Thesis writing can be challenging for students and supervisors, but one of the many
rewards for both parties is to receive positive examiners’ reports. I was there when
Brian found out that his PhD thesis required just a few minor corrections. He was
clearly relieved after years of hard work to discover he had passed with little fuss,
but he shouldn’t have been too surprised. Brian had written a thesis that, from the
start, was well-motivated and purposeful; it was well situated in the field and fluent
in the current debates in the discipline; was based on sound principles for data collection;
presented results that made it clear what he had achieved; and concluded
with his own insightful contributions to the field and observations on how others
could pursue further research in the area.