Doctoral Thesis & Dissertation

Doctoral study ends up with a regular defense of the doctoral dissertation thesis. The PhD student who fulfilled all requirements for applying for the Dissertation Defense and uploaded its final version into the ISIS information system should appear in working hours in the doctoral study office and furthermore submit:

• Three (3) hard bound copies of the dissertation
• Ten (10) copies of abstract* (“autoreferát”) of the PhD thesis (A4 format, spiral binding) and sent via e-mail to the following e-mail address: adriana.valova@vse.cz.
• Structured CV (signed by the PhD student )
• List of publications (signed by both the PhD student and Supervisor) example [doc]
• Validator Control Report of the Dissertation (signed by the Supervisor who also assures the Report)
• Letter to the Dean of the Faculty in which student asks for admission to the Dissertation Defense
• Short report of the Supervisor on the course of study (signed by the Supervisor) example
• Printed confirmation on uploading of the dissertation into the ISIS information system

*An abstract (“autoreferát”) of the PhD thesis is a brief summary of the whole thesis, usually up to 20 pages, stating the objectives, content, results of the thesis and the characteristics of the original research methodology, the literature used and concluded with an English, or other foreign language, summary.

Student should submit all documents eight weeks before the defense will be held.

The Thesis Assignment should be entered into the ISIS information system by the Supervisor in cooperation with the PhD student no later than six months before submission of the dissertation for its planned defense.

Initially, PhD student submits the final version of the dissertation electronically into the Qualification Theses Database (in PDF format) in InSIS information system. The proper electronic submission has to be confirmed by the following notification: “Correct submission of the thesis confirmed – The electronic version of the dissertation was submitted and the correct submission was confirmed. The submission process is hereby finished. The thesis cannot be modified anymore.” Only after this step, the dissertation and other requested documents may be submitted for a Defense.(During submission, InSIS information system requires Abstract and Keywords in English).

A student who has not passed both the Colloquium/Dissertation Proposal Defense and State Doctoral Examination cannot apply for a Defense.

PhD. Dissertation

Dissertation thesis has paper format of 14, suggested margins are of 2.5 cm. Recommended line spacing is 1.15. The font should be proportional serif 12pt (Garamond, Georgia, Palatino Linotype aj.). The font for headings should be slightly larger.

Tables and figures should be numbered and labeled. All tables and figures are referenced in the text (see Fig. 3…). Under the table or figure, the proper source should be mentioned (including the author, if necessary). Tables and figures should be directly related to the text. Otherwise, they should be located in appendices at the end of the thesis.

Double-sided print is strongly recommended.

The referencing style has to be consistent. It is inappropritate to put references to footnotes. For citations, as well as the list of references, we suggest using a standardized format, such as the APA referencing style. The list of references  at the end of the thesis should be sorted in alphabetical order.

Recommended Structure of a Ph.D. Thesis

1. First pages – MS Word template [doc]
2. Contents
3. Introduction, including the justification of the topic, goals of the thesis, its structure and the methodology adopted.
4. Literature review. This part summarized the most up-to-date theory and empirical findings; it should be based especially on articles from international journals with impact factor. Besides the review of the state-of-the-art, this part should also contain the critical view of the author. Based on the literature review, the author should acknowledge that there exists a research gap, which needs to be addressed. Based on the research gap, several research questions or hypotheses are formulated.
5. Methodology. This part contains a detailed description of the methods and data used. If the thesis collects primary data, then this part usually contains:
   • Research design.
   • Description of the population and the sample.
   • A detailed description of sampling and data analysis (such as statistical tests/tools).
6. Results of data analysis.
7. Discussion and synthesis of findings. The results are confronted with the past research. A critical discussion of potential sources of bias and errors should also be developed, as well as implications arising from the author’s research.
8. Conclusion summarizing the achievement of thesis goals, answers to research questions or discussion of hypotheses testing, implications for theory and practice, and future development of research.
9. References.
10. Appendices.