After the viva most candidates will be told to complete corrections. For most, corrections will be simple things: amending spelling mistakes, making ambiguous sentences clearer, breaking up long and clunky paragraphs, and so on.
While no candidate wants to get corrections – however minor for the most part, they’re still more work – it’s rare that a candidate would be asked to complete unreasonable corrections. It’s rare that an examiner would ask for rewrites of chapters over a minor point or for a style change based solely on their preferences. Requests for more research have to come with real justification.
If a suggested correction strikes you as unreasonable:
- Ask yourself why you think that.
- Discuss it with your supervisor.
- Decide if you need to appeal the request.
Everyone can make a mistake. You can make mistakes in your thesis. Examiners can sometimes make a mistake with a request. Nobody wants unreasonable corrections.
It’s unlikely that you’ll be asked to complete anything unreasonable, but if something seems wrong to you then know there are options.
