Moscow Technical University

Morozov street, build. 20. Moscow, Russia. Zip code: 115409,

Phone: 011(7-495) 333 22 33 Fax: 011 (495)333 22 66

This is to testify that Boris Ivanovich Klimov studied at Moscow Technical University from I September, 2001 to 30 June, 2006 In the course of the full-time curriculum at the Department of Physics BL Klimov, who was majoring in Physics of Solid Materials, studied the following courses and passed the following examinations and tests:

Year 1 Term 1

Year 5 Term 10

The student BI. Klimov, within the framework of the field work and internship in accordance with his major, accomplished the assignments with an excellent (A) mark. The graduate’s thesis topic: "Adjustable source of radiation for fiber-optical lines’’ — excellent (A)

30 June, 2006

Dean of the Faculty of Experimental Physics

Write your own academic transcript in English based on the models above. Present it to the class and discuss it.

Unit 3.

WRITING A PhD THESIS

Section 1. READING FOR DETAIL

1. Before you read Text ЗА “PhD Thesis”, discuss these questions with your groupmates or teacher.

a) What is a PhD thesis?

b) What is the most important part of a PhD thesis?

c) Does a PhD thesis require approval?

d) What is the purpose of the review chapter?

e) What is the procedure of defending a PhD thesis?

f) What similarities and differences can you find between a PhD thesis and a kandidatskaya thesis?

Read and translate Text ЗА. The Active Vocabulary List following the Text may be helpful. Find out if your answers are right or wrong. Use the introductory phrases given in Unit 1.

Text ЗА. PhD THESIS

The PhD thesis or dissertation is a monograph, i.e. a self­contained piece of work written solely by the PhD candidate and no-one else. It sets out a certain problem that the candidate has worked on, possibly within a larger team, under guidance of one or more academic advisors. It motivates and defines the problem, reviews existing approaches to the problem, identifies through critical analysis a clear gap for a possible novel academic contribution, and spells out a so-called hypothesis, which is a proposed explanation for the problem or a proposed solution to the problem. The thesis also explains in sufficient detail, and justifies the work undertaken to decide on the hypothesis (or hypotheses as the case may be). This work typically involves a combination of further literature studies, theoretical analysis, experimental design, data collection, carrying out the experiments, data analysis, and drawing conclusions. A good thesis also delineates the limitation of the work done or the conclusions drawn and outlines possible future research directions.

The format of a PhD thesis is not very different from any other formal research dissertation or study paper. However, a PhD thesis requires much more research and evaluation on the topic.

To start a PhD thesis, you will need to submit a written proposal in to your advisor. The length of this proposal will vary, and is dependent upon your advisor’s specifications and the topic that the paper is written on. The body of the proposal contains certain elements that must be included.

The most important part of your PhD proposal is coming up with a hypothesis for your research questions. This is where your successful research study will begin. In most cases this requires the researcher to do background work ahead of time in order to choose a direction for which his or her thesis should go, as well as what the research will need to be done to prove his or her point.

The second stage of the process is actually beginning your PhD thesis. This requires approval of your proposal first. The first chapter will be the basic introduction to your subject, including the reasons why you decided on this topic for your research. The introduction also takes a look at other work that a researcher has done that is pertinent to the PhD thesis, and what new achievements he or she is trying to do through the study.

The second chapter looks at the literature that deals with the same subject matter. Keep in mind that the literature should only be high quality, and include items such as journals and books. While the review chapter does not directly relate to the thesis work itself, it shows the reader what the researcher was thinking when he or she began working on the research topic.

The third chapter looks at the research question with a detailed discussion of the PhD thesis statement. It will also include the information like the statement of the problem, and the hypothesis and predictions. It summarizes what the researcher is trying to accomplish through the course of the study.

The fourth chapter of your thesis takes a look at your research and the method that you used when coming up with the data. This chapter can be very different from one thesis to another, as it will depend on what method the research used, including comparative analysis, scientific technique, regression analysis, and more. This chapter also includes information such as the variables that were used, as well as why you used them and the theories you had behind choosing them.

The fifth chapter looks at the study that has been done so far, and what results were obtained during this study. It also looks at what methodology was applied during the study.

The sixth chapter looks at the results in greater detail. It will also evaluate the results against the previous information already known or what the researcher has discovered. The limitations of the study are also discussed in this chapter, which includes the factors that the study did not look at or incorporate. It can also include the information about the research that the author discovered that was not related to the original thesis and hypothesis because it was not addressed with the original specifications of the variables.

The seventh chapter is the critical analysis. This includes the information that was discovered during the research, as well as the areas of the study that may be open to further research in the future.

The final chapter sums up the results of the research and allows the author to give his or her interpretations and thoughts on the study itself.

Writing your thesis is not the end of the study. You will also be required to put together a defence of your research, which entails being able to verify all of the information that is included in your thesis. To do this, you will be put in front of a panel of experts who will question your research. Therefore, you need to make sure that your evidence is accurate, proves what it needs to, is relevant to the issue, can be easily understood, and that it is convincing enough that the readers will believe what you have to say.

ACTIVE VOCABULARY LIST

set out v — (подробно) излагать (идеи, причины и т.п.) approach (to) [a'prautj] п — подход (к изучению чего-л.) approach to the problem — подход (путь) к разрешению проблемы novel ['nav(a)l] adj — новый, ранее не существовавший novelty ['nov(a)lti] п — новизна

state ['steit] nv — состояние, положение; излагать, формулировать, заявлять, констатировать

statement ['steitmant] п — высказывание, изложение, утверждение

statement of the problem / problem statement — постановка проблемы

(задачи)

chapter ['tjaepta] n — глава, раздел

introduce [,intra'dju:s] v — вводить, внедрять; представлять, знакомить introduction [,intro'dAkJ(a)n] n — предисловие, введение; внедрение; пред­ставление, знакомство

conclude [kan'klu:d] v — заканчивать; прийти к заключению, сделать вывод conclusion [кэп'к!иЗ(э)п] п — окончание; заключение; вывод draw a conclusion — делать вывод

arrive at / reach a conclusion — прийти к заключению

review [ri'vju:] п v — обзор; рассмотрение; рецензия, отзыв; рассматривать; рецензировать, писать критический отзыв

literature review — обзор литературы

reviewer [ri'vjuta] п — рецензент, обозреватель, критик

refer (to) [ri'fa:] v — ссылаться (на кого-л., что-л.); иметь отношение, от­носиться

reference (to) ['ref(a)rans] п— ссылка; сноска; рекомендация, отзыв references и — библиографический список, библиография

reference book п — справочник

reference letter — рекомендательное письмо

referee [,refa'ri:] п — автор отзыва или рекомендательного письма

outline ['autlain] п v— план, конспект; схема; изложить вкратце propose [pra'pauz] v — предлагать, вносить предложение proposal [pra'pauz(a)l] п — предложение, проект, план prove [pru:v] v — доказывать; оказываться

proof [pru:f] n — доказательство, подтверждение

pertinent (to) ['pa:tinant] adj — уместный, подходящий predict [pri'dikt] v — предсказывать, прогнозировать prediction [pri'dikj(a)n] n — предсказание, прогноз technique [tek'ni:k] n — способ, метод, методика; прием scientific techniques — научные методы

evaluate [i'vaeljueit] v — оценивать, давать оценку

evaluation [i,v«lju'eij(a)n] n — оценка; оценивание; анализ

summarize ['sAmaraiz] / (syn.) sum up v — резюмировать, подводить итог; суммировать

summary ['sAm(a)ri] n — краткое изложение, конспект; резюме

entail [in'teil] v — влечь за собой, вызывать

collect [ka'lekt] / (syn.) gather [gaeda] v — собирать