partial?

[guoguohu]

"...thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of PhD..."

What does 'partial' mean exactly? Should it be 'inpartial' rather than 'partial', considering it is a PhD thesis?

Thanks.

 

[Barb_D]

Submitting the thesis is only on part of the requirements. It was only partially fulfilling the requirements.

 

[Academic Writing]

I agree with Barb, and I'm 100% sure that it should not be "inpartial." I doubt it would be anything else either. I edit theses and dissertations very frequently and have only seen this phrase (mostly in dissertations in the US, but I have also seen this in dissertations in other countries).

To add context, the issue does not have to do with the level of the thesis (master's or PHD). The two other main requirements are completing a set of courses and presenting an oral argument for the thesis, which is called an "oral defense" in the US. Hope that helps!

 

[BobK]

"...thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of PhD..."

What does 'partial' mean exactly? Should it be 'inpartial' rather than 'partial', considering it is a PhD thesis?

Thanks.

As others have said, it's partial rather than complete fulfillment. And it's not 'partial' in the sense of 'biased'; and in any case the opposite of that sort of 'partial' is 'iMpartial' not 'inpartial'. ;-)

b