The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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RSR
46,1
16
Received 10 April 2017
Revised 21 August 2017
15 September 2017
6 October 2017
10 October 2017
Accepted 10 October 2017
Reference Services Review
Vol. 46 No. 1, 2018
pp. 16-28
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0090-7324
DOI 10.1108/RSR-04-2017-0009
Thesis consultation: a review
Karlene Patricia Robinson, Karlene Saundria Nelson and
Jessica Claire Lewis
Mona Library, The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus,
Kingston, Jamaica
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relative merits of thesis consultation with a librarian
prior to graduate submission and to explore whether thesis consultation has a significant impact on the
quality of the theses submitted by postgraduate students.
Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a quantitative case study approach. The total
number of thesis scrutiny reports written by librarians between 2009 and 2014 has been reviewed for errors
found in theses. Errors have been classified as referencing errors and formatting errors. These have been
compiled in a spreadsheet and analyzed using the SPSS statistical package.
Findings – This paper highlights that thesis consultation has had a positive impact on the quality of
the theses students submitted for examination at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus.
Thesis consultation with a strong focus on referencing clearly assisted students learning and applying
different citation styles. There was a decrease in the number of referencing errors over time. Not much
difference was seen in terms of formatting errors. Further tests showed that there was a statistically
significant positive relationship between thesis consultation and the number of referencing errors made
by graduate students.
Practical implications – This study may have implications for the engagement of academic libraries
with their graduate communities. With thesis consultation, a librarian may scrutinize the same thesis more
than once. Although this may increase the workload of librarians, thesis consultation/scrutiny will have a
positive impact on the quality of research produced by graduate students.
Originality/value – This study shows that students benefited from thesis consultation and there was a
significant reduction in citation errors. In reviewing the literature, it has been noted that research done in the
area of thesis consultation was very limited; hence, this study significantly contributes to the body of
knowledge that presently exists.
Keywords Academic libraries, Reference Services, Scholarly communication, Information literacy,
Citation and referencing, Thesis consultation
Paper type Case study
Introduction
The University of the West Indies (UWI) is the premier regional university of the Caribbean,
having five campuses in Cave Hill, Barbados; St. Augustine, Trinidad; Mona and Montego
Bay, Jamaica; and the Open Campus with its principal office in Bridgetown, Barbados. The
UWI started out as a University College in October 1948 with 33 medical students,
franchised to the University of London, offering undergraduate degrees. By October 1962,
the university began offering its own undergraduate degrees and 20 years later, it
progressed to postgraduate higher degrees. It has mushroomed to being the largest
university in the Caribbean with over 40,000 students. The UWI is recognized as an
international university having students from over 40 countries worldwide with links to
over 60 universities globally. The UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees
through its seven faculties: Engineering, Humanities and Education, Law, Medical Sciences,
Science and Agriculture, Science and Technology and Social Sciences.
The mission of the UWI is to: Thesis
To unlock West Indian potential for economic and cultural growth by high quality teaching and consultation
research aimed at meeting critical regional needs, by providing West Indian society with an active
intellectual centre and by linking the West Indian community with distinguished centres of
research and teaching in the Caribbean and overseas [The University of the West Indies (UWI),
2011, p. 2]
Universities are judged not by the size of their student population or faculties but on the 17
“quality and relevance of their research” (Hunte, 2011, p. 7). This research would of course
originate not only from faculty but also, more importantly, from their graduate
communities. Hunte (2011, p. 7) noted that “no university can be effective in research
without a strong enthusiastic and committed cadre of students.” The former principal of the
Mona Campus, Professor Gordon Shirley, reiterated the UWI obligation in stating that:
The leadership of the UWI is committed to making our university the most respected and sought-
after institution for the delivery of first-rate graduate programmes and the production of higher-
degree graduates who are at the forefront of contemporary scholarship and professional
development Thus, he indicated that postgraduates are “expected to advance and expand the
body of knowledge at the UWI and contribute to building our reputation as an institution of
international repute” [The University of the West Indies (UWI), 2011, p. 5].
However, for this to be accomplished and sustained, they must be provided with the right
tools and environment in which to do so.
Hunte further defined the university’s role in stating that:
It is our responsibility to provide the enabling environment and guidance necessary for you to
realise your full potential and conduct research of quality and relevance. It is your responsibility
to understand the critical role you play and commit yourselves to delivering fully on this goal
(p. 7)
Graduates are therefore required to present a thesis/dissertation or a research paper in
fulfillment or partial fulfillment of their course of study. In the production of these theses or
research papers, students interact with a variety of sources. It is therefore of necessity that
students properly reference their work in the process of scholarly communication, and
satisfy university requirements and guidelines. Theses scrutiny is a natural and logical
linkage as a measure of quality control of these products.
The UWI is proactive in putting systems and benchmarks in place to guide its processes
and operations. Since the inception of its graduate programs, it has published guidelines as
to the requirements and standards expected of students who write theses or research papers
at the UWI. To register its interest in the area, the Thesis Guide published in 1985 has been
revised three times to reflect changes in focus and to keep up with new developments in
scholarly communication. The 1998 Thesis Guide holds students, supervisors and to lesser
extent the library responsible for the quality of theses produced. The UWI encourages its
graduate students to use the current Thesis Guide and a recommended style manual, which
is suggested in the guide, in the production of their theses and research papers. If students
follow the guidelines expressed in these documents, they are assured quality in the
production of their theses and research papers. For this to be effective, students require
training in citation as well as organization of their thesis. The UWI Library through its
Mona Information Literacy Unit (MILU) provides training for students and faculty in
citation and referencing, as well as the use of referencing software to enhance the
presentation of scholarly papers. This Unit also scrutinizes the theses submitted for
RSR examination and passed to it from the Office of Graduate Studies and Research (OGSR) [The
46,1 University of the West Indies (UWI), 1998].
In keeping with its mandate for high-quality theses, the UWI purchased Turnitin
plagiarism software in 2006 to allow students and faculty members to check papers for
similarity with other published works to address plagiarism, a growing phenomenon in the
online environment. According to the UWI graduates’ portal:
18 We hope this will guide you as to the status of your research paper/project/thesis/dissertation
with respect to plagiarism and insist that you use this medium to check your work before
submitting to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research (The University of the West Indies,
2010a, 2010b).
To further address the growing decline in proper citation and attribution of sources by
students and to register its stance, the UWI published an anti-plagiarism policy in 2010.
According to this statement written on the cover of the document:
This Policy was prepared in collaboration with the Office of Undergraduate Studies and benefited
from the input of the Pro Vice Chancellor (Undergraduate Studies) who has prepared a related
Policy on Undergraduate Student Plagiarism for consideration of the Board for Undergraduate
Studies (UWI, p. 1).
This document outlines the university’s position stating:
Plagiarism represents the very antithesis of the goals of the academy. It infringes the intellectual
property rights of the person whose work is plagiarized and exemplifies sloppiness at least, and
intellectual dishonesty at worst, on the part of the perpetrator (UWI, p. 1-2).
It defines what is constituted as plagiarism, and sets out the various offences and their
sanctions.

Statement of the problem

Despite the number of instruments in place and the efforts of the various departments of the
UWI to monitor and guide students to create an overall quality product, these endeavors do
not always alleviate the problem or work efficiently for all the stakeholders. In their
discussions with students and in scrutinizing over 350 postgraduate theses from 2006 to
2012 and given the nature of the errors observed, librarians observed and saw firsthand that
students either do not use or use inefficiently either the Thesis Guide or the recommended
style manuals in the preparation and production of their theses. From the discussions with
students, it has also become evident to librarians that the supervisors of these students do
not stress the importance of using the Thesis Guide and do not always use it in monitoring
students’ output. As a result, candidates fail to immediately meet university standards with
respect to formatting and referencing their theses and research papers. Some students
appear frustrated when after scrutiny they are asked by librarians to make necessary
changes in formatting and referencing to improve the quality of their work.
Recognizing that the students need to get the requisite training for this aspect of thesis
preparation, OGSR in February 2010 asked the Library to advise students on how to format
and reference their thesis, effectively carrying out their consultation role as expressed on
Page 6 of the 1998 Thesis Guide. However, many of these students come to the Library a few
days before they are required to submit their thesis, giving the librarians very little time to
provide the necessary guidance. Some students have to make repeated visits to the Library
because of their limited understanding of what is required as it relates to citation and
referencing and their failure to follow the guidelines.
 The OGSR also recognized that there are some research papers that are not formally Thesis
sent to the Library to be scrutinized prior to being awarded grades, such as those of the consultation
masters’ students who get an “A” for their research papers. These students come to the
Library for assistance afterward, in order that their papers can meet the university’s
guidelines and can be deposited in the Library’s collection. The formatting and
referencing of these papers are usually very poorly done and students need
considerable assistance to meet the UWI standards. It is clear in most instances that 19
these masters’ students have not used the tools that the UWI has made available for
them to produce quality referenced papers.
Prior to 2011, candidates did not routinely return to MILU to demonstrate that they had
made the changes recommended by the Library when their theses were scrutinized.
However, since 2010, the OGSR in conjunction with the Campus Librarian determined that
candidates should come for assistance, not only prior to the submission of their papers, but
also after, they were scrutinized and candidates were successful in being granted their
degrees. In the latter, they needed to demonstrate that they have made changes
recommended in their scrutiny reports.

Objective
The main objective of this study is to use quantitative measures to evaluate the impact of
thesis consultation at the Library on the quality of the theses submitted by graduate
students for examination purpose. It therefore investigates the effectiveness of thesis
consultations in reducing the number of formatting and layout errors as well as referencing
errors in graduate theses.

Research questions
This study addresses the following questions:
RQ1. Is there a significant difference between the number of formatting and layout
errors students made prior to the introduction of thesis consultation and after
thesis consultation was implemented?
RQ2. Is there a significant difference between the number of referencing errors students
made prior to the introduction of thesis consultation and after this was
implemented?

Hypotheses
Thesis consultation at the UWI Mona Library will reduce the number of formatting and
layout errors as well as the referencing errors that are found in graduate students’ thesis.
The following hypotheses were tested:
H1. Theses submitted in 2011 and 2014 that were subjected to thesis consultation
did not show any significant reduction in formatting and layout errors when
compared to those that were submitted in 2009 prior to the introduction of
thesis consultation.
H2. Theses submitted in 2011 and 2014 that were subjected to thesis consultation did
not show any significant reduction in reference errors when compared to those that
were submitted in 2009 prior to the introduction of thesis consultation.
RSR Literature review
46,1 Graduate study and thesis writing
Universities have a responsibility for maintaining an environment that fosters high
standards for graduate study. The theses produced by their students are therefore indicators
of the educational quality of graduate degree programs that they offer. According to
Hamilton et al. (2010, p. 568), “thesis can become a reference point at the master’s level that
20 will make programs comparable and compatible.” The thesis is a partial fulfillment of the
requirements for most postgraduate degree and candidates are held to rigorous standards of
research and methods (Opoku, 2013). In this regard, thesis writing refers not only to creating
the document but also all activities necessary to complete the final document for submission.
The thesis which is submitted for examination must corroborate the student’s ability to
master the technical skills of academic writing and the use of scholarly writing tools for
conducting research (Kucan, 2011, p. 229). They must “exhibit relatively competent
information behavior” (Green and Macauley, 2007, p. 317). That is, candidates pursuing
graduate programs must submit theses in accordance with the university’s standards and
guidelines for the presentation and submission of theses as well as satisfy the writing
conventions for a particular discipline (The University of the West Indies (UWI), 1998).
These standards and guidelines that are established for quality in theses submitted enhance
the levels of consistency in the theses.

Thesis scrutiny: citation and referencing

Results of preliminary searches suggested that the literature is sparse on the specific topic of
thesis consultation/scrutiny. The literature on research assistance to postgraduate students
points mostly to workshops and information literacy classes. A few articles make reference
to research consultations. The services offered to students and reported in the library
literature speak to guiding students through the process of researching, writing a literature
review, as well as using specific citation styles (Rempel and Davidson, 2008; O’Clair, 2013;
O’Toole et al., 2016; Reinsfelder, 2012). The aim of these services is for the students to know
where and how to find information as well as how to apply it to their needs (Bennett and
Gilbert, 2009). In some instances, graduate students are given templates to assist with the
formatting and referencing of their thesis (Ferdinand-James, 2016). Very few libraries are
actually engaged in the work of checking in-text citations and references of theses to ensure
that they conform to university guidelines and style manuals (Ramlogan, 2014). There is not
much in the literature that reflects an in-depth review of the citations and referencing as well
as assistance in the formatting of the thesis by librarians. Subject and liaison librarians tend
to be more involved in collection development, information literacy, data management and
providing advice on copyright issues (Jaguszewski and Williams, 2013; Rodwell and
Fairbairn, 2008; Cotta-Schønberg, 2007). Some may argue that checking the accuracy of
citations and referencing is the purview of the students and their supervisor (Ramlogan,
2014). Nonetheless, citations and referencing remain an integral part of scholarly
communication, and efforts must be made to ensure that these are done properly.
Documentation reveals the integrity of scholarship and plays an important part in the
evaluation of publication quality (Masic, 2013). Citation conventions are therefore not mere
“annoying details with little relevance” but are important in the furtherance of scholarship
and as assessment tools to check the validity of similar research in a particular discipline
(Casserly and Bird, 2003, p. 300). The Modern Language Association of America (MLA)
(2009, p. 126) noted that it is through the use of citations and referencing that “researchers
generously acknowledge their debts to predecessors.” Casserly and Bird accurately stated,
“collectively, appropriate and accurate citations document how established scholarly works
build on one another over time to transform ideas and even entire fields of inquiry” (2003, Thesis
p. 300). consultation
It is important not only for academic writing to be well-referenced but also the references
to be accurate because this is “critical to accessibility” (Casserly and Bird, 2003, p. 1). A
number of authors examine the accuracy of citations. In a study by Azadeh and Vaez (2013),
the authors found that references in the PhD theses that they looked at were inaccurate. Of
the 357 articles that were checked, they found that only 9.8 per cent were completed in
accordance with the required citation style. Lee and Lin (2013) assessed the frequency of 21
citation errors and found that the citation error rates for each thesis checked ranged from 4
to 81.3 per cent. Accuracy in referencing one’s work is a measure of the scholarly exercise
and reflects the researcher’s attention to detail and is an important indicator of quality in
research. Errors in referencing can result in the impairment of access to information
(Casserly and Bird, 2003, p. 300).
Jalilifar (2012, p. 23), in discussing the role that academic attribution played in the use of
citations in masters’ theses as opposed to research articles, found out that “citations were
more frequent in the MA theses than the RAs, [research articles], and integral citation outran
non-integral citation in the MA theses.” To further underscore the importance of citation and
referencing, Gray et al. made the point that present major academic referencing and citation
style guides need to respond to current systems and standards. These require constant
reviews and provisions for the latest types of authoring forms, such as wikis and blogs.
Several researchers note the rigidity of different citation styles and the difficulty they
present for students in ensuring that sources are cited correctly (Buranen, 2009; Park et al.,
2011; Neville, 2012; Spring and Adams, 2013). In light of this, Azadeh and Vaez (2013) noted
that students need adequate instruction in appropriate referencing. Academic librarians are
in an optimal position to assist in the development of graduate students’ research strategies
and in the documentation of pertinent materials (Reed et al., 2007). This places libraries and
librarians at the forefront of scholarly communication as there is a heavy dependence on the
accuracy of citations, and the accessibility of research (Park et al., 2011). Although this is
often done at the point of need and not as a requirement, Spring and Adams (2013) pointed
out that librarians at universities provide research consultations. This is where students
make a request to librarians to review the references in their work. According to Reinsfelder
(2012):
Librarians scheduling appointments with students are better prepared to provide uninterrupted
and individual attention focusing on the specific needs of just one student in ways that are not
possible in a typical reference transaction.
In a study which looked at the degree to which individual research consultations with a
librarian can improve the work of undergraduate student, Reinsfelder found that research
consultations had a positive impact on students’ work. Fallahi et al. (2006, p. 173) found that
students will produce proper citations if they are taught the conventions of correct citations.
This is underscored by Mages and Garson (2010), who reported that students understood
the American Psychological Association (APA) style much better after going through a
tutorial. Similarly, Rafferty (2013) also established that library instruction had a positive
impact on students’ citation behavior. As such, Park et al. (2011) contended that a student
will learn to cite sources through one-on-one assistance from a librarian.

Thesis scrutiny at the University of the West Indies

Universities worldwide have produced thesis and dissertation guides, to assist graduates
writing research papers and doctoral theses to adhere to the rules of this important aspect of
RSR scholarly communication (University of Pretoria, 2000; Cornell University, Graduate School,
46,1 2014; University of Hong Kong, Graduate School, 2014; Princeton University, 2016;
University of Manchester, 2017; The University of Queensland, 2017). The UWI is no
exception. The Library at the UWI, St. Augustine Campus, has been formally involved with
thesis scrutiny since the 1980s (Ramlogan, 2014). The Mona Campus became involved
in the thesis submission process around this same period. In highlighting the purpose of
22 their first thesis guide published, the The University of the West Indies (UWI) (1985, p. 2),
Mona Campus stated:
The Thesis Guide is written particularly for candidates whose theses are in the final stages of
preparation and for the candidate’s thesis supervisor so that the candidate can be properly
directed.
The Thesis Guide speaks clearly to the matter of formatting theses and research papers and
is very forthright on the matter of referencing. The [The University of the West Indies
(UWI), 1997, p. 6] Guide states:
It is advisable that a recommended style manual be followed and the format must be consistent
throughout the thesis [. . .] the Bibliography should follow the text [and] a recommended style
manual should be used for the organization of the Bibliography.
This was further elaborated on the 1998 edition where the Guide states that “a fundamental
rule of good scholarship is that the basic research be reliable and correct and that all sources
be acknowledged” (p. 11). It also pointed out that “all references whether they be footnotes,
endnotes or bibliographies must conform to certain stylistic requirements” and that while
disciplines differ, the basic principles of referencing are pretty much the same (p. 11).
All four guides expressly state that the candidates and their supervisors are responsible
for the quality of the thesis produced. The guides state that they are written particularly for
candidates and their supervisors who are mandated to properly direct them in using the
guide and to adhere to university guidelines and regulations (The University of the West
Indies (UWI), 1985, 1987, 1997, 1998). The 1997 guide expressly states “the quality of the
thesis reflects that of the student, the Supervisor, Department and Faculty- adherence to
quality is a standard responsibility” (1997, p. 7). Further responsibility given to supervisors
is mandated in the following statement:
The thesis submitted should be the final typed version and must be accompanied by a certificate
from the candidate’s supervisor that the thesis is presented in a technically acceptable form (1997,
p. 7) [italics ours].
Since 1998, the UWI has also included another arbiter/partner in the matter of quality
control, the Library. The Library has moved from merely being a depository for thesis but a
partner in quality control. Candidates are informed that “the professional staff of the
Campus Libraries are available for advice, before submission, on the technical requirements
of thesis, [italics ours] for example, layout, bibliography, footnotes etc.”; a role previously
carried out by the supervisors [The University of the West Indies (UWI), 1998, p. 6]. It
further advises candidates:
The Libraries scrutiny of theses is intended to ensure that students comply with the requirements
of the Thesis Guide in relation to format, arrangement, abstract, references and bibliography. The
Libraries seek to ensure an awareness of the discipline involved in preparing scholarly
publications in a consistent style [The University of the West Indies (UWI), 1998 p. 16].
The Campus Libraries are given a 30-day mandate to check the theses that are submitted,
which should have been already technically checked by the supervisors with respect to
formatting and referencing [The University of the West Indies (UWI), 1998, p. 5, 16]. Thesis
Supervisors and librarians do not collaborate with respect to the research and the consultation
presentation of such research by students. Before 2010, librarians were not consistently
checking on theses either prior to or after their submission to the OGSR. Because of the lack
of collaboration between these two important quality control stakeholders, the likelihood
that students could get conflicting guidelines is strong. Prior to 2006, the Deputy Librarian
checked the majority of theses that were submitted by the Office of Graduate Studies to the
Library. After 2006, liaison librarians were asked to check the theses and research papers of 23
students from the departments they served, and to write a report which was sent to the
OGSR and later given to these students for corrective action.

Methodology
The research design is a case study comparing three years of data consisting of reports
written by librarians on theses they scrutinized. A total of 80 reports of theses of candidates
writing either masters, masters of philosophy or doctoral theses in 2009 were examined and
compared with one 128 similar reports in 2011 and 98 in 2014. This represents one year and
four years, respectively, after the Library implemented thesis consultations with graduate
students. The number of reports written by librarians for each year was relatively small. As
a result, total population sampling was used.
Steps were taken to analyze the patterns of error in the theses, which involved a
spreadsheet to record the type of errors identified from the librarians’ reports. Formatting
errors noted in the reports which were not in compliance with the guidelines set out in the
Thesis Guide were documented in the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet also captured where
these reports indicated if there were evidences of plagiarism and where the theses were
without errors. The errors in each area were compared to determine to what extent
the intervention of thesis consultations impacted the quality of students’ research papers.
The data from the spreadsheet were aggregated and percentages calculated. Data were also
entered into a statistics program (SPSS) for analysis.

Findings and discussion

There was relatively no difference in the mean number of formatting and layout errors
across the years. In 2009, the theses scrutinized (100 per cent) had formatting and layout
errors ranging from zero to nine. Very little difference was seen in 2011 and 2014. Reports
examined for these years showed that the majority of the theses scrutinized for both years
had errors ranging from zero to nine as well. That is, 97 per cent of the theses submitted for
scrutiny in 2011 as well as 2014 had up to nine formatting and layout errors (Table I). This
result is partly because of the greater emphasis placed on citation and referencing by
librarians. In addition, the copy of the thesis that the students submit for consultation is not
the final document they submit to the OGSR. Sometimes to save money on the printing
costs, students try to fit the copy of the thesis they will be presenting for consultation on the
least number of pages possible. Often this is done without any adherence to the formatting
guidelines. In an effort not to frustrate the students who are already stressed out from
writing their papers, librarians tend to focus on the references and advise students to check
the Thesis Guide for guidelines on formatting before submission. The results, however,
show that on average only 50 per cent of the theses submitted achieve near mastery (zero to
four errors) in terms of formatting and layout errors.
Since greater emphasis was placed on referencing and citation, it was anticipated that
after thesis consultation, a significant number of the theses received in 2011 and 2014 from
the OGSR would be error-free. However, very few theses were seen that had no referencing
RSR No. of theses
46,1 2009 2011 2014
No. of errors Frequency (%) Frequency (%) Frequency (%)

0 3 4 5 4 5 5
1 12 15 14 11 12 12
2 10 12 15 12 12 12
24 3 13 16 16 12 14 15
4 15 19 14 11 12 12
5 7 9 10 7 10 10
6 8 10 15 12 12 12
7 5 6 12 10 10 10
8 3 4 10 7 5 5
9 4 5 14 11 3 4
10 – – 1 1 – –
11 – – – – 1 1
Table I. 12 – – 1 1 – –
Formatting and 13 – – – – – –
layout errors across 14 – – 1 1 2 2
the years Total 80 100 128 100 98 100

errors. In 2011, the number of theses examined that had no referencing errors was just 2
per cent. There was a marginal increase of 4 per cent in 2014. Notwithstanding, thesis
consultation resulted in a decline in the number of referencing errors seen in the theses over
time. Seven percent of the theses scrutinized in 2009 had errors ranging from one to four, 68
per cent had five to nine errors and 25 per cent had 10 to 14 errors. When the result was
compared with those for 2011 and 2014, it showed that theses scrutinized for these years
contained fewer referencing errors. In 2011, 45 per cent of the theses contained errors
ranging from one to four, whereas the remaining 53 per cent had five to nine errors. A
further decline was seen in the theses scrutinized for 2014. That is, 55 per cent had one to
four errors and 39 per cent had five to nine errors (Table II).
A one-way analysis of variance test was used to compare the effects of thesis scrutiny on
the number of formatting and layout errors as well as referencing errors made by graduate
students. This was to see if there are any statistically significant differences between the
errors made in 2011 and 2014 when compared to those made in 2009. The acceptable
significance level was set at p # 0.05. The test indicated that at the p < 0.05 level thesis
consultation did not have a significant effect on formatting and layout errors across the
years [F(2, 303) = 0.818, p = 0.442]. The results, however, showed that there was a
statistically significant positive relationship between thesis consultation and the number of
referencing errors seen in graduate students thesis across the years [(F(2, 303) = 16.273, p =
0.0001].
Although not much difference was seen in terms of the number of layout and formatting
errors observed in graduate theses, this study establishes that thesis scrutiny has had a
positive impact on the quality of graduate theses. Before the implementation of thesis
consultation, the citation errors observed in the theses submitted in 2009 compare favorably
with the findings of Azadeh and Vaez (2013) in which very few of the theses were completed
according to the required citation style. However, after thesis consultation was implemented,
there was a steady decline in the number of reference errors seen in graduate theses for 2011
and 2014. In this regard, thesis consultation helped students to correctly reference their
thesis. This finding is also supported by Azadeh and Vaez (2013) who noted that students
 Number of theses
Thesis
2009 2011 2014 consultation
No. of errors Frequency (%) Frequency (%) Frequency (%)

0 – – 3 2 6 6
1 1 1 6 5 18 19
2 1 1 15 12 22 22
3 1 1 15 12 9 9 25
4 3 4 20 16 5 5
5 3 4 28 22 18 19
6 5 6 12 9 5 5
7 3 4 10 8 6 6
8 7 9 11 8 5 5
9 36 45 8 6 4 4
10 4 5 – – – –
11 5 6 – – – –
12 5 6 – – – –
13 3 4 – – – – Table II.
14 3 4 – – – Referencing errors
Total 80 100 128 100 98 100 across the years

need instructions in citation and referencing to produce quality work. The statistically
positive significant value for referencing errors proves that thesis scrutiny helped with the
reduction of referencing errors seen in graduate students’ theses. This kind of intervention
allowed students to get customized help with referencing as mentioned by Park et al. (2011).
Students became aware of their weaknesses when they were exposed to thesis consultation
and were able to address their deficiencies. The result is consistent with the findings of
Reinsfelder (2012) as well as Fallahi et al. (2006) and Rafferty (2013), who noted that
individual consultation with a librarian as well as training can improve the quality of a
student’s work.

Conclusion
As is evident from a review of the results, thesis consultation was worthwhile and, on the
whole, effective. Although not much difference was seen in terms of the formatting of theses,
the results revealed positive and statistically significant relationships between thesis
consultation and referencing. The thesis consultation with a strong focus on referencing
clearly assisted students in learning and applying rules related to different citation styles.
This is consistent with research carried out by Fallahi et al. (2006) where students learned
quickly and followed the APA referencing rules after direct instruction. The MILU at the
UWI, Mona Campus created opportunities through thesis consultation for postgraduate
students to receive feedback on their thesis drafts in a supportive environment. This
consultation allowed students to see where they were going wrong in terms of referencing as
well as with the layout of the thesis and to take advantage of the assistance provided. The
intervention has built students’ competence in referencing sources correctly and producing
theses that meet the required standards. Thesis consultation is therefore a valuable
supplement to conventional supervision of theses by faculty as well as thesis scrutiny
carried out by librarians as this intervention can have enduring positive effects on the
quality of the theses submitted by postgraduate students at The UWI, Mona Campus and
other universities.
RSR Recommendations
46,1 Thesis consultation is both an involved and time-intensive process for librarians. Offering
such service therefore can be particularly challenging if it requires examining a thesis more
than once. It might become burdensome for librarians who already have a full workload. It is
recommended that libraries wishing to provide this kind of service to their graduate
students create a specialized unit just for this purpose. This unit should be staffed with
26 librarians and support staff whose primary responsibilities concern thesis scrutiny.
With this specialized unit, consultations with librarians can be carried out at each step of
the thesis preparation process. Thesis consultation is most effective if it is ongoing, and not
limited to when students have completed a significant portion of their thesis and need to
fulfill trailing institutional requirements. In this way, students and librarians can develop a
long-term working relationship. Students will be able to send an e-mail query or visit the
unit for advice as they write each section of their thesis. In this, regard, students will not
have to make revision to huge portions of their work at the final stages of their research
which can prove daunting.

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Corresponding author
Karlene Patricia Robinson can be contacted at: karlene.robinson@uwimona.edu.jm

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