Fit for academia? The PhD thesis report: a genre in the making

This paper explores intra-generic variation among PhD thesis reports (PTRs), scholars’ assessments of the semi-final versions of theses submitted by PhD candidates aspiring to the Doctor Europaeus award. The data considered comprises 83 PTRs (72,000 words), dated 2008-2015. The texts are heterogeneous in their formal, content-related and rhetorical properties. First, they vary in their length, number of components and naming practices. Second, they may or may not include: introductory meta-evaluative statements, recommendations regarding the Doctor Europaeus award, negative assessment, evaluation of the thesis topics and authors. Third, their evaluative strategies alternate between commenting on the theses for their intrinsic qualities vs in comparative terms, expressing negative comments by signaling flaws or omissions vs evoking shared norms, and expressing the Doctor Europaeus recommendation in implicit or explicit terms. The varied realization of PTRs can be ascribed to: their multiple communicative purposes (evaluation, sanction, gakekeeping, guidance, recommendation), varied readership (PhD committee, thesis supervisors, thesis writers, university administration), short chronological development, restricted circulation of its exemplars, and inter-disciplinary relevance.