These slides were presented by www.doctoralnet.com at a regular Sunday dissertation help conference on https://www.bigmarker.com/doctoralnet. Based on international assessment standards, our conversation looked in depth at the various parts of the dissertation or thesis document and what differentiates "normal" from "outstanding or award winning."

1. Welcome to – What Makes for
An Outstanding PhD Dissertation/Thesis

2. What Makes For An Outstanding
Doctoral Dissertation/Thesis?

3. Drawing from HE discussions on both reliability
of assessment and how to assess
This conference those assessments as
discussion using Award winning
dissertations/thesis as examples
• You can download de-Miguel, M. (2010) either as a file from this site
or through http://www.uv.es/RELIEVE/v16n1/RELIEVEv16n1_4eng.
• Albertyn, R. M., Kapp, C. A., & Frick, B. L. (2007). Taking the sting out
of evaluations: Rating scales for thesis examination. South African
Journal of Higher Education, (8), 1207-1221.

4. • Different professors have different backgrounds
• Universities are all across a continuum of what they see as what
matters most – practice, theory, research design
• Research too has continuums from positivistic to postmodern and
beyond – emphasis on methodology or outcomes?
• Advisors vary in how much help they think is appropriate or how
much they are willing/able to offer.
• Academics don‟t even use the same language all the time
• No wonder students are confused!

5. de-Miguel, M. (2010). The evaluation of doctoral thesis. A
model proposal. RELIEVE: e-Journal of Educational
Research, Assessment and Evaluation.
Section in Thesis Basic Requirements Excellent/Top Quality
Topic/Title Appropriate, clear focus,
contains all key words
Addresses real problem and
gives concise view
Presentation and
formulation of problem
Adequate appropriate
argumentation
Clearly understands the
complexity/records key
issues
Research Goal/Purpose/
Hypothesis
Goals and justifications
clear and easily identified
Clearly stated – grounded
and motivated
Design and methods Good description and
justification
Clear theoretical
framework/well argued and
properly justified
Scientific Approach Good systematic theoretical
foundation
Clear framework well
argued and justified

6. Literature Review Widely researched. Well
presented, adequately
assessed and interpreted
Significant both in who
they discuss and the
conceptual understanding
Context Claims substantiated.
Good depth and flow in
argument,
Logical argument tied to
problem with an
impressive context & lit
Language and style Minor slips on
grammar/style – coherent
Scholarly and complex in
narrative while readable
Technical aspects Layout, graphics, good Good report writing with
graphics that enhance
References Good range, key materials
noted
Wide range and some
unexpected. Show keen
understanding
Data analysis and
interpretation
Clear mastery of data and
interpretation- depth of
research
Analysis and interp well
grounded with theoretical
underpinnings/develops
the literature in review
Summary and conclusions Good understanding of
concepts and
methodology. Ties it all
together
Meaningful synthesis with
conclusions linked to
findings and to literature-
meets significance level

7. Recommendations Appropriate and logically
linked to
findings/conclusions
Justifiable, realistic,
completely linked
Contribution Shows evidence of
originality and
independent thought
Significant originality and
independent thought
Publishable With minor editing Ready to go
Effective wrap around
functions between
chapters
Coherence between
chapters “golden thread”

8. • Transitional Justice in Postconflict Contexts: The Case of Sierra
Leone‟s Dual Accountability Mechanisms
• Up and coming? Doctoral education in china
• MORE THAN A NEW COUNTRY: EFFECTS OF IMMIGRATION, HOME
LANGUAGE, AND SCHOOL MOBILITY ON ELEMENTARY
STUDENTS„ ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT
• HIV/AIDS in Context: The culture of health promotion among
Ndau women in rural Zimbabwe
• A QUALITY SCORECARD FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF ONLINE
EDUCATION PROGRAMS: A DELPHI STUDY

9. • Immediately after the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), China
faced devastating shortage of professionals. With strong support
from the central government, postgraduate education was
quickly resumed in 1978. By 1980, enrolled postgraduate
students totalled 22,000. Meanwhile discussions on establishing
China‟s academic degree system were underway. In retrospect,
the developmental path of China‟s doctoral education shows
strong promotion and tight control by the central government,
which decides which institutions are qualified to offer doctoral
training and in what scale. However, the government after all is a
political rather than academic organisation. Its actions in doctoral
education are based on its ideo-political considerations (Wu,
2009).
• Dr of justice not so clear –
• KEEP YOUR READER IN MIND

10. • This study seeks to add to our understanding of elementary students„
academic development by investigating each child„s performance on
large-scale assessments at two time points (in Grades 3 and 6) in
relation to three factors: (1) whether they immigrated to Ontario from
another country, (2) whether they have changed schools since starting
Grade 1, and (3) whether they speak the language of classroom
instruction (English) at home. I believe that examining these factors in
combination is important, as school mobility and not speaking the
language of classroom instruction at home are often erroneously
assumed to be perfectly related to immigrant status.

11. Socio-Technical Perspectives on Digital Photography:
Scientific digital photography use by marine mammal
researchers
• This dissertation examines the intersection between technology and
scientific practice for marine mammal scientists who use digital
photography. Scientists studying marine mammals use a technique called
photo-identification to identify individual animals such as whales and
dolphins in the wild. This technique involves photographing the animals,
and later matching these images to catalogs of previously sighted and
identified individual animals. This information then contributes to
understanding the population parameters, behaviors, and other information
about the animals. These methods have been in widespread use since the
1970s; recently, however, most scientists in this field have switched from
film photography to digital photography. This research demonstrates that
this change, which seems at first glance to be a simple matter of swapping
one three-pound piece of equipment loaded with film for another similar
looking three-pound piece of equipment equipped with a digital sensor and
computer memory cards, has had important consequences throughout this
scientific domain. Some of these consequences were intended, others were
unintended.

12. The Relationship Between Self-Directed Informal Learning and the Career
Development Process of Technology Users

14. In general Membership at
www.doctoralnet.com
And on the community
http://www.bigmarker.com/doctoralnet
You can download de-Miguel, M. (2010) either as a file from this site or
through http://www.uv.es/RELIEVE/v16n1/RELIEVEv16n1_4eng.
Albertyn, R. M., Kapp, C. A., & Frick, B. L. (2007). Taking the sting out of
evaluations: Rating scales for thesis examination. South African Journal of
Higher Education, (8), 1207-1221

15. From the site @ www.doctoralnet.com
1. No Monthly Content for members this month – video issues
We‟re “making it up” by delivering personalized pdf‟s discussing the
issues requested by members – look for email this week.
2. New “bundles” are being developed – lower cost ways to:
1. Design your topic/research methodology
2. Complete your literature review
3. Pass your proposal hearing
4. Finish your data analysis and full thesis writing.
3. As of August 20th prices will be going up – should you want to avoid
that you may email me at alana@doctoralnet.com and we‟ll set up a
pre-payment for any modular or bundled set of services.