Guidelines for the examining committee for licentiate seminars

The thesis work may be a team effort, but the independent contribution of the doctoral student must be clearly discernible. The thesis can be a monograph or consist of several papers. Each paper must be published or deemed to be publishable in a peer-reviewed journal.

The external reviewer and the examining committee must present the essential faults and merits of the thesis. The following questions should be highlighted:

  • Is the chosen subject original? Why has it not been previously addressed (e.g. a new idea, necessary conditions were previously lacking, the author had access to unique material or an original technique, etc.)?
  • If the subject has been addressed earlier, why did the author bring it up? Is there reason to suppose that previous results are no longer sustainable due to developments in the subject area? Do new methods allow a deeper analysis of the problems?

  • Is the selection of the references adequate, and does it give an accurate picture of the state of research in the field?
  • Does the thesis contain a critical analysis of the referenced works?

  • Is the studied material appropriately selected and of sufficient scope?

  • Are the methods conventional, original, diverse, thoroughly checked for possible sources of error and well suited to the issues addressed?

  • Are the results obtained of scientific interest, and do they have any novelty value?
  • Are the conclusions drawn by the author logical and neither more nor less than the results and material allow?
  • Does the author demonstrate academic rigour in the summary discussion?

  • Is the thesis well organised?
  • Is the linguistic expression appropriate and of acceptable quality?
  • Are the experiments, analyses and results presented clearly and comprehensibly?
  • Are the tables and figures well organised and explained?

  • Does the author’s contribution have the scope and quality one should expect from a 2-year licentiate programme?
  • If teamwork is involved, can one discern the author’s contribution?
  • What negative criticism can be made of the thesis?
  • What are the principal merits of the thesis, such as originality, scientific imagination, innovative methodology, novelty of the results, etc.?

Last modified:

FOLLOW UPPSALA UNIVERSITY ON

facebook
instagram
twitter
youtube
linkedin