America these revisions are rarely a problem, because the exam-
ining or dissertation committee has insisted on all the changes
its members require before the thesis comes to a public
examination.)
In more serious cases the examiners have major reservations
about all or much of your analysis and do not feel that the
thesis overall has made the doctoral standard. In these cases
they ‘refer’ the thesis, refusing you the doctorate at that time,
but writing a full report setting out its failings and what you
would need to do in order to overcome them. You then have
around 18 months to make these changes so that the text will
meet the requirements. This can be a pretty tall order because
the examiners may have refused to accept key methods that
you have used, or asked for the study to be greatly reorientated,
or demanded a great deal more new work from you. Referral is
often seen by research students as complete failure, and it
certainly will be if it happens twice in a row. But in fact many
theses which are referred do get accepted within a year or
18 months, because the examiners’ report on why you were
refused the doctorate provides a crucial ladder back. The report
is an unbreakable and unalterable contract with you. It must set
out in detail what you need to do to reach the required stan-
dard of work, and the examiners cannot subsequently add new
demands or change their conditions. So if you do get referred,
it is important not to fall into despair. Instead consult very
intensively with your supervisors on what you need to do to
meet the examiners’ requirements, and then set out to fully
deliver what has been asked for. If you consistently follow their
brief for changes then they are almost bound to accept your
thesis at the second time of asking.
There are some strategies which you can follow in the oral
exam and which may help dissuade the examiners from asking
for genuine minor revisions, or for larger and more substantive
changes short of referral, or even from concluding that a refer-
ral is necessary. In all your initial responses you must ‘keep
faith’ with what you have done. Give a committed defence of
your research, responding as flexibly and creatively as you can
to any critical arguments. Listen carefully to what the examin-
ers say, and think hard about it. But then set out to show why
their counterpoints do not hold and how your research makes
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