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Students often ask how long should a thesis statement be when given a paper to write. This article addresses frequently asked questions concerning thesis statements and other relevant issues. We will answer several questions, including how many words in a thesis and how long should a thesis statement be.
How long can a thesis statement be and not be, how long should a thesis statement be for a high school student, how many sentences are in a thesis statement, how long should a thesis paper be, how long is a thesis supposed to be for high school essay, how long are thesis statements for college essays, what is the length of a typical thesis statement for professional research papers, how long does a thesis paper have to be.
How long is a thesis paper that determines many things and has brought about several questions like how many words should a thesis statement be? It should not be too long, thirty to forty words at the most. As a rule, your thesis statement should reflect your knowledge and the scope of the essay you are writing. Whether you are writing an analytical research paper or an essay, the thesis statement should be in the introduction part. Your thesis should be at the beginning of the paper, preferably in the first paragraph.
A too-short thesis statement won’t give the sufficient information an audience needs, while one too long will be offering too much. This is something to keep in mind when researching; how long should a thesis statement be? Regardless of how long your essay or research paper is, your thesis statement should explain your position in short sentences. That means it should be convincing enough to get your audience interested in your point of view. Your thesis statement should not exceed one paragraph, whether you’re writing a school essay or an in-depth research paper.
If you’re writing a paper in high school, your thesis shouldn’t be more than two sentences long. Your teacher doesn’t expect you to have an extremely elaborate thesis statement as a high school student. So, one or two short sentences indicating your essay’s aim should be more than enough. Knowing how many sentences are in a thesis statement helps ensure you don’t overdo it.
How many sentences should a thesis statement depend on what type of paper you are writing? A thesis statement should normally be no more than two sentences long unless you are writing a very long paper. Your thesis statement should be short and straight to the point, declaring your specific position on the topic you’re writing on.
A good thesis will strike the right balance between not having a flat thesis and not giving too much information. How many sentences are in a thesis determines how many should be in a thesis statement?
A thesis paper is usually forty pages long, but it varies significantly from project to project and from one expertise level to another. This number includes texts, figures, and a list of references, but it doesn’t include appendices. Also, don’t take these generalizations on how long should a thesis be too seriously, especially if you’re working on a labor-intensive project.
How long a thesis is usually around eighty to a hundred thousand words long, depending on the topic’s depth. At the master’s or college level, a thesis fluctuates between fifteen and twenty thousand words. However, research journals ask for articles no more than three to five thousand words. After knowing how long is a thesis, the next question is, how long should your thesis statement be?
Your thesis in high school should be short, depending on what topic you are working on. It is better to contain one concise sentence, clearly stating your thoughts on the topic. It is this thought you’ll expound on later in the essay. Always ask your teacher or instructor for clarity on how long is a thesis statement.
A college thesis statement’s length depends on how many sentences is a thesis and how many points a writer mentions. It should contain at least two clauses, an independent clause, your opinion, and a dependent clause, the reasons. It would help if you aimed for a single sentence at least two lines long, or at most forty words long.
A typical thesis statement for professional research papers is usually no more than fifty words long. However, thesis statements don’t exactly have an exact word count, but most experts advise staying within that range. Once you know how long are thesis papers, you’ll have an idea of how long a thesis statement should be.
A single sentence clearly stating your position is great, but it may be hard to compress all your thoughts into one sentence. Thus, if you can’t do one sentence, you can keep it to two, four at the most, lines in a paragraph.
Your thesis paper has to be as long as the instructions say; there is no one-rule-fits-all answer to this question. If you’re writing a thesis paper in college, it wouldn’t be as long as writing a Ph.D. thesis paper . A thesis length is at least three thousand words and at most a hundred thousand. How long should a thesis be in an essay is a common question for people new to writing professional research papers.
Your thesis statement may be short or long, depending on your academic level. While there is no one rule on how long is a thesis statement supposed to be, experts advise 20-50 words. Long or short, your thesis should clearly state your paper’s aim in one to four lines; leave out irrelevant words. If you need professional help writing your thesis, you can contact our expert team to give you the best services.
Faculty of --> faculty of graduate research, thesis length.
Research theses have a word limit that you must comply with.
A PhD thesis should not exceed a total of 100,000 words in length (or 70,000 for most professional doctorates), including scholarly apparatus such as footnotes or endnotes, essential appendices and bibliography. A doctoral thesis should however, be concise. Examiners often criticise excessive length, which frequently indicates poor judgement.
When you submit, you will be asked to certify that your thesis falls within the relevant word limit.
In exceptional circumstances, the Dean—Wellington Faculty of Graduate Research may grant permission for you to submit a longer thesis. You will need to apply for permission to exceed the word limit well in advance of submission.
Word limits
The final piece of the PhD journey is the PhD dissertation. It takes many years to accumulate enough original and new data to fill out a dissertation to the satisfaction of experts in your field. Interestingly, the PhD dissertation length and content vary significantly based on the field you are studying and the publishing conventions.
A PhD can be anywhere from 50 pages to over 450 pages long. This equates to between about 20,000 words to 100,000 words. Most PhD theses are between 60,000 and 80,000 words long excluding contents, citations and references.
A PhD thesis contains different sections including an introduction, methods, results and discussion, conclusions, further work, and references. Each one of these different sections will vary in length depending on the field of study and your particular topic.
Ultimately, a PhD dissertation should contain as many pages and words as it takes to communicate the results of your multi-year investigation.
It is very rewarding to see your thesis come together as you are writing day after day. When I was writing my PhD dissertation I wrote the sections separately and my heart filled with joy when I finally put them all together and compile them into a single PDF document.
Counting the pages should not be the way to determine a PhD dissertation’s value but it certainly helps when your thesis is starting to look substantial in thickness.
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 PhD in your field.
If you want to know more about how long a Masters’s thesis and PhD dissertation is you can check out my other articles:
A PhD thesis should contain enough evidence and discussion to report on the most significant findings of your PhD research.
A PhD dissertation should not contain everything that you have done during your PhD. It should only include the data and information required to convince your PhD examining body that wraps up and tells the full story of particular lines of investigation.
Including random results, thoughts, or superfluous explanation can result in a dissertation that is unfocused. I have heard of music PhD is being described as too verbose and physical sciences PhD dissertations as being unfocused.
Therefore, a PhD thesis can be too long if the information it contains does not form a full and cohesive story.
One of my colleagues during their PhD removed an entire chapter from the thesis after writing it as the supervisor said that it needed more experiments to be a full story. They did not want to spend the next six months gathering the data and simply removed the chapter altogether.
The shortest PhD dissertations are typically found in mathematics.
George Bernard Danzig was an American mathematical scientist who made contributions to industrial engineering and many other mathematical-related fields. An interesting miscommunication led to 1 of the shortest PhD theses ever.
In 1939 his professor wrote two problems on the blackboard and Danzig thought they were homeless assignments. He stated that they were harder than usual but handed in solutions to the surprise of the professor.
They were, in fact, open mathematical problems in statistics.
His professor said to bind the solution to the two problems together and submit them as his thesis – the total thesis length = 14 pages.
Obviously, most PhD theses and dissertations will be so much longer than that!
My PhD dissertation was 256 pages long. It was full of schematics, diagrams, and tables to demonstrate and communicate my findings.
I would say that most people’s PhD thesis experience will be closer to mine than Prof George Bernard Danzig’s.
PhD dissertations are often over 200 pages long.
One of the primary reasons they are so long is that it is a single document that summarises many years of hard work. Also, summarising the research field to date and making sure that all of your references and citations are included so you avoid plagiarism will bolster the word count of the thesis dramatically.
Here are all of the reasons PhD dissertations tend to be so long.
PhD theses or dissertations contain many years of research and analysis.
In many of my YouTube videos I recommend that a PhD student work towards their PhD thesis by doing at least three hours of focused work every work day.
This amount of work quickly adds up.
Of course, not every bit of work makes it into the PhD dissertation but a lot of it does. It can be difficult to work out what to include or leave out of your thesis.
As a PhD student, I perfected the art of turning one experiment into many different types of grafts and schematics to fully explore the limits of my data. The graphs can take up a lot of space in your PhD thesis and, therefore, bolster the page count significantly.
One of the most substantial parts of a PhD dissertation is the literature review.
The literature review can take up a huge portion of the early part of your PhD dissertation depending on the amount of data and publications in your field.
Writing an in-depth literature review requires just as much meticulous data analysis and searching as the central part of your dissertation.
Some fields end up producing a lot of figures and schematics.
My thesis had many full-page figures of atomic force microscopy experiments with much more explanation on subsequent pages.
As they say, a picture paints a thousand words and a dissertation can really benefit from having many schematics to highlight the important aspects of your findings.
The recommended PhD dissertation word count from an institution or university does not include citations, references, or other thesis parts such as summary of abbreviations, table of figures, et cetera.
However, these components of your dissertation can take up many pages and add to the overall thickness of your PhD dissertation.
University formatting rules will also dictate how you many pages your words take up.
I often get roasted on my YouTube channel for having doublespaced lines and wide margins. Unfortunately, this layout was dictated by my university before printing.
PhD dissertations often end up going into long-term storage and therefore, need to adhere to archival and standardised formatting rules.
Deep in the depths of the University of Newcastle, there is a copy of my thesis on a shelf. The formatting and binding rules mean that my thesis looks like everyone else’s.
Universities will often have their own requirements for PhD dissertation cover colour, quality, and type of paper. Even the quality of the paper can change the thickness of the PhD dissertation significantly.
It is becoming increasingly common to submit a number of peer-reviewed papers bound together with supplementary information in between instead of a PhD dissertation.
The benefits of this to the researcher and university are:
Even though this option has been available to PhD students for a number of years, I have only known a handful of students actually submit their PhD via publication.
Nonetheless, having this option will suit some research fields better than others and lead to a more productive PhD.
This article has been through everything you need to know about the length of a PhD dissertation and the common lengths of PhD dissertations for various fields.
Ultimately, there is no predefined length of a PhD .
A PhD thesis is as long as it needs to be to convince your examiners that you have contributed significantly enough to an academic field to be awarded the title of Dr of philosophy.
Mathematical and analytical theses tend to be shorter and can be as short as 50 pages (with one of the shortest being only 14 pages long). At the other end of the spectrum, PhD students in anthropology and history tend to produce the longest dissertations.
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.
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Table of Contents
Before conducting a study, a research proposal should be created that outlines researchers’ plans and methodology and is submitted to the concerned evaluating organization or person. Creating a research proposal is an important step to ensure that researchers are on track and are moving forward as intended. A research proposal can be defined as a detailed plan or blueprint for the proposed research that you intend to undertake. It provides readers with a snapshot of your project by describing what you will investigate, why it is needed, and how you will conduct the research.
Your research proposal should aim to explain to the readers why your research is relevant and original, that you understand the context and current scenario in the field, have the appropriate resources to conduct the research, and that the research is feasible given the usual constraints.
This article will describe in detail the purpose and typical structure of a research proposal , along with examples and templates to help you ace this step in your research journey.
A research proposal¹ ,² can be defined as a formal report that describes your proposed research, its objectives, methodology, implications, and other important details. Research proposals are the framework of your research and are used to obtain approvals or grants to conduct the study from various committees or organizations. Consequently, research proposals should convince readers of your study’s credibility, accuracy, achievability, practicality, and reproducibility.
With research proposals , researchers usually aim to persuade the readers, funding agencies, educational institutions, and supervisors to approve the proposal. To achieve this, the report should be well structured with the objectives written in clear, understandable language devoid of jargon. A well-organized research proposal conveys to the readers or evaluators that the writer has thought out the research plan meticulously and has the resources to ensure timely completion.
A research proposal is a sales pitch and therefore should be detailed enough to convince your readers, who could be supervisors, ethics committees, universities, etc., that what you’re proposing has merit and is feasible . Research proposals can help students discuss their dissertation with their faculty or fulfill course requirements and also help researchers obtain funding. A well-structured proposal instills confidence among readers about your ability to conduct and complete the study as proposed.
Research proposals can be written for several reasons:³
Research proposals should aim to answer the three basic questions—what, why, and how.
The What question should be answered by describing the specific subject being researched. It should typically include the objectives, the cohort details, and the location or setting.
The Why question should be answered by describing the existing scenario of the subject, listing unanswered questions, identifying gaps in the existing research, and describing how your study can address these gaps, along with the implications and significance.
The How question should be answered by describing the proposed research methodology, data analysis tools expected to be used, and other details to describe your proposed methodology.
Here is a research proposal sample template (with examples) from the University of Rochester Medical Center. 4 The sections in all research proposals are essentially the same although different terminology and other specific sections may be used depending on the subject.
If you want to know how to make a research proposal impactful, include the following components:¹
1. Introduction
This section provides a background of the study, including the research topic, what is already known about it and the gaps, and the significance of the proposed research.
2. Literature review
This section contains descriptions of all the previous relevant studies pertaining to the research topic. Every study cited should be described in a few sentences, starting with the general studies to the more specific ones. This section builds on the understanding gained by readers in the Introduction section and supports it by citing relevant prior literature, indicating to readers that you have thoroughly researched your subject.
3. Objectives
Once the background and gaps in the research topic have been established, authors must now state the aims of the research clearly. Hypotheses should be mentioned here. This section further helps readers understand what your study’s specific goals are.
4. Research design and methodology
Here, authors should clearly describe the methods they intend to use to achieve their proposed objectives. Important components of this section include the population and sample size, data collection and analysis methods and duration, statistical analysis software, measures to avoid bias (randomization, blinding), etc.
5. Ethical considerations
This refers to the protection of participants’ rights, such as the right to privacy, right to confidentiality, etc. Researchers need to obtain informed consent and institutional review approval by the required authorities and mention this clearly for transparency.
6. Budget/funding
Researchers should prepare their budget and include all expected expenditures. An additional allowance for contingencies such as delays should also be factored in.
7. Appendices
This section typically includes information that supports the research proposal and may include informed consent forms, questionnaires, participant information, measurement tools, etc.
8. Citations
Writing a research proposal begins much before the actual task of writing. Planning the research proposal structure and content is an important stage, which if done efficiently, can help you seamlessly transition into the writing stage. 3,5
Key Takeaways
Here’s a summary of the main points about research proposals discussed in the previous sections:
Q1. How is a research proposal evaluated?
A1. In general, most evaluators, including universities, broadly use the following criteria to evaluate research proposals . 6
Q2. What is the difference between the Introduction and Literature Review sections in a research proposal ?
A2. The Introduction or Background section in a research proposal sets the context of the study by describing the current scenario of the subject and identifying the gaps and need for the research. A Literature Review, on the other hand, provides references to all prior relevant literature to help corroborate the gaps identified and the research need.
Q3. How long should a research proposal be?
A3. Research proposal lengths vary with the evaluating authority like universities or committees and also the subject. Here’s a table that lists the typical research proposal lengths for a few universities.
Arts programs | 1,000-1,500 | |
University of Birmingham | Law School programs | 2,500 |
PhD | 2,500 | |
2,000 | ||
Research degrees | 2,000-3,500 |
Q4. What are the common mistakes to avoid in a research proposal ?
A4. Here are a few common mistakes that you must avoid while writing a research proposal . 7
Thus, a research proposal is an essential document that can help you promote your research and secure funds and grants for conducting your research. Consequently, it should be well written in clear language and include all essential details to convince the evaluators of your ability to conduct the research as proposed.
This article has described all the important components of a research proposal and has also provided tips to improve your writing style. We hope all these tips will help you write a well-structured research proposal to ensure receipt of grants or any other purpose.
References
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Millions of american voters likely spent the past eight or so years watching trump and the maga circus and thinking: 'wow, this is all very weird.'.
At long last, Democrats have leaned into the word “weird.”
Vice President Kamala Harris , now the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, has started using it to describe convicted felon and former President Donald Trump. It seems Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz , who’s on Harris’ vice presidential candidate list, led the charge, succinctly saying of Trump and his running mate this weekend: “These guys are just weird.”
There are millions upon millions of American voters ‒ certainly liberals and independents, and I’d bet a decent slice of conservatives ‒ who have spent the past eight or so years watching Trump and the MAGA circus and thinking: “Wow, this is all very weird.”
The rise of Trumpism and the bizarre chaos it ushered in ‒ from family members lost down conspiratorial rabbit holes to the denial of facts and abandonment of shared reality ‒ has given us election lies and Trump-branded Bibles and Rudy Giuliani giving an insane news conference outside a landscaping business in Philadelphia and a dude called the QAnon Shaman wearing a horned fur cap as he joined an attack of the U.S. Capitol.
“Weird” may be the nicest possible description.
It’s certainly the most apt label for Trump and his unhinged rants, his nonsensical stories about sharks or Hannibal Lecter , his blabbering cruelty and unfiltered spouting of whatever odd thought passes through his hate-addled mind.
It’s all weird. He’s surrounded by lackeys who are weird and go on Fox News and say weird things about Trump being the greatest president of all time. He is supported by slavish Republicans who once openly denounced him , and their hypocrisy is weird.
His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has a slew of past interviews in which he derided “childless cat ladies” and suggested the votes of people who have children should count more than the votes of those who don’t. And that’s all really weird. Plus, he has a tech-bro vibe that’s weird and impersonal ‒ but mainly weird.
Waiting on Trump: When is Trump's 'big boy press conference'? His campaign deflected when I asked.
Last week, Gov. Walz said on MSNBC , “These guys are just weird. They’re running for He-Man Women Haters Club or something. That’s what they’re doing. That’s just not what people are interested in.”
Yes. YES! Finally!
We’ve spent years watching all-praise-be-to-Trump types getting three different kinds of worked up over drag queens and books about gay penguins and transgender school kids who just want to be allowed to exist.
The moment President Joe Biden stepped aside and endorsed Harris for the top of the ticket, MAGA Republicans started labeling her a “DEI candidate,” a blatantly racist description of an accomplished politician and sitting vice president.
The GOP presidential nominee is a twice-impeached, one-term president who was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a case involving hush money paid to an adult film star. He has had multiple bankruptcies , faces hundreds of millions of dollars in fines from a civil fraud ruling and was found liable of sexual abuse . And he is revered by the Republican Party's evangelical base.
Do you want to know what’s weird to a majority of Americans who are just trying to live their lives? EVERYTHING IN THOSE PREVIOUS THREE PARAGRAPHS!
For some reason, Biden’s campaign didn’t directly hit Trump with the W-word. But as soon as he stepped aside, Walz, the Harris campaign and other Democratic leaders wasted no time calling the former president what he is: weird.
Harris VP pick? Republicans, pay attention to who Harris picks for VP. One of them should scare us.
Trump never laughs. He’s rarely seen in public with his wife, Melania. He regularly says stuff like this from a recent rally : “We won in 2016. We did much better in 2020, but it was rigged. It was rigged.”
A lot of people throughout the Trump era have looked at his rallies or listened to him or one of his minions on TV and probably quietly said: “How in the heck is anyone taking these weirdos seriously?”
This is a smart labeling move by Harris and the Democrats. “Weird” captures an almost-exhausted emotion many of us have felt but failed to identify.
And it’s directed where it should be, at Trump's MAGA disciples and the elected Republicans who fall in line. It’s not a broad labeling of his supporters along the lines of Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables.” This isn’t punching down.
It’s cutting to the chase. It’s pointing at the bizarre characters and charlatans who willfully turned our politics toxic and sold ‒ and continue to sell ‒ snake oil and scapegoats to millions of Americans.
What Harris and Co. are rightfully saying to Trump and the Republican leaders in his sway is simple: “Enough. You all are really freakin’ weird.”
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk
You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page , on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter .
How long is a dissertation.
Dissertation word counts vary widely across different fields, institutions, and levels of education:
However, none of these are strict guidelines – your word count may be lower or higher than the numbers stated here. Always check the guidelines provided by your university to determine how long your own dissertation should be.
A dissertation prospectus or proposal describes what or who you plan to research for your dissertation. It delves into why, when, where, and how you will do your research, as well as helps you choose a type of research to pursue. You should also determine whether you plan to pursue qualitative or quantitative methods and what your research design will look like.
It should outline all of the decisions you have taken about your project, from your dissertation topic to your hypotheses and research objectives , ready to be approved by your supervisor or committee.
Note that some departments require a defense component, where you present your prospectus to your committee orally.
A thesis is typically written by students finishing up a bachelor’s or Master’s degree. Some educational institutions, particularly in the liberal arts, have mandatory theses, but they are often not mandatory to graduate from bachelor’s degrees. It is more common for a thesis to be a graduation requirement from a Master’s degree.
Even if not mandatory, you may want to consider writing a thesis if you:
The conclusion of your thesis or dissertation should include the following:
The conclusion of your thesis or dissertation shouldn’t take up more than 5–7% of your overall word count.
For a stronger dissertation conclusion , avoid including:
Your conclusion should leave the reader with a strong, decisive impression of your work.
While it may be tempting to present new arguments or evidence in your thesis or disseration conclusion , especially if you have a particularly striking argument you’d like to finish your analysis with, you shouldn’t. Theses and dissertations follow a more formal structure than this.
All your findings and arguments should be presented in the body of the text (more specifically in the discussion section and results section .) The conclusion is meant to summarize and reflect on the evidence and arguments you have already presented, not introduce new ones.
A theoretical framework can sometimes be integrated into a literature review chapter , but it can also be included as its own chapter or section in your dissertation . As a rule of thumb, if your research involves dealing with a lot of complex theories, it’s a good idea to include a separate theoretical framework chapter.
A literature review and a theoretical framework are not the same thing and cannot be used interchangeably. While a theoretical framework describes the theoretical underpinnings of your work, a literature review critically evaluates existing research relating to your topic. You’ll likely need both in your dissertation .
While a theoretical framework describes the theoretical underpinnings of your work based on existing research, a conceptual framework allows you to draw your own conclusions, mapping out the variables you may use in your study and the interplay between them.
A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical first steps in your writing process. It helps you to lay out and organize your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding what kind of research you’d like to undertake.
Generally, an outline contains information on the different sections included in your thesis or dissertation , such as:
When you mention different chapters within your text, it’s considered best to use Roman numerals for most citation styles. However, the most important thing here is to remain consistent whenever using numbers in your dissertation .
In most styles, the title page is used purely to provide information and doesn’t include any images. Ask your supervisor if you are allowed to include an image on the title page before doing so. If you do decide to include one, make sure to check whether you need permission from the creator of the image.
Include a note directly beneath the image acknowledging where it comes from, beginning with the word “ Note .” (italicized and followed by a period). Include a citation and copyright attribution . Don’t title, number, or label the image as a figure , since it doesn’t appear in your main text.
Definitional terms often fall into the category of common knowledge , meaning that they don’t necessarily have to be cited. This guidance can apply to your thesis or dissertation glossary as well.
However, if you’d prefer to cite your sources , you can follow guidance for citing dictionary entries in MLA or APA style for your glossary.
A glossary is a collection of words pertaining to a specific topic. In your thesis or dissertation, it’s a list of all terms you used that may not immediately be obvious to your reader. In contrast, an index is a list of the contents of your work organized by page number.
The title page of your thesis or dissertation goes first, before all other content or lists that you may choose to include.
The title page of your thesis or dissertation should include your name, department, institution, degree program, and submission date.
Glossaries are not mandatory, but if you use a lot of technical or field-specific terms, it may improve readability to add one to your thesis or dissertation. Your educational institution may also require them, so be sure to check their specific guidelines.
A glossary or “glossary of terms” is a collection of words pertaining to a specific topic. In your thesis or dissertation, it’s a list of all terms you used that may not immediately be obvious to your reader. Your glossary only needs to include terms that your reader may not be familiar with, and is intended to enhance their understanding of your work.
A glossary is a collection of words pertaining to a specific topic. In your thesis or dissertation, it’s a list of all terms you used that may not immediately be obvious to your reader. In contrast, dictionaries are more general collections of words.
An abbreviation is a shortened version of an existing word, such as Dr. for Doctor. In contrast, an acronym uses the first letter of each word to create a wholly new word, such as UNESCO (an acronym for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).
As a rule of thumb, write the explanation in full the first time you use an acronym or abbreviation. You can then proceed with the shortened version. However, if the abbreviation is very common (like PC, USA, or DNA), then you can use the abbreviated version from the get-go.
Be sure to add each abbreviation in your list of abbreviations !
If you only used a few abbreviations in your thesis or dissertation , you don’t necessarily need to include a list of abbreviations .
If your abbreviations are numerous, or if you think they won’t be known to your audience, it’s never a bad idea to add one. They can also improve readability, minimizing confusion about abbreviations unfamiliar to your reader.
A list of abbreviations is a list of all the abbreviations that you used in your thesis or dissertation. It should appear at the beginning of your document, with items in alphabetical order, just after your table of contents .
Your list of tables and figures should go directly after your table of contents in your thesis or dissertation.
Lists of figures and tables are often not required, and aren’t particularly common. They specifically aren’t required for APA-Style, though you should be careful to follow their other guidelines for figures and tables .
If you have many figures and tables in your thesis or dissertation, include one may help you stay organized. Your educational institution may require them, so be sure to check their guidelines.
A list of figures and tables compiles all of the figures and tables that you used in your thesis or dissertation and displays them with the page number where they can be found.
The table of contents in a thesis or dissertation always goes between your abstract and your introduction .
You may acknowledge God in your dissertation acknowledgements , but be sure to follow academic convention by also thanking the members of academia, as well as family, colleagues, and friends who helped you.
A literature review is a survey of credible sources on a topic, often used in dissertations , theses, and research papers . Literature reviews give an overview of knowledge on a subject, helping you identify relevant theories and methods, as well as gaps in existing research. Literature reviews are set up similarly to other academic texts , with an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion .
An annotated bibliography is a list of source references that has a short description (called an annotation ) for each of the sources. It is often assigned as part of the research process for a paper .
In a thesis or dissertation, the discussion is an in-depth exploration of the results, going into detail about the meaning of your findings and citing relevant sources to put them in context.
The conclusion is more shorter and more general: it concisely answers your main research question and makes recommendations based on your overall findings.
In the discussion , you explore the meaning and relevance of your research results , explaining how they fit with existing research and theory. Discuss:
The results chapter or section simply and objectively reports what you found, without speculating on why you found these results. The discussion interprets the meaning of the results, puts them in context, and explains why they matter.
In qualitative research , results and discussion are sometimes combined. But in quantitative research , it’s considered important to separate the objective results from your interpretation of them.
Results are usually written in the past tense , because they are describing the outcome of completed actions.
The results chapter of a thesis or dissertation presents your research results concisely and objectively.
In quantitative research , for each question or hypothesis , state:
In qualitative research , for each question or theme, describe:
Don’t interpret or speculate in the results chapter.
To automatically insert a table of contents in Microsoft Word, follow these steps:
Make sure to update your table of contents if you move text or change headings. To update, simply right click and select Update Field.
All level 1 and 2 headings should be included in your table of contents . That means the titles of your chapters and the main sections within them.
The contents should also include all appendices and the lists of tables and figures, if applicable, as well as your reference list .
Do not include the acknowledgements or abstract in the table of contents.
The abstract appears on its own page in the thesis or dissertation , after the title page and acknowledgements but before the table of contents .
An abstract for a thesis or dissertation is usually around 200–300 words. There’s often a strict word limit, so make sure to check your university’s requirements.
In a thesis or dissertation, the acknowledgements should usually be no longer than one page. There is no minimum length.
The acknowledgements are generally included at the very beginning of your thesis , directly after the title page and before the abstract .
Yes, it’s important to thank your supervisor(s) in the acknowledgements section of your thesis or dissertation .
Even if you feel your supervisor did not contribute greatly to the final product, you must acknowledge them, if only for a very brief thank you. If you do not include your supervisor, it may be seen as a snub.
In the acknowledgements of your thesis or dissertation, you should first thank those who helped you academically or professionally, such as your supervisor, funders, and other academics.
Then you can include personal thanks to friends, family members, or anyone else who supported you during the process.
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Scribbr specializes in editing study-related documents . We proofread:
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The Scribbr Citation Generator is developed using the open-source Citation Style Language (CSL) project and Frank Bennett’s citeproc-js . It’s the same technology used by dozens of other popular citation tools, including Mendeley and Zotero.
You can find all the citation styles and locales used in the Scribbr Citation Generator in our publicly accessible repository on Github .
Tropical Storm Debby has entered the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, hitting start on a countdown to an expected Monday landfall in Florida’s Big Bend or eastern Panhandle.
While there is some clarity today on Debby more likely than not reaching North Florida as a hurricane, how long the storm’s heavy rains will linger over Florida, eastern Georgia, and the coastal Carolinas remains up in the air.
As of the 5 p.m. Saturday NHC advisory, Debby is located about 100 miles southwest of Key West, with sustained winds up to 40 mph. The storm is now moving northwest at about 15 mph, following a path that has bent more northwestward today as Debby connects with an eastern U.S. dip in the jet stream.
With Debby’s circulation consolidating farther southwest than yesterday’s NHC forecasts suggested, the most likely path of the center has also shifted west, away from Florida’s Nature Coast and towards the eastern Panhandle over the last 24 hours.
Though Debby formed farther west, water vapor imagery shows the upper-level trough pushing hard into the Deep South today, which will turn the storm north on Sunday, then north-northeast by early Monday.
With that key steering feature developing as expected, I do not foresee further big shifts west in Debby’s track from what the NHC is predicting this evening. On this path, Debby will likely cross the coast between Carrabelle and Cedar Key by Monday afternoon.
Hurricane Warnings are now in effect for much of Apalachee Bay, with Tropical Storm Warnings for the rest of Florida’s Gulf Coast west to Cape San Blas.
As the forecast track has evolved to give Debby more time over water, the forecast intensity at landfall has edged higher as well.
This afternoon, deep convection has gathered closer to Debby’s center of circulation, with more organized outer bands spreading intermittent heavy rainfall over the Florida peninsula. This consolidation signals a strengthening storm, and continued steady intensification is likely through early Monday as Debby moves beneath a very favorable outflow environment in the eastern Gulf.
However, Debby’s circulation is large and sprawling, and the storm may ingest some drier air at the mid-levels of the atmosphere starting late Sunday.
This should keep the rate of strengthening in check, and makes rapid intensification during the approach to North Florida less likely.
The NHC is now predicting that Debby will reach Category 1 intensity by landfall, which seems like a reasonable balance of the positive and less supportive environmental and structural factors in play.
So, with first landfall around 36 hours out, let’s take a quick look at how the four main types of weather impacts of a hurricane (wind, surge, tornadoes, and flooding rainfall) are likely to unfold in Debby.
These forecasts are primarily focused on North Florida, as the primary impacts in Southern and Central Florida will be passing bands of heavy rainfall over the next 24-48 hours, with some gusty winds embedded but nothing too concerning. Outside of the Panhandle and Big Bend (and north), this isn't your storm.
I’ll be refining these impact ideas further by region in tomorrow’s forecast, but this is the state of play as of Saturday evening.
I’ll be refining these ideas further by region in tomorrow’s forecast, but this is the state of play as of Saturday evening.
With Debby flexing to Category 1 intensity prior to landfall, wind impacts in northern Florida will be locally significant in the areas that receive the hurricane’s eyewall, and less severe but still damaging outside of that area. It’s too early to say exactly where the eyewall will come ashore, but right now eastern Apalachee Bay and areas immediately adjacent to it are at the highest risk of receiving hurricane-force wind gusts.
While I’m not talking about Debby’s worst being in the same league as Idalia’s worst , 65 to 85 mph wind gusts in some vulnerable areas of the eastern Big Bend that were walloped by Hurricane Idalia last year will do notable damage, especially to trees and powerlines.
Debby’s speed of forward motion is likely to diminish on Monday as it approaches the coast, which reduces its potential to carry hurricane-force gusts well inland.
Nevertheless, the Panama City to Gainesville region should prepare for at least lower-end tropical-storm-force wind gusts, which are also probable along most of the Florida peninsula Gulf Coast through Monday.
As in Idalia, the western half of Debby will see notably weaker wind gusts than the eastern half. It’s too soon to know whether Debby will move east or west of Tallahassee, which will make the difference between lower-end (east) or higher-end (west) tropical-storm-force wind gusts in the capitol region. I’d lean east, but stay tuned.
The National Hurricane Center is pointing to the possibility of "life-threatening storm surge inundation."
As of 5 p.m. Saturday, Storm Surge Warnings are in effect for all of Apalachee Bay and most of the Nature Coast, with Storm Surge Watches for the Tampa Bay area south to Fort Myers. There is high confidence of 2-3’ of surge along the peninsular Gulf Coast north to Cedar Key with local values to 4’+ on the Nature Coast.
In Apalachee Bay, the threat is more conditional; as in Idalia, surge will be highest at 4-7’ along and just east of where the eyewall tracks, with little or no surge west of the center with offshore winds.
The eastern half of Apalachee Bay is more likely to get those peak surge values, but you need to be preparing for destructive surge in western Apalachee Bay as well, even though it is less likely to actually occur.
As always, monitor (and heed!) evacuation guidance from your county’s local emergency management office.
The tornado threat from Debby is not particularly acute. There is potential for some tornadoes over the peninsula and northeast Florida through mid-day Monday, but a major outbreak is unlikely.
I’ve left heavy rainfall for last, even though it will likely be the most destructive impact of Debby.
The reason for that is the long-term forecast for what will happen to the storm after it makes landfall remains a real enigma, other than we know it won’t be going anywhere in a hurry.
With steering winds diminishing to next-to-nothing in the vicinity of the Southeast on Tuesday, Debby will likely slow down and turn more eastward into Georgia, with the official NHC track drifting Debby into coastal South Carolina by Thursday.
That’s as good a guess as any, but with global models showing the dreaded “squashed spider” formation, in which model track “legs” bulge haphazardly in all directions beyond Tuesday, only a fool would be confident as to where Debby will drift over North Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, next week.
This means all of those areas should be monitoring the possibility of flash flooding and river flooding into next weekend, by which point whatever is left of Debby should belatedly ease away to the northeast.
In the shorter-term, tonight and Sunday will bring intermittent heavy rain bands to the Florida peninsula, most frequent in western sections. The eastern Panhandle and Big Bend will see periodic rainfall early Sunday, with steadier and heavier rain moving in late on Sunday and continuing through at least Monday.
Northeast Florida into the coastal Carolinas will see steadier rain develop between late Sunday and Monday afternoon, persisting into midweek or beyond.
Overall, look for 2-5” of rain in the Florida peninsula over the next 3 to 5 days, with a probable 5” and possible local totals to 15” in North Florida's Big Bend, and eastern Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina through the next seven days.
Overall, Tropical Storm Debby is a storm to take seriously in North Florida. Debby isn’t going to pack the punch of a major hurricane like Michael or Idalia, but it might wind up crossing the notable coastal wind and surge impacts of Hermine with the flooding potential of 2008’s Tropical Storm Fay.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a region-by-region look at Florida’s expected impacts from Debby. In the meantime, use the next day to do what you need to do to be ready, and keep watching the skies.
Dr. Ryan Truchelut is chief meteorologist at WeatherTiger, a Tallahassee company providing forensic meteorology expert witness services, and agricultural and hurricane forecasting subscriptions. Visit weathertiger.com for more information. Email Ryan Truchelut at [email protected] .
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“These guys are just weird,” Gov. Tim Walz, a former schoolteacher, has said of the opposition.
By Ernesto Londoño
Reporting from St. Paul, Minn.
No one would accuse Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota of being flashy. He taught social studies for 20 years before trying politics. During six terms in Congress, he was regarded more as a workhorse than a showboat.
Neither has Mr. Walz really been a household name outside of Minnesota — at least, not until this past week, when he made a flurry of cable news appearances pointedly pressing Kamala Harris’s case and dismissing Donald J. Trump’s agenda as divisive and extreme. And weird.
“These guys are just weird,” Mr. Walz said on Saturday of the Republican ticket. He was talking to a crowd of canvassers for the Harris campaign in St. Paul, but the “weird” line of attack, which he has been using for months, went viral . (Ms. Harris herself used the words “just plain weird” over the weekend to describe the ways in which Republicans have chosen to criticize her.)
Weird is not a word most people would use to describe Mr. Walz, and that may well be one reason he is among a handful of Democrats under consideration as Ms. Harris’s potential running mate. Mr. Walz is seen as offering a steady, down-to-earth, everyman persona. His supporters say he also would bring a record of winning over moderate voters and deep roots in the rural Midwest that might serve as a counterpoint to JD Vance, Mr. Trump’s running mate.
Mr. Walz, 60, was raised in a small town in Nebraska. He attended public schools and graduated from Chadron State College in Nebraska. He taught at a public school in Mankato, Minn., a small city south of Minneapolis where Mr. Walz and his wife, a fellow teacher, raised two children. Outside of the classroom, he coached high school football and served in the Army National Guard for 24 years, ascending to the rank of command sergeant major.
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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.
Step 2: Write your initial answer. After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process. The internet has had more of a positive than a negative effect on education.
A thesis statement should be clear and concise, typically one to two sentences long. Aim for 20 to 30 words, ensuring it includes the main topic, your position, and the key points that will be covered in your paper.
Revised on April 16, 2024. A thesis is a type of research paper based on your original research. It is usually submitted as the final step of a master's program or a capstone to a bachelor's degree. Writing a thesis can be a daunting experience. Other than a dissertation, it is one of the longest pieces of writing students typically complete.
A thesis statement: tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion. is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper. directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject ...
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.
A thesis statement is a very common component of an essay, particularly in the humanities. It usually comprises 1 or 2 sentences in the introduction of your essay, and should clearly and concisely summarise the central points of your academic essay. A thesis is a long-form piece of academic writing, often taking more than a full semester to ...
It does contain at least two clauses, usually an independent clause (the opinion) and a dependent clause (the reasons). You probably should aim for a single sentence that is at least two lines, or about 30 to 40 words long. Position: A thesis statement always belongs at the beginning of an essay.
When drafting your thesis statement, avoid words like explore, investigate, learn, compile, summarize, and explain to describe the main purpose of your paper. These words imply a paper that summarizes or "reports," rather than synthesizing and analyzing. Instead of the terms above, try words like argue, critique, question, and interrogate.
Your thesis is the central claim in your essay—your main insight or idea about your source or topic.Your thesis should appear early in an academic essay, followed by a logically constructed argument that supports this central claim. A strong thesis is arguable, which means a thoughtful reader could disagree with it and therefore needs your careful analysis of the evidence to understand how ...
A thesis typically ranges between 40-80 pages, but its length can vary based on the research topic, institution guidelines, and level of study. 2: How long is a PhD thesis? A PhD thesis usually spans 200-300 pages, though this can vary based on the discipline, complexity of the research, and institutional requirements. 3: How to find thesis topics?
Sometimes in a long paper, the thesis will be expressed in several sentences or an entire paragraph. A thesis statement is focused and specific enough to be proven within the boundaries of the paper. Key words (nouns and verbs) should be specific, accurate, and indicative of the range of research, thrust of the argument or analysis, and the ...
The average masters thesis is typically between 50 and 100 pages long. The length of the thesis will vary depending on the discipline and the university requirements but will typically be around 25,000 to 50,000 words in length. My Masters thesis in theoretical computational chemistry was 60 pages long. It was quite short for a master's ...
How long should a PhD thesis be? A PhD thesis (or dissertation) is typically 60,000 to 120,000 words (100 to 300 pages in length) organised into chapters, divisions and subdivisions (with roughly 10,000 words per chapter) - from introduction (with clear aims and objectives) to conclusion.
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 ...
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. Level of study.
Step 1: Answer your research question. Step 2: Summarize and reflect on your research. Step 3: Make future recommendations. Step 4: Emphasize your contributions to your field. Step 5: Wrap up your thesis or dissertation. Full conclusion example. Conclusion checklist. Other interesting articles.
A master's dissertation is typically 12,000-50,000 words; A PhD thesis is typically book-length: 70,000-100,000 words; However, none of these are strict guidelines - your word count may be lower or higher than the numbers stated here. Always check the guidelines provided by your university to determine how long your own dissertation ...
Your thesis statement may be short or long, depending on your academic level. While there is no one rule on how long is a thesis statement supposed to be, experts advise 20-50 words. Long or short, your thesis should clearly state your paper's aim in one to four lines; leave out irrelevant words. If you need professional help writing your ...
Thesis length. Research theses have a word limit that you must comply with. A PhD thesis should not exceed a total of 100,000 words in length (or 70,000 for most professional doctorates), including scholarly apparatus such as footnotes or endnotes, essential appendices and bibliography. A doctoral thesis should however, be concise.
A PhD can be anywhere from 50 pages to over 450 pages long. This equates to between about 20,000 words to 100,000 words. Most PhD theses are between 60,000 and 80,000 words long excluding contents, citations and references. A PhD thesis contains different sections including an introduction, methods, results and discussion, conclusions, further ...
A research proposal usually contains about 2,000 to 4,000 words or four to seven pages. Don't use too many technical terms and abbreviations assuming that the readers would know them. Define the abbreviations and technical terms. Ensure that the entire content is readable. Avoid using long paragraphs because they affect the continuity in reading.
Sunday August 4, 2024 Morning Worship
A thesis is typically a deep investigation of a certain topic, frequently with a case study or concentrated analysis, that reflects the student's academic experience at the master's level.
At long last, Democrats have leaned into the word "weird." Vice President Kamala Harris, now the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee, has started using it to describe ...
The arrest of Mr. Zambada García — long considered a godfather in his country's underworld and one of its shrewdest remaining capos — resounded across Mexico as one of the biggest blows to ...
How long is a dissertation? Dissertation word counts vary widely across different fields, institutions, and levels of education: An undergraduate dissertation is typically 8,000-15,000 words. A master's dissertation is typically 12,000-50,000 words. A PhD thesis is typically book-length: 70,000-100,000 words.
Painted by the Dutch artist Jan van Bijlert in the 17th century, it shows gods crowded around a long table. At the center is Apollo, the sun god, with a halo of light around his head.
So, with first landfall around 36 hours out, let's take a quick look at how the four main types of weather impacts of a hurricane (wind, surge, tornadoes, and flooding rainfall) are likely to ...
As governor of Minnesota, though, Mr. Walz's policy moves have sharply steered the state to the left. Mr. Walz won a second term in 2022 as Democrats flipped the State Senate.