How To Write Your Phd Thesis

By: Henrique Bertulino

10 min

1

10.04.2022

How To Write Your Phd Thesis

In the modern world, obtaining an academic degree increases an expert's prestige and social status. It is a determining factor in his life, opening up new opportunities for career growth. The primary condition for obtaining a doctoral degree is that the applicant has a candidate of science degree. Upon successful defense of the Ph.D. thesis, the applicant is awarded the degree of Doctor of Science.

A Ph.D. writing thesis is a complex and thorough process. Working on a text is time-consuming and requires a lot of dedication. And it is quite difficult for a modern person to implement such a laborious project in active business life independently. But how to write a Ph.D. thesis, continuing to work and do other things in the usual rhythm? This is covered in our writing guide. You will learn about the meaning, its goals, structure, and features. StudyBay's qualified experts are also ready to write a paper that meets all the existing requirements.

What Is a Ph.D. Thesis?

A doctoral thesis is a fundamental scientific work entirely devoted to a specific topic. The work is an in-depth study of a particular issue, the solution of which has a positive impact on society, economy, science, health, agriculture, and much more.

A researcher with a Ph.D. degree can work on a doctoral thesis. The doctoral degree is the next. After receiving it, the scientist can take a professorship. After that, you can think about the academician's degree. However, a career is not the primary purpose of work. The main thing is the contribution to the scientific and social life of society.

The main feature is its fundamental nature. This is the most in-depth work that involves the full study of a specific topic. It is not enough to choose a doctoral topic, and you need to be initially aimed at a complete study of the topic and achieving a result.

An important fact is that work should be of practical importance, bringing real benefits to society. The work seeker's task is to choose the right topic, work through the material, find an effective way to solve the problem and arrange the appropriate work according to the standards.

How Long Is a Ph.D. Thesis?

In the existing curriculum, the exact minimum volume is not defined. The recommendations of universities indicate the average volume - from 120 to 160 printed A4 pages. For example, such recommendations are offered by Harvard University. In other educational institutions, the requirements may be different.

The size is determined by the chosen topic, goal, and objectives, and it may depend on the volume of research carried out, the duration of the experiment. In any case, it is a purely individual characteristic of the developments of a particular researcher.

The author and supervisor determine the minimum volume. At events for pre-defense at the department to which the graduate student or applicant is attached, the volume is adjusted. Requirements for the number of sheets are determined by a particular university, faculty, department, depending on the profile and direction.

How To Keep Up With The Scientific Literature

One of the reasons why graduate students and applicants do not get off the ground with their thesis is the lack of the necessary skills to work with scientific literature. The inability to search, sort, and read analytically - often leads graduate students to complete despair and abandonment of attempts to bring scientific research to an end.

Attempts to re-read everything that is found often lead to complete failure. Just imagine that the number of scientific articles issued by academic search engines can exceed hundreds of thousands, or even millions in some areas. Of course, if you read several publications every day, there will be no time to do the rest.

But the way out of this situation is simple to the point of banality. All you have to do is sort what you plan to read. Indeed, although new articles are published frequently, genuinely groundbreaking research is rare. Moreover, not all the publications that the search engine gives out are of high quality and equally useful for your research.

The classic approach to sorting scientific literature is ABC analysis. It allows you to create your categorization of selected scientific literature according to its relevance to your research. What is the essence of such a classification? You need to divide all analyzed literature into three main groups - group A, group B, and group C.

In group A, you classify those sources of literature that are most relevant to your research. In group B, you include those sources of literature that are important for your research, but they are not key. In group C, you include all those works that are likely related to your research, but you are not sure of their quality or do not know exactly how to apply these publications.

How Did You Make Time And Space To Work On Your Thesis?

A modern scientist should always be aware of current discoveries and constantly find time to write a thesis. But how and when to do this, if after a working day you no longer have the strength to study? We recommend setting aside 2-3 hours a day for your development but do it daily.

You should not separate work activity and write the thesis: you can read literature on the subway, listen to a lecture during your lunch break or coffee break. This way, you will always have time to create.

Note that the essential thing in any research work is to answer the question "why?" When a person is aware of the goal, the point to which he wants to come, he is much more willing to perform actions relevant to his dream.

Are Ph.D. Thesis Published?

Yes, the Ph.D. thesis must be posted in magazines, websites, etc. The publication of the full text on the website of an educational organization is necessary to start the procedure for preliminary consideration of scientific work for the desired degree.

Before submitting the work for placement, the author checks the document with the Antiplagiat system and confirms its originality with an official certificate. Failure to comply with this rule is fraught with the refusal to grant access to protection - the system recognizes scientific work as non-unique.

To publish a Ph.D. thesis on an educational institution's website, the applicant collects a package of documents: an abstract, a review, positive responses to the dissertation, and sends them to the educational institution. Based on the submitted data, an announcement is created with detailed information about the future event and a link to scientific work.

The publication of a Ph.D. thesis in PDF format on the educational institution's official website is carried out only after presenting the future scientist's passport and drawing up an application-request to post the Internet document. If it is necessary to publish a protected Ph.D. thesis on the official website of another educational organization, the doctor of sciences submits an official opinion of an independent expert commission on internal expert control and a package of related documents.

How To Structure a Ph.D. Thesis - Description Of Parts

Ph.D. thesis takes a long time. In most cases, it will take several years to write work. Therefore, it is essential to draw up an individual plan for working on a future document, coordinating each section's time with your scientific advisor. The structure of a classic research paper involves the following elements:

  1. Title page.
  2. Table of contents.
  3. Abstract reveals the purpose and content of the paper.
  4. The introduction is the rationale behind why this study is relevant.
  5. The main chapters represent the stages of consideration of the topic under study, starting with the formulation of the problem and its phased implementation, ending with the practical benefits of implementing the idea.
  6. The conclusion is practical results and benefits from the implementation of the idea.
  7. Bibliography.

While working on the Ph.D. thesis, sections such as abstract, introduction, and conclusion should be written with the utmost care. They will be read first. Only then will they move on to the central part. At the final stage of the work, it is necessary to know how to write an abstract for theses - this is an abbreviated version of the work for a doctoral degree. On average, it takes about 40 printed sheets. In the final part, it will be necessary to present the practical benefits and experience of implementing the research results.

What’s The Difference Between the Thesis And Dissertation?

To obtain any degree, you must have a thesis or a dissertation. Some of the students may think that they are the same thing, but there is a difference between them. Back in Shakespeare's day, a student seeking a master's degree had to write a thesis. This article contains the author's opinion on a particular assumption, which the author came up with. The defense of such work took place in this format. First, the student read his work, after which he sat in the hall in front of the commission and watched how the inspectors studied his work on each of the points. The commission paid attention to the student's ideas and his ability to systematize and express them.

If a student wanted to further develop in the chosen science, he could start writing a dissertation only after defending the thesis. In those days, such work was similar to a literature review. Why? Because the student had to study a lot of literature and, based on data, write down the conclusions while discussing authoritative writers' statements. The dissertation's meaning is to show the commission that the student knows the scientific literature in the chosen field of study.

Thesis vs. Dissertation: Europe

In Europe, there is still a difference between a thesis and a dissertation. A doctoral thesis is a study that a student purposefully conducts towards a Ph.D. degree. A dissertation is a broader project in which they study a lot of literature, carry out research, compare data, and only draw conclusions.

However, for today, such scientific work as the thesis is evolving. Because the work requires a lot of background research, many students believe that such work should not be done but immediately proceed to the dissertation. Thus, the thesis may contain similar elements, sections, extensive citations, and links to earlier works despite the difference.

Thesis vs. Dissertation: USA

In the United States, a work called the thesis has a completely different concept, which contradicts Europe's definition. Because the thesis is shorter for a dissertation, the work turned into a preparatory stage to obtain a doctoral degree. Today's thesis or dissertation is written by students who wish to get a Master's degree. A candidate of sciences must first come to an advanced course in the science being studied, then gain practical experience in a research project.

It is worth noting that engineering students who write abstracts receive a doctorate. Usually, a master's degree is considered acceptable for them. As for other sciences, for example, in chemistry, you do not need a master's degree to get a doctoral degree. Scientists in chemistry can skip the master's stage because they have extensive experience in conducting research. Some chemists have only a master's degree, but they dropped out of graduate school and wrote an abridged study as a master's project.

What They Have In Common

Surely you are wondering if they have something in common. Of course, yes, since a thesis and a dissertation are time-consuming, they should be taken seriously. In both works, the authors analyze the well-known theory and perform fairly obvious practical actions. There are also many work elements, starting from the title page and ending with a literature list similar to the design.

What Is a Ph.D. Thesis Defense?

The Ph.D. thesis defense procedure takes place during an open meeting of the commission. The whole process of defending scientific work should be like a discussion. As a rule, official opponents are present during the defense. If for some reason, one of the opponents is absent, then his review is considered full.

Thesis defense occurs one month after the last posting of the applicant. This month is allotted to the Academic Council to get acquainted with the author's latest scientific work and new ideas. These conclusions may be formed in the course of scientific activity. The commission determines the completeness of the material presented in the document.

The evaluation of the work must be attended by at least two members of the commission. Among these two people must necessarily be two or more doctors of science. The award of an academic degree is carried out by voting, and at least two people from the total number of participants in the meeting must vote for the award of the degree.

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Henrique Bertulino

Head of Customer Success

I'm a medical doctor and brand manager. The process of getting into Med school and studying at it made me learn and apply many strategies to keep my productivity high while spending less time and effort. As a working student, I had to figure out how to study smarter, not harder. During this period, my interest in neurology and psychiatry, as well as my aspiration to help others, intensified. At Studybay, I use my knowledge, skills, and experience to develop helpful solutions for students and make their study paths more productive and fun.

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