We are delighted to release this open book. It has been co-authored by three scholars from the University of Leeds, the Delft University of Technology and the Open University of Sri Lanka to support doctoral students at the final stages just before they submit their thesis. What you will read in this book is based on the scholars’ experiences relating to doctoral examination and what they have observed and learnt individually and collectively in relation to examination. The book is written in a conversational style to connect directly with those doctoral students reading it and using it as a resource probably during the final stages of their journey. It could be useful for students in a range of disciplines and professional areas as well as their supervisors. Supervisors may wish to use numbered pages 1-34 as a flashcard set in seminars when preparing doctoral students to finalise their thesis in readiness for submission. The flashcard set could also form the basis of a board game and other playful workshop activities to support doctoral students. Check out the licence to identify how you can use, repurpose and build on it. We would like to thank Ody Frank for creating the cover and (recent) doctoral students who kindly reviewed this book and are grateful for their comments and suggestions as well as our colleague Dr John Hammersley from the School of Design at the University of Leeds for his advice on basic design principles. If you would like to get in touch about the project, please contact c.nerantzi @ leeds.ac.uk (without the spaces). Chrissi, Bea, and Shironica