The Paradigm Shift in Postgraduate Thesis Writing

Bamidele Johnson Alegbeleye^1* & Prévost Jantchou²

¹St Elizabeth Catholic General Hospital, P.O Box 8, Kumbo-Nso, Northwestern Region, Cameroon
²Gastro-Hepatologie et Nutrition Pediatriques, CHU Sainte-Justine, Universite de Montreal, Montreal (Qc), Canada

Dr. Bamidele Johnson Alegbeleye, St Elizabeth Catholic General Hospital, P.O Box 8, Kumbo-Nso, Northwestern Region, Cameroon.

Keywords: Paradigm Shift; Scientific Revolution; Postgraduate Students; PhD Thesis; Research; Africa

Abstract

Paradigm shift may be defined as a fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline. Paradigm shift is a concept initially propounded by the American physicist and philosopher Thomas Kuhn in 1964. The populist saying is “the only thing that is constant in nature is change.”
Globally, there is obviously a “Paradigm Shift” in thesis writing but several teachers, trainers, mentors and academicians in scientific institutions are unaware of the new order of progress in postgraduate research writing. This article therefore is aimed at informing the readers about this paradigm shift. The role of research writing to our society cannot be overemphasized. The creation of a new approach to research writing especially that of PhD by publication has wide range of benefits yet to be mined by our scientific world. This has far reaching implications to postgraduate students especially in Africa. These Postgraduate students are particularly interested in making significant improvement in their study programs in general. As more African institutions may be considering ‘shifting’ to this format through institutional policy and practice, it becomes imperative to consider whether the format can act as the well - sorted antidote to the ills of high doctoral dropout rates; low and slow doctoral throughput rates; and the academic isolation doctoral candidates may experience. Several hurdles, however, need to be overcome to harness these gains. There is a wake-up call to all: sundry, government, trainers and academicians to collaborate so that we could make this world a better place through scientific discoveries by research with attendant benefits after all.

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).