======= Date Modified 13 Mar 2012 18:57:56 =======
Well... the email says they are going to change the submission process, but the official university website on 'submission process of research theses' has not changed yet - it is a 'wait and see' situation I suppose. I am re-submitting my thesis in a year's time, so I have plenty of time to find out what to do in order to re-submit, and if such regulations apply to resubmissions, corrections and the like. I am not sure that the system works like that dunni73; the software can 'scan' the uploaded document even if the file is uploaded up to three times, but I do not think it actually saves the document in its database for further reference while searching for plagiarism. If that was the case, nobody would wish to upload their thesis online (since turnitin is effectively a cloud), due to personal copyright. It appears to me that some panic is about to be spread among research students. Some will attempt to scan the document with the software, JUST IN CASE, before they hand in, even though they know they have not actively plagiarised (that's not necessarily a bad idea - better safe than sorry, I suppose). Though, the greatest think in this story is that the 'thought' of having one's thesis scanned with such a software by their department will stop students plagiarising altogether, or at least, it will make them more concerned about plagiarism. However, at the end of the day, that turnitin business appears to me like a money making business (with the blessings of the universities and colleges) - but what is NOT a money making business in Academia? :p

======= Date Modified 13 Mar 2012 15:41:27 =======
This morning I received an email from my department (I study in the UK) clearly stating that, according to the latest regulations, from end of March onwards, when a thesis is submitted for examination, two copies will have to be submitted in print and one should be uploaded on WebCT so it is examined with the Turnitin software for any traces of plagiarism. Then, the report from Turnitin will be accessed by the supervisor and the department via a special reference number. The printed copies of the thesis will not be sent to the examiners unless the system confirms the outcome of the Turnitin submission.

I am glad that this is going to happen, as I have heard of several cases of plagiarised theses before, or people who got a degree by copying-pasting other researchers' work. Is there a similar practice at your university?

Many thanks to all of you who encourage me. After following your advice I have managed to read the 50% of my thesis (and do some actual work on it) without crying my eyes out. (gift) Now I am determined to make it!

If you have done what the examiners have asked you to do the chances of failing your PhD are extremely slim. Your supervisor is right by the way. I don't think that they would ever let you re-submit if they were not sure you would make it.

One of my post-viva corrections is the 'originality issue'. Not an extreme problem though - I simply need to emphasise the original points in a more distinctive manner.

I would love to hear from you, especially if your PhD is on a widely-researched topic where almost everything you can think off has been raised by someone else in previous scholarship. In that case, how did you get away with originality?

(Imagine... my topic is on human rights... everything you have ever imagined has been written about it... )

Also, how much novel theory does / did your thesis provide?

Maybe the post-viva members of this group would also like to provide some advice with the originality issue?

:-)

So many encouraging words. This forum is a real treasure. Well, I did an hour of work yesterday, on the said document. Today I will increase the time working on it, and so on. Oh, yes. I forgot to mention. I gave the document a positive name too, in order to encourage me to do the work.

I am going to print out a large poster with positive and encouraging words. Best of luck girls!

Count me in. My deadline for resubmission is the end of February 2013, but I am aiming to hand in earlier if possible... October 2012 sounds good to me, but it will not guarantee my December graduation, if everything goes according to plan.

So, after my R&R, I received the list of corrections... a long list that came to me by post, and it was a psychological torture to read it... (it involved lots of crying).

Several days passed and I re-accessed the letter / list of corrections. I was slightly 'cooler' and I started writing down what they want me to do and how...

Then, last week, I had the first meeting with my supervisor, to discuss the list of corrections and she has allocated me some tasks for the next time I see her (in late March). She reassures me that as long as I do what my examiners want me to do, my resubmission will be successful.

Problem is...

I can hardly open the document of the thesis.

It is not procrastination! It is a mixture of terror, sadness, disgust, something telling me that I never ever want to see this thesis ever again...

I tried reading it a couple of times and both times I felt physically ill due to psychological stress... I felt light-headed... I felt like crying, I started crying and I had to stop reading.

It may simple mean that I am not ready yet to face the thesis... (3 months post first viva and one year before my resubmission deadline)... I don't know what to do. Any advice appreciated.

======= Date Modified 02 Mar 2012 18:46:09 =======
Hi there. I am partly on the same boat. After an R&R and a first viva I was told I must resubmit my thesis early next year. As you can imagine, the news were devastating as I have been working on this thesis full time since early 2007. I do feel really sad since everyone I know get away with minor corrections, but hey, I cannot help it; I can only do my best. Anyway, the past is the past, now I look forward to the future.

Now, with respect to your problem...Whether you have a second viva depends entirely on your university and examiners. My university requests a second viva and there is no way I won't have a second one - the rules are very strict. However, my external examiner on the day of my first viva told me that their university does not request a second viva after a resubmission.

The fact that you do not have news about a second viva does not necessarily mean that they don't like your revised thesis. You simply need to give them some extra time. Resubmission is like first submission. It is a slow process and you should probably expect to hear back from them in 2 months from the day of resubmission, rather than earlier. I understand that you are concerned about graduation deadlines, but I am sure that this should be at the back of our minds. The drama of resubmission has surely cost us a lot psychologically - if we have to wait an extra month or so, things are not THAT bad... the worst has passed...

I would like to congratulate you on your resubmission and wish you best of luck. I must admit that students like you give me courage that I can make it. There is no way of quitting. There is no way back. Failing is not an option.

I double that. My department bombards us with newsletters from time to time, with deadlines for travel / research / conference expenses.

I wish you best of luck Delta. I always thought that every PhD should be published. If the examiners and the supervisors have done their job properly, they count as 100 editors. Sad but true, this happens very rarely.

======= Date Modified 17 Feb 2012 19:34:00 =======

I am not certain that part of my thesis was not read (they may as well have read all of it), I simply suspect that it was not read properly; after all my thesis was a massive piece of work and the external is a Professor (he even had to delay the viva for over 2 months as he is a very busy man).

Anyway, nobody can change the past. I am not complaining. I will tackle those corrections as this is my only choice at the moment - quitting is not an option.

Thank you Delta. I am very positive and I do admire my work so far. I am determined to succeed no matter what. Yes, I will do exactly what they want and I will be fine.

Are you thinking of publishing your work? I would feel much more confident to publish mine if the examiners had given a proper look at my thesis.

======= Date Modified 17 Feb 2012 10:20:46 =======
======= Date Modified 17 Feb 2012 10:18:58 =======
Thank you Delta

I will certainly have a word with my supervisor about this problem - I cannot take the risk, especially with an R&R.

I wonder if others have experienced similar problems with their corrections. I assume that the examiners should not expect to see corrections that are not asked in the official examiners report.

Btw, I am not even sure that the examiners had read the thesis properly. On the day of the viva I was asked to do corrections (i.e. to add specific things) that were completely out of my topic (and the intro of my thesis clearly said I would not refer to them due to space limitations). Maybe they realised their mistakes later on, when they re-read the introduction, and decided to omit these corrections from the examiners' report.

Proof that the examiners have not read the thesis properly is also the report itself: My corrections (i.e. my official examiners report) clearly refer to chapter 4 as 'the chapter on Human Rights', whereas in fact my chapter of 'Human Rights' (all 50 pages of it) is my chapter 2, not chapter 4, and in chapter 4 there is nothing about 'Human Rights'. I don't know if this mistake is accidental or not, but to me it proves that the examiners have not taken the necessary care when reading my work. They only had to look at the titles of the chapters in the table of contents in order to avoid this mistake...

======= Date Modified 17 Feb 2012 08:42:02 =======
Hi there,

After getting an R&R verdict :-( and receiving my examiners' report I noticed that there is an issue with respect to my corrections.

First things first, the list of recommended corrections in the report is rather detailed, providing specific instructions. The report has allowed me to make a table with what needs to be done, so I track my progress.

However, there is a problem. On the day of the viva I took notes of everything my examiners mentioned. I listed some recommendations that were suggested by the examiners on the day (these were all specific recommendations) but there is no mention of them whatsoever in the official examiners' report (which, btw, refers to every problem that needs tackling in detail).

Of course I am planning to discuss this issue with my supervisor but I would like to know what you guys think about this. Time is an issue here, so I don't really want to do more work that needed, unless I have to. If the report does not mention any corrections that were suggested to me on the day, should I ignore them?

Good thing is that nothing said on the day contradicts the examiners' report. Though, if I do those extra corrections suggested to me on the day, that means I may have to do an extra month of work or two before I hand in.