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How Long is a Thesis or Dissertation: College, Grad or PhD

How long is a thesis

As a graduate student, you may have heard that you must complete a certain comprehensive project, either a thesis or a dissertation. In this guide, we will explore how long a thesis should be, the best length for a dissertation, and the optimal length for each part of the two.

If you read on to the end, we will also explore their differences to understand how it informs each length.

Both terms have distinct meanings, although they are sometimes used interchangeably and frequently confused.

Structure-wise, both papers have an introduction, a literature review, a body, a conclusion, a bibliography, and an appendix. That aside, both papers have some differences, as we shall see later on in this article.

How Long Should a Thesis be

Before discussing how long a thesis is, it’s critical to understand what it is. A thesis is a paper that marks the end of a study program.

Mostly, there is the undergraduate thesis, a project that marks the end of a bachelor’s degree, and a master’s thesis that marks the end of a master’s program.

A thesis should be around 50 pages long for a bachelor’s degree and 60-100 pages for a Master’s degree. However, the optimal length of a thesis project depends on the faculty’s instructions and the supervising professor’s expectations . The length also depends on the topic’s technicalities and the extent of research done.

A master’s thesis project is longer because it is a compilation of all your knowledge obtained in your master’s degree.

It basically allows you to demonstrate your abilities in your chosen field.

Often, graduate schools require students pursuing research-oriented degrees to write a thesis.

This is to demonstrate their practical skills before completing their degrees.

In contrast to undergraduate thesis, which are shorter in length and coverage area, usually less than 60 pages. A master’s theses are lengthy scholarly work allowing you to research a topic deeply.

Then you are required to write, expand the topic, and demonstrate what you have learned throughout the program. This is part of why you must write a thesis for some undergrad in some of the courses.

A Master’s thesis necessitates a large amount of research, which may include conducting interviews, surveys, and gathering information ( both primary and secondary) depending on the subject and field of study.

For this reason, the master’s thesis has between 60 and 100 pages, without including the bibliography. Mostly, the topic and research approach determine the length of the paper.

This means that there is no definite number of pages required. However, your thesis should be long enough to clearly and concisely present all important information.

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How long should a dissertation be.

A dissertation is a complex, in-depth research paper usually written by Ph.D. students. When writing the dissertation, Ph.D. Students are required to create their research, formulate a hypothesis, and conduct the study.

On average, a dissertation should be at least 90 pages at the minimum and 200 pages at the maximum , depending on the guidelines of the faculty and the professor. The optimal length for a dissertation also depends on the depth of the research done, the components of the file, and the level of study.

Most Ph.D. dissertations papers are between 120 to 200 pages on average.

However, as we said earlier, it all depends on factors like the field of study, and methods of data collection, among others.

Unlike a master’s thesis, which is about 100 pages, a dissertation is at least twice this length.

This is because you must develop a completely new concept, study it, research it, and defend it.

In your Ph.D. program, a dissertation allows you the opportunity to bring new knowledge, theories, or practices to your field of study.

The Lengths of Each Part of a Thesis and Dissertation

Factors determining the length of thesis or dissertation.

As we have seen, there is no definite length of a thesis and dissertation. Most of these two important academic documents average 100 to 400 pages. However, several factors determine their length.

Universities- we all know universities are independent bodies. Also, it’s important to know that each university is different from the other. As a result, the thesis and dissertation length varies depending on the set rules in a certain college or school.

Field of study- some fields of study have rich information, while others have limited information.

For example, you may have much to write about or discover when it comes to science compared to history.

As such, if you are to write a thesis or a dissertation in both fields, one will definitely be longer than the other. Check the time it takes to write a thesis or a dissertation to get more points.

Other factors that affect the length of a thesis or a dissertation include your writing style and the instructor’s specifications. These factors also come into play when it comes to the time taken to defend a thesis or your dissertation.

Tips for the Optimal Length for a Thesis or Dissertation

Instead of writing for length, write for brevity. The goal is to write the smallest feasible document with all of the material needed to describe the study and back up the interpretation. Ensure to avoid irrelevant tangents and excessive repetitions at all costs.

The only repetition required is the main theme. The working hypothesis seeks to be elaborated and proved in your paper.

The theme is developed in the introduction, expanded in the body, and mentioned in the abstract and conclusion.

Here are some tips for writing the right length of thesis and dissertation:

• Remove any interpretation portion which is only tangentially linked to your new findings. 
• Use tables to keep track of information that is repeated.
• Include enough background information for the reader to understand the point of view.
• Make good use of figure captions.
• Let the table stand on its own. I.e., do not describe the contents of the figures and/or tables one by one in the text. Instead, highlight the most important patterns, objects, or trends in the figures and tables in the text.
• Leave out any observations or results in the text that you haven’t provided data.
• Do not include conclusions that aren’t backed up by your findings.
• Remove all inconclusive interpretation and discussion portions. 
• Avoid unnecessary adjectives, prepositional phrases, and adverbs.
• Make your sentences shorter – avoid nesting clauses or phrases.
• Avoid idioms and instead use words whose meaning can be looked up in a dictionary.

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Difference between a Thesis and a Dissertation

The most basic distinction between a thesis and a dissertation is when they are written.

While a thesis is a project completed after a master’s program, a dissertation is completed at the end of doctorate studies.

In a thesis, you present the results of your research to demonstrate that you have a thorough understanding of what you have studied during your master’s program.

On the other hand,  a dissertation is your chance to add new knowledge, theories, or practices to your field while pursuing a doctorate. The goal here is to come up with a completely new concept, develop it, and defend it.

A master’s thesis is similar to the types of research papers you’re used to writing in your bachelor’s studies. It involves conducting research on a topic, analyzing it, and then commenting on your findings and how it applies to your research topic.

The thesis aims to demonstrate your capacity to think critically about and explain a topic in depth.

Furthermore, with a thesis, you typically use this time to elaborate on a topic that is most relevant to your professional area of specialization that you intend to pursue.

In a dissertation, on the other hand, you use other people’s research as an inspiration to help you come up with and prove your own hypothesis, idea, or concept. The majority of the data in a dissertation is credited to you.

Last but not least, these two major works differ greatly in length. The average length of a master’s thesis is at least 100 pages.

On the other hand, a doctoral dissertation should be substantially longer because it includes a lot of history and research information, as well as every element of your research, while explaining how you arrived at the information.

It is a complex piece of scholarly work, and it is likely to be twice or thrice the length of a thesis. To know the difference, check the best length for a thesis paper and see more about it.

Here is a Recap of the Differences

• While the thesis is completed at the end of your master’s degree program, a dissertation is written at the end of your doctoral degree program.
• Both documents also vary in length. A thesis should have at least 100 pages, while a doctoral dissertation is longer (over 200 pages)
• In the thesis, you conduct original research; in the dissertation, you use existing research to help you develop your discovery.
• For a thesis, you have to add analysis to the existing work, while a dissertation is part of the analysis of the existing work.
• In comparison to a thesis, a dissertation requires a more thorough study to expand your research in a certain topic.
• The statements in a thesis and a dissertation are distinct. While a thesis statement explains to readers how you will prove an argument in your research, a dissertation hypothesis defines and clarifies the outcomes you expect from your study. Here, you apply a theory to explore a certain topic.
• A dissertation allows you to contribute new knowledge to your field of study, while a thesis makes sure you understand what you have studied in your program and how it applies.

A thesis or a dissertation is a difficult document to compile. However, you should not be worried since your school assigns you a dissertation advisor who is a faculty member.

These advisors or supervisors help you find resources and ensure that your proposal is on the right track when you get stuck.

Check out my guide on the differences between a research paper, proposal, and thesis to understand more about these issues.

Josh Jasen or JJ as we fondly call him, is a senior academic editor at Grade Bees in charge of the writing department. When not managing complex essays and academic writing tasks, Josh is busy advising students on how to pass assignments. In his spare time, he loves playing football or walking with his dog around the park.

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What is a thesis | A Complete Guide with Examples

Table of Contents

A thesis is a comprehensive academic paper based on your original research that presents new findings, arguments, and ideas of your study. It’s typically submitted at the end of your master’s degree or as a capstone of your bachelor’s degree.

However, writing a thesis can be laborious, especially for beginners. From the initial challenge of pinpointing a compelling research topic to organizing and presenting findings, the process is filled with potential pitfalls.

Therefore, to help you, this guide talks about what is a thesis. Additionally, it offers revelations and methodologies to transform it from an overwhelming task to a manageable and rewarding academic milestone.

What is a thesis?

A thesis is an in-depth research study that identifies a particular topic of inquiry and presents a clear argument or perspective about that topic using evidence and logic.

Writing a thesis showcases your ability of critical thinking, gathering evidence, and making a compelling argument. Integral to these competencies is thorough research, which not only fortifies your propositions but also confers credibility to your entire study.

Furthermore, there's another phenomenon you might often confuse with the thesis: the ' working thesis .' However, they aren't similar and shouldn't be used interchangeably.

A working thesis, often referred to as a preliminary or tentative thesis, is an initial version of your thesis statement. It serves as a draft or a starting point that guides your research in its early stages.

As you research more and gather more evidence, your initial thesis (aka working thesis) might change. It's like a starting point that can be adjusted as you learn more. It's normal for your main topic to change a few times before you finalize it.

While a thesis identifies and provides an overarching argument, the key to clearly communicating the central point of that argument lies in writing a strong thesis statement.

What is a thesis statement?

A strong thesis statement (aka thesis sentence) is a concise summary of the main argument or claim of the paper. It serves as a critical anchor in any academic work, succinctly encapsulating the primary argument or main idea of the entire paper.

Typically found within the introductory section, a strong thesis statement acts as a roadmap of your thesis, directing readers through your arguments and findings. By delineating the core focus of your investigation, it offers readers an immediate understanding of the context and the gravity of your study.

Furthermore, an effectively crafted thesis statement can set forth the boundaries of your research, helping readers anticipate the specific areas of inquiry you are addressing.

Different types of thesis statements

A good thesis statement is clear, specific, and arguable. Therefore, it is necessary for you to choose the right type of thesis statement for your academic papers.

Thesis statements can be classified based on their purpose and structure. Here are the primary types of thesis statements:

Argumentative (or Persuasive) thesis statement

Purpose : To convince the reader of a particular stance or point of view by presenting evidence and formulating a compelling argument.

Example : Reducing plastic use in daily life is essential for environmental health.

Analytical thesis statement

Purpose : To break down an idea or issue into its components and evaluate it.

Example : By examining the long-term effects, social implications, and economic impact of climate change, it becomes evident that immediate global action is necessary.

Expository (or Descriptive) thesis statement

Purpose : To explain a topic or subject to the reader.

Example : The Great Depression, spanning the 1930s, was a severe worldwide economic downturn triggered by a stock market crash, bank failures, and reduced consumer spending.

Cause and effect thesis statement

Purpose : To demonstrate a cause and its resulting effect.

Example : Overuse of smartphones can lead to impaired sleep patterns, reduced face-to-face social interactions, and increased levels of anxiety.

Compare and contrast thesis statement

Purpose : To highlight similarities and differences between two subjects.

Example : "While both novels '1984' and 'Brave New World' delve into dystopian futures, they differ in their portrayal of individual freedom, societal control, and the role of technology."

When you write a thesis statement , it's important to ensure clarity and precision, so the reader immediately understands the central focus of your work.

What is the difference between a thesis and a thesis statement?

While both terms are frequently used interchangeably, they have distinct meanings.

A thesis refers to the entire research document, encompassing all its chapters and sections. In contrast, a thesis statement is a brief assertion that encapsulates the central argument of the research.

Here’s an in-depth differentiation table of a thesis and a thesis statement.

Now, to craft a compelling thesis, it's crucial to adhere to a specific structure. Let’s break down these essential components that make up a thesis structure

15 components of a thesis structure

Navigating a thesis can be daunting. However, understanding its structure can make the process more manageable.

Here are the key components or different sections of a thesis structure:

Your thesis begins with the title page. It's not just a formality but the gateway to your research.

Here, you'll prominently display the necessary information about you (the author) and your institutional details.

• Title of your thesis
• Your full name
• Your department
• Your institution and degree program
• Your submission date
• Your Supervisor's name (in some cases)
• Your Department or faculty (in some cases)
• Your University's logo (in some cases)
• Your Student ID (in some cases)

In a concise manner, you'll have to summarize the critical aspects of your research in typically no more than 200-300 words.

This includes the problem statement, methodology, key findings, and conclusions. For many, the abstract will determine if they delve deeper into your work, so ensure it's clear and compelling.

Acknowledgments

Research is rarely a solitary endeavor. In the acknowledgments section, you have the chance to express gratitude to those who've supported your journey.

This might include advisors, peers, institutions, or even personal sources of inspiration and support. It's a personal touch, reflecting the humanity behind the academic rigor.

Table of contents

A roadmap for your readers, the table of contents lists the chapters, sections, and subsections of your thesis.

By providing page numbers, you allow readers to navigate your work easily, jumping to sections that pique their interest.

List of figures and tables

Research often involves data, and presenting this data visually can enhance understanding. This section provides an organized listing of all figures and tables in your thesis.

It's a visual index, ensuring that readers can quickly locate and reference your graphical data.

Introduction

Here's where you introduce your research topic, articulate the research question or objective, and outline the significance of your study.

• Present the research topic : Clearly articulate the central theme or subject of your research.
• Background information : Ground your research topic, providing any necessary context or background information your readers might need to understand the significance of your study.
• Define the scope : Clearly delineate the boundaries of your research, indicating what will and won't be covered.
• Literature review : Introduce any relevant existing research on your topic, situating your work within the broader academic conversation and highlighting where your research fits in.
• State the research Question(s) or objective(s) : Clearly articulate the primary questions or objectives your research aims to address.
• Outline the study's structure : Give a brief overview of how the subsequent sections of your work will unfold, guiding your readers through the journey ahead.

The introduction should captivate your readers, making them eager to delve deeper into your research journey.

Literature review section

Your study correlates with existing research. Therefore, in the literature review section, you'll engage in a dialogue with existing knowledge, highlighting relevant studies, theories, and findings.

It's here that you identify gaps in the current knowledge, positioning your research as a bridge to new insights.

To streamline this process, consider leveraging AI tools. For example, the SciSpace literature review tool enables you to efficiently explore and delve into research papers, simplifying your literature review journey.

Methodology

In the research methodology section, you’ll detail the tools, techniques, and processes you employed to gather and analyze data. This section will inform the readers about how you approached your research questions and ensures the reproducibility of your study.

Here's a breakdown of what it should encompass:

• Research Design : Describe the overall structure and approach of your research. Are you conducting a qualitative study with in-depth interviews? Or is it a quantitative study using statistical analysis? Perhaps it's a mixed-methods approach?
• Data Collection : Detail the methods you used to gather data. This could include surveys, experiments, observations, interviews, archival research, etc. Mention where you sourced your data, the duration of data collection, and any tools or instruments used.
• Sampling : If applicable, explain how you selected participants or data sources for your study. Discuss the size of your sample and the rationale behind choosing it.
• Data Analysis : Describe the techniques and tools you used to process and analyze the data. This could range from statistical tests in quantitative research to thematic analysis in qualitative research.
• Validity and Reliability : Address the steps you took to ensure the validity and reliability of your findings to ensure that your results are both accurate and consistent.
• Ethical Considerations : Highlight any ethical issues related to your research and the measures you took to address them, including — informed consent, confidentiality, and data storage and protection measures.

Moreover, different research questions necessitate different types of methodologies. For instance:

• Experimental methodology : Often used in sciences, this involves a controlled experiment to discern causality.
• Qualitative methodology : Employed when exploring patterns or phenomena without numerical data. Methods can include interviews, focus groups, or content analysis.
• Quantitative methodology : Concerned with measurable data and often involves statistical analysis. Surveys and structured observations are common tools here.
• Mixed methods : As the name implies, this combines both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.

The Methodology section isn’t just about detailing the methods but also justifying why they were chosen. The appropriateness of the methods in addressing your research question can significantly impact the credibility of your findings.

Results (or Findings)

This section presents the outcomes of your research. It's crucial to note that the nature of your results may vary; they could be quantitative, qualitative, or a mix of both.

Quantitative results often present statistical data, showcasing measurable outcomes, and they benefit from tables, graphs, and figures to depict these data points.

Qualitative results , on the other hand, might delve into patterns, themes, or narratives derived from non-numerical data, such as interviews or observations.

Regardless of the nature of your results, clarity is essential. This section is purely about presenting the data without offering interpretations — that comes later in the discussion.

In the discussion section, the raw data transforms into valuable insights.

Start by revisiting your research question and contrast it with the findings. How do your results expand, constrict, or challenge current academic conversations?

Dive into the intricacies of the data, guiding the reader through its implications. Detail potential limitations transparently, signaling your awareness of the research's boundaries. This is where your academic voice should be resonant and confident.

Practical implications (Recommendation) section

Based on the insights derived from your research, this section provides actionable suggestions or proposed solutions.

Whether aimed at industry professionals or the general public, recommendations translate your academic findings into potential real-world actions. They help readers understand the practical implications of your work and how it can be applied to effect change or improvement in a given field.

When crafting recommendations, it's essential to ensure they're feasible and rooted in the evidence provided by your research. They shouldn't merely be aspirational but should offer a clear path forward, grounded in your findings.

The conclusion provides closure to your research narrative.

It's not merely a recap but a synthesis of your main findings and their broader implications. Reconnect with the research questions or hypotheses posited at the beginning, offering clear answers based on your findings.

Reflect on the broader contributions of your study, considering its impact on the academic community and potential real-world applications.

Lastly, the conclusion should leave your readers with a clear understanding of the value and impact of your study.

References (or Bibliography)

Every theory you've expounded upon, every data point you've cited, and every methodological precedent you've followed finds its acknowledgment here.

In references, it's crucial to ensure meticulous consistency in formatting, mirroring the specific guidelines of the chosen citation style .

Proper referencing helps to avoid plagiarism , gives credit to original ideas, and allows readers to explore topics of interest. Moreover, it situates your work within the continuum of academic knowledge.

To properly cite the sources used in the study, you can rely on online citation generator tools  to generate accurate citations!

Here’s more on how you can cite your sources.

Often, the depth of research produces a wealth of material that, while crucial, can make the core content of the thesis cumbersome. The appendix is where you mention extra information that supports your research but isn't central to the main text.

Whether it's raw datasets, detailed procedural methodologies, extended case studies, or any other ancillary material, the appendices ensure that these elements are archived for reference without breaking the main narrative's flow.

For thorough researchers and readers keen on meticulous details, the appendices provide a treasure trove of insights.

Glossary (optional)

In academics, specialized terminologies, and jargon are inevitable. However, not every reader is versed in every term.

The glossary, while optional, is a critical tool for accessibility. It's a bridge ensuring that even readers from outside the discipline can access, understand, and appreciate your work.

By defining complex terms and providing context, you're inviting a wider audience to engage with your research, enhancing its reach and impact.

Remember, while these components provide a structured framework, the essence of your thesis lies in the originality of your ideas, the rigor of your research, and the clarity of your presentation.

As you craft each section, keep your readers in mind, ensuring that your passion and dedication shine through every page.

Thesis examples

To further elucidate the concept of a thesis, here are illustrative examples from various fields:

Example 1 (History): Abolition, Africans, and Abstraction: the Influence of the ‘Noble Savage’ on British and French Antislavery Thought, 1787-1807 by Suchait Kahlon.

Example 2 (Climate Dynamics): Influence of external forcings on abrupt millennial-scale climate changes: a statistical modelling study by Takahito Mitsui · Michel Crucifix

Checklist for your thesis evaluation

Evaluating your thesis ensures that your research meets the standards of academia. Here's an elaborate checklist to guide you through this critical process.

Content and structure

• Is the thesis statement clear, concise, and debatable?
• Does the introduction provide sufficient background and context?
• Is the literature review comprehensive, relevant, and well-organized?
• Does the methodology section clearly describe and justify the research methods?
• Are the results/findings presented clearly and logically?
• Does the discussion interpret the results in light of the research question and existing literature?
• Is the conclusion summarizing the research and suggesting future directions or implications?

Clarity and coherence

• Is the writing clear and free of jargon?
• Are ideas and sections logically connected and flowing?
• Is there a clear narrative or argument throughout the thesis?

Research quality

• Is the research question significant and relevant?
• Are the research methods appropriate for the question?
• Is the sample size (if applicable) adequate?
• Are the data analysis techniques appropriate and correctly applied?
• Are potential biases or limitations addressed?

Originality and significance

• Does the thesis contribute new knowledge or insights to the field?
• Is the research grounded in existing literature while offering fresh perspectives?

Formatting and presentation

• Is the thesis formatted according to institutional guidelines?
• Are figures, tables, and charts clear, labeled, and referenced in the text?
• Is the bibliography or reference list complete and consistently formatted?
• Are appendices relevant and appropriately referenced in the main text?

Grammar and language

• Is the thesis free of grammatical and spelling errors?
• Is the language professional, consistent, and appropriate for an academic audience?
• Are quotations and paraphrased material correctly cited?

Feedback and revision

• Have you sought feedback from peers, advisors, or experts in the field?
• Have you addressed the feedback and made the necessary revisions?

Overall assessment

• Does the thesis as a whole feel cohesive and comprehensive?
• Would the thesis be understandable and valuable to someone in your field?

Ensure to use this checklist to leave no ground for doubt or missed information in your thesis.

After writing your thesis, the next step is to discuss and defend your findings verbally in front of a knowledgeable panel. You’ve to be well prepared as your professors may grade your presentation abilities.

Preparing your thesis defense

A thesis defense, also known as "defending the thesis," is the culmination of a scholar's research journey. It's the final frontier, where you’ll present their findings and face scrutiny from a panel of experts.

Typically, the defense involves a public presentation where you’ll have to outline your study, followed by a question-and-answer session with a committee of experts. This committee assesses the validity, originality, and significance of the research.

The defense serves as a rite of passage for scholars. It's an opportunity to showcase expertise, address criticisms, and refine arguments. A successful defense not only validates the research but also establishes your authority as a researcher in your field.

Here’s how you can effectively prepare for your thesis defense .

Now, having touched upon the process of defending a thesis, it's worth noting that scholarly work can take various forms, depending on academic and regional practices.

One such form, often paralleled with the thesis, is the 'dissertation.' But what differentiates the two?

Dissertation vs. Thesis

Often used interchangeably in casual discourse, they refer to distinct research projects undertaken at different levels of higher education.

To the uninitiated, understanding their meaning might be elusive. So, let's demystify these terms and delve into their core differences.

Here's a table differentiating between the two.

Wrapping up

From understanding the foundational concept of a thesis to navigating its various components, differentiating it from a dissertation, and recognizing the importance of proper citation — this guide covers it all.

As scholars and readers, understanding these nuances not only aids in academic pursuits but also fosters a deeper appreciation for the relentless quest for knowledge that drives academia.

It’s important to remember that every thesis is a testament to curiosity, dedication, and the indomitable spirit of discovery.

Good luck with your thesis writing!

Frequently Asked Questions

A thesis typically ranges between 40-80 pages, but its length can vary based on the research topic, institution guidelines, and level of study.

A PhD thesis usually spans 200-300 pages, though this can vary based on the discipline, complexity of the research, and institutional requirements.

To identify a thesis topic, consider current trends in your field, gaps in existing literature, personal interests, and discussions with advisors or mentors. Additionally, reviewing related journals and conference proceedings can provide insights into potential areas of exploration.

The conceptual framework is often situated in the literature review or theoretical framework section of a thesis. It helps set the stage by providing the context, defining key concepts, and explaining the relationships between variables.

A thesis statement should be concise, clear, and specific. It should state the main argument or point of your research. Start by pinpointing the central question or issue your research addresses, then condense that into a single statement, ensuring it reflects the essence of your paper.

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How long is a Thesis or dissertation? [the data]

Writing a thesis for your undergraduate, master’s, or PhD can be a very daunting task. Especially when you consider how long a thesis can get. However, not all theses are the same length and the expected submission length is dependent on the level of study that you are currently enrolled in and the field in which you are studying.

An undergraduate thesis is likely to be about 20 to 50 pages long. A Master’s thesis is likely to be between 30 and 100 pages in length and a PhD dissertation is likely to be between 50 and 450 pages long.

In the table below I highlight the typical length of an undergraduate, master’s, and PhD.

It is important to note that this is highly dependent on the field of study and the expectations of your university, field, and research group.

If you want to know more about how long a Masters’s thesis and PhD dissertation is you can check out my other articles:

• How Long is a Masters Thesis? [Your writing guide]
• How long is a PhD dissertation? [Data by field]
• How to write a masters thesis in 2 months [Easy steps to start writing]

These articles go into a lot more detail and specifics of each level of study.

Let’s take a more detailed look at the length of a thesis or dissertation. We’ll start from the very basics including what a thesis or dissertation really is.

What exactly is a thesis or a dissertation?

A thesis or a dissertation is a research project that is typically required of students in order to gain an advanced degree.

A dissertation is usually much longer and more detailed than a thesis, but they both involve extensive research and provide an in-depth analysis of their given subject.

Many people use the term interchangeably but quite often a Masters level research project results in a thesis. While a PhD research project results in a much longer dissertation.

Thesis work is usually completed over the course of several months and can require multiple drafts and revisions before being accepted. These will be looked over by your supervisor to ensure that you are meeting the expectations and standards of your research field.

PhD Dissertations are typically even more involved, taking years to complete. My PhD took me three years to complete but it is usual for them to take more than five years.

Both a thesis and a dissertation involve researching a particular topic, formulating an argument based on evidence gathered from the research, and presenting the findings in written form for review by peers or faculty members.

My Master’s thesis was reviewed by the chemistry Department whilst my PhD thesis was sent to experts in the field around the world.

Ultimately, these experts provide a commentary on whether or not you have reached the standards required of the University for admittance into the degree and the final decision will be made upon reviewing these comments by your universities graduation committee.

There are several outcomes including:

• accepted without changes – this is where you must make no changes to your thesis and is accepted as is.
• accepted with minor changes this is where your thesis will require some minor changes before being admitted to the degree. Usually, it is not sent back to the reviewers.
• Major changes – this is where the committee has decided that you need to rework a number of major themes in your thesis and will likely want to see it at a later stage.
• Rejected – this is where the thesis is rejected and the recommendation to downgrade your degree is made.

What is the typical length of a thesis or dissertation?

The length of a thesis or dissertation varies significantly according to the field of study and institution.

Generally, an undergraduate thesis is between 20-50 pages long while a PhD dissertation can range from 90-500 pages in length.

However, longer is not necessarily better as a highly mathematical PhD thesis with proofs may only be 50 pages long.

It also depends on the complexity of the topic being studied and the amount of research required to complete it.

A PhD dissertation should contain as many pages and words as it takes to outline the current state of your field and provide adequate background information, present your results, and provide confidence in your conclusions. A PhD dissertation will also contain figures, graphs, schematics, and other large pictorial items that can easily inflate the page count.

Here is a boxplot summary of many different fields of study and the number of pages of a typical PhD dissertation in the field.  It has been created by Marcus Beck  from all of the dissertations at the University of Minnesota.

Typically, the mathematical sciences, economics, and biostatistics theses and dissertations tend to be shorter because they rely on mathematical formulas to provide proof of their results rather than diagrams and long explanations.

On the other end of the scale, English, communication studies, political science, history and anthropology are often the largest theses in terms of pages and word count because of the number of words it takes to provide proof and depth of their results.

At the end of the day, it is important that your thesis gets signed off by your review committee and other experts in the field. Your supervisor will be the main judge of whether or not your dissertation is capable of satisfying the requirements of a master’s or doctoral degree in your field. 

How Many Pages Should a Master or PhD Thesis Have? Length of a thesis?

The length of a master’s thesis can vary greatly depending on the subject and format.

Generally, a masters thesis is expected to be around 100 pages long and should include:

• a title page,
• table of contents,
• introduction,
• literature review, 
• main test and body of work, 
• discussions and citations,
• conclusion,
• bibliography
• and (sometimes) appendix.

Your supervisor should provide you with a specific format that you are expected to follow.

Depending on your field of study and the word count specified by your supervisor, these guidelines may change. The student must ask their advisor for examples of past student thesis and doctoral dissertations. 

For example, if there is a limited number of words allowed in the thesis then it may not be possible to have 100 pages or more for the thesis.

Additionally, if you are including a lot of technical information such as diagrams or tables in the appendix then this could increase the page count as well. For example, my PhD thesis contained a page like the one below. This page only contains images from atomic force microscopy. Because my PhD was very visual many pages like this exist.

Ultimately it is important to consult with your supervisor and determine how many pages your master’s thesis or PhD dissertation will be expected to have.

How long does it take to write a graduate thesis? Write your thesis quickly

Writing a graduate thesis can be a daunting task.

It is typically expected to take anywhere from one to three years, depending on the subject and scope of the project.

However, this is not just writing. A typical thesis or dissertation will require you to:

• formulate a research question
• do a literature review
• create research methodology
• perform original research
• collect and analyse results
• write peer-reviewed research papers
• write a PhD/masters thesis
• submit thesis and respond to examiners comments.

The actual writing component of a thesis or dissertation can take anywhere from one month to 6 months depending on how focused the graduate student is.

The amount of time it takes to write a thesis or dissertation can vary based on many factors, such as the type of research required, the length of the project, and other commitments that may interfere with progress.

Some students may have difficulty focusing or understanding their topic which can also add to the amount of time it takes to complete the project.

Regardless, writing a thesis is an important part of obtaining a graduate degree and should not be taken lightly.

It requires dedication and determination in order for one to successfully complete a thesis or dissertation within an appropriate timeframe.

In my YouTube video, below, I talk about how to finish your thesis or dissertation quickly:

it is full of a load of secrets including owning your day, managing your supervisor relationship, setting many goals, progress over perfection, and working with your own body clock to maximise productivity.

Wrapping up

This article has been through everything you need to know about the typical length of a thesis.

The answer to this question is highly dependent on your field of study and the expectations of your supervisor and university.

Dr Andrew Stapleton has a Masters and PhD in Chemistry from the UK and Australia. He has many years of research experience and has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate at a number of Universities. Although having secured funding for his own research, he left academia to help others with his YouTube channel all about the inner workings of academia and how to make it work for you.

Thank you for visiting Academia Insider.

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Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an opening argument. You'll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of academic essays are like jury members: before they have read too far, they want to know what the essay argues as well as how the writer plans to make the argument. After reading your thesis statement, the reader should think, "This essay is going to try to convince me of something. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm interested to see how I might be."

An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A thesis is not a topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. "Reasons for the fall of communism" is a topic. "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" is a fact known by educated people. "The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe" is an opinion. (Superlatives like "the best" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every "thing" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be "the best thing"?)

A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should "telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay.

Steps in Constructing a Thesis

First, analyze your primary sources.  Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy, and/or complication. Does the author contradict himself or herself? Is a point made and later reversed? What are the deeper implications of the author's argument? Figuring out the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the path to developing a working thesis. (Without the why, you probably have only come up with an observation—that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-and-such a poem—which is not a thesis.)

Once you have a working thesis, write it down.  There is nothing as frustrating as hitting on a great idea for a thesis, then forgetting it when you lose concentration. And by writing down your thesis you will be forced to think of it clearly, logically, and concisely. You probably will not be able to write out a final-draft version of your thesis the first time you try, but you'll get yourself on the right track by writing down what you have.

Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction.  A good, standard place for your thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15 page) essays. Readers are used to finding theses there, so they automatically pay more attention when they read the last sentence of your introduction. Although this is not required in all academic essays, it is a good rule of thumb.

Anticipate the counterarguments.  Once you have a working thesis, you should think about what might be said against it. This will help you to refine your thesis, and it will also make you think of the arguments that you'll need to refute later on in your essay. (Every argument has a counterargument. If yours doesn't, then it's not an argument—it may be a fact, or an opinion, but it is not an argument.)

This statement is on its way to being a thesis. However, it is too easy to imagine possible counterarguments. For example, a political observer might believe that Dukakis lost because he suffered from a "soft-on-crime" image. If you complicate your thesis by anticipating the counterargument, you'll strengthen your argument, as shown in the sentence below.

Some Caveats and Some Examples

A thesis is never a question.  Readers of academic essays expect to have questions discussed, explored, or even answered. A question ("Why did communism collapse in Eastern Europe?") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water.

A thesis is never a list.  "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect in the essay—a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a section about social reasons, and a section about cultural reasons. However, political, economic, social and cultural reasons are pretty much the only possible reasons why communism could collapse. This sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an argument. Everyone knows that politics, economics, and culture are important.

A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational.  An ineffective thesis would be, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because communism is evil." This is hard to argue (evil from whose perspective? what does evil mean?) and it is likely to mark you as moralistic and judgmental rather than rational and thorough. It also may spark a defensive reaction from readers sympathetic to communism. If readers strongly disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop reading.

An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim.  "While cultural forces contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of economies played the key role in driving its decline" is an effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs," so that the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking, "Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim."

A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible.  Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people" is more powerful than "Communism collapsed due to societal discontent."

Copyright 1999, Maxine Rodburg and The Tutors of the Writing Center at Harvard University

/images/cornell/logo35pt_cornell_white.svg" alt="how many pages is a college thesis"> Cornell University --> Graduate School

Required sections, guidelines, and suggestions.

Beyond those noted on the Formatting Requirements page , the Graduate School has no additional formatting requirements. The following suggestions are based on best practices and historic requirements for dissertations and theses but are not requirements for submission of the thesis or dissertation. The Graduate School recommends that each dissertation or thesis conform to the standards of leading academic journals in your field.

For both master’s and doctoral students, the same basic rules apply; however, differences exist in some limited areas, particularly in producing the abstract and filing the dissertation or thesis.

• Information in this guide that pertains specifically to doctoral candidates and dissertations is clearly marked with the term “ dissertation ” or “ doctoral candidates .”
• Information pertaining specifically to master’s candidates and theses is clearly marked with the term “ thesis ” or “ master’s candidates .”
• All other information pertains to both.

Examples of formatting suggestions for both the dissertation and thesis are available as downloadable templates .

Required? Yes.

Suggested numbering: Page included in overall document, but number not typed on page.

The following format for your title page is suggested, but not required.

• The title should be written using all capital letters, centered within the left and right margins, and spaced about 1.5 inches from the top of the page. (For an example, please see the template .)
• Carefully select words for the title of the dissertation or thesis to represent the subject content as accurately as possible. Words in the title are important access points to researchers who may use keyword searches to identify works in various subject areas.
• Use word substitutes for formulas, symbols, superscripts, Greek letters, etc.
• Below the title, at the vertical and horizontal center of the margins, place the following five lines (all centered):

Line 1: A Dissertation [or Thesis]

Line 2: Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School

Line 3: of Cornell University

Line 4: in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Line 5: Doctor of Philosophy [or other appropriate degree]

• Center the following three lines within the margins:

Line 2: Primary or Preferred Name [as registered with the University Registrar’s Office and displayed in Student Center]

Line 3: month and year of degree conferral [May, August, December; no comma between month and year]

Copyright Page

Suggested numbering: Page included in overall document, but number not typed on page

The following format for your copyright page is suggested, but not required.

• A notice of copyright should appear as the sole item on the page centered vertically and horizontally within the margins: © 20__ [Primary or Preferred Name [as registered with the University Registrar’s Office]. Please note that there is not usually a page heading on the copyright page.
• The copyright symbol is a lowercase “c,” which must be circled. (On Macs, the symbol is typed by pressing the “option” and “g” keys simultaneously. If the font does not have the © symbol, type the “c” and circle it by hand. On PCs, in the insert menu, choose “symbol,” and select the © symbol.)
• The date, which follows the copyright symbol, is the year of conferral of your degree.
• Your name follows the date.

Required?  Yes.

Suggested numbering: Page(s) not counted, not numbered

Abstract formats for the doctoral dissertation and master’s thesis differ greatly. The Graduate School recommends that you conform to the standards of leading academic journals in your field.

Doctoral candidates:

• TITLE OF DISSERTATION
• Student’s Primary or Preferred Name, Ph.D. [as registered with the University Registrar’s Office]
• Cornell University 20__ [year of conferral]
• Following the heading lines, begin the text of the abstract on the same page.
• The abstract states the problem, describes the methods and procedures used, and gives the main results or conclusions of the research.
• The abstract usually does not exceed 350 words in length (about one-and-one-half correctly spaced pages—but not more than two pages).

Master’s candidate:

• In a thesis, the page heading is simply the word “ABSTRACT” in all capital letters and centered within the margins at the top of the page. (The thesis abstract does not display the thesis title, author’s name, degree, university, or date of degree conferral.)
• The abstract should state the problem, describe the methods and procedures used, and give the main results or conclusions.
• The abstract usually does not exceed 600 words in length, which is approximately two-and-one-half to three pages of correctly spaced typing.
• In M.F.A. theses, an abstract is not required.

Biographical Sketch

Suggested numbering: iii (may be more than one page)

• Type number(s) on page(s).

The following content and format are suggested:

• The biographical sketch is written in third-person voice and contains your educational background. Sometimes additional biographical facts are included.
• As a page heading, use “BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH” in all capital letters, centered on the page.
• Number this page as iii.

Required? Optional.

Suggested numbering: iv (may be more than one page)

The dedication page is not required and can contain whatever text that you would like to include. Text on this page does not need to be in English.

Acknowledgements

Suggested numbering: v (may be more than one page)

The following content and format are suggested, not required.

• The acknowledgements may be written in first-person voice. If your research has been funded by outside grants, you should check with the principal investigator of the grant regarding proper acknowledgement of the funding source. Most outside funding sources require some statement of acknowledgement of the support; some also require a disclaimer from responsibility for the results.
• As a page heading, use “ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS” in all capital letters, centered on the page.

Table of Contents

Suggested numbering: vi (may be more than one page)

The following are suggestions.

• As a page heading, use “TABLE OF CONTENTS” in all capital letters and centered on the page.
• List the sections/chapters of the body of the dissertation or thesis. Also, list preliminary sections starting with the biographical sketch. (Title page, copyright page, and abstract are not listed.)
• For theses and dissertations, the conventional format for page numbers is in a column to the right of each section/chapter title. The first page of each chapter/section is stated with a single number. Table of contents usually do not include a range of page numbers, such as 7-22.
• The table of contents is often single-spaced.

Two-Volume Theses or Dissertations

If the dissertation or thesis consists of two volumes, it is recommended, but not required, that you list “Volume II” as a section in the table of contents.

List of Figures, Illustrations, and Tables

Suggested numbering: vii (may be more than one page)

• If included, type number(s) on page(s).

As described in the formatting requirements above, figures and tables should be consecutively numbered. The Graduate School recommends that you conform to the styles set by the leading academic journals in your field. The items below are formatting suggestions based on best practices or historic precedents.

Table of contents format:

• As a page heading, use “LIST OF FIGURES,” “LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS,” or “LIST OF TABLES” in all capital letters, centered on the page.
• There should be separate pages for “LIST OF FIGURES,” “LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS,” or “LIST OF TABLES” even if there is only one example of each.
• The list should contain enough of the titles or descriptions so readers can locate items using the list. (It may not be necessary to include entire figure/illustration/table captions.)
• The list should contain the page number on which each figure, illustration, or table is found, as in a table of contents.
• The list of figures/illustrations/tables may be single-spaced.

Page format:

• Figures/illustrations/tables should be placed as close as possible to their first mention in the text. They may be placed on a page with no text above or below, or placed directly into the text. If a figure/illustration/table is placed directly into the text, text may appear above or below the figure/illustration/table; no text may wrap around the figure/illustration/table.
• If a figure/illustration/table appears on a page without other text, it should be centered vertically within the page margins. Figures/illustrations/tables should not be placed at the end of the chapter or at the end of the dissertation or thesis.
• Figure/illustration/table numbering should be either continuous throughout the dissertation or thesis, or by chapter (e.g. 1.1, 1.2; 2.1, 2.2, etc.). The word “Figure,” “Illustration,” or “Table” must be spelled out (not abbreviated), and the first letter must be capitalized.
• A caption for a figure/illustration should be placed at the bottom of the figure/illustration. However, a caption for a table must be placed above the table.
• If the figure/illustration/table, not including the caption, takes up the entire page, the figure/illustration/table caption should be placed alone on the preceding page and centered vertically and horizontally within the margins. (When the caption is on a separate page, the List of Figures or List of Illustrations or List of Tables can list the page number containing the caption.)
• If the figure/illustration/table, not including the caption, takes up more than two pages, it should be preceded by a page consisting of the caption only. The first page of the figure/illustration/table must include the figure/illustration/table (no caption), and the second and subsequent pages must also include, at the top of the figure/illustration/table, words that indicate its continuance—for example, “Figure 5 (Continued)”—and on these pages the caption is omitted.
• If figures/illustrations/tables are too large, they may be reduced slightly so as to render a satisfactory product or they must either be split into several pages or be redone. If a figure/illustration/table is reduced, all lettering must be clear, readable, and large enough to be legible. All lettering, including subscripts, must still be readable when reduced 25% beyond the final version. All page margin requirements must be maintained. Page numbers and headings must not be reduced.
• While there are no specific rules for the typographic format of figure/illustration/table captions, a consistent format should be used throughout the dissertation or thesis.
• The caption of a figure/illustration/table should be single-spaced, but then captions for all figures/illustrations/tables must be single-spaced.
• Horizontal figures/illustrations/tables should be positioned correctly—i.e., the top of the figure/illustration/table will be at the left margin of the vertical page of the dissertation or thesis (remember: pages are bound on the left margin). Figure/illustration/table headings/captions are placed with the same orientation as the figure/illustration/table when they are on the same page as the figure/illustration/table. When they are on a separate page, headings and captions are always placed in vertical orientation, regardless of the orientation of the figure/illustration/table. Page numbers are always placed as if the figure/illustration/table was vertical on the page.

Photographs should be treated as illustrations. To be considered archival, photographs must be black-and-white. (If actual color photographs are necessary, they should be accompanied by black-and-white photographs of the same subject.) Color photos obtained digitally do not need to be accompanied by a black-and-white photograph. Make a high-resolution digital version of each photograph and insert it into your electronic document, following the guideline suggestions for positioning and margins.

Optional Elements

List of abbreviations.

As a page heading, use “LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS” in all capital letters, centered on the page.

List of Symbols

As a page heading, use “LIST OF SYMBOLS” in all capital letters, centered on the page.

Suggested numbering: xi (may be more than one page)

As a page heading, use “PREFACE” in all capital letters, centered on the page.

Body of the Dissertation or Thesis: Text

Suggested numbering: Begin page number at 1

• Text (required)
• Appendix/Appendices (optional)
• Bibliography, References, or Works Cited (required)

Please note that smaller font size may be appropriate for footnotes or other material outside of the main text. The following suggestions are based on best practice or historic precedent, but are not required.

• Chapter headings may be included that conform to the standard of your academic field.
• Textual notes that provide supplementary information, opinions, explanations, or suggestions that are not part of the text must appear at the bottom of the page as footnotes. Lengthy footnotes may be continued on the next page. Placement of footnotes at the bottom of the page ensures they will appear as close as possible to the referenced passage.

Appendix (or Appendices)

An appendix (-ces) is not required for your thesis or dissertation. If you choose to include one, the following suggestions are based on best practice or historic precedent.

• As a page heading, use “APPENDIX” in all capital letters, centered on the page.
• Place in an appendix any material that is peripheral, but relevant, to the main text of the dissertation or thesis. Examples could include survey instruments, additional data, computer printouts, details of a procedure or analysis, a relevant paper that you wrote, etc.
• The appendix may include text that does not meet the general font and spacing requirements of the other sections of the dissertation or thesis.

Bibliography (or References or Works Cited)

A bibliography, references, or works cited is required for your thesis or dissertation. Please conform to the standards of leading academic journals in your field.

• As a page heading, use “BIBLIOGRAPHY” (or “REFERENCES” or “WORKS CITED”) in all capital letters, centered on the page. The bibliography should always begin on a new page.
• Bibliographies may be single-spaced within each entry but should include 24 points of space between entries.

Suggested numbering: Continue page numbering from body

If you choose to include a glossary, best practices and historic precedent suggest using a page heading, use “GLOSSARY” in all capital letters, centered on the page.

Suggested numbering: Continue page numbering from glossary

If you choose to include one, best practices and historic precedent suggest using a page heading, use “INDEX” in all capital letters, centered on the page.

Font Samples

Sample macintosh fonts.

• Palatino 12
• Garamond 14
• New Century School Book
• Helvetica 12 or Helvetica 14
• Times New Roman 12
• Times 14 (Times 12 is not acceptable)
• Symbol 12 is acceptable for symbols

Sample TeX and LaTeX Fonts

• CMR 12 font
• Any font that meets the above specifications

Sample PC Fonts

• Helvetica 12

How Many Pages are Required for a Thesis? A Comprehensive Guide

Writing a thesis is an integral part of academic pursuits, marking the culmination of years of research, analysis, and critical thinking. As students embark on this scholarly journey, one common question frequently arises: how many pages are required for a thesis? This comprehensive guide aims to shed light on this query, providing valuable insights and considerations for students grappling with the process of determining the length of their thesis.

The length of a thesis is a matter of great significance as it not only showcases the extent of a student’s knowledge and understanding of their chosen field but also serves as a testament to their ability to contribute meaningfully to the academic discourse. However, determining the appropriate number of pages for a thesis can be a complex task, influenced by various factors such as the discipline, the research question, and even the preferences of the academic institution. Recognizing the importance of addressing such concerns, this guide will delve into the key considerations to help students navigate this crucial aspect of their thesis writing journey with confidence and clarity.

Table of Contents

Thesis Guidelines and Requirements

In order to successfully complete a thesis, it is essential to understand and meet the guidelines and requirements set by the particular university and program. These guidelines not only govern the content and structure of the thesis but also provide information on the expected page count.

A. Different universities and programs have varying requirements

It is important to recognize that different universities and programs may have different expectations when it comes to the page count of a thesis. Some institutions may provide specific page count requirements, while others may offer more flexibility. Therefore, it is crucial for students to familiarize themselves with the guidelines and requirements provided by their particular institution.

B. Consultation with the thesis advisor regarding page count

To ensure that the thesis meets the specific requirements of the program, consultation with the thesis advisor is highly recommended. The advisor can provide valuable insights and guidance regarding the expected page count. They can also offer suggestions on how to structure the thesis in a way that effectively presents the research and analysis within the given page limit.

Engaging in a conversation with the thesis advisor early on in the process can prevent any surprises or misunderstandings later. The advisor’s expertise and experience can help the student navigate the complexities of determining an appropriate page count.

In addition, the thesis advisor may have specific preferences or additional requirements that are not outlined in the university guidelines. Seeking their advice ensures that the page count aligns with both the university requirements and the expectations of the advisor.

By consulting with the thesis advisor, students can better understand the scope of their research and identify the ideal page count that effectively presents their work while meeting the program’s requirements. This collaboration is crucial for producing a well-crafted thesis that satisfies both academic criteria and the expectations of the advisor.

Factors Affecting Page Count

A. academic discipline.

The academic discipline in which a thesis is being written can significantly affect the required number of pages. Different disciplines have varying norms and expectations when it comes to the length of a thesis. Some disciplines, such as engineering or computer science, tend to produce shorter theses, typically ranging from 70 to 100 pages. On the other hand, disciplines like history or literature often require longer theses, often exceeding 200 pages.

B. Research methodology used

The research methodology employed in a thesis can also impact its page count. Qualitative research, such as case studies or interviews, tends to have shorter page counts compared to quantitative research, which involves extensive data analysis. This is because qualitative research focuses more on analysis and interpretation, while quantitative research requires detailed explanations of data collection and statistical analyses, resulting in longer written explanations.

C. Depth and breadth of literature review

The depth and breadth of the literature review also contribute to the overall page count of a thesis. A comprehensive literature review that extensively covers past research, theories, and frameworks relevant to the thesis topic will inevitably require more pages. Conversely, a narrower literature review with limited sources and a focus on the most relevant ones will result in a more concise thesis.

D. Data collection and analysis methods

The methods used for data collection and analysis can significantly impact the page count of a thesis. If the thesis relies heavily on primary research with a large dataset, such as surveys or experiments, it will likely require more pages to describe the methodology, present the results, and discuss the findings. Conversely, if the thesis relies primarily on secondary data or uses a limited sample size, it may have a shorter page count.

Overall, it is crucial to consider these factors and their implications when determining the required number of pages for a thesis. While guidelines and requirements set by universities and programs provide some framework, the specific demands of each academic discipline and the research approach taken will ultimately shape the page count. By understanding and accounting for these factors, students can ensure that their thesis meets the necessary length while also effectively conveying the research findings and arguments.

IMaster’s Thesis vs. Ph.D. Dissertation

A. page count expectations for master’s theses.

When it comes to determining the required number of pages for a master’s thesis, there is significant variation among universities and programs. Generally, the page count for a master’s thesis tends to be lower compared to a Ph.D. dissertation. However, it is crucial to note that these expectations can still differ depending on the specific institution and field of study.

In some cases, a master’s thesis may require between 60 to 80 pages. This page count includes all the essential sections, such as the introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion. The exact page count will ultimately depend on the individual requirements set by the university and the expectations of the thesis advisor. It is recommended to consult with the advisor or refer to the university’s guidelines for clarity on the specific page count expectations.

B. Page count expectations for Ph.D. dissertations

Ph.D. dissertations typically require a more extensive and comprehensive approach compared to master’s theses. Due to the advanced level of research and analysis involved, Ph.D. dissertations often have a higher page count. However, as with master’s theses, the exact page count expectations can vary between universities and disciplines.

On average, a Ph.D. dissertation may range from 200 to 300 pages. This estimate considers the inclusion of all necessary sections, such as the introduction, literature review, methodology, findings, analysis, conclusion, recommendations, and references. Again, it is essential to note that these page count expectations are not set in stone and can vary based on specific program guidelines and the nature of the research.

It is crucial for Ph.D. candidates to consult with their dissertation committee and advisor to understand the specific page count expectations for their particular field. Additionally, universities often provide detailed guidelines that outline the formatting requirements and expectations for Ph.D. dissertations.

In summary, while master’s theses generally have a lower page count compared to Ph.D. dissertations, it is essential to remember that these expectations can differ significantly based on the institution and academic discipline. Consulting with the thesis advisor and referencing the university’s guidelines will help ensure that the appropriate page count is met for both master’s theses and Ph.D. dissertations. However, it is important to remember that the quality of content and research should also be prioritized over adhering strictly to a specific page count.

Typical Page Count Ranges

A. page count ranges for different academic disciplines.

The required page count for a thesis can vary significantly depending on the academic discipline. Different disciplines have different expectations for the depth and breadth of research that should be presented in a thesis. For example, in scientific fields such as physics or chemistry, the emphasis may be more on presenting detailed experimental procedures and results, leading to a longer page count. On the other hand, in humanities disciplines such as literature or philosophy, the focus may be more on critical analysis and interpretation, which may result in a shorter page count.

It is important for students to be aware of the typical page count ranges for their specific discipline. This information can usually be obtained from the department or program’s guidelines or by consulting with the thesis advisor. Understanding the expectations for page count will help students plan and structure their thesis accordingly.

B. Examples of page counts from successful theses/dissertations

Looking at examples of page counts from successful theses and dissertations can also provide some guidance for students. While individual page counts may vary, these examples can give students a general idea of what is considered acceptable within their discipline.

For instance, in the field of computer science, a master’s thesis may typically range from 60 to 80 pages, while a Ph.D. dissertation may range from 150 to 300 pages. In contrast, in the field of sociology, a master’s thesis may range from 80 to 100 pages, and a Ph.D. dissertation may range from 200 to 400 pages.

It is important to note that these are just examples, and page counts can vary depending on the specific research topic, methodology, and other factors. Students should take into consideration their own research and the guidance of their thesis advisor when determining the appropriate page count for their work.

In conclusion, the typical page count for a thesis can vary depending on the academic discipline and specific requirements. It is crucial for students to understand the expectations for page count in their field and to refer to examples from successful theses and dissertations. While page count is a consideration, it is also important to prioritize the quality of the content and the support of the arguments, rather than solely focusing on achieving a certain number of pages.

Importance of Quality over Quantity

A. emphasizing the significance of the research and analysis.

In determining the required number of pages for a thesis, it is vital to understand that quality should always supersede quantity. While page count can provide a general guideline, it is the significance of the research and analysis that truly matters. A thesis should contribute new knowledge or insights to the field of study, and this should be the primary focus rather than meeting a specific page count requirement.

By emphasizing the significance of the research and analysis, students can ensure that their thesis is adding value to the academic community. This can be achieved by conducting thorough and original research, using appropriate methodologies, and presenting well-supported arguments. It is essential to demonstrate critical thinking and intellectual rigor to leave a lasting impact with the thesis.

B. Focusing on well-supported arguments and conclusions

Rather than focusing solely on the number of pages, it is crucial to concentrate on developing well-supported arguments and drawing sound conclusions. This can be achieved by conducting a comprehensive literature review, analyzing the data collected, and identifying patterns or trends that contribute to the overall thesis argument.

Quality over quantity also means ensuring that each section of the thesis contributes to the overall argument. Irrelevant or repetitive information should be eliminated, and only relevant and well-supported content should be included. By adopting a concise and focused approach, students can present a compelling thesis that captures the essence of their research.

Furthermore, it is essential to devote sufficient time and effort to writing a clear and coherent thesis. Students should carefully review and revise their work to eliminate any grammatical or structural errors, ensuring that the thesis is easy to read and understand.

In conclusion, while page count is an important consideration in a thesis, the focus should always be on quality over quantity. Emphasizing the significance of the research and analysis allows students to make a meaningful contribution to the field of study. By focusing on well-supported arguments and conclusions, students can ensure that their thesis is concise, coherent, and impactful.

Formatting Requirements

A. guidelines for font type, size, and spacing.

Formatting requirements play a significant role in the overall presentation and professionalism of a thesis. While content is undoubtedly crucial, adhering to specific formatting guidelines is equally important. One aspect that demands attention is the choice of font type, size, and spacing.

Different universities and academic programs may have their own preferences when it comes to font type, size, and spacing. Generally, it is recommended to use a readable font such as Times New Roman or Arial, with a font size of 12. This ensures that the text is clear and legible. Some programs allow a smaller font size for charts, tables, and figures, typically ranging from 10 to 11.

Spacing requirements also vary. It is common practice to use double spacing throughout the thesis, including the main text, quotations, footnotes, and references. However, some universities may require single spacing for footnotes and references. In terms of line spacing, most universities specify a 1.5 or double line spacing for the entire document.

B. Requirements for margins, headers, and footers

In addition to font and spacing guidelines, universities also have specific requirements for margins, headers, and footers. Margins ensure that the text is properly aligned and give enough space for binding purposes. The most common margin size is 1 inch on all sides, but it is crucial to consult the university’s guidelines as they may differ.

Headers and footers are important for maintaining consistency and providing essential information. These sections typically include the thesis title, chapter titles, page numbers, and the author’s name. It is important to follow the university’s guidelines for the placement and formatting of headers and footers.

Furthermore, universities may have specific requirements for how headers and footers should appear on the title page, abstract, and other preliminary sections. Some universities may require headers and footers to be omitted from the title page, while others may have additional information such as the department’s name or semester information.

By carefully following the formatting requirements for font type, size, spacing, margins, headers, and footers, students can ensure that their thesis adheres to the university’s guidelines. Neglecting these requirements can result in unnecessary deductions and may compromise the overall presentation of the research. Therefore, it is essential to pay close attention to these details and make necessary adjustments to meet the formatting expectations set forth by the university.

Structural Elements of a Thesis

A. title page, acknowledgments, and abstract.

The structural elements of a thesis are essential in guiding readers and presenting research in a clear and organized manner. In this section, we will examine the key components that make up the structure of a thesis.

The title page is the first page of a thesis and typically includes the title, author’s name, degree program, university, and date of submission. It serves as the initial introduction to the thesis and provides readers with essential information about the research.

Following the title page, the acknowledgments section allows the author to express gratitude to individuals or organizations who have contributed to the completion of the thesis. This section is a way to recognize the support and assistance received throughout the research process.

Next, the abstract provides a concise summary of the entire thesis. It aims to give readers an overview of the research topic, objectives, methods, findings, and conclusions. The abstract is usually limited to a specific word count, ranging from 150 to 500 words, and serves as a quick reference for individuals interested in the research.

B. Introduction, methodology, and literature review sections

The introduction section serves as the starting point for the thesis, providing background information on the research topic and presenting the research question or hypothesis. It sets the tone for the rest of the thesis and outlines the significance and purpose of the research.

The methodology section explains the research design, data collection methods, and analysis techniques employed in the study. This section provides transparency and allows readers to evaluate the validity and reliability of the research.

The literature review section is a critical component of the thesis, as it presents an in-depth analysis of existing literature related to the research topic. It outlines the theoretical framework, identifies gaps and trends in the literature, and highlights the relevance of the study within the existing body of knowledge.

C. Results/findings and discussion/analysis sections

The results/findings section presents the outcomes of the research, whether quantitative or qualitative. This section often includes tables, charts, graphs, or other visual representations to present the data collected. It is crucial to provide clear and concise explanations of the results to aid readers’ understanding.

Following the results section, the discussion/analysis section interprets and analyzes the findings in relation to the research question or hypothesis. It provides a deeper insight into the results, compares them to existing literature, and explores any unexpected or contradictory findings.

D. Conclusion, recommendations, and references sections

The conclusion section summarizes the main findings of the thesis, restates the research question or hypothesis, and discusses the implications and significance of the research. It highlights the contributions made by the study and suggests potential avenues for future research.

The recommendations section offers practical suggestions based on the research findings. These recommendations may be targeted towards academia, industry professionals, or policymakers, aiming to address the identified gaps or issues.

Finally, the references section includes a comprehensive list of all the sources cited throughout the thesis. It is essential to adhere to specific referencing styles, such as APA or MLA, and to maintain consistency and accuracy in the citations.

In summary, the structural elements of a thesis, including the title page, acknowledgments, abstract, introduction, methodology, literature review, results, discussion, conclusion, recommendations, and references, play a vital role in presenting research in a logical and organized manner. A clear and well-structured thesis ensures that readers can easily navigate through the research and understand its significance and contribution to the field.

Strategies for Effective Page Management

A. proper organization of content.

When writing a thesis, it is important to consider how to effectively organize the content to manage the number of pages. One strategy for effective page management is to carefully structure the thesis by dividing it into logical sections and subsections. This helps readers navigate through the document and facilitates a clear understanding of the research.

The thesis should have a clear and concise introduction that outlines the objectives, research questions, and significance of the study. The methodology section should explain the research design, data collection methods, and analysis techniques employed. The literature review section should provide a comprehensive overview of existing research and establish the theoretical framework for the study.

The results/findings section should present the empirical data or outcomes of the research, while the discussion/analysis section should critically interpret and analyze these results. The conclusion section should summarize the main findings and their implications, followed by recommendations for future research. The references section should list all the sources cited in the thesis.

By organizing the content in a logical manner, the thesis can be structured in a way that both meets the required page count and effectively communicates the research findings.

B. Effective use of headings, subheadings, and bullet points

Another strategy for effective page management is the use of headings, subheadings, and bullet points. These formatting techniques help to break down the content into smaller, more digestible sections, making it easier for readers to navigate the thesis.

Headings and subheadings should be concise and reflective of the content within each section. They allow readers to quickly identify the main points and key arguments presented. Additionally, using bullet points within subsections can help to further organize and present information in a concise and structured manner.

By incorporating headings, subheadings, and bullet points, the thesis can maintain clarity and conciseness, while effectively managing the number of pages.

C. Balancing text and visuals

To effectively manage page count, it is important to strike a balance between textual content and visuals. Including figures, tables, and graphs can help to present data and information in a visually appealing and concise manner.

Visuals should be used strategically, ensuring they enhance the understanding of the research without overwhelming the text. They should be properly labeled and referred to within the text, providing clear explanations and interpretations.

By effectively incorporating visuals, the thesis can present information more efficiently, potentially reducing the number of pages required.

In conclusion, effective page management is essential when writing a thesis. By properly organizing content, utilizing headings, subheadings, and bullet points, and balancing textual content with visuals, the thesis can achieve the required page count while maintaining clarity and quality. Remember, the focus should always be on quality over quantity, ensuring that the research and analysis are thorough and well-supported.

Editing and Revision Tips

A. proofreading for clarity, coherence, and conciseness.

Editing and revision are crucial stages in the thesis writing process. After completing the initial draft, it is essential to thoroughly proofread and edit the document to ensure clarity, coherence, and conciseness. In this section, we will explore some key tips for effective proofreading.

One primary focus when proofreading is to ensure that the thesis is written in a clear and concise manner. It is important to eliminate any unnecessary repetition, wordiness, or ambiguous sentences. By doing so, the document will become more readable and engaging to the reader. Additionally, maintaining consistency in writing style and tone throughout the thesis is important to enhance its overall coherence.

Another vital aspect of proofreading is checking for grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and punctuation errors. Typos and errors can detract from the credibility of the research, so it is essential to allocate sufficient time to thoroughly proofread the thesis. Utilizing grammar and spell-check tools can be helpful, but it is important not to solely rely on them as they may miss certain errors.

Furthermore, ensuring that all sections contribute to the overall thesis argument is crucial during the editing process. Each chapter and paragraph should be reviewed to ensure that the content aligns with the research objectives and supports the main thesis argument. Removing any irrelevant or off-topic information will help maintain a coherent and focused thesis.

B. Ensuring all sections contribute to the overall thesis argument

As mentioned in the previous tip, it is important to ensure that all sections of the thesis contribute to the overall thesis argument. Before submitting the final version, each chapter, subsection, and paragraph should be assessed to determine its relevance and alignment with the main research objectives.

To achieve this, each section should be reviewed and revised to make sure it connects logically to the preceding and subsequent sections. The arguments presented in each section should build upon one another, leading to a cohesive and well-supported thesis.

A helpful strategy to check the contribution of each section is to read the thesis as a whole and assess if each part complements and enhances the main argument. It may be necessary to rearrange or restructure certain sections to improve the flow and coherence of the thesis.

Additionally, seeking feedback from peers, colleagues, or the thesis advisor can be beneficial in identifying any gaps or inconsistencies in the overall thesis argument. Their perspectives can provide valuable insights for revision and improvement.

In conclusion, the editing and revision stage of thesis writing is crucial in ensuring the clarity, coherence, and conciseness of the document. By thoroughly proofreading and checking for errors, as well as evaluating the contribution of each section to the overall thesis argument, the final version will be of high quality and effectively convey the research findings.

Final Thoughts and Considerations

A. collaboration with peers and experts for feedback.

In the final phase of writing a thesis, seeking feedback from peers and experts can greatly enhance the quality and overall effectiveness of the research. Collaborating with others helps identify potential weaknesses in the argument and provides valuable suggestions for improvement.

Peer collaboration is particularly beneficial as fellow students can offer fresh perspectives and insights into the research. They can identify areas that may require further explanation or provide alternate viewpoints that strengthen the overall argument. By engaging in peer discussions and presenting findings, students can gain valuable feedback and refine their ideas.

In addition to peers, seeking feedback from experts in the field is also crucial. Professors, academic advisors, and industry professionals can provide valuable guidance and ensure that the research meets the expected standards of the field. Their expertise can help identify any gaps in the literature review, suggest additional data analysis techniques, or highlight areas that may require further development.

Collaboration with peers and experts is not limited to feedback on the content alone. They can also provide suggestions on how to effectively present the research visually. They can offer guidance on creating clear and concise visuals, such as charts, graphs, or diagrams, to enhance the understanding and impact of the research.

B. Being Aware of University-Specific Formatting Guidelines

When finalizing the thesis, it is essential to be aware of the specific formatting guidelines set by the university or program. These guidelines may include requirements for font type, font size, line spacing, margins, headers, footers, and citation styles. Failure to adhere to these guidelines can result in unnecessary penalties or rejection of the thesis.

Universities often provide detailed formatting requirements in their thesis guidelines or on their websites. It is crucial to carefully review these guidelines and make the necessary adjustments to ensure compliance. Adhering to the formatting guidelines not only demonstrates professionalism but also aids in creating a cohesive and visually appealing document.

In addition to general formatting guidelines, some universities may have specific requirements for the organization and presentation of certain sections, such as the literature review or methodology. It is essential to consult the university’s guidelines and ensure that the thesis adheres to these specific requirements.

By being aware of and following university-specific formatting guidelines, students can present their research in a consistent and professional manner, thereby creating a positive impression on the evaluators.

Overall, finalizing a thesis involves collaboration with peers and experts to obtain valuable feedback and guidance, as well as adhering to university-specific formatting guidelines. These considerations, along with a focus on content quality over page count, will ensure the successful completion of a well-rounded and impactful thesis.

Recap of the main points discussed

In this comprehensive guide, we have explored the question of how many pages are required for a thesis. We began by defining a thesis and emphasizing the importance of determining the required number of pages.

Next, we discussed the guidelines and requirements for theses, highlighting the fact that different universities and programs have varying expectations. We stressed the importance of consulting with one’s thesis advisor regarding the specific page count.

We then delved into the factors that can affect the page count of a thesis. We explored how the academic discipline, research methodology, depth and breadth of literature review, and data collection and analysis methods can all play a role in determining the number of pages needed.

Moving on, we compared the page count expectations for master’s theses and Ph.D. dissertations. We provided insights into the typical page count ranges for different academic disciplines and offered examples of page counts from successful theses and dissertations.

We also discussed the importance of quality over quantity. We emphasized that it is essential to focus on the significance of the research and analysis, as well as on well-supported arguments and conclusions.

Furthermore, we covered the formatting requirements for a thesis, including guidelines for font type, size, spacing, margins, headers, and footers. We also highlighted the structural elements that should be included in a thesis, such as the title page, acknowledgments, abstract, introduction, methodology, literature review, results/findings, discussion/analysis, conclusion, recommendations, and references sections.

To effectively manage the pages in a thesis, we provided strategies such as proper organization of content, effective use of headings, subheadings, and bullet points, and balancing text with visuals.

In terms of editing and revision, we offered tips on proofreading for clarity, coherence, and conciseness. We emphasized the importance of ensuring that all sections of the thesis contribute to the overall argument.

Finally, in this conclusion section, we encourage students to collaborate with peers and experts for feedback and to be aware of university-specific formatting guidelines.

Encouragement to focus on content quality over page count

Above all, it is crucial to remember that the quality of the content should take precedence over the page count of a thesis. Instead of simply striving to reach a specific number of pages, students should prioritize conducting meaningful research, presenting well-supported arguments, and drawing well-grounded conclusions. Ultimately, the value of a thesis lies not in its length, but in its contribution to the academic field and its potential for further research and advancement. By focusing on content quality, students can ensure that their theses make a lasting impact and uphold the standards of excellence in their respective disciplines.

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• Formatting Your Dissertation
• Introduction

Harvard Griffin GSAS strives to provide students with timely, accurate, and clear information. If you need help understanding a specific policy, please contact the office that administers that policy.

• Application for Degree
• Credit for Completed Graduate Work
• Ad Hoc Degree Programs
• Acknowledging the Work of Others
• Advanced Planning
• Dissertation Submission Checklist
• Publishing Options
• Submitting Your Dissertation
• English Language Proficiency
• PhD Program Requirements
• Secondary Fields
• Year of Graduate Study (G-Year)
• Master's Degrees
• Grade and Examination Requirements
• Conduct and Safety
• Financial Aid
• Non-Resident Students
• Registration

On this page:

Language of the Dissertation

Page and text requirements, body of text, tables, figures, and captions, dissertation acceptance certificate, copyright statement.

• Table of Contents

Front and Back Matter

Supplemental material, dissertations comprising previously published works, top ten formatting errors, further questions.

• Related Contacts and Forms

When preparing the dissertation for submission, students must follow strict formatting requirements. Any deviation from these requirements may lead to rejection of the dissertation and delay in the conferral of the degree.

The language of the dissertation is ordinarily English, although some departments whose subject matter involves foreign languages may accept a dissertation written in a language other than English.

Most dissertations are 100 to 300 pages in length. All dissertations should be divided into appropriate sections, and long dissertations may need chapters, main divisions, and subdivisions.

• 8½ x 11 inches, unless a musical score is included
• At least 1 inch for all margins
• Body of text: double spacing
• Block quotations, footnotes, and bibliographies: single spacing within each entry but double spacing between each entry
• Table of contents, list of tables, list of figures or illustrations, and lengthy tables: single spacing may be used

Fonts and Point Size

Use 10-12 point size. Fonts must be embedded in the PDF file to ensure all characters display correctly. 

Recommended Fonts

If you are unsure whether your chosen font will display correctly, use one of the following fonts: 

If fonts are not embedded, non-English characters may not appear as intended. Fonts embedded improperly will be published to DASH as-is. It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that fonts are embedded properly prior to submission. 

Instructions for Embedding Fonts

To embed your fonts in recent versions of Word, follow these instructions from Microsoft:

• Click the File tab and then click Options .
• In the left column, select the Save tab.
• Clear the Do not embed common system fonts check box.

For reference, below are some instructions from ProQuest UMI for embedding fonts in older file formats:

To embed your fonts in Microsoft Word 2010:

• In the File pull-down menu click on Options .
• Choose Save on the left sidebar.
• Check the box next to Embed fonts in the file.
• Click the OK button.
• Save the document.

Note that when saving as a PDF, make sure to go to “more options” and save as “PDF/A compliant”

To embed your fonts in Microsoft Word 2007:

• Click the circular Office button in the upper left corner of Microsoft Word.
• A new window will display. In the bottom right corner select Word Options . 
• Choose Save from the left sidebar.

Using Microsoft Word on a Mac:

Microsoft Word 2008 on a Mac OS X computer will automatically embed your fonts while converting your document to a PDF file.

If you are converting to PDF using Acrobat Professional (instructions courtesy of the Graduate Thesis Office at Iowa State University):  

• Open your document in Microsoft Word. 
• Click on the Adobe PDF tab at the top. Select "Change Conversion Settings." 
• Click on Advanced Settings. 
• Click on the Fonts folder on the left side of the new window. In the lower box on the right, delete any fonts that appear in the "Never Embed" box. Then click "OK." 
• If prompted to save these new settings, save them as "Embed all fonts." 
• Now the Change Conversion Settings window should show "embed all fonts" in the Conversion Settings drop-down list and it should be selected. Click "OK" again. 
• Click on the Adobe PDF link at the top again. This time select Convert to Adobe PDF. Depending on the size of your document and the speed of your computer, this process can take 1-15 minutes. 
• After your document is converted, select the "File" tab at the top of the page. Then select "Document Properties." 
• Click on the "Fonts" tab. Carefully check all of your fonts. They should all show "(Embedded Subset)" after the font name. 
•  If you see "(Embedded Subset)" after all fonts, you have succeeded.

The font used in the body of the text must also be used in headers, page numbers, and footnotes. Exceptions are made only for tables and figures created with different software and inserted into the document.

Tables and figures must be placed as close as possible to their first mention in the text. They may be placed on a page with no text above or below, or they may be placed directly into the text. If a table or a figure is alone on a page (with no narrative), it should be centered within the margins on the page. Tables may take up more than one page as long as they obey all rules about margins. Tables and figures referred to in the text may not be placed at the end of the chapter or at the end of the dissertation.

• Given the standards of the discipline, dissertations in the Department of History of Art and Architecture and the Department of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning often place illustrations at the end of the dissertation.

Figure and table numbering must be continuous throughout the dissertation or by chapter (e.g., 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, etc.). Two figures or tables cannot be designated with the same number. If you have repeating images that you need to cite more than once, label them with their number and A, B, etc. 

Headings should be placed at the top of tables. While no specific rules for the format of table headings and figure captions are required, a consistent format must be used throughout the dissertation (contact your department for style manuals appropriate to the field).

Captions should appear at the bottom of any figures. If the figure takes up the entire page, the caption should be placed alone on the preceding page, centered vertically and horizontally within the margins.

Each page receives a separate page number. When a figure or table title is on a preceding page, the second and subsequent pages of the figure or table should say, for example, “Figure 5 (Continued).” In such an instance, the list of figures or tables will list the page number containing the title. The word “figure” should be written in full (not abbreviated), and the “F” should be capitalized (e.g., Figure 5). In instances where the caption continues on a second page, the “(Continued)” notation should appear on the second and any subsequent page. The figure/table and the caption are viewed as one entity and the numbering should show correlation between all pages. Each page must include a header.

Landscape orientation figures and tables must be positioned correctly and bound at the top so that the top of the figure or table will be at the left margin. Figure and table headings/captions are placed with the same orientation as the figure or table when on the same page. When on a separate page, headings/captions are always placed in portrait orientation, regardless of the orientation of the figure or table. Page numbers are always placed as if the figure were vertical on the page.

If a graphic artist does the figures, Harvard Griffin GSAS will accept lettering done by the artist only within the figure. Figures done with software are acceptable if the figures are clear and legible. Legends and titles done by the same process as the figures will be accepted if they too are clear, legible, and run at least 10 or 12 characters per inch. Otherwise, legends and captions should be printed with the same font used in the text.

Original illustrations, photographs, and fine arts prints may be scanned and included, centered between the margins on a page with no text above or below.

Use of Third-Party Content

In addition to the student's own writing, dissertations often contain third-party content or in-copyright content owned by parties other than you, the student who authored the dissertation. The Office for Scholarly Communication recommends consulting the information below about fair use, which allows individuals to use in-copyright content, on a limited basis and for specific purposes, without seeking permission from copyright holders.

Because your dissertation will be made available for online distribution through DASH , Harvard's open-access repository, it is important that any third-party content in it may be made available in this way.

Fair Use and Copyright 

What is fair use?

Fair use is a provision in copyright law that allows the use of a certain amount of copyrighted material without seeking permission. Fair use is format- and media-agnostic. This means fair use may apply to images (including photographs, illustrations, and paintings), quoting at length from literature, videos, and music regardless of the format. 

How do I determine whether my use of an image or other third-party content in my dissertation is fair use?  

There are four factors you will need to consider when making a fair use claim.

1) For what purpose is your work going to be used?

• Nonprofit, educational, scholarly, or research use favors fair use. Commercial, non-educational uses, often do not favor fair use.
• A transformative use (repurposing or recontextualizing the in-copyright material) favors fair use. Examining, analyzing, and explicating the material in a meaningful way, so as to enhance a reader's understanding, strengthens your fair use argument. In other words, can you make the point in the thesis without using, for instance, an in-copyright image? Is that image necessary to your dissertation? If not, perhaps, for copyright reasons, you should not include the image.  

2) What is the nature of the work to be used?

• Published, fact-based content favors fair use and includes scholarly analysis in published academic venues. 
• Creative works, including artistic images, are afforded more protection under copyright, and depending on your use in light of the other factors, may be less likely to favor fair use; however, this does not preclude considerations of fair use for creative content altogether.

3) How much of the work is going to be used?  

• Small, or less significant, amounts favor fair use. A good rule of thumb is to use only as much of the in-copyright content as necessary to serve your purpose. Can you use a thumbnail rather than a full-resolution image? Can you use a black-and-white photo instead of color? Can you quote select passages instead of including several pages of the content? These simple changes bolster your fair use of the material.

4) What potential effect on the market for that work may your use have?

• If there is a market for licensing this exact use or type of educational material, then this weighs against fair use. If however, there would likely be no effect on the potential commercial market, or if it is not possible to obtain permission to use the work, then this favors fair use. 

For further assistance with fair use, consult the Office for Scholarly Communication's guide, Fair Use: Made for the Harvard Community and the Office of the General Counsel's Copyright and Fair Use: A Guide for the Harvard Community .

What are my options if I don’t have a strong fair use claim? 

Consider the following options if you find you cannot reasonably make a fair use claim for the content you wish to incorporate:

• Seek permission from the copyright holder. 
• Use openly licensed content as an alternative to the original third-party content you intended to use. Openly-licensed content grants permission up-front for reuse of in-copyright content, provided your use meets the terms of the open license.
• Use content in the public domain, as this content is not in-copyright and is therefore free of all copyright restrictions. Whereas third-party content is owned by parties other than you, no one owns content in the public domain; everyone, therefore, has the right to use it.

For use of images in your dissertation, please consult this guide to Finding Public Domain & Creative Commons Media , which is a great resource for finding images without copyright restrictions. 

Who can help me with questions about copyright and fair use?

Contact your Copyright First Responder . Please note, Copyright First Responders assist with questions concerning copyright and fair use, but do not assist with the process of obtaining permission from copyright holders.

Pages should be assigned a number except for the Dissertation Acceptance Certificate . Preliminary pages (abstract, table of contents, list of tables, graphs, illustrations, and preface) should use small Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, v, etc.). All pages must contain text or images.  

Count the title page as page i and the copyright page as page ii, but do not print page numbers on either page .

For the body of text, use Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) starting with page 1 on the first page of text. Page numbers must be centered throughout the manuscript at the top or bottom. Every numbered page must be consecutively ordered, including tables, graphs, illustrations, and bibliography/index (if included); letter suffixes (such as 10a, 10b, etc.) are not allowed. It is customary not to have a page number on the page containing a chapter heading.

• Check pagination carefully. Account for all pages.

A copy of the Dissertation Acceptance Certificate (DAC) should appear as the first page. This page should not be counted or numbered. The DAC will appear in the online version of the published dissertation. The author name and date on the DAC and title page should be the same. 

The dissertation begins with the title page; the title should be as concise as possible and should provide an accurate description of the dissertation. The author name and date on the DAC and title page should be the same. 

• Do not print a page number on the title page. It is understood to be page  i  for counting purposes only.

A copyright notice should appear on a separate page immediately following the title page and include the copyright symbol ©, the year of first publication of the work, and the name of the author:

© [ year ] [ Author’s Name ] All rights reserved.

Alternatively, students may choose to license their work openly under a  Creative Commons  license. The author remains the copyright holder while at the same time granting up-front permission to others to read, share, and (depending on the license) adapt the work, so long as proper attribution is given. (By default, under copyright law, the author reserves all rights; under a Creative Commons license, the author reserves some rights.)

• Do  not  print a page number on the copyright page. It is understood to be page  ii  for counting purposes only.

An abstract, numbered as page  iii , should immediately follow the copyright page and should state the problem, describe the methods and procedures used, and give the main results or conclusions of the research. The abstract will appear in the online and bound versions of the dissertation and will be published by ProQuest. There is no maximum word count for the abstract. 

• double-spaced
• left-justified
• indented on the first line of each paragraph
• The author’s name, right justified
• The words “Dissertation Advisor:” followed by the advisor’s name, left-justified (a maximum of two advisors is allowed)
• Title of the dissertation, centered, several lines below author and advisor

Dissertations divided into sections must contain a table of contents that lists, at minimum, the major headings in the following order:

• Front Matter
• Body of Text
• Back Matter

Front matter includes (if applicable):

• acknowledgements of help or encouragement from individuals or institutions
• a dedication
• a list of illustrations or tables
• a glossary of terms
• one or more epigraphs.

Back matter includes (if applicable):

• bibliography
• supplemental materials, including figures and tables
• an index (in rare instances).

Supplemental figures and tables must be placed at the end of the dissertation in an appendix, not within or at the end of a chapter. If additional digital information (including audio, video, image, or datasets) will accompany the main body of the dissertation, it should be uploaded as a supplemental file through ProQuest ETD . Supplemental material will be available in DASH and ProQuest and preserved digitally in the Harvard University Archives.

As a matter of copyright, dissertations comprising the student's previously published works must be authorized for distribution from DASH. The guidelines in this section pertain to any previously published material that requires permission from publishers or other rightsholders before it may be distributed from DASH. Please note:

• Authors whose publishing agreements grant the publisher exclusive rights to display, distribute, and create derivative works will need to seek the publisher's permission for nonexclusive use of the underlying works before the dissertation may be distributed from DASH.
• Authors whose publishing agreements indicate the authors have retained the relevant nonexclusive rights to the original materials for display, distribution, and the creation of derivative works may distribute the dissertation as a whole from DASH without need for further permissions.

It is recommended that authors consult their publishing agreements directly to determine whether and to what extent they may have transferred exclusive rights under copyright. The Office for Scholarly Communication (OSC) is available to help the author determine whether she has retained the necessary rights or requires permission. Please note, however, the Office of Scholarly Communication is not able to assist with the permissions process itself.

• Missing Dissertation Acceptance Certificate.  The first page of the PDF dissertation file should be a scanned copy of the Dissertation Acceptance Certificate (DAC). This page should not be counted or numbered as a part of the dissertation pagination.
• Conflicts Between the DAC and the Title Page.  The DAC and the dissertation title page must match exactly, meaning that the author name and the title on the title page must match that on the DAC. If you use your full middle name or just an initial on one document, it must be the same on the other document.  
• Abstract Formatting Errors. The advisor name should be left-justified, and the author's name should be right-justified. Up to two advisor names are allowed. The Abstract should be double spaced and include the page title “Abstract,” as well as the page number “iii.” There is no maximum word count for the abstract. 
•  The front matter should be numbered using Roman numerals (iii, iv, v, …). The title page and the copyright page should be counted but not numbered. The first printed page number should appear on the Abstract page (iii). 
• The body of the dissertation should be numbered using Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, …). The first page of the body of the text should begin with page 1. Pagination may not continue from the front matter. 
• All page numbers should be centered either at the top or the bottom of the page.
• Figures and tables Figures and tables must be placed within the text, as close to their first mention as possible. Figures and tables that span more than one page must be labeled on each page. Any second and subsequent page of the figure/table must include the “(Continued)” notation. This applies to figure captions as well as images. Each page of a figure/table must be accounted for and appropriately labeled. All figures/tables must have a unique number. They may not repeat within the dissertation.
• Any figures/tables placed in a horizontal orientation must be placed with the top of the figure/ table on the left-hand side. The top of the figure/table should be aligned with the spine of the dissertation when it is bound. 
• Page numbers must be placed in the same location on all pages of the dissertation, centered, at the bottom or top of the page. Page numbers may not appear under the table/ figure.
• Supplemental Figures and Tables. Supplemental figures and tables must be placed at the back of the dissertation in an appendix. They should not be placed at the back of the chapter. 
• Permission Letters Copyright. permission letters must be uploaded as a supplemental file, titled ‘do_not_publish_permission_letters,” within the dissertation submission tool.
•  DAC Attachment. The signed Dissertation Acceptance Certificate must additionally be uploaded as a document in the "Administrative Documents" section when submitting in Proquest ETD . Dissertation submission is not complete until all documents have been received and accepted.
• Overall Formatting. The entire document should be checked after all revisions, and before submitting online, to spot any inconsistencies or PDF conversion glitches.
• You can view dissertations successfully published from your department in DASH . This is a great place to check for specific formatting and area-specific conventions.
• Contact the  Office of Student Affairs  with further questions.

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Senior Thesis Formatting Guidelines

Contents and form.

Length : The required length is between 10,000 and 20,000 words, not counting notes, bibliography, and appendices. The precise length of the main body text must be indicated on the word count page  immediately following the title page . If a student expects the thesis to exceed 20,000 words, the student’s tutor should consult the Director of Studies. Please note that students’ requests to exceed 20,000 words must go through their tutors and that these requests must be made in early February. Any extension of the thesis beyond the maximum must be justified by the nature of the topic, or sustained excellence in the treatment of the subject, or both. Theses that receive permission to exceed 20,000 words can still be penalized if readers do not think that the excess length is warranted.

Acknowledgments : Please do not include acknowledgments in your final copy of the thesis. If you wish, you can add acknowledgments after your thesis has been read. Readers prefer not to know who directed your thesis, lest they be somehow swayed by that knowledge.

Illustrations : Illustrations, also called figures, might include anything from a photograph to a printed advertisement to a map to a chart. Illustrations may be inserted in the body of your thesis or included in an appendix at the end. Writers often choose to reference an illustration in the body of text, signaling to readers to refer to a particular figure that’s being discussed by turning to a nearby page or to an appendix (e.g., “See Figure 1.”) The inclusion of illustrations in a senior thesis, which has a fairly circumscribed audience, falls under fair use, so you do not need permissions to reproduce illustrations in your thesis. However, all images should be accompanied by a caption that identifies the image and may include brief explanatory text. You may also use the caption to attribute the source where you found the illustration (e.g., a url or the name of the archive where you photographed the item), or you can cite the illustration in a footnote or endnote. You do not need to cite your images in your bibliography. For more detailed guidelines on including illustrations in your thesis, see The Chicago Manual of Style or the MLA Style Manual .

Format : Pages should be 8 1/2" x 11". Margins should be 1 inch, and pages should be numbered. Do not right-justify. The lines of type must be double-spaced, except for quotations of five lines or more, which should be indented and single-spaced.

Style : If you have questions beyond those covered on this page, consult the University of Chicago's A Manual of Style or the Modern Language Association's Style Manual . Kate L. Turabian's A Manual for Writers is a good, inexpensive, brief guide to Chicago style. The Expository Writing Program guide, Writing with Sources , is very useful.

Table of Contents : Every thesis requires a Table of Contents to guide the reader.

Quotations : Quotations of four lines or fewer, surrounded by quotation marks, may be incorporated into the body of the text. Longer extracts should be indented and single-spaced; they should not be included in quotation marks. Each full quotation should be accompanied by a reference. Follow the general practice in the best periodicals in your field, and be consistent. Foreign words that are not quotations should be underlined or italicized.

Appendices : An appendix provides additional material that helps support your argument and is too lengthy to be included as a footnote or endnote. Appendices might include images, passages from primary texts in a non-English language or in your translation, or archival material that is difficult to access. It is rare but perfectly acceptable for theses to include appendices, so make sure to discuss with your tutor whether an appendix makes sense for your project.

Notes : You may use either footnotes (at bottom of page), endnotes (at end of the thesis) or MLA style parenthetical notes. However, for a History & Literature thesis, Chicago style is generally better. Footnote or endnotes are properly used:

• To state precisely the source or other authority for a statement in the text, or to acknowledge indebtedness for insights or arguments taken from other writers. Quotations should be given when necessary.
• To make minor qualifications, to prevent misunderstanding, or otherwise to clarify the text when such statements, if put in the text, would interrupt the flow.
• To carry further some topic discussed in the text, when such discussion is needed but does not fit into the text.

Bibliography : You must append a list of works cited to your thesis. It's a good idea to compile your bibliography as you write, rather than try to put it together all at once at the end (there are very powerful bibliography programs available, such as Zotero and Endnote, that generate bibliographies automatically). The purpose of the bibliography is to be a convenience to your reader. In the works cited list, primary and secondary sources should be listed under separate headings.

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How Many Pages is a Thesis or Dissertation: Masters to PhD

• by Judy Jeni
• January 30, 2024

A thesis is a written document by a student in support of candidature for professional qualifications or academic degrees.

It presents the student’s research and findings. A thesis has its structure and presentation styles. But one may ask, how many pages is a thesis?

Furthermore, do the college, master’s, and Ph.D. projects have the same page numbers? A typical thesis paper has a title page, abstract, and table of contents. We have chapters like introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussions, and a reference section.

How Many Pages is a General Thesis

From experience, a thesis, in general, is between 40-80 pages long, excluding the bibliography pages. This length however depends on the level of study, the type of research to be conducted, and the expectations of the institution you are presenting it to.

Also, the structure difference is attributed to the areas of study—for instance, arts, technology, social sciences, humanities, sciences, etc.

In addition, the method of analysis contributes to the increase or decrease of the page numbers. The format of your thesis is presented in three outlines:

• The first outline consists of the abstract, table of content, and introduction.
• The second outline has the methods of research you used, your findings, and your discussion of the same.
• The last outline has your research conclusions, accompanying recommendations, and your list of references.

Even though there are no set standards on the number of pages, the quality of your work precedes your quantity.

How Many Pages is a Thesis for College

A college thesis is from 40 pages and above so that it can cover the contents of the topic and research being undertaken. However, this length depends on your area of study and the teacher’s guidelines dictate the structure of your writing. Although each thesis is different, they all have common elements.

The typical outline has an abstract, an introduction, research methods, and findings, and lastly, a conclusion and a bibliography section.

To be able to have your paper have all the necessary points and required length;

• Start by arranging your paper as a logical argument before you start to write.
• Have figures that illustrate your argument
• The background of your argument is your introduction, describe the information used in your argument as the points in your observation, analyze your issues and come up with your conclusion.
• Outline the main elements in sections and subsections
• Start to write your college thesis.

How Many Pages is a Thesis for Masters or PhD

On average, a master’s thesis or a PhD dissertation is between 120 pages and 200 pages long without counting the bibliography and the appendices. However, the length of a thesis is determined by the depth of your research and the technical nature of the research being conducted.

Also, the literature review and discussion sections determine the length of the project. Always remember to write for brevity rather than length.

No matter the length of your dissertation, always remember that you need to follow the instructions and be brief. Your thesis aims to have all the necessary information discussing your work and supporting your interpretation.

A master’s thesis is close to a doctoral dissertation, but it is shorter and has a narrow focus on the topic of discussion. To understand the length of a thesis for both master’s and Ph.D., first, let’s look at the parts that carry the length.

Purpose and Significance of your Study

In chapter one, you start by outlining the purpose of your study and its significance. The significance is shown by explaining how the study adds to the theoretical knowledge and its practical significance.

For a Ph.D. thesis, students discuss how their research makes a unique contribution to the knowledge in their disciplines.

Additionally, they discuss the significance of their study to the general people.

Chapter one of your thesis should be well developed to give you a clear focus and direction for your entire thesis.

Literature Review

Chapter two discusses the literature review. Here you discuss the theoretical framework of your literature. Besides discussing what other researchers have found, you should analyze and discuss your body of knowledge.

The aim here should be to expound on what is known and what is not known on your topic of discussion. The above will assist you in writing your research question or the hypothesis.

Methodology

Chapter three expounds on your methodology. Discuss the methods you used to gather data for your thesis. In addition, you will write about how you analyzed your data.

Start by discussing the method you used to gather your raw data and why your preference was appropriate. Remember to cite the reference literature on the technique.

Although this chapter varies based on the method and analysis technique used, give a detailed procedure you used to gather and analyze your data.

The following are the subtopics of this section;

• Description of research design
• Description of population and justification for sampling method used
• Describe the method or instrument of making observations and its administration
• Description of data analysis, tests performed, and statistical analysis. Also, discuss the qualitative or historical research.

In chapter four discuss the results from your data analysis only. Do not include other research findings or the implications of your findings.

Start by explaining any descriptive analysis. For example, factory analysis or reliability tests that were conducted.

Continue to talk about the findings of your hypothesis test. Extensively, use tables and figures to represent numerical data from your findings.

The qualitative and historical research is organized by the themes found in your research.

Lastly, chapter five shows what your findings mean concerning the theoretical knowledge of your topic. Although this chapter is somehow skimmed, it should be seen as important as it answers the question “so what…”

Start by explaining your findings concerning the theoretical passage presented in the literature review. With qualitative research, you may as well introduce new literature. Alongside,doctoral students should demonstrate the pedagogical implications of the findings to mass education.

The chapter also continues to discuss the limitations encountered in your research. Alongside, propose areas of future research. Have a solid final closure with a brief conclusion.

Factors Determining the Length of a Thesis

The following factors determine the length of your thesis

Your Area of Study

Your area of learning or the discipline dictates how long your thesis will be. The subject determines whether you will write longer literature reviews or collection of more data.

It should be noted that this will also affect the time it takes to complete your thesis because the demands of your subject will eat on your valuable time. Both lead to a longer or a shorter thesis or dissertation.

Nature of Your Project

The scope of your thesis will reflect on the length of your thesis. For example, the introduction length is dictated by the total word count of your thesis.

It should not exceed ten percent of your total word count. As an illustration, if your total words are eight thousand, your introduction should be up to 800 words.

Tips on How to Lengthen your Thesis

There are numerous ways you can use to reach the required word count or required pages.  You may increase the margin of your paper, but you might anger your professor. The following are better ways of lengthening your thesis.

1. Ensure you have included Everything

Check whether you have answered all the questions required by your research. In addition, include as much background material as possible. This will give you data that you will use to increase your word count.

Finding something that you have forgotten could be the reason why your thesis is shorter.

2. Intertwine Transitional Phrases in your Writing

Using transitional phrases is a natural way of lengthening your thesis. In addition, they help your reader follow through as they can connect your thoughts. Transition phrases assist you in moving from one idea to the next clearly and concisely.

3. Use Quotations

When referring to other people’s work, you use quotation marks.

Besides spicing your thesis, you can increase the size of your thesis.

Incorporating other writers’ work strengthens your arguments.

4. Review Your Introduction and Conclusion

Ideas come to you as you reread your work. Go through your introduction again to check whether there is a point you have left behind.

Ensure you have expounded on your points, and you are sure your reader will thoroughly understand your points. Also, do the same to your conclusion.

5. Spell Out Numbers or Contractions

Instead of writing numbers in figures, write them in words. Substitute “8” by writing eight. Instead of “we’re,” write the whole word- we are. However, this is limited by the style you are required to submit your thesis on.

6. Use Break-Up Paragraphs

Your work could be comprised of long paragraphs; break them to ensure a paragraph has fewer sentences. Besides increasing your thesis pages, you will make your work more readable. People prefer reading broken-down content.

Reference management. Clean and simple.

How long are thesis statements? [with examples]

What is the proper length of a thesis statement?

Examples of thesis statements, frequently asked questions about the length of thesis statements, related articles.

If you find yourself in the process of writing a thesis statement but you don't know how long it should be, you've come to right place. In the next paragraphs you will learn about the most efficient way to write a thesis statement and how long it should be.

A thesis statement is a concise description of your work’s aim.

The short answer is: one or two sentences. The more i n-depth answer: as your writing evolves, and as you write longer papers, your thesis statement will typically be at least two, and often more, sentences. The thesis of a scholarly article may have three or four long sentences.

The point is to write a well-formed statement that clearly sets out the argument and aim of your research. A one sentence thesis is fine for shorter papers, but make sure it's a full, concrete statement. Longer thesis statements should follow the same rule; be sure that your statement includes essential information and resist too much exposition.

Here are some basic rules for thesis statement lengths based on the number of pages:

• 5 pages : 1 sentence
• 5-8 pages : 1 or 2 sentences
• 8-13 pages : 2 or 3 sentences
• 13-23 pages : 3 or 4 sentences
• Over 23 pages : a few sentences or a paragraph

Joe Haley, a former writing instructor at Johns Hopkins University exemplified in this forum post the different sizes a thesis statement can take. For a paper on Jane Austen's  Pride and Prejudice,  someone could come up with these two theses:

In Jane Austen's  Pride and Prejudice , gossip is an important but morally ambiguous tool for shaping characters' opinions of each other.

As the aforementioned critics have noted, the prevalence of gossip in Jane Austen's  oeuvre  does indeed reflect the growing prominence of an explicitly-delineated private sphere in nineteenth-century British society. However, in contrast with these critics' general conclusions about Austen and class, which tend to identify her authorial voice directly with the bourgeois mores shaping her appropriation of the  bildungsroman,  the ambiguity of this communicative mode in  Pride and Prejudice  suggests that when writing at the height of her authorial powers, at least, Austen is capable of skepticism and even self-critique. For what is the narrator of her most celebrated novel if not its arch-gossip  par excellence ?

Both statements are equally sound, but the second example clearly belongs in a longer paper. In the end, the length of your thesis statement will depend on the scope of your work.

There is no exact word count for a thesis statement, since the length depends on your level of knowledge and expertise. A two sentence thesis statement would be between 20-50 words.

The length of the work will determine how long your thesis statement is. A concise thesis is typically between 20-50 words. A paragraph is also acceptable for a thesis statement; however, anything over one paragraph is probably too long.

Here is a list of Thesis Statement Examples that will help you understand better how long they can be.

As a high school student, you are not expected to have an elaborate thesis statement. A couple of clear sentences indicating the aim of your essay will be more than enough.

Here is a YouTube tutorial that will help you write a thesis statement: How To Write An Essay: Thesis Statements by Ariel Bisset.

• 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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Understand College Campus and Student Body Size

Find the right college for you., how the size of a college impacts your experience.

College is often the first time students like you are away from home and living on their own. You’ll meet people from countless cultures, different backgrounds, and every age group. And with just a little bit of openness, you can make lifelong friendships.

A key factor in your college experience could be the size of the student body, as well as the campus size. These factors directly impact everything from the social scene to available programs and even the people you meet.

Large universities may have a wide variety of programs and activities to participate in, but at a smaller institution you’ll benefit from the more intimate experience of a tight-knit community. You can also take advantage of more advisory support. Carefully consider which option might be best for you.

How Many Sizes Do Colleges Come In?

Colleges in the U.S. range from 5,000 to 15,000 enrolled students. Moreover, some institutions have just a few hundred students while others have more than 60,000. The average college size is 6,354 students, according to a 2020 survey by the U.S. News & World Report. Let’s take a look at how population size varies across different types of schools.

How Big Are Universities?

Though the terms “university” and “college” are used interchangeably in the U.S. (and in this article), a university technically refers to a larger institution that offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate programs. You’ll often see individual departments within a university referred to as colleges, such as the “College of Education.”

As such, a university is usually larger than a college that focuses on a few areas. For both universities and colleges, a population size is considered small when it has under 5,000 students and large when it has over 15,000 students.

Are Private Schools Smaller Than Public Schools?

Because private colleges or universities tend to have more focused curricula and higher tuition costs, they're usually smaller than public schools. Public universities and colleges receive government funding, offer more programs, and have a larger student population.

Do State Schools Have Larger Student Populations?

Although the student population varies from school to school, public state colleges have larger student populations than their private counterparts. Of the top 10 colleges that enrolled the most undergraduates in 2020, only one was a private institution.

How Does College Size Relate to Class Size?

The sizes of your classes in college will have a significant effect on your overall learning experience and social life. If you're attending a large university, you can expect to have some classes in lecture halls, sometimes with well over 100 students. Think about the type of environment you prefer to learn in. Consider how college size might impact that. If you prefer smaller classes, a small college is right for you. Learn more about campus size by reviewing each college profile on BigFuture.

Regardless of the college you attend, your classes will be larger in your first few semesters. Class sizes shrink as you move into higher-level, major-specific courses.

Class Size Can Be Misleading.

Trying to quantify the average college class size can be misleading. In truth, no matter what the size of your college is, you’ll have a wide range of classes sizes during your college career. The “average class size in college” is simply a median of all classes across different programs. The average class size you’ll personally experience probably won’t reflect this median. Even students within the same major can take the same classes and still experience a noticeable difference in size. Say, for example, that a student takes classes for their major later in the afternoon or evening because of a daytime job. They’ll have fewer students in their class because more of their peers will attend during the day.

The larger the population of your school, the larger your class sizes will be. The benefits of small class size in college are more hands-on learning, a stronger relationship with your professors, and the opportunity to stand out.

How Does the Size of College Impact the Social Climate on Campus?

A big campus often means a big social life. Large universities will be teeming with activities during the semester. From Greek life to sporting events, there won’t be a dull moment.

Want to take up indoor cycling in your spare time? Trying to find a club that celebrates your cultural heritage? A large campus has a larger selection of activities to choose from, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find a community at a small institution.

Because smaller colleges have fewer students, you may find that classmates are closer to one another and have a stronger sense of community. Campus activities can often overlap, and you may see the same faces. Regardless of whether you attend a large or small institution, you’ll find ways to build community through shared interests or common majors.

How Does the Student Population Affect Your Social Life?

Social life at school is all about what you make of it regardless of population size. Think about the ways you make friends and engage with others. Consider whether a small school or large school could be a better fit for you. Maybe you like to participate in a dozen different clubs and activities to find friends. Perhaps you prefer being part of smaller campus with more opportunities to stand out among your peers. Regardless of campus size, you’ll have the opportunity to build deep friendships and explore various activities. But keep this in mind when making your choice: Campus size can inform your overall college experience.

Does the Size of a College Determine the Activities Offered?

You’ll often see a seemingly infinite number of activities offered at colleges, and some of this is because of the large size of the campus. However, smaller institutions can have more freedom of choice. Students have autonomy. They’re able to create clubs and activities that interest them.

Do Larger Schools Offer More Intramural Sports?

Most colleges will have intramural sports, but a larger school means more sports to choose from and more events. If you’re enthusiastic about playing sports recreationally and you want to make friends through sports in college, then the population size is definitely something to consider. It’s a good idea to check with the institutions you are applying to see if there’s a particular club or activity you hope to participate in.

Do Smaller Schools Offer More or Fewer Clubs Than Larger Colleges?

Smaller schools will usually offer fewer clubs than larger schools, but that doesn’t mean you can’t participate in things that interest you if you attend a small college. If you can find enough students who share your hobbies and passions, start your own club.

Finding the Right College

When choosing the college that’s right for you, population size matters. It’s important to consider what type of environment and location you’ll be happiest in. The number of students will shape the way you make friends, learn in class, and get involved in activities. Use the BigFuture college search feature to make sure the size of your chosen school lines up with your goals and aspirations, or learn more with Sizing Up Colleges: Big vs Small .

Related Articles

• Sustainability

Harward Center

By Dionne Chen '26 . Published on April 21, 2024

Student Reflections on the work of Dr. Davarian Baldwin

This past Fall, the Harward Center hosted a faculty/staff book circle focused on Dr. Davarian Baldwin’s book, In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities are Plundering Our Cities (2021). Facilitated by Associate Professor of Digital and Computational Studies Anelise Hanson Shrout, the book circle brought twenty faculty and staff together for three lunchtime discussions of the provocative ideas presented in the book. Inspired by these discussions, the Harward Center teamed up with the college’s Office of Equity and Inclusion to host the author at Bates at the end of February. During his visit, Dr. Baldwin gave a public presentation, met with book circle members and other interested faculty and staff, and also made time to meet with students. In this blog post I share reflections on some of the issues raised by Baldwin from a student standpoint. 

In his book and public presentation at Bates, Baldwin discussed how across America, universities have become big businesses—and the cities they are located in are becoming new versions of “company towns.” Universities bring plenty of assets to the communities where they are located, but there is a clear cost to those who live in their shadow. Among the negative impacts of the expanding economic power of colleges and universities is gentrification, as the neighborhoods nearest campus are often bought up for housing and other services aimed at the campus community, resulting in the displacement of current residents. Many universities also have their own policing units and policies, which often lead to profiling and other exclusionary practices for off-campus community members. While most colleges and universities have programs aimed at supporting positive campus-community relationships, Dr. Baldwin noted that many of them prioritize campus-based outcomes, such as student learning or convenient retail options, over community well-being; as such, these programs arguably do more harm than good when it comes to the wider community. We might wonder if these programs and centers have the community’s actual interest at heart, or if they are merely the next “shiny thing” to feature in an Admissions brochure or to pad students’ resumes.

With these arguments in mind, I spoke with one of the Bates students who was able to attend Dr. Baldwin’s presentation and also meet with him the following day to continue the conversation. Isaac Levinger ‘24, a Harward Center Bonner Fellow, sociology major, and a member of the Varsity Men’s Crew team, was one of several students who had the chance to sit down with Dr. Baldwin during his time at Bates.

Among the cautionary tales relevant to Baldwin’s argument that Isaac and I discussed was Yale University in New Haven, an institution notorious for displacing residents as it buys up much of the city. That’s an example of a “hostile takeover.” Also in Connecticut, at Dr. Baldwin’s own institution, he mentioned how Trinity College chose to locate its community engagement center in a richer area of Hartford instead of an area that would benefit substantially more from community engagement work. For me, I immediately think of Columbia University in NYC and its displacement of low income Harlem residents in order to expand the university’s footprint.

With these examples in mind, I asked Isaac what he thought about Bates’s Harward Center for Community Partnerships. Does it do more harm than good when it comes to Lewiston? While Isaac and I agree that Bates can still do a lot better when it comes to college-community relationships, we also believe the Harward Center is operating considerably better than the aforementioned schools. Isaac specifically mentioned Aspirations Days, which bring middle school students to Bates to learn about diverse possible future pathways, including college and vocational training, and explore their questions about higher education. Considering this and other programs, Isaac noted that “the work supported by the Harward Center is done mindfully, so that the emphasis is less about Bates and more about Lewiston.” 

A key to this approach is the fact that most Harward Center staff live in and are deeply involved in the local community, not simply through their Bates jobs but in every aspect of their lives. As a result, they have knowledge about community issues because they are part of the initiatives that are addressing those issues, and they have long-term relationships with a wide range of people and organizations that inform the work they do at Bates. Isaac singled out the amazing work done by Peggy Rotundo and Kristen Cloutier. Peggy, a Maine state senator, used to work at the Harward Center and was a highly effective connector of students to local and statewide opportunities. Kristen, who was the previous Mayor of Lewiston and is now Assistant House Majority Leader in Augusta, is also the Harward Center’s Associate Director for Center Operations, exemplifying for Bates students what a life of public service can look like. “Peggy and Kristen’s primary interests are Lewiston and Maine, so they are finding students with much more aligned values rather than just getting jobs for kids.” 

Of course, Bates is still an elite college that has a lot of wealth compared to the rest of Lewiston, which naturally causes friction. The reality is that the Bates annual tuition ($83k) is double the median annual income of Lewiston residents. “The Bates Bubble” is real, and something both Isaac and I experience first hand. Unless we engage with Lewiston directly, with guidance and support from the Harward Center, it is very easy to see Bates and Lewiston as totally separate. In all, Dr. Baldwin’s talk and work reminds us to be mindful of the cities/towns we consider temporary homes, as it is much more permanent for the people already living here. “We must make sure local people don’t get priced out of their community spaces, and ensure we are mindfully engaging with them for the right reasons and in the right ways.”

A Look at What's in the $95 Billion Foreign Aid Package Passed by the House

The House's $95 billion foreign aid package provides military aid to Ukraine and Israel, replenishes U.S. weapons systems and gives humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza

A Look at What's in the $95 Billion Foreign Aid Package Passed by the House

Matt Rourke

FILE -155 mm M795 artillery projectiles are stacked during manufacturing process at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Scranton, Pa., Thursday, April 13, 2023. The Pentagon could get weapons moving to Ukraine within days if Congress passes a long-delayed aid bill. That's because it has a network of storage sites in the U.S. and Europe that already hold the ammunition and air defense components that Kyiv desperately needs. Moving fast is critical, CIA Director Bill Burns said Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

A look at what's in the $95 billion package passed by the House on Saturday that will provide military aid to Ukraine and Israel, replenish U.S. weapons systems and give humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.

Senate passage is expected this coming week. President Joe Biden has promised to sign the package as soon as he gets it.

The broad spending breakdown:

—about $61 billion for Ukraine and replenishing U.S. weapons stockpiles. The overall amount provided to Ukraine for the purchase of weapons would be $13.8 billion. Ukraine would receive more than $9 billion of economic assistance in the form of “forgivable loans.”

—about $26 billion for supporting Israel and providing humanitarian relief for people in Gaza. About $4 billion of that would be dedicated to replenishing Israel’s missile defense systems. More than $9 billion of the total would go toward humanitarian assistance in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war .

—about $8 billion for helping U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific region and countering China. More than $3.3 billion would go toward submarine infrastructure and development, with an additional $1.9 billion to replenish U.S. weapons provided to Taiwan and other regional allies.

Photos You Should See - April 2024

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What Is a Magazine Now?

Highsnobiety is a store, a website, a production agency and a clothing line. Oh, and Pamela Anderson is on the latest cover.

Willa Bennett, the editor of Highsnobiety, at the Bowling Green subway station near its offices in New York. Credit... Lanna Apisukh for The New York Times

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By Jessica Testa

• April 18, 2024

“To be perfectly honest with you, I needed a few Americans to tell me what it means to win this award,” said David Fischer, the founder of the company Highsnobiety.

Mr. Fischer was sitting in an airport in Spain, wearing a denim jacket and a designer baseball cap. About 10 days earlier, in New York City, Highsnobiety won a National Magazine Award for general excellence — its first nomination and win at the Oscars of the magazine world.

“I’m not a journalist by background, nor would I consider myself a great writer,” Mr. Fischer, 41, who lives in Berlin, said.

He started Highsnobiety as a sneaker blog in 2005. Today it is a website that covers fashion and youth culture broadly. It is also a clothing store and clothing line and, more lucratively, a creative consultancy and production agency. In other words, Highsnobiety writes about and recommends T-shirts, but it also makes its own T-shirts, sells and advertises other labels’ T-shirts, advises brands on how to market their T-shirts and throws big parties in honor of T-shirts.

But is Highsnobiety a media company? “It’s certainly not a clear yes,” Mr. Fischer said. “I was mostly interested in finding exciting new things and putting those things in front of the audience. And I suppose I was always excited about building a brand, more than anything.”

The magazine is printed twice a year. Its stories and images are frenetic, meant to speak to readers who are either young and cool or interested in being young and cool. The editor in chief is Willa Bennett, who ran social media at GQ magazine until 2022.

On the April night she accepted Highsnobiety’s National Magazine Award, her former boss, the GQ editor Will Welch, was “hooting and hollering” (his words) for the 30-year-old woman. She wore a gray Thom Browne suit with a matching skirt layered over the pants, and black Tabi cleft-toe shoes. She spoke into a microphone about how magazines are important and how print media matters.

Neither is a given in the current media landscape. About six months ago, Condé Nast announced it would cut five percent of its work force, following some years of turmoil and nine-figure annual losses . Hearst Magazines announced layoffs in 2023. So did, for that matter , Highsnobiety.

And yet people are still making magazines. Nylon returned to print this month; last month, the new owners of Complex magazine and Life magazine announced print resuscitations. In New York, new indie titles like Family Style and Byline have emerged.

Ms. Bennett is idealistic about this future. She is generally cheerful, prone to skipping down sidewalks, even while wearing a smirk that borrows more from Daria than Mary Tyler Moore. She is also uncommonly curious about people — especially young people, whose ideas and skills she mines for the magazine.

“I believe it’s my responsibility to, like, make sure that young people still dream of being journalists,” she said. “We just need to keep iterating and continuing to stretch what it means.”

Ms. Bennett is known to wear a suit and tie to work most days, not unlike the workers surrounding her in Manhattan’s financial district.

Highsnobiety’s offices rise 11 floors above the Charging Bull sculpture. On one wall, the words “Virgil was here” are scrawled beneath the company’s logo. The designer Virgil Abloh shared many of the same interests as Highsnobiety: adolescence, corporate collaborations, the blurring of high-end fashion and “ streetwear .”

Ms. Bennett’s cube-shaped office houses various gifts. She has an action figure of the rapper ASAP Rocky, dressed in an outfit from his Highsnobiety photo shoot. She has a skateboard and a basketball hoop, though she neither skates nor hoops. There is a framed thank-you note from Donatella Versace and a receipt for $19,010 from the Château Marmont in Hollywood, where Highsnobiety co-hosted a dinner before the Grammys in February.

Inside a conference room named after the famous Berlin nightclub Berghain, Ms. Bennett hosts regular brainstorming sessions. It is here, for example, that she was inspired to pursue a cover story on Dries Van Noten, the 65-year-old Belgian designer who recently announced his retirement .

“We were all talking about how Dries is the best,” she said. “This consistent designer that young people can always trust.”

The spring issue had three cover stars: Mr. Van Noten, the musician Andre 3000 (age 48) and the model-actress Pamela Anderson (age 56), none of whom seem like intuitive choices for a magazine that typically concerns itself with young emerging talent. The previous three cover stars were the rapper Lil Yachty (26), the TikToker Khaby Lame (24) — a story Ms. Bennett assigned to a fellow TikToker, whom she later realized was still a sophomore at New York University — and the model Grace Valentine (23).

Still, even if the subjects were older, Highsnobiety’s approach to them was not. “Pamela Anderson Is Mother,” one headline read. Ms. Anderson was a more personal choice for Ms. Bennett, who wrote in the issue that Ms. Anderson’s 1989 Playboy cover once hung on her bedroom wall.

On that cover, Ms. Anderson wore a blazer and tie and nothing else. She wore a blazer and tie on her Highsnobiety cover, too. Women are often styled in men’s wear in the magazine’s pages. Squint a little and Billie Eilish, the first cover star chosen by Ms. Bennett , bears a resemblance to the editor — the bare face, the dark hair with a middle part, the head tilted slightly downward. She looks as if she’s glaring at you, but really it’s more like she’s taking the measure of you.

Ms. Bennett also studies people, more comfortable asking questions than answering them. (How was your day? What are your favorite brands? Do you like writing?) Standing outside Cubbyhole, a West Village lesbian bar, she would only point vaguely in a direction when asked where in the neighborhood she lived with her partner, a television writer.

The personal details she was willing to part with were these: Ms. Bennett grew up in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles and attended the private school Oakwood. Her parents were divorced. She lived with her mother, a therapist who moved to Hawaii when she was in college. Her father, a prominent music manager, lived in Nashville for most of her life. She wears his birth year, 1950, on a silver ring.

Ms. Bennett came out when she was a teenager, she said, in the comments section of the Australian pop star Troye Sivan’s coming-out YouTube video — an anecdote she later shared with Mr. Sivan while they were seated next to each other at a Prada runway show.

She had always wanted to be a writer. “At the time, ‘Twilight’ was huge,” Ms. Bennett said. “I was like, I’m going to write the gay ‘Twilight.’”

But she was also drawn from a young age to the power of magazine covers — not only Ms. Anderson on Playboy, but also Cory Kennedy on Nylon and Megan Fox on GQ. “What does it mean for a men’s magazine to have someone like Megan Fox on the cover?” she said.

A onetime ballerina, Ms. Bennett attended Sarah Lawrence College on a dance scholarship. When she told her adviser she wanted to write for magazines, the adviser suggested she write her thesis about the future of the industry. Instead Ms. Bennett pitched embedding in a middle school for four weeks, writing “about what teens are reading and how they’re reading it,” she said. The project helped her land a job after graduation at Seventeen.

“She really is a voice of and a champion of what young people care about,” Mr. Welch, the GQ editor, said. “And what young people care about isn’t exclusively, necessarily, all young subjects.”

Ms. Bennett, for example, doesn’t seem to hang out at bars or restaurants catering to the city’s cool 20-somethings. She spends her time at established fashion and media haunts, like Via Carota or Minetta Tavern or the Odeon. One recent Thursday night, walking into the Odeon in TriBeCa, she immediately recognized a few young editors sitting at a table outside the restaurant.

She used to work with them at GQ, she explained, bouncing over to the table to say hello. “They said they all work at Vogue now,” Ms. Bennett reported when she returned.

‘Larger Than Life’

By the end of 2005, Mr. Fischer was fielding brand requests to advertise on his sneaker blog. By 2010, those advertisements had shifted to sponsored content — or brands paying Highsnobiety to write positive pieces.

Over time, Mr. Fischer said, he realized branded stories “performed best if we shot our own imagery, too,” rather than republishing photos from the companies. This is how Highsnobiety gradually became “more like a full service creative agency, rather than just being a publisher.” Brands began asking Highsnobiety to host events, like pop-ups or parties related to the content Mr. Fischer’s team was producing.

“We always kept it very connected to our editorial,” he said.

Many companies that produce journalism have strict church-and-state divisions between editorial and advertising efforts. The division at Highsnobiety is more like “God and church,” said Nichelle Sanders, the general manager of Highsnobiety in the United States.

The journalism “inspires us in the commercial efforts that we create,” said Ms. Sanders, who also oversees Highsnobiety’s research papers of consumer insights into its audience. “The reason our clients come to us is because we can get into the brain of this amazing editorial team.”

Those clients include Champion, best known for its sweatsuits, when it’s looking to reach cooler, younger shoppers. Voilà, suddenly Champion and Highsnobiety are hosting a rave together during London Fashion Week, partnering with an edgy local radio station. (Highsnobiety once collaborated on a T-shirt with The New York Times, one of many products created for an event series celebrating New York.)

Mr. Fischer does not worry about his audience being skeptical of these paid partnerships.

“I think people have accepted that brands like Highsnobiety and influencers need to make a living,” he said. While it is an open secret in fashion media that some magazine covers and features can be bought outright by advertisers, with no disclosure to readers, Highsnobiety denies engaging in that kind of pay-for-play.

“They can go through the sales side, and they can buy branded content,” Ms. Bennett said. “They cannot buy a magazine cover.”

Although the company declined to provide specific financial figures, it is profitable, according to Juergen Hopfgartner, the president and chief operating officer. Its e-commerce business is also growing, aided by the resources of Zalando, an online German retailer that paid 123.6 million euros (about $131 million) to acquire Highsnobiety in 2022. In February, Highsnobiety opened a store in Berlin that, beyond selling products, will be used as a “brand activation space” for clients, Mr. Hopfgartner said.

All things considered, it is not surprising that Mr. Fischer described his company as a “weird mishmash of these different worlds.”

Lauren Sherman, the writer of the fashion industry newsletter Line Sheet, said that Highsnobiety “doesn’t feel like it comes from journalism.”

“It feels like it comes from commerce,” she continued. “But that’s very modern.”

And that may be what is required to find success in the dire publishing landscape of 2024. But a distinct, assertive voice also helps.

In less than two years, in addition to winning the National Magazine Award, Ms. Bennett has shifted Highsnobiety’s audience from predominantly male to a 50-50 gender split, Mr. Fischer said. At GQ, Mr. Welch said, Ms. Bennett possessed a rare confidence and fearlessness, particularly for someone who was both very young and technically in charge only of the social feeds.

“She has a bit of that larger-than-life thing that a lot of the leaders in this industry are missing now,” Ms. Sherman said.

In her slouchy suits, Ms. Bennett somewhat reminds Ms. Sherman of the editors with big personalities that she grew up idolizing, like Liz Tilberis of Harper’s Bazaar or Jane Pratt of Jane.

“People who are like that just don’t go into magazine publishing anymore,” Ms. Sherman said.

Jessica Testa is a Times reporter covering the worlds of style and fashion. More about Jessica Testa

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