A Thesis is:
A thesis is the acquisition and dissemination of new knowledge.
In order to demonstrate this the author must demonstrate that they understand what the relevant
state of the art is and what the strengths and weaknesses of the SoA are. For someone's work to
be knowledge there must be a demonstration that suitable and systematic methods were used to
evaluate the chosen hypothesis.
It is important that "new" is not just new to the researcher, but also new to the community - PhDs
were sometimes in the past failed because a paper was published by another researcher a few
weeks previously dealing with the same work. I don't believe this is as common today, but
novelty/originality/new understanding/marshalling existing ideas in ways that provide new
insights is what it is all about.
A common attitude is "well, I've done my PhD, now all I've got to do is write it up".
Beware! The thesis IS the PhD - it doesn't really matter how great your research has been
during the three years - all that really matters is the thesis.
8. Further Work
9. Summary Conclusions
Restate contribution
Appendix
Bibliography
Notes
A PhD made up on only critical assessment may be possible (for UCL) but is extremely difficult.
Average, good, size for a thesis is 150 pages all in. Perhaps up to 50 extra pages for a big
appendix and bibliography. Beware of the trend to write long and boring doctorates (papers, &c),
improve your communications skills.
Another important datapoint: 2-3 conference, or 1-2 journal papers in respectable (ACM, IEEE,
IOP like) places are good enough for chapters 4,5,6, and therefore the core of a PhD - testing by
publication is a VERY good defense (or defence). Also note that the feedback from reviewers is
extremely helpful, so all PhD students should be trying to publish their work (the feedback is
even more useful when your submissions don't get published!).
Always think - Presentation. Be precise in all things, esp: the statement of the problem, the
solution, methods and frameworks. Thoroughness == scientific method. You must show proof
that your contributions are valid.
Chapter headings - use 7 or 9! An odd number of (total) chapters gives a balanced appearance to
the work (CC has a reference to back this up).