Recommended guidelines for the final reading

The final reading of the draft of the dissertation takes place toward the end of the PhD candidate’s scholarship period. The purpose of the final reading is to give the PhD candidate feedback on how the quality of the dissertation can be improved. The final reading thus helps to ensure the quality of the dissertation before final submission.

The organisation of the final reading

At the latest, the final reading should be arranged three months before the end date of the scholarship period. For this reason, the candidate must submit a draft of the dissertation to the final reader no later than four months before the planned submission of the dissertation. Four weeks later, i.e. three months before the end date, the final reader should have provided written feedback on the draft. The feedback should be presented in one of two forms:

• Either an overall written feedback/review (approx. five pages). This should include constructive criticism. A general assessment should first be made of the textual material the candidate has submitted. This should be followed by a section where the final reader answers any advance questions from the candidate. Finally, in the feedback, the final reader should point out elements in the dissertation that must be clarified/reconsidered and recommend improvements.
• Or feedback consisting of ‘tracked changes’ in the Word document, followed by an overall assessment and, if relevant, recommendations (approx. one page).

The feedback should be sent directly to the candidate, with copies to the supervisors. The candidate’s supervisors are responsible for following up the candidate after the feedback is received.

Practical information

• The opponent is paid for twenty hours in pay grade 75.
• The PhD administration sends a reminder about the final reading to the supervisor and the candidate well in advance.
• Supervisors are responsible for contacting the preferred final reader, and to agree on a deadline for submitting the text and the feedback with him/her.
• If the candidate has questions for the final reader after receiving feedback relevant, the candidate is responsible for contacting the final reader.
• The candidate is responsible for forwarding the feedback to the PhD administration as soon as it has been received. The PhD administration will pay the final reader's fee once the feedback from the final reader has been received.