Thesis Preparation and Submission
Please refer to Research, Partnerships and Innovation Code of Practice for Research Degrees for important information on the following topics:
The DDP Summary Form / Evidencing Development Summary must be completed in the final year of research once all DDP training has been completed. Failure to submit this form prior to the submission of the thesis could result in the student’s award being withheld.
Please see the following pages for guidance, according to your cohort;
Overview
Students should read carefully the section on Thesis Preparation, Submission and Examination above.
During your final year, one internal and one external examiner will be appointed. Students should ensure that the Department knows well in advance (two to three months) the date on which the thesis will be submitted. This helps to ensure that the examiners are in place and that whenever possible the viva takes place within ten weeks of the submission date. Very few theses are accepted as they stand and candidates should allow time (up to three months) after the viva to make minor corrections (e.g. spelling errors, bibliographic corrections, minor adjustments) and up to one year to make substantive changes in the event that the thesis is required to be re-submitted (e.g. new analysis, more extensive literature review, re-work conclusions).
Research students are expected to submit their thesis within the period of full-time registration (ie at the end of the third year). Candidates who do not complete their thesis within the full-time registration period are required to pay a continuation fee to cover additional supervision in their fourth (or ‘submission pending’) year.
Departmental policy is that both supervisors should decide when the thesis is ready to be submitted. If a student wishes to submit against his/her supervisors’ advice, this student should sign a letter saying that s/he is submitting ‘at his/her own risk’. Students should take care before submitting that their work has been proof read and paginated. Poor presentation may lead to theses being required to be re-submitted.
Research students should be aware that when they submit their thesis, they must have an ‘Access to thesis’ form, which is signed by themselves and their supervisor, bound within each of the three required copies.
In the interests of timely submission, students should be aware that there is no leeway or flexibility when submitting their thesis – not even by one day.
Students will receive the following reminder email 3 months prior to their end of fee paying period.
You and your supervisor will need to plan/finalise your DDP Evidencing Development Summary (using your TNA) soon as this needs to be submitted 2-3 months before the end of your registration period. Please go to the following website for further details:
https://students.sheffield.ac.uk/research-services/ddp/register/evidencing-development
When you are ready to submit. If you go to the following link you will find everything you need to know about submission and check the latest guidance, please read it carefully:
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/rs/code/submission
IMPORTANT:
As you will read in the above webpages the thesis must be submitted to Research Partnerships and Innovation via the PGR Thesis Submission Form and also uploaded to Turnitin no later than your time limit.
Turnitin instructions:
1. Login to Blackboard via MUSE.
2. Click on Organisations.
3. Click on POL-PGR Thesis Submission 2022
4. Click on Content (if you can't see this then expand the little triangle on the far left)
5. Click on 2022 Submission
Then Final Submission (you can also submit a draft submission as a test before if you like).
You can then upload your thesis. You will receive an email from Turnitin from which you will be able to download a receipt. Please forward the receipt to me at pol-pgr@sheffield.ac.uk. I will then ask your internal examiner to check the Turnitin submission.
As soon as your internal examiner has checked it and confirmed that there is no plagiarism, Research Services will send out copies of the thesis to the examiners along with the exam reports and your viva will be scheduled and you will be informed of the date via email. If you require extra support as part of a Learning Support Plan (LSP), please make the PGR Support Officer aware of this when scheduling your Viva so that reasonable adjustments can be made if required.
All research degrees are examined by two examiners who read the thesis and carry out an oral examination (viva voce). One of these examiners will come from within the University, normally the Department (the internal examiner) and the other from outside the University (the external examiner). The criteria for appointing external examiners are twofold: academic excellence and appropriateness to the subject. The Department keeps a central list of appropriate internal examiners and the students likely to submit in the same year, in order to ensure appointment of the right examiner for the right student, and in order to distribute the examining as equally and fairly as possible.
Suggestions for examiners should be considered as early as possible during the student’s research. Nominations for both internal and external examiners go first to the Deputy Director of Postgraduate Research Studies who will informally approach the people concerned. Candidates are permitted to suggest examiners but the final decision rests with the Department. The names of the proposed examiners are then sent to Research and Innovation Services which formally appoints them
Since 1 February 2014 all research students have been required to submit an electronic copy of their thesis to Turnitin upon submission of the final thesis to Research and Innovation Services. The electronic copy for the Turnitin check must be an exact copy of the copies submitted for examination and must be submitted at the same time.
Students are required to submit an electronic copy of their final approved thesis to the White Rose eTheses Online server. This requirement is in addition to the requirement to submit a final hard copy for the University Library. Information on how to upload the final, examined and awarded thesis to the White Rose eTheses Online server can be found here.
The benefits of this approach mean that theses will be available to be read by a wider audience and can be picked up by anyone doing a keyword search in Google. However, this may have implications for later publishing material from your thesis (including as a monograph). Some book publishing contracts require authors to keep their full theses out of the public domain for a certain period of time. You are therefore advised to consider requesting an embargo on your e-thesis at the time of submission. This will be discussed at your Submission Review. If you decide to request an embargo, you must first tick the appropriate box on the ‘Access to Thesis’ form, and then tick the embargo box again when you upload it to the White Rose eTheses Online archive. The maximum time you can have an embargo for is three years. This embargo can later be removed if necessary. Whether or not you decide to place an embargo on your e-thesis, it will be important to seek permission for the inclusion of third party copyright material in your eThesis e.g. extracts from publications such as books, journals or illustrations such as images, maps, photographs, tables etc. before uploading it so the online archive. More information about this can be found at: www.shef.ac.uk/library/services/copyetheses
Arrangements for the oral examination (viva voce)
The oral examination should normally take place within ten weeks of receipt of the thesis. This is an expectation, not a mandatory requirement. A period of at least one month can be expected to elapse between submission of the thesis and the oral examination, and a student who intends to leave Sheffield on a specified date, for example to return overseas, should ensure that a reasonable amount of time is available after the oral examination in case it is necessary to consult the supervisor on any revision or amendment to the thesis which the examiners may require.
It is the responsibility of the internal examiner, in conjunction with the PGR Support Officer, to arrange the date, time and venue for the oral examination, and to inform the candidate of the arrangements which have been made.
Oral examinations are normally held within the University. The student’s supervisor may not attend unless the student and the examiners have agreed his/her presence in advance. The supervisor should, however, be available prior to and following the oral examination, i.e. to offer advice and support to the student. If present, the supervisor should enter and leave the room at the same time as the student and should participate in the discussion only if asked to provide clarification on a specific matter.
Under these Regulations, a student may apply for a recommended examination result to be re-considered in the light of new evidence. General regulations and procedures for Academic Appeals can be found at www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/procedures/grid
Prizes:
Andrew Gamble Prize for an Outstanding Thesis
This prize was created in honour of Professor Andrew Gamble, and is awarded on a quality basis rather than an annual basis. Nominations are made to the Graduate School Committee by staff members in October/November of each year.
Political Studies Association (PSA) Dissertation Prizes
The Department enters PhD theses which are deemed to be of an excellent standard into the annual PSA Dissertation Prizes competition. There are five categories (Government and Public Administration, Political Theory, Comparative Politics; Elections, Electoral Systems and Representation; and The Study of (In)equality and Social Justice). The Department can enter one thesis into each of the four categories.
British International Studies Association (BISA)
The Department enters one PhD thesis of an excellent standard into the annual BISA Michael Nicholson Prize competition for the best doctoral thesis in International Studies