Guide · Institutions and Decisions
What ethical thesis coaching includes, and what the student must do
Good thesis coaching makes the student a better researcher. It never produces work the student then submits as their own.
Practice 11: Research supervision, academic coaching & publication support
The short answer
Ethical coaching explains methods, asks questions, gives feedback on drafts and teaches students to plan, analyse and revise their own work. It never writes any part of assessed work, creates or alters data, or invents sources. The student writes, analyses and decides, and declares the help they received as their institution requires.
What a coach does
- Explains methods and statistics until the student can apply them.
- Asks the questions an examiner will ask.
- Gives feedback as comments and questions, not replacement text.
- Helps plan the work and the timeline.
- Edits for language, structure and referencing only within the limits the institution permits, with tracked changes the student accepts or rejects.
What the student must do
Choose and justify the question, design the study, collect and analyse the data, write every section and check every source. The thinking has to be theirs, because the degree certifies it.
Declaring assistance
Help should be visible. A short declaration names the support received, for example coaching sessions on structure, feedback on drafts or language editing, and confirms that no part of the text was written for the student. The research proposal checklist includes a template.
A worked example
The checklist’s worked example is a master’s proposal missing five sections, including ethics, limitations and a timeline, at 2,650 words against a 3,000-word limit. It lists what is missing and gives a question for each section, for the student to answer in their own words.
The institution decides
Institutions differ on what help is allowed, especially on editing and the use of AI tools. Their rules always take precedence. Our approach is set out in full under academic integrity.
What this guide does not cover
This describes how GKM coaches. Your institution’s rules on assistance, editing and AI use take precedence over it.
Responsible for this guide
Examples in this guide are illustrative, not client results. Figures come from the free tool’s worked example; change the inputs in the tool to see your own.
Related services
The same method, delivered with you: scoped in writing, with a named principal and a fee agreed before any work begins.
Thesis and dissertation coaching
Coaching for master’s, doctoral and executive-programme researchers, from topic to viva. You write every word; we help you think, plan and improve, and our assistance is declared.
See the serviceServiceAcademic editing, formatting and referencing
Editing for language, structure, style, formatting and referencing, within the limits your institution permits. We never add to or change your ideas, arguments or findings.
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