Thesis Content and Style

Thesis Length

The School for Business and Society PhD in Management programme includes students from a range of disciplines. We recognise that thesis format and length can vary depending on topic, methodology and supervision guidance. We would expect a PhD in Management thesis to be between 50,000 and 100,000 words; including Tables, Figures, Appendices and a Bibliography.

Thesis Structure

The PhD in Management programme accepts both monograph theses and journal style theses. A monograph thesis is a unified, single author document comprising a number of chapters with an introduction and conclusion. A journal-style thesis presents research of equivalent quality and volume as a monograph thesis but incorporates one or more chapters that are in a format suitable for publication in a peer-reviewed title alongside a supporting commentary. Further guidance is available here.

Joint Work

Students are required to include an author’s declaration with their thesis, guidance is provided here.

" When submitting the thesis, the author shall draw attention to any material contained in it that has been presented before including the full references for any papers published or under review. It should confirm that the work in the thesis is your own, and has not been submitted for examination at this or any other institution for another award. If you have included any published work within your thesis, this needs to be indicated in this section, with full references, as does any collaborative work that you may have undertaken with the names of your colleagues. The minimum required is as follows:

I declare that this thesis is a presentation of original work and I am the sole author. This work has not previously been presented for an award at this, or any other, University. All sources are acknowledged as References."

The University has detailed guidance about the style, formatting and sequence of material standards for your thesis. Further information about how to format your thesis can be found here and below.

Since 2019, the University of York has required its PhD postgraduate researchers to submit an e-thesis, rather than a hard copy, printed thesis. This means that you should take particular care to ensure that your thesis is accessible and easy for anyone to read. Guidance on making your thesis accessible has also been created by the Postgraduate Research Administration (PGRA) and can also be found below.

In addition to online guidance on preparing and formatting your thesis, the University also offers courses to help you through Information Services and through BRIC.