Submitting your Thesis

Due: Twelfth Term
The submission of your thesis and your DPhil examination is the culmination of your years of research at Oxford and at this stage you will probably also be thinking about your next steps. The examination process involves coordination between different departments and your examiners, who often have busy schedules and are based overseas, which can make the process a lengthy one. It is recommended that you factor in more time, and not less, when making plans for meeting your submission deadline and the following months.

Once your supervisor (after consultation with the student) has chosen internal and external examiners for your thesis you can complete the on-course GSO3 Appointment of Examiners application via Self Service.
You can submit your thesis without a completed GSO3 application but please note that this can cause delays as your thesis will not be sent to your examiners until the appointment of examiners process is complete.

Your examiners need to be approved by Faculty Board and have accepted the formal invitation to examine which is sent out by Research Degrees Team. 

When planning to submit it is worth bearing in mind that Faculty Board (where Appointment of Examiners are approved) meets on Thursday in Weeks 2 and 7 of term.

The word limit for your thesis is 100,000 words (exclusive of any text that is being edited, and of bibliography, but including notes, glossary, appendices, etc.) The Faculty Board strongly encourages you to write no more than 80,000 words and you should take care to ensure that your thesis topic is feasible within these limits. 

The DGS may permit an increase of up to 20,000 words if a convincing case is made that the additional material would be for the convenience of the examiners. Your supervisor should write to the DGS in support of this increase.
Candidates who for special reasons (e.g. the need to quote at length from unpublished or inaccessible sources) cannot confine themselves within these limits should apply through their Supervisors to the Board for permission to exceed them by a stated number of words. 

Such applications should normally be submitted to the Academic Administrator (Graduate Studies) not less than three months before the intended date of submission of the thesis. This is to allow time for approval of the request. A thesis that exceeds the permitted length may be returned to the candidate for abridgement. 

It is not permissible to submit a thesis in excess of the word limit with instructions to the examiners to consider only certain selected chapters.

Referencing/Citation Style
Because of the large numbers of subjects, languages and disciplines covered within Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, each of which may have its own particular scholarly conventions, it is not practical to set out here a full listing of modes of citation; this is a matter on which you should seek guidance from your supervisor early on in your research

Students will submit a digital copy only of their thesis via the Research Theses Digital Submission (RTDS) portal. Your examiners will be sent a link to download the thesis, once they have been sent the hard copy of your thesis.
Research Degrees have prepared information to help when preparing your thesis which covers the entire examination process from appointment of examiners and presentation of your thesis to depositing it in order to have your degree conferred. The Notes of Guidance for the Examination of Research Degrees (GSO20a) is also an important source of information which provides guidance on the submission and examination process.

This information is intended for guidance and to supplement, not replace, the University’s Examination Regulations. The final authority remains the University’s Examination Regulations which are your responsibility to read and adhere to. 
The purpose of these regulations is not only to ease the task of the examiners (which is obviously in the interests of the candidate), but also to ensure that the copy of the thesis finally deposited in the Bodleian or other University library is of a standard of legibility which will allow it (subject to copyright rules) to be photocopied or microfilmed, as necessary, in the future.