The thesis

The doctoral thesis is expected to be an original, critical and substantial piece of work. The standard of work is defined as follows:

The candidate's thesis should provide a contribution to knowledge with a level of originality consistent with three to four years full-time study and supervised research training after a bachelor degree with honours (or a research Masters) and should reveal a capacity to relate the research topic to the broader framework of knowledge in the disciplinary area within which it falls. The thesis must be clearly, accurately and cogently written and appropriately presented. See University guidelines in the Handbook for Doctoral and MPhil Degrees for more information.

The PhD thesis, which is to be typed and bound, is not to exceed 100, 000 words, including footnotes but excluding bibliography. It will usually take 3-4 years to complete on a full time basis.

A Masters research degree thesis will be up to 60,000 words (depending on the particular degree structure) and will normally take 1-2 years to complete on a full time basis.