- How Long Is a PhD Thesis?
- Doing a PhD
It’s no secret that one of the most challenging aspects of a PhD degree is the volume of work that goes into writing your thesis . So this raises the question, exactly how long is a thesis?
Unfortunately, there’s no one size fits all answer to this question. However, from the analysis of over 100 PhD theses, the average thesis length is between 80,000 and 100,000 words. A further analysis of 1000 PhD thesis shows the average number of pages to be 204 . In reality, the actual word count for each PhD thesis will depend on the specific subject and the university it is being hosted by. This is because universities set their own word length requirements, with most found to be opting for around 100,000.
To find out more about how these word limits differ between universities, how the average word count from STEM thesis differ from non-STEM thesis and a more detailed breakdown from the analysis of over 1000 PhDs, carry on reading the below.
Word Count Differences Between Universities
For any PhD student writing a thesis, they will find that their document will be subject to a word limit set by their university. In nearly all cases, the limit only concerns the maximum number of words and doesn’t place any restrictions on the minimum word limit. The reason for this is that the student will be expected to write their thesis with the aim of clearly explaining their research, and so it is up to the student to determine what he deems appropriate.
Saying this, it is well accepted amongst PhD students and supervisors that the absence of a lower limit doesn’t suggest that a thesis can be ‘light’. Your thesis will focus on several years worth of original research and explore new ideas, theories or concepts. Besides this, your thesis will need to cover a wide range of topics such as your literature review, research methodology, results and conclusion. Therefore, your examiners will expect the length of your thesis to be proportional to convey all this information to a sufficient level.
Selecting a handful of universities at random, they state the following thesis word limits on their website:
- University of Edinburgh: 100,000
- University of Exeter: 100,000
- University of Leister: 80,000
- University of Bath: 80,000
- University of Warwick: 70,000
The above universities set upper word limits that apply across the board, however, some universities, such as the University of Birmingham and the University of Sheffield, set different word limits for different departments. For example, the University of Sheffield adopts these limits:
- Arts & Humanities: 75,000
- Medicine, Dentistry & Health: 75,000
- Science: 80,000
- Social Sciences: 75,000-100,000
Although there’s a range of limit, it’s safe to say that the majority fall within the 80,000 to 100,000 bracket.
Word Count Based on Data from past Theses
A poll of 149 postdocs.
In mid-2019, Dr Eva Lantsoght, a published author, academic blogger and Structural Engineering Professor, conducted a poll which asked postgraduate doctoral students to share the length of their final thesis. 149 PostDoc students responded to the survey, with the majority reporting a length falling within the ‘80,000 – 120,000 words’ bracket as seen below.
Analysis of 1000 PhD Theses
Over a three-year time period, Dr Ian Brailsford, a then Postgraduate Learning Adviser at the University of Auckland, analysed 1000 doctoral thesis submitted to his university’s library. The PhD theses which formed the basis of his analysis were produced between 2008 to 2017 and showed:
- Average number of pages = 204
- Median number of pages = 198
- Average number of chapters = 7.6
We should note that the above metrics only cover the content falling within the main body of the thesis. This includes the introduction, literature review, methods section, results chapter, discussions and conclusions. All other sections, such as the title page, abstract, table of contents, acknowledgements, bibliography and appendices were omitted from the count.
Although it’s impossible to draw the exact word count from the number of pages alone, by using the universities recommended format of 12pt Times New Roman and 1.5 lines spacing, and assuming 10% of the main body are figures and footnotes, this equates to an average main body of 52,000 words.
STEM vs Non-STEM
As part of Dr Ian Brailsford’s analysis, he also compared the length of STEM doctorate theses to non-STEM theses. He found that STEM theses tended to be shorter. In fact, he found STEM theses to have a medium page length of 159 whilst non-STEM theses had a medium of around 223 pages. This is a 40% increase in average length!
Can You Exceed the Word Count?
Whilst most universities will allow you to go over the word count if you need to, it comes with the caveat that you must have a very strong reason for needing to do so. Besides this, your supervisor will also need to support your request. This is to acknowledge that they have reviewed your situation and agree that exceeding the word limit will be absolutely necessary to avoid detriment unnecessary detriment to your work.
This means that whilst it is possible to submit a thesis over 100,000 words or more, it’s unlikely that your research project will need to.
How Does This Compare to a Masters Dissertation?
The average Masters dissertation length is approximately 20,000 words whilst a thesis is 4 to 5 times this length at approximately 80,000 – 100,000.
The key reason for this difference is because of the level of knowledge they convey. A Master’s dissertation focuses on concluding from existing knowledge whilst a PhD thesis focuses on drawing a conclusion from new knowledge. As a result, the thesis is significantly longer as the new knowledge needs to be well documented so it can be verified, disseminated and used to shape future research.
Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.
Related Reading
Unfortunately, the completion of your thesis doesn’t mark the end of your degree just yet. Once you submit your thesis, it’s time to start preparing for your viva – the all-to-fun thesis defence interview! To help you prepare for this, we’ve produced a helpful guide which you can read here: The Complete Guide to PhD Vivas.
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Author guidelines.
Before submitting a paper
- Review the research you’ve already completed as part of your course at NTU to identity a suitable research article.
- Discuss and agree with your NTU dissertation / project supervisor whether it can be adapted for publication and whether the journal is the right home for your work. Approval must be granted from your supervisor prior to submitting a manuscript to the Journal of Undergraduate Research at NTU (this will be checked at submission)’.
- Read and follow the author guidelines provided.
Developing your paper
1. Word count: The word length will vary depending on the discipline, but on average, will be between 4,000 to 8,000 words – See Appendix A for discipline specific requirements. The abstract should be a maximum of 300 words.
2. Article types: Choose the type of article you wish to submit. Article types will vary depending on the discipline, but can include:
- Original research
- Review articles
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- Literary Translations
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3. Readability:
- Make each sentence is clear and concise
- Minimize the use of jargon
- Define all acronyms.
- Language : All manuscripts must be submitted in English (British). Modern Languages articles may be submitted in another language and accompanied by an English translation.
- Article template: You should submit your article using the Article template provided by the journal. The template has set margins, line spacing, font style and size. Please do not change these.
- Referencing : Unless otherwise indicated, please use the University Harvard referencing system (see RefWorks or the university handbook for details). In some instances there may be some subject discipline referencing requirements. Please see Appendix A.
- Numbering conventions : The numbering convention may vary depending on the discipline, so please read the discipline specific guidance in Appendix A.
- Ensure all tables and figures are referred to in the text and consecutively numbered
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- Table footnotes should, if required, provide more detail relating to the interpretation of data presented in the table (see subject specific examples below for details to be included in footnotes)
- Tables should be submitted within the text and as separate files.
- Images : Images should be submitted within the text and as separate files. Images should be referred to in the text and consecutively numbered.
5. Acknowledgements: Any acknowledgments should be included after the discussion. Any funding that enabled the research to be conducted must be included in the acknowledgments. Ensure these are written in a professional manner – see subject specific journals below for ideas of how to do this.
6. Ethical approval: NTU ethical approval must have been given for any original research. A statement of ethics must be provided at the end of the manuscript (after discussion). E.g. 'this project was granted ethical approval from xxx'.
7. Conflict of interest: All authors must disclose any potential conflict of interest. Any interest or relationship, financial or otherwise, that might be perceived as influencing an author's objectivity is considered a potential source of conflict of interest. Any conflicts of interest must be stated in the manuscript, after the discussion. If there are no conflicts of interest this must be stated in the manuscript.
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- Which area / section of the journal you wish your manuscript to be submitted - See Appendix B for a list of submission areas
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- The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
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2.8 A candidate is free to publish material in advance of the thesis, but reference should be made in the thesis to any such work. 2.9 The text of the thesis should normally not exceed the following length (excluding abstract, table of contents, acknowledgements, references, attached outputs and appendices): a. PhD: 80,000 words; b.
- PhD Thesis should not exceed 80,000 words - The number of words includes footnote, but excludes appendices, bibliography, maps, charts, statistical tables, graphs, illustrations, etc. 6.3 Student is required to write an abstract of 150 words for the thesis. 6.4 Students should submit the thesis within the maximum candidature of study.
Download: Thesis Declaration Statements (v4.0, updated 25 Jun 2021) Note 1: Students and supervisors are advised to sign on the NTU watermark feature. This is to minimise the possibility of misuse of anyone's signature. Note 2 : Certain Schools may have adapted the templates for specific disciplines. Students are advised to check with their ...
PhD Thesis Examination: Pre-Submission Check by PhD Student and Supervisor . ... that the thesis is in compliance with NTU's Research Integrity Policy. It has been cleared from ... The word count of the thesis submitted must fall within +/- 10% of the prescribed word limit. This means between 76, 500 to 93, 500 words for theses submitted in ...
A PhD thesis should not exceed 70,000 words for those on the Science specialization, for those in other specializations, the thesis should not exceed 100,000 words (including footnotes, but excluding appendices, references, maps, charts, statistical tables, graphs, illustrations, etc). ... Nanyang Technological University 50 Nanyang Avenue ...
Length. There is no prescribed length to the Dissertation; however, a good guide would be around 60 to 100 pages in length around 10,000 words to 15,000 words, excluding charts, diagrams, appendices, tables, references etc. You must use your own words and are not allowed to copy directly from books, technical reports, etc.
Investigation and application of nonlinear ultrasonic guided wave in closed and open waveguides. Doctoral thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Type Thesis. Degree. 2927 Doctor of Philosophy. 1169 Master of Engineering. 1014 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (EEE)
Unfortunately, there's no one size fits all answer to this question. However, from the analysis of over 100 PhD theses, the average thesis length is between 80,000 and 100,000 words. A further analysis of 1000 PhD thesis shows the average number of pages to be 204. In reality, the actual word count for each PhD thesis will depend on the ...
Master of Arts. Degree name E.g. Doctor of Philosophy. For candidates admitted before. academic year 2005, it should be 20 X (Year of Submission of Final Thesis) "in fulfilment". For candidates admitted after academic year 2005, it should be "in partial fulfilment" instead.
3.1 Graduate Students. ¶. 🔗. This section provides some tips for incoming graduate students - from thesis writing, useful tools, guide to responding to examiners, etc. 🔗. If you are feeling lost about research, or doing research for the first time, heres a short note that may help Tips to new research students.
The 2024 Nottingham Trent University PhD Studentship Scheme closes on 12 January 2024 at 12 noon (GMT) for entry in October 2024 or January 2025. The NTU Doctoral School will treat your online form as an application for a place to study for a PhD research degree at Nottingham Trent University, as well as a funding application for the 2024 ...
NTU Thesis. Approved by publishing and review experts on SciSpace, this template is built as per for NTU Thesis formatting guidelines as mentioned in Nanyang Technological University author instructions. The current version was created on and has been used by 697 authors to write and format their manuscripts to this journal.
the document-based DBA (Route A), the final thesis will be a single document in the range of 50-60,000 words. For the paper-based DBA (Route B), the final thesis will take the form of two academic papers, with a wrap-around narrative that will comprise of an introductory chapter, a methodology chapter, conclusions and supporting data/evidence in
the thesis should indicate clearly the candidate's individual contribution and the extent of the collaboration. 2.8 A candidate is free to publish material in advance of the thesis but reference should be made in the thesis to any such work. 2.9 The text of the thesis should normally not exceed the following length: a. PhD: 80,000 words; b.
Not everybody has to do a dissertation or research project at undergraduate level, but a Masters degree usually has some sort of extended individual project. If you have done a project like this before, there are some differences from undergraduate level, not least a longer word count (between 12,000 and 20,000 words).
A high-accuracy and energy-efficient spiking neural network with On-FPGA STDP learning based on asynchronous CORDIC. Sheng, Shirui. 2024. mmWave 5G and SOTM system test automation and over the air testing (OTA) Roy, Sanjucta. 2024. Peer-to-peer transactive energy trading enabled decentralized energy management of a hybrid building cluster.
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The resources in this section will help you to plan and structure your writing to help articulate your thinking and improve your communication skills whilst at university. For more information about academic writing please see the following guides: Key resources for academic writing. Argumentation in academic writing. Using English for Academic ...
The MS and PhD thesis should not normally be longer than 30,000 words and 40,000 words or more than 150 and 200 pages respectively, when bound with its appendices and references. If there are sound academic grounds and the request is made sufficiently early, then permission for submission of a longer thesis may be granted by the authority. 3.
1. Word count: The word length will vary depending on the discipline, but on average, will be between 4,000 to 8,000 words - See Appendix A for discipline specific requirements. The abstract should be a maximum of 300 words. 2. Article types: Choose the type of article you wish to submit.
Length. There is no prescribed length to the Dissertation; however, a good guide would be around 60 to 100 pages in length around 10,000 words to 15,000 words, excluding charts, diagrams, appendices, tables, references etc. You must use your own words and are not allowed to copy directly from books, technical reports, etc.
Contact the Doctoral School. Email [email protected] or chat online with the Doctoral School Administration Manager if you have any questions about doctoral study at NTU. The Nottingham Trent University Doctoral School is a postgraduate researcher's home, offering support and guidance throughout your doctoral degree.
Ideally each chapter should be around 8,000 - 10,000 words. Though, it is not unusual to have chapters with 15,000. Longer chapters are harder to structure. If your chapter is longer than that try breaking it into two diffrent chapters. I havemnt heard of a minimum length, in physics and mathematics thesis could have 20,000 - 30,000 words and ...