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88]
Letter to the Editor
Thesis or dissertation: Essentiality
for a postgraduate medical student
Sir,
A postgraduate medical student is expected to submit
his/her thesis or dissertation in support of his/her
candidature for an academic degree or professional
qualification. It is a compulsory activity which needs
to be undertaken by each and every postgraduate
medical student. Practice without theory is blind,
theory without practice is sterile. Therefore, it is
unarguable that thesis mandatorily forms part of
postgraduate curriculum. Each student through his/
her thesis attempts to contribute his/her share to
medical research. The student remains in a maze
right from the stage of selecting the topic of protocol
till the submission of the thesis. However, this so-
called puzzle for a student, suffers setback and takes
a backseat due to casual attitude aided by the lack of
infrastructure and knowledge. The complex jargon
of events begins in the first year of post graduation,
when the student is expected to finalise the topic
of his/her interest. The wide availability of the
internet, vision of the guide and co-guides, as well
as the experience of the immediate seniors, come
to the rescue of this confused mass of protoplasm.
This triad helps him/her in finalising on a topic
out of a lengthy and mind boggling list of topics.
Each student aims at selecting a novel research
topic, which gives him/her distinct identity in the
medical field. This involves rummaging around for
unanswered questions on the selected research topic
by the application and utilisation of all available
means. The student sets on a voyage, looking out
for published and unpublished materials, internet
surfing, exploring the existing resources, and
seeking the expertise of those who have already
work experience in the related field. Literature on
the chosen research topic is scrupulously reviewed.
This is followed by involving intricate knowledge
of research methodology. [1] Introduction, methods,
results and discussion (IMRAD) format is thoroughly
looked for, conceptualised and the research protocol
is finally moulded. This whole process involves
concerted painstaking efforts of the student and
his/her mentors. Finally, the masterpiece produced
reflects the efforts and hard work of the student
and visionary extensions of his/her mentors. After
overcoming the initial hitches and glitches, the
Journal of Health Specialties / October 2014 / Vol 2 | Issue 4 185
data is finally collected to undergo a problem of
data analysis that stares right in his/her eyes. The P
values that need to be significant to prove that one’s
thesis is worthwhile. This myth haunts the thoughts
of the majority who have undergone the process of
thesis writing. Getting significant P values should
not become the sole objective as the observations
made in a study has to be accepted as such. While
undergoing the process of thesis writing, one learns
the know how of conducting a research and builds
upon one’s understanding of the same. The findings
of the study may be statistically significant or not.
This is not important, but what is really important is
that a new dataset is added to pool of data, which is
being collected by researchers on the related fields
throughout the globe. Even though thesis writing
may be cumbersome for the student as generally
envisaged, yet the satisfaction of fruits reaped in the
form of results obtained after burning the midnight
oil cannot be expressed in words. Holding the final
hard copy of a thesis in hand gives the same joy as
when holding one’s child in one’s lap. The thesis
is a reflection of the hard work put in by a student.
Nothing can be more satisfying than successfully
compiling a thesis.
Now finally when the ideas are moulded and shaped
into a thesis, the student is beset with another issue
of getting the research published and preferably
in some indexed journal. Thesis of postgraduate
students allures publication. Pressure of publication
sometimes leads to the adoption of unfair means.[2,3]
This problem is addressed by most of the journal
who have adopted a clear authorship policy. It must
be stated that postgraduate dissertations play an
important role in the training of the specialist. It is
necessary that this is realised in order to provide
meaning and purpose to an exercise which hitherto,
in most instances, is not given the importance that
it deserves.[4] This is the journey of a thesis from
womb (protocol designing) to tomb (publication of
the research in a journal).
Anjali Mahajan1, Sangeet Dhillon2
1
Departments of Community Medicine, and 2Assistant Professor,
Forensic Medicine, Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla,
Himachal Pradesh, India
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Letter to the Editor

Address for correspondence: 3. Zaki SA. Gift authorship — A cause for concern. Lung India
Dr. Anjali Mahajan, 2011;28:232-3.
Department of Community Medicine, 4. Ananthakrishnan N. Postgraduate dissertations — a suggested
Indira Gandhi Medical College, scheme for objectivising their evaluation. J Postgrad Med
Shimla - 171 001, Himachal Pradesh, India. 1994;40:208.
E-mail: anj311@gmail.com
Access this article online
REFERENCES Quick Response Code:
Website:
1. Murthy GV, Gupta SK. Qualitative research in ophthalmic www.thejhs.org
sciences. Indian J Ophthalmol 1999;47:257-64.
2. Sharma BB, Singh V. Ethics in writing: Learning to stay DOI:
away from plagiarism and scientific misconduct. Lung India 10.4103/1658-600X.142793
2011;28:148-50.

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186 Journal of Health Specialties / October 2014 / Vol 2 | Issue 4