THE END-GAME◆ 201Theoretically ambitious authors will usually put thematic or
analytic key words together before the colon, and then indicate
their empirical reference and any limits on the analysis after the
colon. People who see their work as more empirical or descrip-
tive usually put a statement of what their thesis does before the
colon, and then indicate the secondary analytic or theoretical
themes after the colon. For example:
Sometimes the ‘colon’-ization effect can be achieved in other
ways, for instance by posing theoretical issues in a general ques-
tion first and then giving the empirical specification afterwards.
Once a word has made it into your title you had better be sure
that it is genuinely important to the analysis. Readers will defi-
nitely expect to see all the title words being carefully defined,
frequently used and doing a great deal of analytic work in the
main text chapters.
The bureaucracy of getting your PhD examined is always a
pain, but it can be positively helpful in this particular respect.
Many universities require you to send in a form with your final
thesis title and an associated abstract (of 300 words or so)
around six months ahead of when you plan to submit the final
thesis. Once your title’s form of words is formally entered and
approved as satisfactory it is often very hard to change. You will
have to speak to this title in your oral exam (if you have one).
And you will live with having your research labelled this way
on your résumé or curriculum vitae for the rest of your career.
So defining the final title is not to be done lightly or quickly.
You need to look very intensively and self-critically at your
inherited ideas for describing the thesis, which usually date
back to your first year of research:
◆ Does the current title really capture what you have done in
your draft chapters?
Example of a Suppressing the Diversity of ‘the Other’:
theoretical thesis The literary treatment of servants in
English and American novels from
Jane Austen to Gone with the Wind
Example of an The Decay of European Rule in
empirical thesis Central Africa, 1930–58: Self-determination,
democratization and race-thinking