Are you on the lookout for a Postgraduate Mentor?
Let us lead you to successful submission of your Thesis and/or Dissertation
Meet us
Prof. Nico Martins
Prof Nico Martins is an Emeritus Professor with more than 30 years of academic experience and holds a PhD in Industrial Psychology. He is registered at the Health Professions Council as a psychologist.
Research Supervision
Prof Martins has already successfully supervised more than 50 master’s and doctoral students. Their research has spanned diverse areas within Industrial Psychology and related fields, using quantitative, qualitative and mixed method research. He also serves as examiner for several South African universities. See the list of some of the interesting themes covered in the dissertations and thesis he has supervised, Postgraduate research
Research Impact
Alongside his academic contributions Prof Martins has collaborated with his wife Dr Ellen Martins in more than 500 consulting projects for organisations. Their work includes conducting organisational surveys on topics such as investigating change management, employee engagement, employee satisfaction, employment equity and diversity, organisational trust, organisation culture and climate.
Research Questionnaires
Prof Martins has developed and validated several questionnaires (assessment instruments), which have been widely applied by his and other students, and organisations in their research. Discover more about these assessment questionnaires, clients and the survey software in use, please visit: ORGDIA
Dr. Ellen Martins
Dr Ellen Martins (also known as Dr Ellen Caroline Martins) holds a PhD in Information Science, specialising in Knowledge Management and Organisational Behaviour Psychology.
Awards and Recognition
- Ellens’ doctoral research was recognised internationally when it was selected as a Highly Commended Award Winner in the 2012 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards, under the Knowledge Management category.
- Her article, “Organisational and behavioural factors that influence knowledge retention”, published in the Journal of Knowledge Management, received a Highly Commended Award at the Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2013.
Research Impact
Ellen’s two most widely read and cited publications, as first author alongside collaborators Prof Fransie Terblanche and Prof Nico Martins, focus on Organisational Behaviour Psychology, particularly Building organisational culture that stimulates creativity and innovation. Combined, these articles have accumulated more than 22 000 reads, with over 2 000 citations.Academic Mentorship
Ellen has guided a number of postgraduate students at the Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, UNISA, in developing their research writing, critical thinking and professional competence.
Prof Martins and Dr Martins have written numerous academic articles, co-authored and reviewed books, and published: Organisational Diagnoses: Tools and applications for practitioners and researchers with Dr Rica Viljoen, which focuses on advice, tools and applications to conduct successful organisational diagnoses.
What is academic research?
Submitting the final thesis or dissertation and passing is the aim of all postgraduate students.
The research problem a student plans to investigate and research is usually an issue in the public domain, which is important to the student and focuses on a specific problem(s) the student wishes to investigate and solve. This research journey can be highly fulfilling and significantly contribute to personal development and future career success.
We can assist in this process.
1
Doctoral research
What significant original contribution to knowledge will you add (new knowledge) in the subject area? The student must demonstrate independence of thinking and writing.
2
Masters research
Will you be able to demonstrate your capability to conduct independent research?
We assist Doctoral and Masters degree candidates to aspire towards:
In-depth topic knowledge
Knowing their topic in real depth and other adjacent relevant subjects.
Identifying knowledge gaps
Knowing what they don’t know.
Developing a critical faculty
Being capable of identifying poor work and distinguishing unwarranted claims.
Research methodology
Being well-versed in research methodology and being able to defend their own choices.
Aquiring research skills
Acquiring the skills of the research techniques chosen and conducting original research.
Achieving your research goals
” The academic candidate must establish an intellectual domain where they hold significant authority. “
Size of the research task
Produce a book of up to 80,000 words (thesis) – lower limit not generally accepted. Thesis ± 450 pages (40 000 -100 000 words), research dissertation ± 120 pages (25 000 – 40 000 words), limited scope 10 000 -15 000 words ± 80 pages.
Have referenced 200 to 300 hundred sources of authority.
Have obtained data from a suitable sample of an appropriate size.
Have learnt to use appropriate software if necessary.
Have understood the wide range of issues involved with the concepts of validity, reliability and generalisability and others.
Areas where we can assist you
Research application
Review of your initial research application (outline) to apply for admission
Research proposal
Review of your research proposal and research methodology
Literature review
Sourcing questionnaires
Ethical clearance
Online surveys
Data & Statistics
Data analysis and statistical analysis assistance
Empirical chapter review
Review of final dissertation/thesis
Language editing
Dissertation/thesis technical editing
Formatting (technical editing) of the thesis/dissertation
Review of final dissertation/thesis
Final review before submission using an
academic checklist
The core of our support and assistance is to guide students in the above phases by enhancing their knowledge and development as reputable researchers, enabling them to obtain a postgraduate degree/qualification of which they can be proud.
Our ethical approach
Your responsiblity
Our responsibility
"A master's or doctoral degree places significant demands on those who pursue it, and as such, requires a commitment rooted in serious intent."
Support services
We can peer-edit with you on a live call (zoom, teams or in person), then help you implement these edits, not making the changes for you, but empowering you, the student, to make the necessary changes.
When is a dissertation or thesis ready for submission?
- When it has been acknowledged as having achieved its objectives
- Acknowledged by Supervisor, Peers, Other members of the Academic Community and most of all by examiners
We utilise professional assistance from a language editor, a statistician and technical assistance in a team approach to assist students.
Statistical assistance
We work closely with a panel of statisticians on all student research projects. The students are assisted in their discussions with the statistician
and are advised on the best statistical solution to obtain their research objectives. We have found that this collaborative approach yields well-written
and well-interpreted empirical research.
Technical assistance
Academic writing differs from business writing; therefore, students often require the assistance of a professional academic editor. The technical presentation and layout of the document, including fonts, spacing, visual layout, tables, and figures, need to be done professionally and correctly according to APA or Harvard guidelines. When examiners review and find technical issues, they get irritated and might be inclined to start penalising students unnecessarily. Our technical experts can help you avoid these pitfalls.
We can help you with your academic journey. As mentioned, we are a team of experts in various fields who can help you.
