, size, word length). The essential parts of a journal paper are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Sections and contents of a journal paper submitted for review