Dissertation And Thesis: Know The Differences And Similarities!

All undergraduate and master’s students are assigned a thesis and dissertations as their final projects. Students usually get confused and use these terms interchangeably. If you are also one of them, then this article is a must-read for you. Both thesis and dissertation are crucial to the completion of your degree course. Even a small mistake or a misunderstanding can keep you away from achieving your dreams. These are one of the toughest projects which take a long time to complete. Some students spend years to complete their thesis and dissertations. 

Thesis and dissertation have both differences and similarities. A clear understanding of these from dissertation experts will be of great help to you in completing your project successfully. Here are details – 

Difference Between Thesis and Dissertation

Degree – In most of the countries, an argument is given to the scholars pursuing master’s qualification, whereas a dissertation has to be written by scholars pursuing their doctorate. This may differ according to the country or the university’s rules. In some universities, the thesis is optional for undergraduate programs.

On the other hand, it is mandatory to write a dissertation for a doctorate program.

Length – Both documents have different lengths. A thesis is smaller than a dissertation. Some universities require a thesis to be of at least 100 pages while a dissertation is more than that; usually, it is book-length. Although the length may vary according to the programs, the length of a thesis is significantly less than that of a dissertation.

Research – They also differ in the type of research conducted. For writing a thesis, one has to conduct original research and should reflect the student’s ideas and conclusions, whereas a dissertation is based on existing research. A lot of research is required in the dissertation as it has to prove that the student has acquired sufficient knowledge in the field.

Thesis statement – A thesis statement in a thesis explains the way argument is proved in the paper. Whereas in a dissertation, the thesis statement requires a hypothesis. In that, you mark your expectations and define the results you expect.

Duration – Thesis being a shorter work; students usually take a semester to complete their thesis. It takes years to complete a dissertation.

Similarities Between Thesis and Dissertation

Purpose – Both documents are submitted as a part of graduate courses at the end of the session. You have to submit them to get your degree.

Type of work – In both the papers, the student has to select a topic and prepare an extensive paper to show the level of your understanding of the subject.

Basic structure – Thesis and dissertations have similar writing structure and format. You have to follow writing guidelines and formatting rules for each section of the papers.

Proposal – Students have to prepare a thesis as well as a dissertation proposal for their master’s degree to give the reader an idea about what you have done.

Originality – Both of them have to be original pieces of work. You cannot copy other papers as they are copyrighted. You have to be very careful while writing both of them.

Guidance – Both the documents are prepared under expert guidance. There is a dissertation expert or a thesis expert who guide the students throughout the process.

Although these are general similarities and differences between a thesis and a dissertation, the exact requirement may depend upon the guidelines provided by the university.

Summary: When assigned a dissertation project, many students confuse it with thesis. To clear all your confusions, a clear picture of differences and similarities between the two is shown in the above document.

About the author: The author of this document is associated with Assignment Prime as an academic writer. She is a perfect match and also helps students with their assignments and dissertations.