Corrections and amendments—Recommendation 1
Most doctoral candidates pass the viva subject to meeting the conditions set out in the examination report which is contained in your Examination Outcome form in Panoho. These amendments to the examined thesis are required by the Examination Committee in order for you to be awarded the doctoral degree.
A few theses per year may pass with no amendments required, but this is a very rare and extraordinary outcome.
After your viva, usually within a few working days, you will receive a notification from Panoho. The email contains a link to a summary page in the Examination Outcome form. This summary (under the button: FGR Examinations Approval Group decision) includes comments from the Examination Committee and gives you information about any required amendments.
If you have any questions about the extent of what is required, please contact the person responsible for approving your amendments as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary work. Your approver will need to do a final review of your amendments; this could take them some time, so please discuss a timeframe with them, especially if you are working towards a specific deadline.
You should ensure there are no spelling mistakes in your thesis. While it is unlikely that all spelling mistakes will be found, you are advised to remove as many as possible. Examiners often mark those they find, but there will be others. You should correct them.
You should also tidy up other minor errors and inconsistencies of presentation.
Beyond the editorial corrections, examiners will frequently require that certain things are put right before you deposit the thesis in the University Library. Required changes may be small but important, such as replacing an incorrect use of a technical term or getting the notation right, or they may be major.
Changes candidates are commonly required to make include:
- rewriting a particular chapter to take account of material that has been overlooked
- reorganising material in the thesis
- omitting some material
- improving or clarifying an argument.
All required corrections and amendments will be detailed in the report that emerges out of the viva/oral examination.
It is a good idea to contact your Internal Examiner to ask how they would prefer to receive your amended thesis. Good communication will help ensure that they are able to sign off on your corrections more promptly. Consider using tracked changes to highlight the changes you make. Please include a cover letter that describes how you have addressed the points raised in the Outcome Report, and that indicates the pages where the changes have been made.
You must complete this task within the set timeframe. Failure to do so can result in your enrolment lapsing. If you need longer to complete this step, due to exceptional circumstances, you may apply to the Dean FGR for an extension by emailing the FGR-Exams Team before the due date and we will manage this application for you.
When you have completed your amendments, your amended thesis must be approved by your School. Usually, the internal examiner oversees this process and confirms, via email to the FGR Exams team, or in the Amendments form in Panoho, that you have met all the conditions in your Examination Outcome report. You should wait to receive an email from Panoho confirming approval and information about the next steps which is to deposit a PDF version of your thesis in the University Library.