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• Published: 06 July 2016

The past, present and future of the PhD thesis

Nature volume  535 ,  page 7 ( 2016 ) Cite this article

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Writing a PhD thesis is a personal and professional milestone for many researchers. But the process needs to change with the times.

According to one of those often-quoted statistics that should be true but probably isn’t, the average number of people who read a PhD thesis all the way through is 1.6. And that includes the author. More interesting might be the average number of PhD theses that the typical scientist — and reader of Nature —  has read from start to finish. Would it reach even that (probably apocryphal) benchmark? What we know for sure is that the reading material keeps on coming, with tens of thousands of new theses typed up each year.

To what end? Reading back over a thesis can be like opening up a teenage diary: a painful reminder of a younger, more naive self. The prose is often rough and rambling, the analyses spotted with errors, the methods soundly eclipsed by modern ones. And students in the process of writing a thesis can find themselves in a very dark place indeed: lost in information, overwhelmed by literature, stuck for the next sentence, seduced by procrastination and wondering why on earth they signed up to this torture at all.

Two News Features this week reflect on that question. They examine the past, present and future of the PhD thesis and the oral examination that often accompanies it. In one, three leading scientists — including Francis Collins, director of the US National Institutes of Health — dig out and reread their theses for us, and talk about what they learned. Their musings (filmed and available in a series of videos ) show, reassuringly, that they are just the same as the rest of us. They made mistakes, had moments of self-doubt and considered quitting. (Collins actually did quit.) But their stories also reveal how it is important to have the long view in mind.

Thumbing through their theses now, they see how much they learned about the scientific process and how to conduct rigorous research. They realize how precious it was to be able to devote themselves to a single piece of original and creative work. And they feel a sense of accomplishment and pride — as everyone tends to after any difficult life challenge that they struggle with and eventually conquer.

Students could do themselves and their audience a favour by keeping it crisp and short.

Completing a thesis represents a coming of age not just scientifically, but also educationally and personally. It signals the passing of an intellectual milestone — from a student under the care of a supervisor to an individual who asks questions of their own. It marks the end of formal education, and graduation to a new phase in life. For many people, it also sees their departure from science altogether. Often, the PhD years coincide with significant personal events, as we mature emotionally and meet friends, partners and colleagues who will stay with us for life. All this can also turn thesis-writing into a more significant event than merely the writing up of a (usually) minor piece of science.

Still, it’s perhaps too easy to get sentimental over the thesis. For a start, the process has to keep up with the times. The PhD is already assessed in many different ways around the world (as the second News Feature describes ) and scientists should welcome ways to keep it relevant. The goal of PhD assessment everywhere remains, rightly, to demonstrate that a student has conducted, and can communicate, independent, original research. But the way in which that’s achieved can and should be improved.

For one thing, it doesn’t have to involve a vast printed volume. A lot of students could do themselves, their supervisors, their examiners and their wider audience a favour by keeping it crisp and short. Postgraduate supervisors should stress this at the beginning. And it’s important to make the work in the thesis available to future researchers by publishing or sharing the data in some form. To contribute to the world beyond the author’s immediate circle, a PhD thesis should be read and used, and not just serve as a shelf ornament or doorstop.

For those inspired to go back to their own thesis, and those who are examining a freshly written one, it’s best to be kind. As long as the fundamentals are there — the question is interesting and the approach and analysis rigorous — it’s fair to forgive the typos and the research paths that turned out to be dead ends. A PhD is, after all, training in research, and to try — and fail — is a valuable part of that course.

Do you know where your PhD thesis is? Dig it out and share with @NatureNews on Twitter using the hashtag #3wordthesis . You might even bump up that average readership.

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Back to the thesis 2016-Jul-06

What’s the point of the PhD thesis? 2016-Jul-06

Fix the PhD 2011-Apr-20

Education: The PhD factory 2011-Apr-20

Education: Rethinking PhDs 2011-Apr-20

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The past, present and future of the PhD thesis. Nature 535 , 7 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/535007a

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How to write a Doctoral Thesis

Prof. HR Ahmad, Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. E-mail: [email protected]

Note: * Ahmad HR. In: Medical Writing. Eds. SA Jawaid, MH Jafary & SJ Zuberi. PMJA, 1997 Ed II: 133-142.

PATIENT care and teaching are rather well established components of our medical career. However, with the passage of time a third component has started to influence our medical culture, namely research. 1 - 4 How to accept this challenge is a question. 5 Indeed, teaching and research form a dialectic unit, meaning that teaching without a research component is like a soup without salt. It is a well-established fact that the research activity of an institution is directly proportional to the number of qualified and committed PhD candidates. An inspiring infrastructure, laboratory facilities and libraries are pre-requisites for a research culture to grow. 6 - 8 This forms the basis of a generation cycle for an institution, so that research activity and its culture continues to grow from one generation to the next. The main objective of doctoral work in biomedical sciences is to develop a galaxy of scientist physicians and surgeons possessing high degree of humility, selflessness and ethical superiority. Such a programme will add a scholastic dimension to the clinical faculty.

Education in how to write a doctoral thesis or dissertation should be a part of the postgraduate curriculum, parallel to the laboratory work and Journal Club activities during the PhD studies and/or residency levels. 9 , 10 The overall structure of a doctoral thesis is internationally standardized. However, it varies in style and quality, depending upon how original the work is, and how much the author has understood the work. Therefore a thorough discussion with supervisor, colleagues and assistance from other authors through correspondence can be useful sources for consultation.

The choice of a topic for a doctoral thesis is a crucial step. It should be determined by scanning the literature whether the topic is original or similar work has already been done even a hundred years ago. It is the responsibility of both the supervisor and the PhD candidate to sort out this problem by continuous use of internet and a library. 11 The work leading to the PhD degree can originate from research in following spheres: 12

• b) Methodology
• c) Diagnostic
• d) Therapeutic and Management
• e) Epidemiology

The availability of internationally standardized methods, as well as research committed supervisors can enable physicians and surgeons to do PhD work in both basic and clinical health sciences. The importance of research in basic health sciences cannot be overemphasized. It is rather the base of the applied sciences. There are many instances where the elucidation of a mechanism involved in a process awaits the development of an adequate methodology. 13 In such a scenario; a new method is like a new eye. Research activity in the field of (a) and (b) illuminates the research directions for (c) (d) and (e). It is worth noting that sometimes important basic questions can come from (e) and stimulate research activity in the domain of basic health sciences. 14 , 15

Types of Doctoral Thesis

TYPE-I: Book Form: a classical style. The blueprint of this form is shown in Table-I .

Type-I: The Classical Book Form

TYPE-II: Cumulative Doctoral thesis: A modem but quite useful practice.

INTRODUCTION

A book containing the pearls of a PhD work has standardized divisions and formats, where the number of pages should be weighted in terms of content rather than container. The book includes summary, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, conclusions, references and acknowledgements.

Two exercises are mandatory before starting a PhD programme:

• Literature survey using a regular library hours and internet surfing
• Familiarization with the hands-on-experience of methodology involved in the work
• The importance of a continuous literature survey using library, internet and direct correspondence with authors across the globe in the same field cannot be over-emphasized. The main goal of this exercise is to pinpoint the unresolved problem in the literature. An attempt to solve this problem now becomes the topic of the PhD thesis. All the relevant references should be collected, and carefully preserved in the form of a card system arranged alphabetically according to themes and authors. The introduction of the thesis should be styled like a review article with a critical analysis of the work of authors in the literature. The aims of the present PhD work can then also be addressed in the form of questions. The objectives would then deal with how to achieve the aims of the proposed study.

MATERIALS / SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Now comes the most crucial and functional part of the doctoral work, the materials/subjects and methods section. This part can be considered as the motor of the PhD work. The reliability, sensitivity and specificity of the motor must be checked before embarking on a long journey. Controlling the controls is the best guide for a precise and authentic work. Usually materials and methods contain components such as a description of the species involved, their number, age, weight and anthropometric parameters, types of surgical procedures and anesthesia if applied, and a detailed description of methodology. Continuous or point measurements should be thoroughly described. However, a dynamic method should always be preferred to static one.

The experimental protocol should be designed after a small pilot study, which is especially advisable in research on human subjects. A detailed and well-thought experimental protocol forms the basis of conditions under which the results would be obtained. Any deviation from the experimental protocol will affect the outcome, and the interpretation of results. It may be noted that great discoveries are usually accidental and without a protocol, based merely on careful observation! However, for the sake of a publication, a protocol has to be designed after the discovery. After having described the different phases of the experimental protocol with the help of a schematic diagram e.g., showing variables, time period and interventions, the selection of a statistical method should be discussed. Negative results should not be disregarded because they represent the boundary conditions of positive results. Sometimes the negative results are the real results.

It is usual practice that most PhD candidates start writing the methodological components first. This is followed by writing the results. The pre-requisites for writing results are that all figures, tables, schematic diagrams of methods and a working model should be ready. They should be designed in such a way that the information content of each figure should, when projected as a frame be visually clear to audience viewing it from a distance of about fifty feet. It is often observed that the presenters themselves have difficulty in deciphering a frame of the Power-Point being projected in a conference.

The results of a doctoral thesis should be treated like a bride. The flow of writing results becomes easier if all figures and tables are well prepared. This promotes the train of thoughts required to analyze the data in a quantitative fashion. The golden rule of writing results of a thesis is to describe what the figure shows. No explanation is required. One should avoid writing anything which is not there in a figure. Before writing one should observe each diagram for some time and make a list of observations in the form of key words. The more one has understood the information content of a figure; the better will be the fluency of writing. The interruption of the flow in writing most often indicates that an author has not understood the results. Discussion with colleagues or reference to the literature is the only remedy, and it functions sometimes like a caesarean procedure.

Statistical methods are good devices to test the degree of authenticity and precision of results if appropriately applied. The application of statistical technique in human studies poses difficulties because of large standard deviations. Outliers must be discussed, if they are excluded for the sake of statistical significance. Large standard deviations can be minimized by increasing the number of observations. If a regression analysis is not weighted, it gives faulty information. The correlation coefficient value can change from 0.7 to 0.4 if the regression analysis is weighted using Fisher’s test. The dissection of effect from artifact should be analysed in such a way that the signal to noise ratio of a parameter should be considered. A competent statistician should always be consulted in order to avoid the danger of distortion of results.

The legend of a figure should be well written. It contains a title, a brief description of variables and interventions, the main effect and a concluding remark conveying the original message. The writing of PhD work is further eased by a well maintained collection of data in the form of log book, original recordings, analyzed references with summaries and compiling the virgin data of the study on master plan sheet to understand the original signals before submitting to the procedures of statistics. The original data belong to the laboratory of an institution where it came into being and should be preserved for 5-7 years in the archive for the sake of brevity.

This is the liveliest part of a thesis. Its main goal is to defend the work by staging a constructive debate with the literature. The golden rule of this written debate should be that a rigid explanation looks backward and a design looks forward. The object is to derive a model out of a jig-saw puzzle of information. It should be designed in such a way that the results of the present study and those of authors from the literature can be better discussed and interpreted. Agreement and disagreement can be better resolved if one considers under what experimental conditions the results were obtained by the various authors. It means that the boundary conditions for each result should be carefully analyzed and compared.

The discussion can be divided into the following parts:

• criticism of material/subjects and methods
• a list of important observations of the present study
• interpretation and comparison of results of other authors using a literature table
• design of a model
• claim of an original research work
• The criticism of the methodological procedure enables a candidate to demonstrate how precisely the research work has been carried out. The interpretation of results depends critically on the strict experimental protocol and methods. For example, an epidemiological work is a study of a population. However, if the population sampling is done regularly at a specific location; the question arises as to how a result derived from a localized place can be applied to the whole population.
• After having discussed at length the strong and weak points of material/subjects and methods, one should list in a telegraphic design the most important observations of the present study. This may form a good agenda to initiate interpretation, argument, reasoning and comparison with results of other authors. The outcome of this constructive debate should permit the design of a working model in the form of a block diagram. All statements should be very carefully referenced. The ratio of agreement and disagreement should indicate the ability of the author to reconcile conflicting data in an objective and quantitative way. Attempts should be made to design a solution out of the given quantum of information. It is also well known that most of the processes of human physiology can only be understood if their time course is known. The dynamic aspect of interpretation of results is therefore more powerful and superior to the static one. 16 Therefore a continuous record of variables should be preferred and sought to reveal the secrets hidden in the kinetics.
• Finally, the discussion should conclude how far the study was successful in answering the questions being posed at the end of the introduction part. Usually a doctoral thesis raises more questions than it answers. In this way research does not come to a standstill and does become a life time engagement for a committed scientist. Also it is important to note that all scientific theses should be quantifiable and falsifiable, otherwise they lose the spirit and fragrance of a scientific research.
• The author’s claim of original work is finally decided by the critical review of his research work by the literature and the number of times being cited. It can be easily read by a high rate of a citation index of a publication and invitation. When a methodological research clicks, one becomes a star overnight.

Type-II: CUMULATIVE DOCTORAL THESES

Another way of writing a doctoral work is a cumulative type of thesis. 11 It consists of a few original publications in refereed journals of repute. It is supplemented by a concise summary about the research work. This type of thesis is usually practiced in Sweden, Germany and other countries. It has the advantage of being doubly refereed by the journals and the faculty of health sciences. Additionally, papers are published during a doctoral work. A declaration has to be given to the faculty of science about the sharing of research work in publications, provided there are co-authors. The weightage should be in favour of the PhD candidate, so that the thesis can ethically be better defended before the team of august research faculty.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A critical review of this manuscript by Dr. Roger Sutton, Dr. Khalid Khan, Dr. Bukhtiar Shah and Dr. Satwat Hashmi is gratefully acknowledged.

Dedicated to the memory of Mr. Azim Kidwai for his exemplary academic commitment and devotion to the science journalism in Pakistan.

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Writing a Graduate Thesis or Dissertation

• © 2016
• Lorrie Blair 0

Concordia University, Canada

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• Filled with practical advice, this book covers the basics including differentiating between the various thesis formats, preparing the proposal, writing the literature review, choosing a methodology, collecting and analyzing data, and defending the thesis
• This guide, written in accessible language, provides practical insider knowledge that demystifies the graduate school experience and supplies graduate students with the formula for writing a successful thesis
• This book includes information rarely addressed in other guides, including information related to selecting and working with supervisors and alternative forms of research methodologies and format styles

Part of the book series: Teaching Writing (WRIT)

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Writing Skills

Persistent Myths About Dissertation Writing and One Proven Way of Breaking Free of Their Spell

Writing the Literature Review: Common Mistakes and Best Practices

• graduate research
• thesis supervisors
• research methods
• methodology
• literature reviews
• thesis defense
• academic writing
• academic integrity

Table of contents (12 chapters)

Front matter, what is a thesis.

Lorrie Blair

Finding the Right Supervisor

Writing the proposal, conducting and writing literature reviews, maintaining academic integrity, choosing a methodology, conducting ethical research, collecting and analyzing data, establishing an academic track record, finding support for writing the thesis, dealing with student-supervisor problems, defending the thesis, back matter, authors and affiliations, bibliographic information.

Book Title : Writing a Graduate Thesis or Dissertation

Authors : Lorrie Blair

Series Title : Teaching Writing

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-426-8

Publisher : SensePublishers Rotterdam

eBook Packages : Education , Education (R0)

Copyright Information : SensePublishers-Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2016

eBook ISBN : 978-94-6300-426-8 Published: 10 February 2016

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XX, 146

Topics : Education, general

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Importance and benefits of the doctoral thesis for medical graduates

Affiliations.

• 1 University of Freiburg, Medical Faculty, Office of Student Affairs, Centre for Evaluation of Teaching in Medicine Baden-Württemberg, Freiburg, Germany.
• 2 University of Freiburg, Medical Faculty, Department for Medical Biometry and Medical Informatics, Freiburg, Germany.
• 3 University of Freiburg, Medical Faculty, Department for Medical Psychology and Sociology, Freiburg, Germany.
• 4 University Basel, Medical Faculty, Office of Student Affairs, Basel, Switzerland.
• PMID: 26958656
• PMCID: PMC4766933
• DOI: 10.3205/zma001007

Abstract in English, German

Introduction: The majority of medical graduates in Germany complete a doctorate, even though a doctoral degree is not necessary for the practice of medicine. So far, little is known about doctoral candidates' view on the individual benefit a doctoral thesis has for them. Consequently, this is the subject of the present investigation.

Method: Data from surveys with graduates of the five medical faculties of Baden-Württemberg from the graduation years 2007/2008 (N=514) and 2010/2011 (N=598) were analysed.

Results: One and a half years after graduating 53% of those interviewed had completed their doctorate. When asked about their motivation for writing a doctoral thesis, participants answered most frequently "a doctorate is usual" (85%) and "improvement of job opportunities" (75%), 36% said that an academic career has been their primary motive. Less than 10% responded that they used their doctoral thesis as a means to apply for a job. The proportion of graduates working in health care is equally large among those who have completed a thesis and those who have not. Graduates who pursued a thesis due to scientific interest are also currently more interested in an academic career and recognise more opportunities for research. An implicit benefit of a medical thesis emerged with regard to the self-assessment of scientific competences as those who completed a doctorate rated their scientific competencies higher than those who have not.

Discussion: Although for the majority of physicians research interest is not the primary motivation for completing a doctorate, they might nevertheless achieve some academic competencies. For graduates pursuing an academic career the benefit of completing a medical thesis is more obvious.

Einleitung: Die Mehrheit der medizinischen AbsolventInnen in Deutschland promoviert, obwohl der Titel nicht zur ärztlichen Berufsausübung notwendig ist. Zur Frage, welchen individuellen Nutzen die Doktorarbeit aus Sicht der Promovenden hat, ist bislang nur wenig bekannt. Sie ist daher Gegenstand dieser Untersuchung. Methode: Analysiert wurden Daten aus Absolventenstudien der Abschlussjahrgänge 2007/2008 (N=514) und 2010/2011 (N=598) der Medizinischen Fakultäten Baden-Württembergs. Ergebnisse: 53% der Befragten haben 1,5 Jahre nach Studienabschluss ihre Promotion abgeschlossen. Die stärkste Zustimmung zu Beweggründen, eine Doktorarbeit anzufertigen, erfahren die Motive „Promotion ist üblich“ (85%) und „Verbesserung der Berufschancen“ (75%). Dem Motiv, eine akademische Karriere anzustreben, stimmten 36% zu. Weniger als 10% der Befragten setzen ihre Promotionsarbeit als Strategie bei der Stellensuche ein. Der Anteil der AbsolventInnen, die in der Krankenversorgung arbeiten ist unter den Promovierten praktisch genauso groß wie unter den Nicht-Promovierten. Diejenigen, die für die Promotion stärker wissenschaftliche Motive angeben, sind auch aktuell stärker an einer akademischen Karriere interessiert und sehen für sich mehr Möglichkeiten wissenschaftlich zu arbeiten. Als impliziter Nutzen zeigte sich, dass die promovierten AbsolventInnen ihre wissenschaftlichen Kompetenzen signifikant höher einschätzen, als ihre nicht promovierten KollegInnen. Diskussion: Obwohl die meisten MedizinerInnen eine Promotion nicht in erster Linie aus originärem Forschungsinteresse anstreben, erweitern sie dadurch dennoch ihre wissenschaftlichen Kompetenzen. Einen offensichtlicheren Nutzen hat die Promotion für diejenigen, die eine wissenschaftliche Karriere anstreben.

Keywords: Doctorate, medical; Evaluation; Graduate survey; Methods, academic; Motivation.

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Table 1. Sample Descriptions

Figure 1. Reasons for the extensions of…

Figure 1. Reasons for the extensions of studies: results of the graduation years 07/08 und…

Figure 2. Types of doctoral theses. Percentages…

Figure 2. Types of doctoral theses. Percentages for the graduation years 07/08 und 10/11.

Figure 3. Job seeking strategies and their…

Figure 3. Job seeking strategies and their success (in percent). Results for graduation years 2007/2008…

Figure 4. Retrospective evaluation of the existing…

Figure 4. Retrospective evaluation of the existing level of learning competencies and scholarship at the…

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