PRE-DEGREE/CERTIFICATE REGISTRATION/SCHOOL FEES
VC, Others Task Graduate Students On Quality Research By Ethel Timi-Johnson
- Details
- Published: 09 October 2018
In its determined bid to ensure that graduate students undertook quality and original research, the School of Graduate Studies held a one-day workshop for them and their supervisors at the Ebitimi Banigo Auditorium, University Park on Thursday, September 20, 2018.
Explaining the importance of the workshop to participants, Dean of the School, Professor Anthonia Okerengwo, advised the students to utilise the opportunity afforded them by the workshop to improve the quality and originality of their thesis writing abilities so as to avoid academic fraud or plagiarism that would certainly lead to their expulsion from the programme.
In his paper entitled: Template For Writing a PhD Thesis and Presentation, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ndowa Lale, who served as one of the Resource Persons, described a PhD thesis as the highest degree awarded by any university. He pointed out that students must demonstrate the ability to carry out original and well-structured research that conform to global academic benchmarks. He also advised graduate students to engage in thorough analysis, break new grounds, fill identified gaps in knowledge or expand an existing argument as their own academic contribution, including reviewing new approaches to solving old problems.
“Writing a successful PhD thesis involves a level of discipline that may have lifelong benefits and every graduate student needs to manage three persons to succeed; namely, oneself, the supervisor and spouse for married students. Research is time-bound with strict durations for completion of the study, hence it is needful to train oneself in social intelligence,” the Vice-Chancellor said. He disclosed that the National Universities Commission and the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities had initiated the development of a home-grown plagiarism test kit that would soon be available for use.
Outlining points on how graduate students could be liberated from the tyranny of difficult supervisors, Professor Lale advised them to show loyalty to their supervisors without making unethical compromises. He further stressed the need for students to seek familiarisation with institutional statutes and policies to ascertain their rights and obligations. The Vice-Chancellor commended the leadership of the School of Graduate Studies for the opportunity afforded the students through the workshop.
In her presentation on Ethical Issues in Research and Publications-Writing to Avoid Problems, Director of the Centre for Research Management, Professor Alice Nte, described scientifically invalid research as unethical, explaining that it would expose research subjects to grave risks.
Other presentations included Publishing for Thesis and Dissertation: Writing for Top Rank Journals by Professor Onyewuchi Akaranta, Effective Use of Software for Research and Publications by Dr. Rosemary Ogu, Library Resources and Effective Use for Research and Publication by Dr. Henrietta Otukunefor and Rooting out Plagiarism for Postgraduate Education: Issues, Problems and Way-out by Acting Director of the Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Office (IPTTO), Dr. Roland Uhumwangho.
