Dissertation VS Thesis Know the Similarities and Differences

Posted on: December 9th, 2017

People outside the academic community consider the terms dissertation or thesis to be interchangeable. In the UK Scholars pursuing their master’s qualification will be intent on completing their dissertation. Similarly a thesis will need to be completed by scholars pursuing their doctorate qualification. The length of the overall project will also vary when we talk about a dissertation vs thesis UK standards of composition. Let us compare and contrast the features of a dissertation to the characteristics of a thesis.

Writing the Academic Undertaking:

Universities will require that the thesis or dissertation writing UK students deliver to their institute follow the prerequisites stipulated by the institute. Institutes will compel students to follow a certain format. Institutes will determine which sections need to be included in the thesis or dissertation and in what order. The institute will also stipulate exactly how to start dissertation and how long the abstract will be, which will be placed before all of the other contents. In the UK the length of a dissertation is shorter than that of a thesis. UK Students pursuing a master’s qualification and in some cases a bachelor’s qualification need to submit a dissertation. Students pursuing a UK doctorate need to submit a thesis. A UK dissertation is roughly 20,000 words whereas a thesis can be up to or more than 80,000 words in some cases.

Dissertation vs Thesis - Know the Similarities & Differences

Presenting Original Contents:

According to officially recognised institutes the meaning of dissertation or a good thesis is writing which does not contain plagiarism. It should be clear from the writing which ideas are your own and which ideas and concepts belong to other writers. To check for plagiarism in a thesis technology is used to make sure that the entire work contains zero plagiarism. Scholars need to use the appropriate referencing techniques to cite the original sources which they have used in the contents of their composition. Some UK institutes will allow students one chance to edit their academic submission to bring it up to the mark if they fail to achieve the passing criteria in the first attempt.

Researching the Main Proposition:

A PhD thesis will present ground-breaking or contemporary ideas based on a specific research field. Even the main subject may be a completely unprecedented subject it will be confined to a narrow speciality. It will be unnecessary to commence a new research field. The thesis will proceed to investigate the main proposition to test the idea’s trait of being resolute. The doctorate thesis will refer to reliable and acclaimed sources to support the claims and provide insight in to the subject. A Master’s dissertation on the other hand will conduct independent standardised experiments and investigation to test the validity of the main proposition.

Surviving the Viva Voce:

Two examiners, an internal examiner and an external examiner will conduct the viva for prospective PhD qualifiers. The internal examiner is a member of the staff of the student’s own institute while the external examiner is from a different institute. The viva is conducted in three parts. The first and last are conducted without the presence of the student. Initially examiners will examine progress in the composition phase to determine line of questioning. The meeting of the student and examiners gives an opportunity to the student to present their unique line of reasoning. Initially both parties may have had contrasting preliminary judgements. The third part of the viva occurs after the student leaves. The examiners discuss and agree on a recommendation to give to the institute’s degree granting body.