Final Year Review

• This milestone has a key role:  preparing the student and thesis for examination.
• Students will be assessed for their communication skills, writing ability, structure of the thesis, efficacy of the argument, appropriateness of the methods and rigour of the theory.  Ensure that the thesis is of the highest quality possible to be presented to supervisors and assesses for this Final Thesis Review.
• Log challenges in the research and thesis.  However at this late stage, ensure that solutions are also available. But raise any issues with supervisors that may block a timely completion in three years.
• Verify footnotes, endnotes or in-text referencing.  If there are challenges with software programmes such as Endnote, then note them with the supervisor and arrange for immediate support from CDU librarians.
• While each year’s report assesses the academic integrity of the student and the project, this final verification is the most important.  The iThenticate report must be evaluated with care as it may be necessary to present it at some point through the examination process. 
• Do a final check of copyright through the thesis. Have you used copyrighted images, charts or song lyrics?  If it is possible to remove them at this stage, then do so. 
• Fill in your ‘Intention to Submit’ form to ensure that examiners are contacted in a timely fashion.
• Spend time with the supervisors discussion the post-submission period.  What work – with regard to publication – can be completed during the examination period?  Develop scenarios for post-thesis employment opportunities.

• This milestone has a key role:  preparing the student and research higher degree for examination.  This is the final moment for a supervisor to ensure a timely completion is not only possible, but probable.
• Students will be assessed for their communication skills.  This may involve a final seminar or a less formal verification protocol.  The key is to confirm that the student can communicate their finding well and disseminate their scholarship to an audience.
• At this final stage, a dispassionate evaluation of the student’s writing ability and quality should take place.  Is the thesis ready for examination?  Is it probable that it will pass with no or minor corrections?  If there are challenges with prose, then discuss possible solutions to those challenges.
• Determine whether or not an editor is required. 
• Make a determination about the structure of the thesis, efficacy of the argument, appropriateness of the methods and rigour of the theory.  Does the thesis ‘hold together’?
• Is the thesis of the standard for submission?  If supervisors are uncertain, use the expertise of assessors and colleagues to enact a mock examination of thesis.  The most important decision a supervisor makes in postgraduate education is evaluating the readiness of the thesis for examination.
• While each year’s report assesses the academic integrity of the student and the project, this final verification is the most important.  The text-matching software report must be evaluated with care as it may be necessary to present it at some point through the examination process. 

CDU now provides access to iThenticate for HDR students and their Principal Supervisors to check the originality of research publications, including their thesis, journal articles, milestone documents and more. 

Visit our iThenticate page for more information.