One may write a thesis without any trouble or hindrance, may feel that he/she has chosen of the best topics for thesis, but until it goes in hands of the referees (external examiners) and they oaky the thesis for degree of PhD, the final result cannot be concluded. Sometimes the referee may ask the candidate to change certain portion of the thesis, sometimes a thesis is returned for rewriting it, sometimes the data gets too old and therefore goes back for rewriting and at times due to poor language the thesis is returned.

Who can be the appropriate examiner? The examiners’ knowledge of the subject area is most important. His/her capability to scrutinize, assess, previous experience of PhD examining, and the assessment criteria by the University where the student is registered is moreover significant. The examiner gets his independence to judge quality of the research. If that freedom is not given, its better a person denies the responsibility of assessing. He or she should possess a PhD. Often, due to shortage of examiners, many thesis are kept pending in universities.

There are some good and some not-so-good examiners: The good ones assess the strength and weaknesses of the thesis; they are critical yet aware of the facts and figures mentioned in the thesis. They give due credit to the researcher and the supervisor, they are empathetic. Good examiners are experienced ones; they have their style of assessing a thesis and a good track record of doing justice to their job. Whereas, some supervisors believe in negative marking, they concentrate on finding weaknesses in a thesis. They take pride in finding mistakes and sending the thesis for amendment. Honestly, this happens when examiners lack subject knowledge and insight of assessing a thesis. An examiner becomes mature after assessing several theses. He/she gets hands on experience after assessing a number of theses. An examiner is supposed to check what contribution a thesis makes to society; the worth of the topic, uniqueness of the topic, style of presentation, findings, and the conclusions drawn by the researcher are important.

These are few things to remember:

Good document: The thesis must come out as a good readable document. The chapter schemes must be laid in logical and inter-reliant manner. The examiner must not be strained while reading a thesis. There must be natural flow in the written presentation. The examiner will be looking at whether you know the current scenario in the subject area. He will look for the evidences you have presented. The evidence can be in debate form, case form, news form. In short, the examiner looks at how familiar the researcher is with the subject.

Data has age: Remember that the data has an age. In today’s world when things are short lived, do not ignore the gaps in the data. If you have a purpose for choosing gaps, please mention it. The examiner looks out for new ideas, new methods, new modelling, and new strategies presented by the researcher. Make sure, that your thesis makes a significant contribution to original topic. The examiner must not miss your contribution in the chosen area.

Components of a good thesis: The examiners will assess the success of your thesis based on these components: the research problem or the research question; the significance for choosing the research problem; the chapter scheme; the relationship of your thesis to previous work done in the area; how your thesis builds on or adds to existing knowledge in the area; use of appropriate methodology; literature reviewed; conclusions and observations in regards to the research question; bibliography (is a list that goes at the end of a work of research writing. The list contains all the sources utilized in the thesis) there are marks for the bibliography, it goes to show quality of what you have picked up from existing theory, news, the books/journals etc.  A thorough examiner checks the bibliography to establish that all major writers are included. If they are not, you may fail to meet a major credibility criterion.

The role of your supervisor is vital: He must tell at each step of the research what is wrong and how to correct it. You can use your supervisor as a sounding-board in all of the above areas. Think of your supervisor as the channel between you and the examiner. He/she can tell you what the examiners look for. In my opinion, the guide must have experience of examining few theses, so that he/she can tell the gaps. A mature and serious guide will keep showing you whether your thesis demonstrates the capacity to be developed systematically over the length of the dissertation; whether it is ready in all areas in terms of writing and presentation.

The viva: the external examiners often start out by trying to put the candidate at ease. They usually tell the candidate what they expect to see and hear in the presentation. Even in the case of a well-written thesis, the viva can be tough. The examiner looks forward to discuss the thesis topic in more details. It is good practice to approach the viva as a discussion among professionals. A good examiner will never let down or ridicule the student, or ask questions aggressively or dismiss responses without due consideration. The supervisor is an onlooker; rarely the examiner asks questions to the supervisor. But, presence of the supervisor is a must. If the viva turns tangential, the supervisor can give his/her opinion. At the end of the questioning, it is also good practice for examiners to ask the student if there are any questions they want to ask, or any points they want to make about the thesis, the examination process or supervision. A logically concluded viva must not last for more than an hour.

PPT Presentation: make a Power-Point presentation not exceeding 25 slides covering research problem, literature review, chapter scheme, what they cover, hypothesis, research methodology, findings and conclusions. After which, the examiner may ask questions, sometimes examiners ask questions during PPT Presentation itself.  Take time to think before replying, remember to breathe and to speak practically slowly. Don’t become nervous, if the examiner criticises a point, don’t take it personally. Don’t become defensive. Instead, take the opportunity to talk about your research.

The questions that crop up in vivas are: What the thesis is about? What did you do? What did you find? Why does that matter? The time taken for completing the research, why that much time was taken?  What was the experience of data collection, methodology, statistical tools and its effects etc? Remember to keep a clam mind, exuberance and liveliness matters. Wear a formal outfit.

Writing a book review activates analytical learning. It engages the reviewer with the contents of the book. It enhances good reading habit because as a reviewer, one analyzes whether the book has achieved its purpose and what are its unique perspectives on a topic/subject. As a teacher of management studies, I use book review as one of the pedagogical tools and have seen good results. In fact in higher education, it is one the good assignments, which needs broader propaganda.    I think the more we encourage students to often write informally, in every content area, we improve their learning, language, behavior, engagement with subjects etc.

Dimensions of book review: Read the book and take notes simultaneously on points such as the book’s genre, field of study, which themes the author has touched upon. Which style of writing the author has adopted; whether it is expository, descriptive, persuasive or narrative. Whether the writing style matches the theme of the book. How well the major areas of the book are developed, whether the book could engage you till end.

Example: one of the books which each business management student must read is India Unbound by Gurcharan Das. The publisher is Penguin Books India, the genre of the book is non-fiction and the books is published in April, 2000.

The book describes India’s economic journey little prior to its independence, after its independence in 1947 and covers it till 1999. Gurcharan Das, the former CEO of P&G India, talks mainly about the transformation of India in terms of urbanization and spirit of different political parties in the process. The author’s main thrust is on the Indian politics and spirit of the citizens in improving conditions. He discusses how other elements in society try to assume power taking advantage of disunity among the political parties.

Das categorizes the timeline of the book from 1942 to 1999 in three major fragments: ‘Spring of Hope (1942–65)’, ‘the Lost Generation (1966–91)’ & ‘Rebirth of Dream (1991–99)’ in which he has brilliantly covered various chronicles and the historical facts of that time. India Unbound is a mixture of history, economic analysis, social investigation, political scrutiny and managerial outlook being thrown into the understanding of India. The book begins shortly before independence and continues until the new millennium. Gurcharan Das finds a cause to be jubilant after 1991, when India unleashed a series of economic reforms by becoming member of GATT and WTO. Das observes the highs and lows of independent India through his own experiences and those of numerous others he has met—from young people in sleepy UP villages to chiefs of software companies in Bangalore. He defines the new mindset of the nation through his own exploration.

How does Book review help?

In the book review one gets to know main argument of the book, how has the author supported his or her argument, what evidence he/she has used, and whether as a reader you find that evidence convincing? Does the author’s information or conclusions conflict with other books you’ve read? Which means for the sake of comparison you should have read number of books on a subject. How has the author structured his/her argument? Which parts of the book make up the book? Does the argument make sense to you? Does it persuade you? Why or why not? Would you recommend the books to others? Why or why not?

I am of the opinion that when you gather some information about the author and the circumstances in which the book is penned, the reading becomes more interesting and useful. Information such as who is the author, his nationality, his political persuasion, education, intellectual interests, personal history, and historical milieu may provide crucial details about how the book has shaped. For example, the author of India Unbound is affiliated with P&G, Mr. Das describes P&G’s journey in India. Mr. Das’s participation in decision making at P&G, his decision making capacity in backdrop of government’s policies make the reading interesting.

Format of a book review:

1. Identify the book: Mention author’s name, title, name of publisher, date of publication and other details that seem important. Also mention the edition e.g, it’s a Spanish edition or Japanese edition. And the genre of the book.
2. Major aspects of the book: Indicate the major aspects of the book that will be discussed, and state the purpose of the review. What exactly is the subject or topic of book? Does the author cover the subject adequately? Could you detect any bias? What is the approach to the subject in terms of topical, analytical, chronological, and descriptive manner?
3. Brief summary: Provide a brief summary of the range, contents, and argument of the book. Occasionally you may summaries chapter by chapter, but in a short review (250 -500 words) you usually pick up the main themes only. This section should not normally take up more than a third of the total review.
4. Critical evaluation: Next, the most significant point is, critically discuss minimum 2-3 key issues raised in the book. This section is the core of your review. Make clear the author’s own argument before you slate and evaluate it. Support your criticisms with evidence from the text of other writings. You may also want to indicate gaps in the author’s treatment of a topic. Remember the author doesn’t leave the gaps on purpose; he has his own experiences, his circumstances while writing the book, it could be shortage of time, shortage of data collection, shortage of references etc (sometimes respondents like anonymity)
5. Conclusion: For concluding your review, evaluate the overall contribution that the book has made to your understanding, your knowledge in the discipline, how contemporary the book is, and the relevance it has added to your knowledge domain.
6. Bibliography: Finally, provide a reference list or bibliography of the sources that you have referred to. Use the referencing format appropriate to your discipline. The best format is American Psychological Association (APA)

Finally, each book has a genre. Genre is a label that characterizes elements a reader can expect in a work of literature. The classic major genres of literature are: fiction, comedy, drama, horror, non-fiction, realistic fiction, romantic novel, satire, tragedy, tragicomedy etc. The genre is determined by narrative technique, tone and content. In academics the major genre types are: text book, scholarly article, thesis, popular work, encyclopedia article etc.

Wish you happy reading and happy reviewing!!

In one of the seminars on how to write a good PhD thesis, where I was invited to as an observer, after about 2-3 papers, I couldn’t resist any further listening to the same rut, and I told the audience that every academic discipline needs a different style of presenting a PhD thesis. It needs a different handiness, different comprehension, and a different fashion to present it. The seminar was nicely organized because some librarians were also present in it; the librarians argued that all PhDs are the same.

I want to ascertain here that if you really want to do a good PhD, you need a lot of support from the librarians – they can guide you to a whole gamut of books, journals and citations.  Well, many of the features of doing a PhD are common to all disciplines, but there are some differences, especially between the sciences and the humanities. The science thesis is very collaborative in nature, where as humanities thesis can be done independently.

Remember, once a PhD is conferred, it is not the end of your academics life; in fact your academic life enhances further, because you are likely to contribute further.

Topic Selection: Pick a topic which has interested you for a long time; gather a lot of information on it, the topic must literally possess you. A PhD not necessarily answers every problem; many times it may raise more questions than it answers. The inquiries that you raise are the issues that later some other researchers will look at.

The foundation of a good thesis must be located inside a larger field, in sense your topic must narrow down the focus on one or two of the issues. Your topic must demonstrate new facets while identifying gaps. Your thesis must contribute to the betterment of society. We see repetition of some common topics; I call them over chewed topics.

Data Collection: Primary data is data that has been collected from first-hand experience; that means it is not been published yet. It is more reliable, authentic and objective-driven. It has not been changed or altered; therefore, its validity is greater than secondary data.

Most PhD research involves empirical work. As such, you should be able to collect relevant data. It is very important to pay special attention to the practicability of data collection. You must balance the scope of your research vis-à-vis the practical problems that can arise during data gathering. Pay attention to points such as: do you have special access to managers or organizations? How many potential variables or factors can you address? Is it possible for you to examine all of the proposed variables or factors? For primary research data, i.e. fieldwork, surveys, interviews, etc. what is your budget – how are you going to finance your data gathering? The biggest pitfall is ending up with too much or too little data. Studies gathering qualitative data can generate huge amounts of data, which are difficult to record and complex to analyze. If you do not have enough data, it can be tricky for you to address your research question in a meaningful way. Do not confuse data with information or evidence. Another piece of advice is – let your data be both qualitative and quantitative in nature. Your composed data helps you in analysis and interpretation. Remember it should cover up your research objectives and problem statement both.

Research Design: The research design must be appropriate which covers the objectives and address the questions identified in the study. Methodology should be clearly described so that the study can be replicated in practice. For example, if you are doing a research in the area of Human Resource Development (HRD) and your topic is related to performance appraisals – your work should be worth replicating in practice. If you are choosing any innovative or exceptional methodology, or mode of analysis, it needs to be justified. You have to explain why you have chosen a particular approach.

The results should be justifiable, be confident to address the issue of a possibility of bias or alteration in the data identified. The results should also be presented in an appropriate manner and adequate interpretation of the results carried out. A good thesis shows the maturity of the author.

A good PhD thesis carries well-structured and focused arguments. It links diverse aspects of the topic with clarity. The sources of the material collected on the topic are reliable and dependable in nature. Each chapter is balanced, incorporated while touching diverse elements. The sequencing of chapters must be logically organized so that the flow of the research is peaceful.

Literature Review: The literature review is science as well as art. Would you like it to be a chapter at the beginning of your thesis or would it be better to have an imperceptible literature review throughout the thesis. The literature review should be balanced with your though process on the topic, your ideas are most important. Some researchers stuff half of their thesis with literature review. Keep in mind that the literature (secondary data) is somebody else’s idea and not yours. It is not new information either. Therefore, try to give something new to the reader. A good PhD indicates to the reader that the student is aware of the existing information.

Some supervisors recommend writing literature review after completion of results. Literature review must add to your own findings; its context indicates that you are aware of it. Beware, it should not overshadow your though process. Your contribution needs to be unique, and show originality.

Conclusions: Often this part of the thesis is shabbily handled. The conclusion is a key part of the text and thesis writers really need to spend some time getting it right. This is because the conclusions allow you to present your contribution to the knowledge area; where you show what it is, and discuss its implications. While it doesn’t have to be as long as other chapters, the conclusion does have to do its job. The conclusions should be clearly linked to data and evidence, not based on assumption or opinion. The thesis will address its stated objectives, even if the outcome differs from what was anticipated.

Uniqueness: How will you maintain uniqueness? I suggest if you can borrow a little from some other field (after all education is interdisciplinary in nature), try something new in research methodology, connect to new links, and bring in some new perspective – a new touch perhaps. I have corrected a thesis in which the first chapter was of Research Methodology – the researcher explained his methodology the 2^nd chapter of conclusions and observation, the next 4 chapters handled the history, present status and comparison. It was so well presented that not only me but the other two referees also had no objections. You need to visit many University libraries and see many theses before doing your final work.

Remember, your thesis should be well written, well-designed, and lucid. It should not lose the focus at any point. Try to resist writing an oversized thesis – let it be within word limit. Please for God’s sake don’t imagine your external referees to be morons. Let them derive pleasure while reading your thesis. Let it engage the reader all through. Let it be a thought provoking work.