Labeeb reference · every university rule quoted from the university’s own document · Last checked 28 September 2026
Examiner and Supervisor Corrections: How to Build a Response Table, with a Free Template (UAE & GCC Theses, 2026)
For master’s, PhD and DBA candidates with an examiner report after the viva or supervisor comments before submission: what five UAE universities publish about corrections, how to write and defend each response, and a template to copy.
Read this first: the table is how examiners check your corrections
A response table lists every comment, what you did about it and exactly where the change is, so the person approving your corrections can verify each one.
- Use your university’s form if it has one. The columns below fit inside most forms.
- Supervisor comments before submission have no formal category, but the same table works.
- You write every response and every revision. The table records your own academic decisions. No one can guarantee how examiners will judge your corrections.
Minor and major corrections: what UAE universities publish
Labels differ, but the published rules share a pattern. Minor corrections: the thesis meets the standard and needs limited changes, usually checked without another viva. Major corrections (also called revision and resubmission, or adjourned): significant deficiencies, so the thesis is revised and examined again, sometimes with a second oral examination.
We read each university’s own document on 28 September 2026. Deadlines range from days to a year and can change between catalog years. If your university is not listed, check your handbook and confirm the deadline in writing.
| University | Outcomes the document names | Deadline it states | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Khalifa University | Pass; Pass with Minor Corrections; Adjourned & Re-examination (thesis only, or thesis and oral exam); Fail. Where examiners differ, the lowest recommendation stands. | Master’s minor corrections: “normally be completed within one week of the oral defense.” PhD minor corrections: within four weeks of formal notification. Master’s re-examination: the following semester. PhD re-examination: no later than 24 weeks, unless an extension is approved. | KU Graduate Catalog 2026–2027 |
| UAE University (UAEU) | Approve; approve after minor modification verified by the advisor; revision (PhD: major revision) and resubmission; rejection. | Minor modification: submit to the advisor within five working days of being informed. Master’s resubmission: not less than three months. PhD major revision: not less than three months and no longer than one year, then a second and final oral examination. | UAEU procedures and policy (dated 2014 and 2018; ask CGS for the current version) |
| University of Sharjah | Pass with minor changes; No Pass for the thesis, the oral defence, or both. A second No Pass leads to compulsory withdrawal. | Minor changes: “a period not exceeding three months.” Missing it converts the result to No Pass. Revised thesis after No Pass: between three and six months. | UoS master’s regulations and thesis handbook |
| British University in Dubai (BUiD) | Doctoral: A (no corrections), B (minor corrections), C(i) and C(ii) (major corrections, C(ii) with an oral re-examination), D (substantial revisions), E (fail). | B: no more than three months from receiving the list of corrections. C: six months. D: twelve months, with an oral re-examination. | BUiD doctoral assessment regulations |
| American University of Sharjah (AUS) | Pass or Fail (grade P or NP) for the master’s thesis and the PhD dissertation. No minor or major categories are published in the catalog. | No corrections deadline published. A PhD student who passes but does not submit the final approved dissertation that semester stays In Progress and registers one credit hour each semester. Check your handbook and ask your committee. | AUS Graduate Catalog 2025–2026 |
Minor-correction deadlines can be very short, so start the table the day the report arrives. Who signs off also differs: the advisor or supervisor (UAEU, Sharjah), normally the internal examiner (BUiD minor corrections) or designated committee members (Khalifa PhD). Write the table for that person.
The six columns of a response table
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| # | One number per comment. Split a paragraph with three requests into 3a, 3b, 3c. |
| Examiner / section | Who commented (Examiner 1, External examiner, Supervisor) and which chapter. |
| Comment (verbatim) | The exact words from the report, never a paraphrase. |
| Your response | Whether you agree, and in one to three sentences what you did and why. |
| Change made | The concrete change: text added, rewritten or removed; tables, figures or references revised. |
| Location | Page, section and line in the revised version. |
Put a short header above the table: thesis title, your name and student ID, the date of the examiners’ report, and the date and version of the revised thesis.
How to write a good response
- Lead with the decision. Start with “Agreed”, “Agreed in part” or “Respectfully retained”, then explain.
- Say what changed, not that you worked hard. “Added the effect sizes to Tables 4.3 to 4.5” is checkable. “Carefully revised the analysis” is not.
- Match the response to the comment. A typo needs “Corrected” and a location; a methodological question needs reasoning.
- Never claim a change you did not make. The table is checked against the thesis.
How to disagree respectfully, with justification
You may disagree with a comment. You may not ignore one. Every row needs a response, including the rows where you keep your original approach.
- Acknowledge the concern in one sentence, so the examiner sees you understood it.
- Give the academic reason for keeping your approach: your research question, your design, a methodological source, or your ethics approval.
- Offer a partial change where you can: a clarifying sentence, a footnote or a new limitation.
- Agree it with your supervisor first. A disagreement your supervisor has seen is far easier to defend.
Useful wording: “I have retained X because Y [reference]. To address the concern, I have added Z at page N.” Never write “The examiner is mistaken”; comment on the work, not the person.
When two examiners disagree
Do not quietly pick one side. Give each comment its own row, cross-reference them (“see also row 7”), and ask your supervisor or the examination chair how to resolve the conflict before you revise. Record the resolution in both rows, with who agreed it and when.
What examiners check when your corrections come back
- Every comment has a row. They compare your table with their report.
- The change is where you say it is. Wrong page numbers suggest the table was written before the thesis was finished.
- The change answers the comment. A new paragraph beside the point does not address the point.
- Nothing else moved without explanation. If you changed other sections, say so in a final row.
- The whole thesis still agrees with itself. A revised result must also be updated in the abstract, discussion and conclusion.
- References and formatting are complete. New citations appear in the reference list.
Worked example: five illustrative rows
Illustrative only. These comments and responses are invented for a generic survey-based thesis. They are not taken from any real examiner report and do not refer to any real person or university.
| # | Examiner / section | Comment (verbatim) | Your response | Change made | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Examiner 1 / Ch. 2 | “The literature review is largely descriptive and does not synthesise the recent studies.” | Agreed. I reorganised Section 2.3 by theme and now compare findings across studies instead of summarising them one by one. | Section 2.3 rewritten; new summary table of the reviewed studies; closing paragraph states the gap. | pp. 34–41, Section 2.3; Table 2.2 |
| 2 | Examiner 2 / Ch. 3 | “Please justify the sample size.” | Agreed. I added the justification I used when planning recruitment, as recorded in my approved ethics application. | New paragraph giving the method and parameters used to set the target sample. | p. 58, Section 3.5, lines 4–15 |
| 3 | Examiner 1 / Ch. 4 | “Report effect sizes, not only p-values.” | Agreed. Effect sizes are now reported for every test, with a sentence interpreting each. | Effect-size column added to three results tables; interpretation added to the text. | pp. 77–84, Tables 4.3–4.5 |
| 4 | Examiner 2 / Ch. 1 | “Research question 2 seems unsupported and could be removed.” | Respectfully retained, after discussion with my supervisor. The question is part of the approved proposal and is answered by the data in Chapter 4. To address the concern, I narrowed its wording and added a limitation. | Revised wording of RQ2 throughout; new limitation paragraph. | p. 6, Section 1.4; p. 112, Section 5.4 |
| 5 | Examiners 1 and 2 / Ch. 2 | Examiner 1: “Expand the theoretical framework.” Examiner 2: “Chapter 2 is too long.” | These comments pull in opposite directions. I raised them with my supervisor and the internal examiner, who agreed that I expand the framework and shorten the background. | Framework section extended; background section shortened; chapter shorter overall. | pp. 22–30, Sections 2.1–2.2 |
Free template: copy the table or the CSV
Option 1. Select the table below, copy it and paste it into Word or Google Docs, where it pastes as an editable table.
| # | Examiner / section | Comment (verbatim) | Your response | Change made | Location (page / section / line) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 |
Option 2. Paste the lines below into a plain-text file saved as .csv and open it in Excel or Google Sheets. Keep comments containing commas inside double quotes.
#,Examiner / section,Comment (verbatim),Your response,Change made,Location (page / section / line) 1,"Examiner 1 / Ch. 1","","","","" 2,"Examiner 1 / Ch. 2","","","","" 3,"Examiner 2 / Ch. 3","","","",""
Six common mistakes
- Paraphrasing the comment. A softened version looks like answering an easier question.
- Answering “Done”. Without the change and its location, the examiner has to search the thesis for it.
- Using page numbers from the old version. Update every location after the final edit.
- Bundling several requests in one row. Split them, or one of them will be missed.
- Changing text that no one asked about without saying so. List other changes in a final row.
- Leaving the deadline to the end. Some published minor-correction periods are one week or five working days. If you need an extension, ask early and in writing, through the route your handbook names.
How Labeeb can help, and where we stop
You write every response and every revision. Labeeb can help you map the examiners’ comments into a table and plan the order of work, and we can edit the text you have revised for clarity, consistency and referencing. We never write new content for submission, we never answer examiners on your behalf, and we do not guarantee any outcome.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between minor and major corrections?
In the documents we checked, minor corrections mean the thesis meets the standard but needs limited changes, usually approved without another viva. Major corrections mean significant deficiencies: the thesis is revised and examined again, sometimes with a second oral examination. The labels differ by university, so read the wording in your own regulations.
How long do I have to complete my corrections?
It depends on your university and outcome. For minor corrections, Khalifa University says master’s students should normally finish within one week and PhD students within four weeks; UAE University asks for five working days; the University of Sharjah and BUiD (doctoral) allow up to three months. Check your handbook and confirm the date in writing.
Can I disagree with an examiner’s comment?
Yes, if you give an academic reason, but you cannot ignore the comment. Acknowledge the concern, explain why you kept your approach, offer a partial change where possible, and agree the response with your supervisor first.
What should I do if two examiners ask for opposite changes?
Do not choose silently. Put both comments in the table, cross-reference them, and ask your supervisor or the examination chair how to resolve the conflict. Record the agreed resolution, and who agreed it, in both rows.
Can Labeeb write my corrections for me?
No. You write every response and every revision. Labeeb can help you map the comments and edit the text you have revised, but we never write new content for submission and we do not guarantee any outcome.
How to cite this page (APA 7)
Labeeb Writing & Designs. (2026, September 28). Examiner and supervisor corrections: How to build a response table, with a free template (UAE & GCC theses, 2026). https://labeeb.ae/thesis-corrections-response-table/
Sources
Last checked: 28 September 2026. All are the universities’ own public pages and PDFs.
- Khalifa University. Graduate Catalog 2026–2027: Thesis defense and final submission. https://ku-ae.smartcatalogiq.com/en/2026-2027/graduate-catalog/master-s-research-milestones/thesis-defense-and-final-submission/; Dissertation defense: https://ku-ae.smartcatalogiq.com/en/2026-2027/graduate-catalog/phd-research-milestones/dissertation-defense/
- UAE University. Procedures of Policy No. 2: Master’s Programs (GP-02, effective 1 September 2014). https://www.uaeu.ac.ae/en/about/procedures/graduate_programs/pro-gs_02_en.pdf; Policy GP-03: The PhD Programs (effective 12 August 2018): https://www.uaeu.ac.ae/en/about/policies/pdf/graduateprograms/3_the_phd_programs-en.pdf
- University of Sharjah. Executive Regulations for the Master’s Programs (Article 67). https://www.sharjah.ac.ae/-/media/project/uos/sites/uos/graduate-studies/bylaws-and-regulations/master-executive-regulations_2025.pdf; Graduate Students Thesis Handbook (2022–2023): https://www.sharjah.ac.ae/-/media/project/uos/sites/uos/graduate-studies/graduate-studies-documentation/thesis-handbook.pdf
- The British University in Dubai. Assessment regulations of doctoral degrees (5.2.1, sections 4.137–4.141). https://www.buid.ac.ae/wp-content/uploads/2023/policy/5.2.1%20Assessment%20regulations%20of%20doctoral%20degrees.pdf
- American University of Sharjah. Graduate Catalog 2025–2026 (pp. 33–35). https://www.aus.edu/sites/default/files/gr_ctlg_2526_web_1.pdf
Want someone to check your corrections plan against the report? Chat with Labeeb. You write the responses; we help you map the comments and edit what you revise.