The PhD in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies is a three-year course consisting of individual supervisions and guided research. Students are given guidance in areas specific to their subject and in advanced research methods. In the Easter term of the first year, students submit a PhD progress examination, which usually consists of a critical essay and a general statement about progress to date and the likely course of their future research.

Assessment

Thesis

The PhD thesis must not exceed 80,000 words exclusive of footnotes, appendices and bibliography subject to an overall word limit of 100,000 words exclusive of bibliography. An oral examination (viva voce) is required.

At the end of each PhD programme, students will be expected to have:

• acquired the ability to read, interpret and translate primary sources fluently into their subject area (both spoken and written);
• acquired an excellent knowledge of the general scholarship on their chosen research topic;
• acquired an in-depth and focused knowledge of the secondary literature relevant to the subject of their thesis;
• developed the ability to formulate original research questions and produce a well-constructed argument to answer them, in the form of an independent piece of research based on the use of primary and secondary sources; and
• developed advanced, independent library- and internet-based research skills concomitant with successful completion of a higher research degree.