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Hi all,

I submitted my thesis two weeks ago and since the start of last year I tried to get my supervisor to discuss examiners. Instead, he would just ignore the issue when we had meetings.

Its two weeks post-submission and he has not said a thing. His previous students have always had this problem and some have had their vivas 6 months post submission.

I feel that i have a right to at least know my examiners by this point, even if I do not have an examination date. I certainly don't have 6 months to wait around to be examined. University policy says that examinations should be within 3 months of submission but nothing ever happens on time in my department. All of us who have stuck out the phd have taken 5 years instead of the usual three to finish.

Given its two weeks post submission, do you think I should email my supervisor asking him about examiners or viva dates? Is this too premature or should I wait for four weeks? What should I do because I don't want to leave this to him and still be waiting 6 months on.

J.

I'd definately get in touch with him. You don't want it to drag on any longer than it has to.

Have to say I'm suprised you don't already know who are, or who are likely to be, your examiners. I've not submitted yet but I've already had approval for my external examiner given. And that's the one you really need sorting out first I think.

Maybe email them with a list of potential exmainers, external and internal, to see if it jogs them along?

Yes I'd email too. I'm also surprised you don't know about your external. This had to be set up in my intention to submit form, which was handed in 6 weeks before I submitted (should have been 3 months, but hey). There was a delay in my department figuring out an internal examiner after submission: initially they appointed one person, then changed to another. So I didn't know who that would be for quite a while after submission. But at least I knew who the external was.

======= Date Modified 21 Oct 2010 18:45:28 =======
Oops wrong thread sorry! (ignore this message - one below is fine)

In my university names of the examiners are submitted to registry at least four weeks before the submission of the thesis. Registry decides if they are appropriate and officially appoints them. So I find it strange that you still don't have examiners appointed after submission.
I would definitely contact my supervisor and chase up.

Hi Jojo

Can do nothing but repeat what others have said.  the appointment of examiners is part of the pre-submission process at my Uni too.

So another vote for an email to sup.  Maybe he's forgotten what its like to be at this nerve wracking / very exciting stage. He needs reminding... nicely.

Hi Jojo,

I submitted my Master's thesis some weeks ago. I had no idea about who the examiners were to be (we have to have two-one internal and one external) but just trusted my lovely but overworked and a 'bit lacking in a sense of time' supervisor.

When I contacted admin three to four weeks after submission to ask whether I was to receive a written acknowledgement (standard process), I was emailed by the PG officer, who said she had received all the copies but was still waiting for my supervisor to submit examiner's names.

I wasn't exactly surprised, I guess, this sort of thing has happened before. I decided to allow till the end of the month and then I would contact the PG admin officer again to get some news on whether the examiners had been appointed and had copies of my thesis. If she says they haven't, I am going to ask what my next actions should be given that I would like to graduate at the end of the year and I do want my masters. If I don't get much help from the admin officer, I am going to officially notify the acadamic course conveynor of my area. (That's the academic who oversees all the people in my particular degree/subject who are doing theses) and request that some action be taken. I don't want any blame or repercussions- I just want my thesis examined and to have a result before December. So I plan to be firm but flexible in my approach.

I think it will work-my supervisor is a nice and very supportive person who has given invaluable advice- and the course conveynor is pretty organised so will probably ensure that things get moving fast. I am allowing a bit of time here and there because after the last 2 years, quite frankly, I am over this psychological bootcamp experience and would like to end well. without too many tensions or bad feelings-if that makes sense. Don't know if this helps but I do know how frustrating this experience is-the whole Masters thesis experience has really taught me how all of this is a process not an end product-although the end product is obviously significant.

Hi all..

Thanks for your posts. I wish I'd seen this earlier. I'd have emailed him today.

I have contacted the postgraduate office who said they would simply chase him about it, but its been over two weeks and i've heard nothing from them.

I think the best thing is to write a firm email to my supervisor requesting to know my examiners asap. If I wait for him he will never respond and its my life. I definitely need to do something about this!

the email will go something like this,

Dear X,

It's been a few weeks since I submitted. Don't you think I should know about my examiners by now - if only to start preparing for my viva? (then a sentence on why I should be examined before December.)

Yours faithfully,

Jojo.

what do you guys think? is it too rude? Can you help me make this a little more firm without coming across as rude but at the same time communicating the urgency of the situation? Do you think suggesting names is jumping the gun and acting like he's not competent enough to choose them. Plus if i pick names, then i relieve him of the responsibility of him picking someone who is likely to pass me?

I'm not a fan of the negative interrogative to be honest ("Don't you think I should know about my examiners by now"). I find it unnecessarily indirect in structure which potentially creates the implicatures that a) you should know by now, b) he should agree that you should know by now, and that c) he's at fault (all of which may be true, but is that what you want him to infer?). It therefore has a kind of scolding effect not helped by the subtlety, depending on how he takes it of course; if he doesn't infer the above things, he could possibly assume that you're simply asking for his wise advice i.e. "should I know by now? I thought so, but what do you think?"- which is certainly not what you're going for, but I think the former interpretation is more likely.

This is the first time you've emailed him about the matter, right? I think you can be assertive in a more direct way without being rude i.e. "I'm not happy that I don't yet know about my examiners or when I am likely to find out [followed by your concerns about preparing for your viva]" which is more direct but more polite in my opinion because you're not implying your dissatisfaction - it's honest, reasonable and backed up with an explanation. Or you could simply request "Please let me know about my examiners as soon as possible. [again, viva etc]" Or perhaps you want a question so that he has to answer: "When will I know about my examiners? It is in my interest to know as soon as possible so that I can prepare for my viva, and I fear a delay could prove detrimental because...". I think there's about a million ways to do it, but for me personally, the one you've suggested has its flaws.

I can't advise about whether or not you should suggest possible examiners. I hope, when the time comes, my sup already has good examiners in mind, but you never know.

Good luck getting some answers
(mince)

Being blunt ( ironically, given what I'm going to say next) .. whooah, I agree absolutely with previous post.  I'm all for getting your anger out but ... ;-)

I would start by saying thanks for processing my submission and then ask if he could let you know either if you need to start considering who you would like to examine you or who the examiners are, if this has already been actioned. I would go onto say that this would give you an opportunity to research their current work prior to the viva. I also ask if there's anything i can do or anyone else i should contact if this query should be directed elsewhere. ( this gives them an opportunity to shift work if v busy plus it then gives you an opportunity to say well i did ask if it wasn't you ... so if you didn't respond then i assumed it was ) 

I would then ask for a meeting in X weeks to discuss next steps.

let us know how you get on .. take care.

I'd tone down that email too. Chuff's tips are really good. Above all don't antagonise your supervisor, but be professional and direct.

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======= Date Modified 25 Oct 2010 01:18:36 =======
hi all..

calm down.. :-) that's the zero draft of the email...

thanks for the suggestions.

softly softly approaches don't work with my supervisor. to get him to read my work i always had to ask him for a meeting. reminders never result in feedback.

[sample letter removed]

for the one who suggested i thank him for 'processing' my submission. i did all that myself. he did none of that.

That looks fine to me. Straight and to the point.

I also think it's fine - direct, requires an answer, and sweetened to avoid sounding pissed off (up)

Hey Jojo.

I submitted two weeks ago and I found out my examiners on the day of submission and the potential date of my viva (ie January most likely).

My supervisor emailed me straight after submission to confirm that my external examiner agreed to examine my viva. On the day of submission, I asked the PhD admin lady of my department who my internal examiner will be (I had no idea she knew!) and she told me!

I don't have anything to add, but I would definitely give your supervisors a little nudge (or perhaps contact your PhD departmental admin person as they may know)

J