I came across this link to an article on Medium.com that was shared in the Doctorate Support Group FB (Thanks!).

The article is titled “As a PhD Examiner… My Top 25 Tips for PhD Students” by Prof. Bill Buchanan. The link to the full article is here.

I want to extract and share the 25 tips here as they are also useful for me to refer as a supervisor. Please read the complete article too.

Here they are, in the words of the author himself:

1. Say up-front what the problem is, what other people have done, and how you have added to it.

2. Get rid of those typos!

3. Bad grammar could show bad practice and weak supervision.

4. Superlatives are not very good!

5. Significance matters.

6. One table tells much more than a whole lot of numbers.

7. Draw some pictures.

8. Break up and but keep a narrative.

9. Avoid using the words of others too much.

10. Be precise.

11. Every diagram and table should be referenced in the text.

12. Be critical of yourself and others.

13. A thesis is not a diary!

14. Focus the literature review on the contribution.

15. Make sure the aim is “of the thesis, and not “of the initial research project”.

16. Get the flow right.

17. If you don’t know it … don’t say it!

18. Explain it simply.

19. Show that you love the subject and that it is relevant.

20. Make your thesis a sandwich.

21. Don’t just pick without reviewing and justifying.

22. Validate before Evaluate.

23. Get that scientific method.

24. Must be based on a method and be repeatable.

25. Evaluate your method against others.

There are 16 more additional tips that he shared, plus 7 tips for viva. Here here.