Candidates are expected to display doctorateness in theses via characteristics of high quality research. This is acknowledged when specific critical research features are presented through a mutually interdependent system of parts which display practical relationships within the thesis. When this occurs, researchers and supervisors therefore ensure that theses convey synergy and scholarship. Research involves a series of linked activities (Bouma, 1993). Researchers need to make this explicit by explaining interconnectedness within the research process. Koch (2004) advocates using audit trails creatively to shape the text through signposts for readers. Together, these views advocate having an explicit framework for the research that combines methodological and relational factors (Parahoo, 2006:411). This presentation will illustrate how a strategic model that views research as a system of interconnected parts can be used by supervisors and candidates as an audit instrument. The model’s criteria are the generic summative measures used by examiners to assess the scholarly merit of doctoral theses. Evidence shows how the model enables candidates and supervisors to plan integrated and coherent research and thus provide confidence of methodological rigour by displaying doctorateness (Trafford and Leshem, 2008).