The final internal reader

Criteria for Requesting a Final Internal Reader

The principal supervisor will read a full draft of a thesis prior to submission, and both the principal and subsidiary supervisor can be expected to read substantial sections of the final draft.

In some instances the supervisor(s) may wish to ask a colleague who has not been part of the supervisory team to read a final draft. This will normally be:

• Where concerns about the thesis have been indicated in previous documentation (e.g. Annual Review, Supervision Notes on Student Log, Formal Processes).
• Where a central aspect of the thesis is outside both supervisors’ expertise.
• Where both supervisors are relatively new to supervising and/or examining theses (e.g. less than 4 combined completions and examinations between them).

In exceptional circumstances a student may request a Final Internal Reader. In such circumstances we would expect formal concerns about supervision to have been raised previously with the Departmental Graduate Tutor.

Guidelines for Final Internal Reader Prior to Submission of Thesis

This is an informal process and should not be treated as formal assessment or examination of the thesis. The task is really to say whether or not the (draft) thesis being reviewed is ‘submittable’ – for example, is it coherent and substantial enough, does it make some sort of case that could be considered a contribution to knowledge, and so on.

To come to this judgment, you shouldn’t need to read every word of the thesis. Read to get a sense of the shape of the argument. You may be able to skip or skim sections – though if you do this, it is useful to indicate in your feedback which chapters you have read in detail and which you have not.

You are not expected to give detailed feedback or provide the kind of feedback that supervisors might. Often people do provide some kind of notes on possible things to consider prior to submission and/or as questions that might come up, but that isn’t expected or required – it’s up to you.

It may be useful to keep in mind that your role is to offer advice to the supervisor, not the student. Your feedback should be sent to the supervisor. The supervisor will decide what is appropriate to share with the student.

If you realise as you are reading that you have strong reservations about whether or not the thesis meets the requirements for examination, it can be very helpful to discuss this with the supervisor before you finish reading, to see if they have similar thoughts. They may also have suggestions about which sections they would like you to focus on more closely.