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Preparing for HDR thesis submission

On this page.

You should ensure you allow enough time to prepare for the submission of your thesis.  Delays in your submission may result is fees being charged and/or a delay in receiving your results. 

We recommend that you begin preparing for your submission six months in advance of your expected work submission date (EWS date).  Your EWS date is visible on your timeline in Inspire .

Below are factors you will need to consider for your thesis submission.

Four months before you are ready to submit your thesis, you need to fill out an Intention to Submit milestone in Inspire. This quick and simple milestone provides your supervisor with an indication of when you are going to submit your thesis and prompts your supervisor to nominate examiners early. This is also an opportunity for you to state who you do not wish to examine your thesis. A milestone will automatically appear on your Inspire timeline four months before your Expected Work Submission date (EWS) date, however you can commence an intention to submit earlier if you wish.

This provides advice on what should be included in your thesis and the layout required by Flinders University.  The correct wording for your thesis declaration can be found here and copied into your thesis.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the format of the thesis meets the requirements of the  HDR Thesis Rules .

This is a workshop available to support the completion of your thesis.  You can book into the workshop through Inspire .  External students can access a podcas t from the workshop.  Additional information can be found on the REST FLO site under Candidature Management.

This outlines the procedures for HDR thesis examinations at Flinders.  This will help you understand the process and what to expect.

You may wish to look at the information for examiners . This will give you an idea of what criteria the examiners will use to assess your thesis and what information they are provided.

A final thesis is a large document for supervisors to review.  Please allow supervisors reasonable timeframes to review your drafts.   Some supervisors may request to see the final thesis draft multiple times.  A useful VLOG for students and supervisors to watch is the 10 drafts to submission .

There are important conditions around the use of an editor for an HDR thesis.  Find out more .

We recommend that if you haven’t used an editor, specifically state this in your thesis as this will provide transparency for examiners.

You may publish your work throughout your candidature and are permitted to use this published work in the body of your thesis.  Publications should only be included in a thesis if you are the sole or primary author.  All other relevant publications can be included in an appendix.  Publications included within a thesis must be presented in accordance with the HDR thesis rules .  

If you are not the sole author of any publications which are used in the body of your thesis, you will be required to obtain the approval of any co-authors to include the publication in your thesis.  You are also required to outline your specific contribution to the publication on your Co-authorship Approval Form  and in your thesis. This will be provided to examiners.

The office of Graduate Research recommends that if you use publications in your thesis you:

• Avoid repetition
• Ensure the language is consistent throughout the thesis
• Have consistent formatting throughout the thesis
• Maintain consistent referencing, including referencing your own work
• Ensure the thesis flows as one piece of work
• Write commentary at the commencement and end of a chapter linking the publication to the body of work
• Be transparent and explicit in the work you have completed for the publication
• Use explanatory footnotes, if necessary to show examiners if an earlier version of the work has already been published and its location. 
• Ensure that the publication adheres to the Authorship of Research Output Procedures

Before a thesis can be sent out for examination you are required to put the final version of your thesis through the text matching software Turnitin. You must submit your final thesis including the bibliography, and if applicable any appendices through Turnitin.

You should access the textmatching software through the REST FLO site . This site provides useful information, tips and troubleshooting on how to upload your thesis and download your full Turnitin report.

We recommend allowing at least a week to manage this process as delays can occur with large documents such as a thesis. It is often useful to save a second version of your final thesis and split this into 2-3 sections.  Upload the sections in the separate tabs in FLO as this will help reduce the time it takes to receive the Turnitin report.

The full Turnitin report(s) will need to be uploaded to Inspire when you submit your thesis for examination.

Congratulations! You’ve reached the final step in writing up your PhD: the graduation summary. 

When you submit your thesis for examination in Inspire you will be required to upload your graduation thesis summary. This text will be included in the graduation ceremony program and on your AHEGS statement .  It is a concise summary of your project for friends, family members and other graduands attending the event.  Think about it as the ‘story’ of your research. 

Some key points to remember

Short, sharp and shiny . Your citation is limited to 150 words maximum. Rather than getting bogged down in a description of your methodology or data findings, try to address these questions in one or two sentences: What did you investigate?  What gap in knowledge does it fill? Why is this research important?

Remember your audience . This is the time to share your knowledge with the world!

Jargon will only make sense to other experts in your field. If you have to use acronym, make sure you explain it. Think about how you would explain your research to a good friend or supportive family member. You want them to understand why this project is interesting and important.

You’re not a doctor…yet!  Until you’ve crossed the stage or had your degree conferred in absentia , you are still “Ms Smith” or “Mr Almahdi”.

Writing your citation is a great exercise in condensing your project into a punchy, accessible summary of your work.  It will come in handy at networking events, interviews…even family gatherings, where you need to explain one more time why your cousins need to start calling you Doctor. Have fun!

Example summary 1

Australia implements mandatory detention for everyone who arrives by boat seeking asylum, resulting in very high rates of mental illness in children and adults, and multiple human rights violations. Research in this restricted setting is challenging and inevitably politicised.

The thesis includes 10 papers, published between 2002 and 2018, reporting data collected during visits to children held in immigration detention. Children’s drawings include their voices and experience. In this penal environment parenting is undermined and children cannot be protected from trauma and neglect. The thesis extends the original data to outline a framework that demonstrates the cumulative impact on children’s mental health. The ethical implications for clinicians and researchers and the place of advocacy is discussed.

The work is original, significant and relevant given the unprecedented global numbers of displaced people and the adoption by other wealthy nations of harmful deterrent policies similar to those practiced by Australia.

Example summary 2

Many individuals experience communication impairments that impact their ability to function in everyday life. Speech pathology interventions aim to improve an individual’s communication interactions within their everyday life activities. However, there is a critical gap in the evidence for communication interventions that target communicative interactions in real-world contexts. This research investigated participation in online conversation as a real-world context and outcome for communication interventions.

Specifically, the research investigated the effects of a peer e-mentoring intervention for young people who were limited in their ability to use speech in everyday communication. It employed augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) modes (ie, signs, symbols, computerised devices).

Findings confirmed that adult mentors and younger participants who both used AAC reported positive mentoring relationships. Participants were observed to increase their participation in online conversation following the intervention. This study confirms that online conversation can be a valuable real-world context for communication interventi on.

All higher degree by research students have a responsibility to understand and respect the rules and practice of research integrity. The University's policy on Research Integrity states at Clause 1.b that:

"Integrity in research requires adhering to the principles and responsibilities specified in the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (the “Code”), which the University comprehensively adopts as its own framework for responsible research conduct in order to provide “a foundation for high-quality research, credibility and community trust in the research endeavour” 1 as carried out at Flinders University."

All higher degree by research students must ensure that their thesis is consistent with the  policy on Research Integrity .

Students are expected to keep their theses within the word limits specified below—excluding footnotes, bibliography, tables and appendices—bearing in mind that the quality, scale and scope of the research achieved is relevant to the discipline. Not adhering to word limits may be taken as evidence that the student is unable to demonstrate “the capacity to present well-written work” as required by the course rules.

Note:  Extensive footnotes or very large appendices may be counted within the word limit if their purpose appears to be to bypass the word limit.

Laying out your thesis

For more detailed information about thesis preparation for submission for examination please see the  HDR Thesis Rules . For more information about thesis writing, refer to the REST FLO site.

HDR students are welcome to use of the following thesis template .

All theses submitted in written format for examination for a higher degree by research must have a high standard of presentation. This is effected by:

• Using a good word processing or desktop publishing computer package, and other software to ensure that presentation of text is both clear and legible to the reader. 
• Using the preferred font size of 11-12, with double or 1.5 spacing for the main text.
• Keeping margins moderate and in accordance with the professional standard appropriate to the discipline.
• Presenting tables, diagrams, figures and photographs in a manner acceptable to the discipline, either at the appropriate place in the text or, where lengthy or bulky, as an appendix.  - The University no longer requires a physical copy of your thesis for submission. Your thesis should be submitted as a PDF document through  Inspire .
• Consistent referencing, appropriate for the discipline.

Download Thesis Template 

A thesis must be preceded by a title page.

This title page of the thesis should show:

• the title of the thesis in full
• the name and degrees of the student
• the College associated with the work
• name of the degree the thesis is being submitted for example – Thesis submitted to Flinders University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy/Masters by Research
• the date of submission of the thesis.

The title page should normally be followed by:

• a table of contents
• a summary in not more than 500 words
• a signed and dated declaration by the student stating:    “I certify that this thesis: 1. does not incorporate without acknowledgment any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university 2. and the research within will not be submitted for any other future degree or diploma without the permission of Flinders University; and 3. to the best of my knowledge and belief, does not contain any material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text.”
• student's acknowledgement
• if applicable, a page listing of all the student’s publications (both sole and co-authored) submitted, accepted and published during their HDR candidature at Flinders university
• the main text
• bibliography
• appendices.

Note: the thesis must not contain any statement to the effect that the thesis is properly presented and is of sufficient standard to be worthy of examination. 

Tables, diagrams and figures should not stand alone. They should be discussed within the content of the thesis.

Diagrams, figures and photographs included in the thesis should be presented in a manner acceptable to the discipline and appropriately referenced. 

Wherever possible, tables, diagrams and figures should be inserted in the text as soon as is conveniently possible after the first reference to them in the text, but lengthy or bulky tables should appear as an appendix.

Captions for tables are to be inserted above the table to which each refers, whereas legends and figures should ordinarily be placed below the figure. 

Theses are usually written in English. However, in special circumstances the thesis may be written in a foreign language especially if the student is studying in the language disciplines. Refer to Section 20.7 of the  HDR Examination Procedures   and and  HDR Thesis Rules . 

Publications arising out of work conducted during candidature may be included in the body of the thesis provided they contribute to the overall theme of the thesis and are appropriately placed within it. Extensive published papers submitted as additional evidence may be included as an appendix.

Publications within the thesis

Publications or significant sections of them, may be included in your thesis provided they contribute to the overall theme of the thesis and are appropriately placed within it. Publications included in the body of your thesis must adhere to the HDR Thesis Rules Clause 7 and the Authorship of Research Output Procedures

Having your thesis edited

Use of a professional editor in preparation of a thesis is permitted, if undertaken in accordance with the following conditions.

Professional editing of a thesis refers to editing services which are paid for.

• Professional editing must be undertaken before the final version of the thesis is submitted to the student's supervisor for consideration. 
• Supervisors must oversee the process and monitor professional editing on an individual basis.
• Professional editing must be limited to formatting, grammar and style and must not alter or improve the substantive content or conceptual organisation of the thesis. 
• Students should include an acknowledgement of the help given or work carried out by another person or organisation in editing their thesis.

All editors of HDR theses should refer to  ‘Guidelines for editing research theses’ , developed through a collaboration of the Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd)and the Australian Council of Graduate Research (ACGR)and with close attention to  Australian standards for editing practice . They provide information for editors, academic supervisors and research students about the editorial services that professional editors can provide when editing research students’ theses. 

Professional editors work to these guidelines, and the following websites contain links to the most recent update of the guidelines. IPEd’s website will ensure that students and academic supervisors always have access to the most up-to-date information:

• Editing academic theses  is for editors and sets out the scope and limit of editing services an editor can provide. 
• Engaging an editor  is for students and outlines the process of engaging a professional editor, the services a professional editor may offer and the tasks that fall outside the editor’s role.
• When your student engages an editor  is for supervisors and includes information to support your student in appointing an editor as well as your responsibilities as a supervisor of a student who is working with a professional editor. 

 A register of professional editors   can help students identify a suitable editor.

If you have any questions related to our HDR examination process or require any additional information, please don't hesistate to contact us. 

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