Hi everyone,

It's my first post! Only just discovered a forum like this which is a lifesaver considering I am on my own all day!

Can anyone advise me? I published a meta-analysis in my 2nd year as first author and need to put it in my thesis. However, some parts of it (literature review) would end up being a repeat of another chapter I have written for the thesis. Is it okay to take out extracts of published work for the thesis? And if so, how do I make it clear the work has been published and is not the full paper?

Thanks! :-)

I think you'd just put it in your thesis, and on the front page (where you have to sign its all your own work etc) don't you put 'Parts of this thesis was published in the following publications:.....' or something?

I don't think you're supposed to cite yourself in the text. Though that might just be the sciences. Or I might be talking nonsense. Hope its helps though!

======= Date Modified 02 Sep 2008 23:52:42 =======
Hi Minimina and welcome!

This issue has been discussed a few times on this forum, and basically whether you can reproduce published work in your thesis depends on your university rules. Some universities have very strict rules on this and consider it self-plagarism (with the same consequences as standard plagarism), and others will have no rules concerning the practice.

In the sciences, it does seem more common to reproduce articles in a thesis.

It's best to check with your department and supervisor.

At worst, you just re-write it again/or tweek it and clearly reference it to your publication.

Hi,


Thanks for your replies. Because it was a meta-analysis (where the author takes a bunch of small drug trials and re-analyses them as a whole using a specific statistical package it is new work. It wasn't just a lit review. It is just the re-analyses I want to put in. I did in during and as part of my PhD and it just happened to be interesting enough to publish...:-~
I am in a Science department so i hope it is okay. Supervisor is away in Indonesia at the mo, hence me asking here!

Hi Mina, could you possibly ask someone like the graduatetutor in your department? Your department may have exact standards they would want you to follow so it's best to make sure.

like everyone said, best to check with the uni regulations, i am in the sciences also, and have included my first paper as one of my results chapters, basically at the end of the chapter, i'm just going to write "part of this chapter has been published (Appendix X) and then slot in the paper as an appendix.

you do not have to have the paper exactly the same in your thesis, actually its better that you dont. so you can cut out whatever lit stuff you dont want. its meant to be more of an adaptation. and no need to cite yourself.

so just take out whatever stuff you want from the paper and plod it in your thesis. (up)

Thanks Lara! That sounds about right. I'll ak around the dept to check.
:-)

oh and WELCOME to the forum! you're going to love it here :-) and yah i totally agree, it really is a phd life saver!

if you ever have trouble finding motivation pop along to the accountability thread, we're usually gearing and cheering each other on ;-)
i'm on my own aswell, writing up my thesis at home in my study room.

you in your last year ?

Last few months more like!! Wierd...I had a great day yesterday and done nothing today. Should it be like this so close to the end? What year you in? That accountability thread sounds like a good idea!

oh yes, thats perfectly normal! i was like that few months ago, and who am i kidding, i am STILL like that and i only have 3 weeks before i HAVE to submit my thesis or i will be terminated (literally!).. i still have loads to do for each chapter, am scared whether i will get it all completed, but trying my best! all i can do really at this late stage. so my advice, the earlier you can start writing, the better! trust me!!

accountability thread, is great, we all put in our aims in the morning, and then at the end of the day , we have to confess exactly what we accomplished that day. whether its "total productive time" (time you're actually working on your thesis) or no# pages you wrote, or words, or papers you read. anything really.

and times when we're really stuck, we tell each other, to just work for 15 minutes, even if you hate it, you can do it for 15minutes, and usually it helps the ball rolling and the 15 minutes ends up being an hour!