40 000 word phd thesis

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Word limits and requirements of your Degree Committee

Candidates should write as concisely as is possible, with clear and adequate exposition. Each Degree Committee has prescribed the limits of length and stylistic requirements as given below. On submission of the thesis you must include a statement of length confirming that it does not exceed the word limit for your Degree Committee.

These limits and requirements are strictly observed by the Postgraduate Committee and the Degree Committees and, unless approval to exceed the prescribed limit has been obtained beforehand (see: Extending the Word Limit below), a thesis that exceeds the limit may not be examined until its length complies with the prescribed limit.

Extending the Word Limit

Thesis word limits are set by Degree Committees. If candidates need to increase their word limits they will need to apply for permission.

Information on how to apply (via self-service account) is available on the ‘ Applying for a change in your student status’ page. If following your viva, you are required to make corrections to your thesis which will mean you need to increase your word-limit, you need to apply for permission in the same way.

Requirements of the Degree Committees

Archaeology and anthropology, architecture and history of art, asian and middle eastern studies, business and management, clinical medicine and clinical veterinary medicine, computer laboratory, earth sciences and geography, scott polar institute, engineering, history and philosophy of science, land economy, mathematics, modern and medieval languages and linguistics, physics and chemistry, politics and international studies, archaeology and social anthropology.

The thesis is not to exceed 80,000 words (approx. 350 pages) for the PhD degree and 60,000 words for the MSc or MLitt degree. These limits include all text, figures, tables and photographs, but exclude the bibliography, cited references and appendices. More detailed specifications should be obtained from the Division concerned. Permission to exceed these limits will be granted only after a special application to the Degree Committee. The application must explain in detail the reasons why an extension is being sought and the nature of the additional material, and must be supported by a reasoned case from the supervisor containing a recommendation that a candidate should be allowed to exceed the word limit by a specified number of words. Such permission will be granted only under exceptional circumstances. If candidates need to apply for permission to exceed the word limit, they should do so in good time before the date on which a candidate proposes to submit the thesis, by application made to the Graduate Committee.

Biological Anthropology:

Students may choose between two alternative thesis formats for their work:

either in the form of a thesis of not more than 80,000 words in length for the PhD degree and 60,000 words for the MSc or MLitt degree. The limits include all text, in-text citations, figures, tables, captions and footnotes but exclude bibliography and appendices; or

in the form of a collection of at least three research articles for the PhD degree and two research articles for the MSc or MLitt degree, formatted as an integrated piece of research, with a table of contents, one or more chapters that outline the scope and provide an in-depth review of the subject of study, a concluding chapter discussing the findings and contribution to the field, and a consolidated bibliography. The articles may be in preparation, submitted for publication or already published, and the combined work should not exceed 80,000 words in length for the PhD degree and 60,000 words for the MSc or MLitt degree. The word limits include all text, in-text citations, figures, tables, captions, and footnotes but exclude bibliography and appendices containing supplementary information associated with the articles. More information on the inclusion of material published, in press or in preparation in a PhD thesis may be found in the Department’s PhD submission guidelines.

Architecture:

The thesis is not to exceed 80,000 words for the PhD and 60,000 words for the MSc or MLitt degree. Footnotes, references and text within tables are to be counted within the word-limit, but captions, appendices and bibliographies are excluded. Appendices should be confined to such items as catalogues, original texts, translations of texts, transcriptions of interview, or tables.

History of Art:

The thesis is not to exceed 80,000 words for the PhD and 60,000 words for the MLitt degree. To include: footnotes, table of contents and list of illustrations, but excluding acknowledgements and the bibliography. Appendices (of no determined word length) may be permitted subject to the approval of the candidate's Supervisor (in consultation with the Degree Committee); for example, where a catalogue of works or the transcription of extensive primary source material is germane to the work. Permission to include such appendices must be requested from the candidate's Supervisor well in advance of the submission of the final thesis. NB: Permission for extensions to the word limit for most other purposes is likely to be refused.

The thesis is for the PhD degree not to exceed 80,000 words exclusive of footnotes, appendices and bibliography but subject to an overall word limit of 100,000 words exclusive of bibliography. For the MLitt degree not to exceed 60,000 words inclusive of footnotes but exclusive of bibliography and appendices.

The thesis for the PhD is not to exceed 60,000 words in length (80,000 by special permission), exclusive of tables, footnotes, bibliography, and appendices. Double-spaced or one-and-a-half spaced. Single or double-sided printing.

The thesis for the MPhil in Biological Science is not to exceed 20,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, footnotes, bibliography, and appendices. Double-spaced or one-and-a-half spaced. Single or double-sided printing.

For the PhD Degree the thesis is not to exceed 80,000 words, EXCLUDING bibliography, but including tables, tables of contents, footnotes and appendices. It is normally expected to exceed 40,000 words unless prior permission is obtained from the Degree Committee. Each page of statistical tables, charts or diagrams shall be regarded as equivalent to a page of text of the same size. The Degree Committee do not consider applications to extend this word limit.

For the Doctor of Business (BusD) the thesis will be approximately 200 pages (a maximum length of 80,000 words, EXCLUDING bibliography, but including tables, tables of contents, footnotes and appendices).

For the MSc Degree the thesis is not to exceed 40,000 words, EXCLUDING bibliography, but including tables, tables of contents, footnotes and appendices.

The thesis is not to exceed 80,000 words including footnotes, references, and appendices but excluding bibliography; a page of statistics shall be regarded as the equivalent of 150 words. Only under exceptional circumstances will permission be granted to exceed this limit. Candidates must submit with the thesis a signed statement giving the length of the thesis.

For the PhD degree, not to exceed 60,000 words (or 80,000 by special permission of the Degree Committee), and for the MSc degree, not to exceed 40,000 words. These limits exclude figures, photographs, tables, appendices and bibliography. Lines to be double or one-and-a-half spaced; pages to be double or single sided.

The thesis is not to exceed, without the prior permission of the Degree Committee, 60,000 words including tables, footnotes and equations, but excluding appendices, bibliography, photographs and diagrams. Any thesis which without prior permission of the Degree Committee exceeds the permitted limit will be referred back to the candidate before being forwarded to the examiners.

The thesis is not to exceed 80,000 words for the PhD degree and the MLitt degree, including footnotes, references and appendices but excluding bibliography. Candidates must submit with the thesis a signed statement giving the length of the thesis. Only under exceptional circumstances will permission be granted to exceed this limit for the inclusion of an appendix of a substantial quantity of text which is necessary for the understanding of the thesis (e.g. texts in translation, transcription of extensive primary source material). Permission must be sought at least three months before submission of the thesis and be supported by a letter from the supervisor certifying that such exemption from the prescribed limit of length is absolutely necessary.

The thesis is not to exceed, without the prior permission of the Degree Committee, 80,000 words for the PhD degree and 60,000 words for the MSc or MLitt degree, including the summary/abstract. The table of contents, photographs, diagrams, figure captions, appendices, bibliography and acknowledgements to not count towards the word limit. Footnotes are not included in the word limit where they are a necessary part of the referencing system used.

Earth Sciences:

The thesis is not to exceed, without the prior permission of the Degree Committee, 275 numbered pages of which not more than 225 pages are text, appendices, illustrations and bibliography. A page of text is A4 one-and-a-half-spaced normal size type. The additional 50 pages may comprise tables of data and/or computer programmes reduced in size.

If a candidate's work falls within the social sciences, candidates are expected to observe the limit described in the Department of Geography above; if, however, a candidate's work falls within the natural sciences, a candidate should observe the limit described in the Department of Earth Sciences.

Applications for the limit of length of the thesis to be exceeded must be early — certainly no later than the time when the application for the appointment of examiners and the approval of the title of the thesis is made. Any thesis which, without the prior permission of the Degree Committee, exceeds the permitted limit of length will be referred back to the candidate before being forwarded to the examiners.

The thesis is not to exceed, without the prior permission of the Degree Committee, 60,000 words including tables, footnotes, bibliography and appendices. The Degree Committee points out that some of the best thesis extend to only half this length. Each page of statistical tables, charts or diagrams shall be regarded as equivalent to a page of text of the same size.

The thesis is not to exceed 80,000 words for the PhD and EdD degrees and 60,000 words for the MSc and MLitt degrees, in all cases excluding appendices, footnotes, reference list or bibliography. Only in the most exceptional circumstances will permission be given to exceed the stated limits. In such cases, you must make an application to the Degree Committee as early as possible -and no later than three months before it is proposed to submit the thesis, having regard to the dates of the Degree Committee meetings. Your application should (a) explain in detail the reasons why you are seeking the extension and (b) be accompanied by a full supporting statement from your supervisor showing that the extension is absolutely necessary in the interests of the total presentation of the subject.

For the PhD degree, not to exceed, without prior permission of the Degree Committee, 65,000 words, including appendices, footnotes, tables and equations not to contain more than 150 figures, but excluding the bibliography. A candidate must submit with their thesis a statement signed by the candidate themself giving the length of the thesis and the number of figures. Any thesis which, without the prior permission of the Degree Committee, exceeds the permitted limit will be referred back to the candidate before being forwarded to the examiners.

The thesis is not to exceed 80,000 words or go below 60,000 words for the PhD degree and not to exceed 60,000 words or go below 45,000 words for the MLitt degree, both including all notes and appendices but excluding the bibliography. A candidate must add to the preface of the thesis the following signed statement: 'The thesis does not exceed the regulation length, including footnotes, references and appendices but excluding the bibliography.'

In exceptional cases (when, for example, a candidate's thesis largely consists of an edition of a text) the Degree Committee may grant permission to exceed these limits but in such instances (a) a candidate must apply to exceed the length at least three months before the date on which a candidate proposes to submit their thesis and (b) the application must be supported by a letter from a candidate's supervisor certifying that such exemption from the prescribed limit of length is absolutely necessary.

It is a requirement of the Degree Committee for the Faculty of English that thesis must conform to either the MHRA Style Book or the MLA Handbook for the Writers of Research papers, available from major bookshops. There is one proviso, however, to the use of these manuals: the Faculty does not normally recommend that students use the author/date form of citation and recommends that footnotes rather than endnotes be used. Bibliographies and references in thesis presented by candidates in ASNaC should conform with either of the above or to the practice specified in Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England.

Thesis presented by candidates in the Research Centre for English and Applied Linguistics must follow as closely as possible the printed style of the journal Applied Linguistics and referencing and spelling conventions should be consistent.

A signed declaration of the style-sheet used (and the edition, if relevant) must be made in the preliminary pages of the thesis.

PhD theses MUST NOT exceed 80,000 words, and will normally be near that length.

A minimum word length exists for PhD theses: 70,000 words (50,000 for MLitt theses)

The word limit includes appendices and the contents page but excludes the abstract, acknowledgments, footnotes, references, notes on transliteration, bibliography, abbreviations and glossary. The Contents Page should be included in the word limit. Statistical tables should be counted as 150 words per table. Maps, illustrations and other pictorial images count as 0 words. Graphs, if they are the only representation of the data being presented, are to be counted as 150 words. However, if graphs are used as an illustration of statistical data that is also presented elsewhere within the thesis (as a table for instance), then the graphs count as 0 words.

Only under exceptional circumstances will permission be granted to exceed this limit. Applications for permission are made via CamSIS self-service pages. Applications must be made at least four months before the thesis is bound. Exceptions are granted when a compelling intellectual case is made.

The thesis is not to exceed 80,000 words for the PhD degree and 60,000 words for the MLitt degree, in all cases including footnotes and appendices but excluding bibliography. Permission to submit a thesis falling outside these limits, or to submit an appendix which does not count towards the word limit, must be obtained in advance from the Degree Committee.

The thesis is not to exceed 80,000 for the PhD degree and 60,000 words for the MSc or MLitt degree, both including footnotes, references and appendices but excluding bibliographies. One A4 page consisting largely of statistics, symbols or figures shall be regarded as the equivalent of 250 words. A candidate must add to the preface of their thesis the following signed statement: 'This thesis does not exceed the regulation length, including footnotes, references and appendices.'

For the PhD degree the thesis is not to exceed 80,000 words (exclusive of footnotes, appendices and bibliography) but subject to an overall word limit of 100,000 words (exclusive of bibliography, table of contents and any other preliminary matter). Figures, tables, images etc should be counted as the equivalent of 200 words for each A4 page, or part of an A4 page, that they occupy. For the MLitt degree the thesis is not to exceed 60,000 words inclusive of footnotes but exclusive of bibliography, appendices, table of contents and any other preliminary matter. Figures, tables, images etc should be counted as the equivalent of 200 words for each A4 page, or part of an A4 page, that they occupy.

Criminology:

For the PhD degree submission of a thesis between 55,000 and 80,000 words (exclusive of footnotes, appendices and bibliography) but subject to an overall word limit of 100,000 words (exclusive of bibliography, table of contents and any other preliminary matter). Figures, tables, images etc should be counted as the equivalent of 200 words for each A4 page, or part of an A4 page, that they occupy. For the MLitt degree the thesis is not to exceed 60,000 words inclusive of footnotes but exclusive of bibliography, appendices, table of contents and any other preliminary matter. Figures, tables, images etc should be counted as the equivalent of 200 words for each A4 page, or part of an A4 page, that they occupy.

There is no standard format for the thesis in Mathematics. Candidates should discuss the format appropriate to their topic with their supervisor.

The thesis is not to exceed 80,000 words for the PhD degree and 60,000 words for the MLitt degree, including footnotes and appendices but excluding the abstract, any acknowledgements, contents page(s), abbreviations, notes on transliteration, figures, tables and bibliography. Brief labels accompanying illustrations, figures and tables are also excluded from the word count. The Degree Committee point out that some very successful doctoral theses have been submitted which extend to no more than three-quarters of the maximum permitted length.

In linguistics, where examples are cited in a language other than Modern English, only the examples themselves will be taken into account for the purposes of the word limit. Any English translations and associated linguistic glosses will be excluded from the word count.

In theses written under the aegis of any of the language sections, all sources in the language(s) of the primary area(s) of research of the thesis will normally be in the original language. An English translation should be provided only where reading the original language is likely to fall outside the expertise of the examiners. Where such an English translation is given it will not be included in the word count. In fields where the normal practice is to quote in English in the main text, candidates should follow that practice. If the original text needs to be supplied, it should be placed in a footnote. These fields include, but are not limited to, general linguistics and film and screen studies.

Since appendices are included in the word limit, in some fields it may be necessary to apply to exceed the limit in order to include primary data or other materials which should be available to the examiners. Only under the most exceptional circumstances will permission be granted to exceed the limit in other cases. In all cases (a) a candidate must apply to exceed the prescribed maximum length at least three months before the date on which a candidate proposes to submit their thesis and (b) the application must be accompanied by a full supporting statement from the candidate's supervisor showing that such exemption from the prescribed limit of length is absolutely necessary.

It is a requirement within all language sections of MMLL, and also for Film, that dissertations must conform with the advice concerning abbreviations, quotations, footnotes, references etc published in the Style Book of the Modern Humanities Research Association (Notes for Authors and Editors). For linguistics, dissertations must conform with one of the widely accepted style formats in their field of research, for example the style format of the Journal of Linguistics (Linguistic Association of Great Britain), or of Language Linguistic Society of America) or the APA format (American Psychology Association). If in doubt, linguistics students should discuss this with their supervisor and the PhD Coordinator.

The thesis is not to exceed 80,000 words for the PhD degree and 60,000 words for the MLitt degree, both excluding notes, appendices, and bibliographies, musical transcriptions and examples, unless a candidate make a special case for greater length to the satisfaction of the Degree Committee. Candidates whose work is practice-based may include as part of the doctoral submission either a portfolio of substantial musical compositions, or one or more recordings of their own musical performance(s).

PhD (MLitt) theses in Philosophy must not be more than 80,000 (60,000) words, including appendices and footnotes but excluding bibliography.

Institute of Astronomy, Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, Department of Physics:

The thesis is not to exceed, without prior permission of the Degree Committee, 60,000 words, including summary/abstract, tables, footnotes and appendices, but excluding table of contents, photographs, diagrams, figure captions, list of figures/diagrams, list of abbreviations/acronyms, bibliography and acknowledgements.

Department of Chemistry:

The thesis is not to exceed, without prior permission of the Degree Committee, 60,000 words, including summary/abstract, tables, and footnotes, but excluding table of contents, photographs, diagrams, figure captions, list of figures/diagrams, list of abbreviations/acronyms, bibliography, appendices and acknowledgements. Appendices are relevant to the material contained within the thesis but do not form part of the connected argument. Specifically, they may include derivations, code and spectra, as well as experimental information (compound name, structure, method of formation and data) for non-key molecules made during the PhD studies.

Applicable to the PhDs in Politics & International Studies, Latin American Studies, Multi-disciplinary Studies and Development Studies for all submissions from candidates admitted prior to and including October 2017.

A PhD thesis must not exceed 80,000 words, and will normally be near that length. The word limit includes appendices but excludes footnotes, references and bibliography. Footnotes should not exceed 20% of the thesis. Discursive footnotes are generally discouraged, and under no circumstances should footnotes be used to include material that would normally be in the main text, and thus to circumvent the word limits. Statistical tables should be counted as 150 words per table. Only under exceptional circumstances, and after prior application, will the Degree Committee allow a student to exceed these limits. A candidate must submit, with the thesis, a statement signed by her or himself attesting to the length of the thesis. Any thesis that exceeds the limit will be referred back to candidate for revision before being forwarded to the examiners.

Applicable to the PhDs in Politics & International Studies, Latin American Studies, Multi-disciplinary Studies and Development Studies for all submissions from candidates admitted after October 2017.

A PhD thesis must not exceed 80,000 words, including footnotes. The word limit includes appendices but excludes the bibliography. Discursive footnotes are generally discouraged, and under no circumstances should footnotes be used to include material that would normally be in the main text. Statistical tables should be counted as 150 words per table. Only under exceptional circumstances, and after prior application, will the Degree Committee allow a student to exceed these limits. A candidate must submit, with the thesis, a statement signed by her or himself attesting to the length of the thesis. Any thesis that exceeds the limit will be referred back to candidate for revision before being forwarded to the examiners.

Only applicable to students registered for the degree prior to 1 August 2012; all other students should consult the guidance of the Faculty of Biological Sciences.

Applicable to the PhD in Psychology (former SDP students only) for all submissions made before 30 November 2013

Applicable to the PhD in Psychology (former SDP students only) for all submissions from 30 November 2013

A PhD thesis must not exceed 80,000 words, and will normally be near that length. The word limit includes appendices but excludes footnotes, references and bibliography. Footnotes should not exceed 20% of the thesis. Discursive footnotes are generally discouraged, and under no circumstances should footnotes be used to include material that would normally be in the main text, and thus to circumvent the word limits. Statistical tables should be counted as 150 words per table. Only under exceptional circumstances, and after prior application, will the Degree Committee allow a student to exceed these limits. Applications should be made in good time before the date on which a candidate proposes to submit the thesis, made to the Graduate Committee. A candidate must submit, with the thesis, a statement signed by her or himself attesting to the length of the thesis. Any thesis that exceeds the limit will be referred back to candidate for revision before being forwarded to the examiners.

A PhD thesis must not exceed 80,000 words, and will normally be over 60,000 words. This word limit includes footnotes and endnotes, but excludes appendices and reference list / bibliography. Figures, tables, images etc should be counted as the equivalent of 150 words for each page, or part of a page, that they occupy. Other media may form part of the thesis by prior arrangement with the Degree Committee. Students may apply to the Degree Committee for permission to exceed the word limit, but such applications are granted only rarely. Candidates must submit, with the thesis, a signed statement attesting to the length of the thesis.

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How long should be a Doctoral Dissertation or Thesis?

A doctoral dissertation or thesis should be of 50,000 to 80,000 words and should not exceed 1,00,000 words having around 150 to 230 pages.

“One size can’t fit to all.”

A fat person can’t fit into a lean person’s trouser, isn’t he?

The same is true for the most important academic essay as well, the PhD thesis or dissertation or we can say a doctoral dissertation.

The present article illustrates how long should be a PhD dissertation! the number of words, number of chapters and pages. We will also discuss what should be your thesis length and how you can decide it. But before that let’s understand the concept of a doctoral dissertation or thesis.

The doctoral dissertation or thesis is almost the same kind of thing! Some universities prefer to say it as “dissertation” while others say it “a thesis” but ideally, as per the USA PhD structure, the dissertation is considered as a short essay and often applied to denote a thesis to award the master degree.

Notwithstanding, we can use either term to indicate a PhD essay. Either a thesis or dissertation, any of it can be used. So don’t confuse yourself.

The PhD dissertation is an academic essay, structured, formal and concise and precisely written. The whole thesis must be divided into specific chapters each one includes specific information.

For example, the introduction chapter includes general information only while the review chapter must include literature and reviews of all related topics.

The content of the dissertation may vary from chapter to chapter that we will discuss later on. Sections of every PhD dissertation have a definite content and length as well, and therefore the whole thesis has a definite length.

The criteria to write a PhD dissertation (what to write and how to write) vary among universities, some prefer longer essays while some shorter. Let’s not confuse things and let directly into the topic,

Read more: 12 Proven Practical Tips for Academic Writing .

How long should be a doctoral dissertation or thesis?

The ideal length of the doctoral dissertation is between 50,000 to 80,000 (actually), however, should not exceed 1,00,000 words.

Do you know? “A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions” is a thesis title of Albert Einstein which has only 17 pages .

The whole doctoral dissertation divides into sections like background (commonly an introduction), review, methods, results, discussion and conclusion.

Besides, Acknowledgement, preface, abstract, index, list of images, list of tables and title page and other pages are there in the thesis but can’t be included in the core content of the doctoral dissertation.

In accordance with the number of pages, a typical thesis has a minimum of 180 and a maximum of 300 pages with an average of 230 pages per dissertation and consider as the ideal length of the doctoral dissertation.

However, here are some of the factors upon which the length of the thesis is decided.

The subject chosen
The topic of the doctoral dissertation
University selected

The length of the thesis varies among subjects as some need longer, in-depth explanation whilst some only contain equations or mathematical calculations.

Usually, dissertations of humanities such as history, language and social science are long around 1,00,000 to 1,20,000 words. On the other side, the dissertation of STEM ( Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) are shorter around 50,000 to 80,000 words.

Here is the graph of the number of pages and length of the thesis in different subjects.

Another factor is a topic chosen by the prospective student. The length of the doctoral dissertation also depends on a topic selected, independent of the subject.

For example, some topics are shorter and “require to the point” explanation, topics of maths and physics are based on equations and calculations henceforth those theses ideally might be shorter than other topics.

On the other side, a topic that includes not only scientific experiments but also physics or maths and social benefits are usually longer. The reason is that prospective students need to explain the science behind that and its importance for society as well. So it may be huge.

Related article: 16 Proven Tips to Write a Thesis for PhD .

The style of writing, length and structure of dissertation may vary among universities. Universities have their own style and students have to write their thesis accordingly.

Do you know? David Rector’s thesis entitled, “An unstable Adams Spectral Sequence” is the shortest thesis in the world having only 9 pages (as per the MIT library of thesis).

Note that the quality of the doctoral dissertation isn’t associated with the length of it. Consequently, a longer thesis isn’t mean quality work whilst a shorter thesis isn’t mean poor work!

Plenty of research data are available on the length of the doctoral dissertation and the number of pages but interestingly, conclude nothing!

This means, research conduct on 1000 student show that the thesis should have 1,00,000 pages doesn’t infer that you have to write a dissertation of exactly having the same length.

Dr Eva Lantsoght had conducted a poll on Twitter on “what was the word count of your dissertation?”

34% of students voted that their thesis is 80,000 to 1,20,000 words long while 21% of students voted to have a dissertation length of fewer than 40,000 words. However, the study is irrelevant as students aren’t categorized based their subjects. (but it’s just a Twitter Poll!).

As we said, the number of pages or words may deviate among universities, for example, ideally Cambridge university allow 80,000 words in a typical dissertation, however, in the same university the criteria for biology PhD thesis is 60,000 (as per their official website information).

Note that special permission is needed when students exceeds more than the limit decided.

Similarly, Oxford university and Harvard university advised dissertation length of 1,00,000 and 100 to 300 pages, respectively.

No such data or studies define how long exactly a doctoral dissertation should be because as we said, it’s not a major criterion in any university. If you write a thesis in either fewer or more words, the university will never reject it or fail you, based on that.

Irrespective of the length of the dissertation, it must justify the research work done by the prospective candidate. If the examiner thinks that the thesis is too long, they advise you to make it shorter and vice versa, no issue in that.

The only thing matter is that the work should be worth award-winning. However, some universities are strict against the length of the doctoral dissertation. Students need prior permission if their thesis excess the length decided by the university. For example, at Cambridge University, the length of a doctorate dissertation is fixed for different subjects. When exceeded, one has to take permission prior to submit the thesis.

Do you know? Historian Joachim Schuhmacher had written the world’s longest thesis having 2,654 pages.

Now let us discuss how the length of a doctorate dissertation is decided?

The answer to this question gives you an idea of “how many words you have to write”. A single thesis page should have around 325 to 333 pages when using Times New Roman font and double spacing (as per the MLA and APA formate ).

When you write 100 pages it comprises 33, 300 words so when we write 250 pages, it comprises around 83,250 words.

It means one should have to write around 60,000 to 70,000 words (220 to 230) pages for getting a doctoral degree. Again, keep in mind, not the length, the quality of research work and writing precision decides the fate of a student.

Importantly, the ideal length of what we are discussing here only comprises content, we haven’t included other important pages such as a preface, acknowledgment, title page or other related pages. Those are single pages and must be labeled in italic, not in numbers.

Refer university’s official circular or terms and conditions before applying as well as submitting a thesis. Do not trust blindly what others are doing.

Conclusion:

What is the conclusion of the present topic? You may wonder I will advise you on how long a doctoral dissertation will be. Right! Well, in that case, I strongly recommended to contact the university and ask to the PhD department regarding requirements.

Keep in mind quality of research matter more rather than the quantity of writing. Still, you need to write a doctoral dissertation longer enough to evaluate.

“Don’t consider yourself as Einstein or David Rector.”

Dr. Tushar Chauhan is a Scientist, Blogger and Scientific-writer. He has completed PhD in Genetics. Dr. Chauhan is a PhD coach and tutor.

About The Author

Dr Tushar Chauhan

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A workingmumscholar's journey through her phd and beyond, word limits: arbitrary or purposeful writing boundaries.

There is a fair amount of art and craft that goes into any form of writing. Scholarly writing is a form that is not often seen—especially by novice writers—in ‘art and craft’ terms in the way that, perhaps, novel or short story writing is. But I think it’s important to understand writing an assignment, a journal article, a book or book chapter, a dissertation or thesis, as an act of ‘crafting’ our ideas and thoughts into a narrative that will engage, inform, persuade the readers we are writing to.

In any form of writing there are word limits. 1500 words for a first-year essay, 40000 words for a Masters thesis, 80000-100000 words for a doctoral dissertation, 7000 words for a journal article. Even in blogging land, the average post tends to hover around 800-1000 words, a fairly standard word limit for the average post. These word limits can frustrate and annoy writers —they either feel like they are hindering creativity and expression or are overwhelming (so many words!) A student once expressed having to stick to a very short word limit for an in-class task (300 words) as ‘deeply painful’ because he felt he had to cut ideas out that he wanted to include, that were part of him.

All of us writers have, at one point or many, had to sit with a piece that was over the requested or set word limit and work out what to cut, what to leave, and what to rephrase or reword to keep the idea but reduce the word count. This editing and re-crafting process can be a painful and frustrating exercise indeed. It can feel arbitrary after a certain point. ‘Why is there such an issue with an extra 126 words in a 6000-word paper or an extra 10 pages in a 200-page thesis? Just let me say what I want to say!’

These editing and revision experiences and my student’s frustrated plea for more words may beg the question: Are word limits a purposeful boundary around a single piece of writing and thinking or are they rather arbitrary conventions devised by publishers, lecturers and examiners to save costs or reduce marking stress? Why are some word limits negotiable and others are like a solid wall: not one more word may be written!

To answer this question, I am returning to the idea I started with: writing as a craft. In some ways, it is quite easy to include all of your ideas in a paper or thesis; you can write about everything you have read, everything you think on the issue. You can just capture your ideas as they come. This is often what we do in brainstorming and drafting: let the ideas flow so we get them out of our heads and onto pape r. But we cannot send this to reviewers, editors and examiners. This is what we perhaps may share with critical friends and supervisors to obtain feedback and help with shaping one argument that can be clearly supported with relevant literature and evidence, organised coherently and cohesively into a structure that will make sense to readers and persuade them to take our ideas seriously.

This ‘stream of consciousness’ type drafting needs to be crafted —edited, reorganised, shaped— into one argument, one ‘golden thread’ that runs through the paper. This is especially the case when working on a journal article or book chapter. If we try to throw all of our thoughts into one paper, or even one thesis, we end up confusing and confused. We struggle to work out where the focus of the paper or thesis is and that leads to confusion around what we should be including and excluding, what further reading we may need to do, what data we need to select, etc. Word limits are perhaps more accurately described as argument or thinking limits .

A word limit is actually a limit on purpose and focus : 6000 or 7000 words for a journal article, for example, makes it possible for one argument to be made well. That argument, or main claim/focus, then becomes a tool that enables you to choose: relevant literature to support your contribution to knowledge; relevant theory to apply to analysing your data; selected methodology and data from your larger methodological framework and dataset, chosen to make the argument; a focused conclusion that draws the argument to a coherent close. For a non-empirical paper (conceptual, systematic review, etc.) you still need a ‘choosing tool’ and that is still the main argument or focal point of the paper.

Word limits help up to choose judiciously with the aim of making meanings clear, well-supported and persuasive. For example, if I know I only have about 800 words for a whole blog post, I can’t spend all of those on the run-up to my point; I have to get to the point quickly so that I can spend my allotted words explaining, supporting and elaborating on my point so that it is made meaningfully and as fully as possible. ‘Rambling’ around the point means I have used up my 800 words and left you wondering: ‘Why am I reading this? What is she trying to say?’ This happens with any writing that is sent to a reader without being crafted into a form that has the reader in mind, as well as the purpose and focus of the writing in mind.

Word limits, then, are not arbitrary or there to save money or time. They are there to help us as writers focus our thoughts, our reading and our research. The outcome of all this focus is clearer writing that makes a limited set of points or an argument meaningfully and effectively with the reader and the purpose of the writing in mind. While all the crafting work that goes into making any piece of writing effective and meaningful is not easy or quick, it is important . Writing is about meaning-making and meanings take time to make well. For students used to writing a paper once and handing it in for a mark, this can be a big shift in thinking and action. Writing is far more about rewriting than people tend to think it is: re-drafting, re-thinking, re-working, re-editing. But, as I have been learning in editing and polishing my own writing these last few weeks, the work pays off in the writing you are able to share and be proud of in the end.

Tips for writing a PhD dissertation: FAQs answered

From how to choose a topic to writing the abstract and managing work-life balance through the years it takes to complete a doctorate, here we collect expert advice to get you through the PhD writing process

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Embarking on a PhD is “probably the most challenging task that a young scholar attempts to do”, write Mark Stephan Felix and Ian Smith in their practical guide to dissertation and thesis writing. After years of reading and research to answer a specific question or proposition, the candidate will submit about 80,000 words that explain their methods and results and demonstrate their unique contribution to knowledge. Here are the answers to frequently asked questions about writing a doctoral thesis or dissertation.

What’s the difference between a dissertation and a thesis?

Whatever the genre of the doctorate, a PhD must offer an original contribution to knowledge. The terms “dissertation” and “thesis” both refer to the long-form piece of work produced at the end of a research project and are often used interchangeably. Which one is used might depend on the country, discipline or university. In the UK, “thesis” is generally used for the work done for a PhD, while a “dissertation” is written for a master’s degree. The US did the same until the 1960s, says Oxbridge Essays, when the convention switched, and references appeared to a “master’s thesis” and “doctoral dissertation”. To complicate matters further, undergraduate long essays are also sometimes referred to as a thesis or dissertation.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “thesis” as “a dissertation, especially by a candidate for a degree” and “dissertation” as “a detailed discourse on a subject, especially one submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of a degree or diploma”.

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The title “doctor of philosophy”, incidentally, comes from the degree’s origins, write Dr Felix, an associate professor at Mahidol University in Thailand, and Dr Smith, retired associate professor of education at the University of Sydney , whose co-authored guide focuses on the social sciences. The PhD was first awarded in the 19th century by the philosophy departments of German universities, which at that time taught science, social science and liberal arts.

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.

The structure of a dissertation will vary depending on discipline (humanities, social sciences and STEM all have their own conventions), location and institution. Examples and guides to structure proliferate online. The University of Salford , for example, lists: title page, declaration, acknowledgements, abstract, table of contents, lists of figures, tables and abbreviations (where needed), chapters, appendices and references.

A scientific-style thesis will likely need: introduction, literature review, materials and methods, results, discussion, bibliography and references.

As well as checking the overall criteria and expectations of your institution for your research, consult your school handbook for the required length and format (font, layout conventions and so on) for your dissertation.

A PhD takes three to four years to complete; this might extend to six to eight years for a part-time doctorate.

What are the steps for completing a PhD?

Before you get started in earnest , you’ll likely have found a potential supervisor, who will guide your PhD journey, and done a research proposal (which outlines what you plan to research and how) as part of your application, as well as a literature review of existing scholarship in the field, which may form part of your final submission.

In the UK, PhD candidates undertake original research and write the results in a thesis or dissertation, says author and vlogger Simon Clark , who posted videos to YouTube throughout his own PhD journey . Then they submit the thesis in hard copy and attend the viva voce (which is Latin for “living voice” and is also called an oral defence or doctoral defence) to convince the examiners that their work is original, understood and all their own. Afterwards, if necessary, they make changes and resubmit. If the changes are approved, the degree is awarded.

The steps are similar in Australia , although candidates are mostly assessed on their thesis only; some universities may include taught courses, and some use a viva voce. A PhD in Australia usually takes three years full time.

In the US, the PhD process begins with taught classes (similar to a taught master’s) and a comprehensive exam (called a “field exam” or “dissertation qualifying exam”) before the candidate embarks on their original research. The whole journey takes four to six years.

A PhD candidate will need three skills and attitudes to get through their doctoral studies, says Tara Brabazon , professor of cultural studies at Flinders University in Australia who has written extensively about the PhD journey :

master the academic foundational skills (research, writing, ability to navigate different modalities)
time-management skills and the ability to focus on reading and writing
determined motivation to do a PhD.

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How do I choose the topic for my PhD dissertation or thesis?

It’s important to find a topic that will sustain your interest for the years it will take to complete a PhD. “Finding a sustainable topic is the most important thing you [as a PhD student] would do,” says Dr Brabazon in a video for Times Higher Education . “Write down on a big piece of paper all the topics, all the ideas, all the questions that really interest you, and start to cross out all the ones that might just be a passing interest.” Also, she says, impose the “Who cares? Who gives a damn?” question to decide if the topic will be useful in a future academic career.

The availability of funding and scholarships is also often an important factor in this decision, says veteran PhD supervisor Richard Godwin, from Harper Adams University .

Define a gap in knowledge – and one that can be questioned, explored, researched and written about in the time available to you, says Gina Wisker, head of the Centre for Learning and Teaching at the University of Brighton. “Set some boundaries,” she advises. “Don’t try to ask everything related to your topic in every way.”

James Hartley, research professor in psychology at Keele University, says it can also be useful to think about topics that spark general interest. If you do pick something that taps into the zeitgeist, your findings are more likely to be noticed.

You also need to find someone else who is interested in it, too. For STEM candidates , this will probably be a case of joining a team of people working in a similar area where, ideally, scholarship funding is available. A centre for doctoral training (CDT) or doctoral training partnership (DTP) will advertise research projects. For those in the liberal arts and social sciences, it will be a matter of identifying a suitable supervisor .

Avoid topics that are too broad (hunger across a whole country, for example) or too narrow (hunger in a single street) to yield useful solutions of academic significance, write Mark Stephan Felix and Ian Smith. And ensure that you’re not repeating previous research or trying to solve a problem that has already been answered. A PhD thesis must be original.

What is a thesis proposal?

After you have read widely to refine your topic and ensure that it and your research methods are original, and discussed your project with a (potential) supervisor, you’re ready to write a thesis proposal , a document of 1,500 to 3,000 words that sets out the proposed direction of your research. In the UK, a research proposal is usually part of the application process for admission to a research degree. As with the final dissertation itself, format varies among disciplines, institutions and countries but will usually contain title page, aims, literature review, methodology, timetable and bibliography. Examples of research proposals are available online.

How to write an abstract for a dissertation or thesis

The abstract presents your thesis to the wider world – and as such may be its most important element , says the NUI Galway writing guide. It outlines the why, how, what and so what of the thesis . Unlike the introduction, which provides background but not research findings, the abstract summarises all sections of the dissertation in a concise, thorough, focused way and demonstrates how well the writer understands their material. Check word-length limits with your university – and stick to them. About 300 to 500 words is a rough guide – but it can be up to 1,000 words.

The abstract is also important for selection and indexing of your thesis, according to the University of Melbourne guide , so be sure to include searchable keywords.

It is the first thing to be read but the last element you should write. However, Pat Thomson , professor of education at the University of Nottingham , advises that it is not something to be tackled at the last minute.

How to write a stellar conclusion

As well as chapter conclusions, a thesis often has an overall conclusion to draw together the key points covered and to reflect on the unique contribution to knowledge. It can comment on future implications of the research and open up new ideas emanating from the work. It is shorter and more general than the discussion chapter , says online editing site Scribbr, and reiterates how the work answers the main question posed at the beginning of the thesis. The conclusion chapter also often discusses the limitations of the research (time, scope, word limit, access) in a constructive manner.

It can be useful to keep a collection of ideas as you go – in the online forum DoctoralWriting SIG , academic developer Claire Aitchison, of the University of South Australia , suggests using a “conclusions bank” for themes and inspirations, and using free-writing to keep this final section fresh. (Just when you feel you’ve run out of steam.) Avoid aggrandising or exaggerating the impact of your work. It should remind the reader what has been done, and why it matters.

How to format a bibliography (or where to find a reliable model)

Most universities use a preferred style of references , writes THE associate editor Ingrid Curl. Make sure you know what this is and follow it. “One of the most common errors in academic writing is to cite papers in the text that do not then appear in the bibliography. All references in your thesis need to be cross-checked with the bibliography before submission. Using a database during your research can save a great deal of time in the writing-up process.”

A bibliography contains not only works cited explicitly but also those that have informed or contributed to the research – and as such illustrates its scope; works are not limited to written publications but include sources such as film or visual art.

Examiners can start marking from the back of the script, writes Dr Brabazon. “Just as cooks are judged by their ingredients and implements, we judge doctoral students by the calibre of their sources,” she advises. She also says that candidates should be prepared to speak in an oral examination of the PhD about any texts included in their bibliography, especially if there is a disconnect between the thesis and the texts listed.

Can I use informal language in my PhD?

Don’t write like a stereotypical academic , say Kevin Haggerty, professor of sociology at the University of Alberta , and Aaron Doyle, associate professor in sociology at Carleton University , in their tongue-in-cheek guide to the PhD journey. “If you cannot write clearly and persuasively, everything about PhD study becomes harder.” Avoid jargon, exotic words, passive voice and long, convoluted sentences – and work on it consistently. “Writing is like playing guitar; it can improve only through consistent, concerted effort.”

Be deliberate and take care with your writing . “Write your first draft, leave it and then come back to it with a critical eye. Look objectively at the writing and read it closely for style and sense,” advises THE ’s Ms Curl. “Look out for common errors such as dangling modifiers, subject-verb disagreement and inconsistency. If you are too involved with the text to be able to take a step back and do this, then ask a friend or colleague to read it with a critical eye. Remember Hemingway’s advice: ‘Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.’ Clarity is key.”

How often should a PhD candidate meet with their supervisor?

Since the PhD supervisor provides a range of support and advice – including on research techniques, planning and submission – regular formal supervisions are essential, as is establishing a line of contact such as email if the candidate needs help or advice outside arranged times. The frequency varies according to university, discipline and individual scholars.

Once a week is ideal, says Dr Brabazon. She also advocates a two-hour initial meeting to establish the foundations of the candidate-supervisor relationship .

The University of Edinburgh guide to writing a thesis suggests that creating a timetable of supervisor meetings right at the beginning of the research process will allow candidates to ensure that their work stays on track throughout. The meetings are also the place to get regular feedback on draft chapters.

“A clear structure and a solid framework are vital for research,” writes Dr Godwin on THE Campus . Use your supervisor to establish this and provide a realistic view of what can be achieved. “It is vital to help students identify the true scientific merit, the practical significance of their work and its value to society.”

How to proofread your dissertation (what to look for)

Proofreading is the final step before printing and submission. Give yourself time to ensure that your work is the best it can be . Don’t leave proofreading to the last minute; ideally, break it up into a few close-reading sessions. Find a quiet place without distractions. A checklist can help ensure that all aspects are covered.

Proofing is often helped by a change of format – so it can be easier to read a printout rather than working off the screen – or by reading sections out of order. Fresh eyes are better at spotting typographical errors and inconsistencies, so leave time between writing and proofreading. Check with your university’s policies before asking another person to proofread your thesis for you.

As well as close details such as spelling and grammar, check that all sections are complete, all required elements are included , and nothing is repeated or redundant. Don’t forget to check headings and subheadings. Does the text flow from one section to another? Is the structure clear? Is the work a coherent whole with a clear line throughout?

Ensure consistency in, for example, UK v US spellings, capitalisation, format, numbers (digits or words, commas, units of measurement), contractions, italics and hyphenation. Spellchecks and online plagiarism checkers are also your friend.

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How do you manage your time to complete a PhD dissertation?

Treat your PhD like a full-time job, that is, with an eight-hour working day. Within that, you’ll need to plan your time in a way that gives a sense of progress . Setbacks and periods where it feels as if you are treading water are all but inevitable, so keeping track of small wins is important, writes A Happy PhD blogger Luis P. Prieto.

Be specific with your goals – use the SMART acronym (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely).

And it’s never too soon to start writing – even if early drafts are overwritten and discarded.

“ Write little and write often . Many of us make the mistake of taking to writing as one would take to a sprint, in other words, with relatively short bursts of intense activity. Whilst this can prove productive, generally speaking it is not sustainable…In addition to sustaining your activity, writing little bits on a frequent basis ensures that you progress with your thinking. The comfort of remaining in abstract thought is common; writing forces us to concretise our thinking,” says Christian Gilliam, AHSS researcher developer at the University of Cambridge ’s Centre for Teaching and Learning.

Make time to write. “If you are more alert early in the day, find times that suit you in the morning; if you are a ‘night person’, block out some writing sessions in the evenings,” advises NUI Galway’s Dermot Burns, a lecturer in English and creative arts. Set targets, keep daily notes of experiment details that you will need in your thesis, don’t confuse writing with editing or revising – and always back up your work.

What work-life balance tips should I follow to complete my dissertation?

During your PhD programme, you may have opportunities to take part in professional development activities, such as teaching, attending academic conferences and publishing your work. Your research may include residencies, field trips or archive visits. This will require time-management skills as well as prioritising where you devote your energy and factoring in rest and relaxation. Organise your routine to suit your needs , and plan for steady and regular progress.

How to deal with setbacks while writing a thesis or dissertation

Have a contingency plan for delays or roadblocks such as unexpected results.

Accept that writing is messy, first drafts are imperfect, and writer’s block is inevitable, says Dr Burns. His tips for breaking it include relaxation to free your mind from clutter, writing a plan and drawing a mind map of key points for clarity. He also advises feedback, reflection and revision: “Progressing from a rough version of your thoughts to a superior and workable text takes time, effort, different perspectives and some expertise.”

“Academia can be a relentlessly brutal merry-go-round of rejection, rebuttal and failure,” writes Lorraine Hope , professor of applied cognitive psychology at the University of Portsmouth, on THE Campus. Resilience is important. Ensure that you and your supervisor have a relationship that supports open, frank, judgement-free communication.

If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter .

Authoring a PhD Thesis: How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Dissertation (2003), by Patrick Dunleavy

Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis (1998), by Joan Balker

Challenges in Writing Your Dissertation: Coping with the Emotional, Interpersonal, and Spiritual Struggles (2015), by Noelle Sterne

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Thesis and Examination: The Code of Practice

Preparing a thesis

Guidance on writing your thesis and the support available.

English language requirements

Theses should normally be written in English. In exceptional circumstances, a student may request permission from their Faculty to present a thesis that is written in another language where there is a clear academic justification for doing so, eg. where the language is directly linked to the research project, or where there is a clear benefit to the impact and dissemination of the research.

Likewise, the oral examination should normally be conducted in English, except in cases where there are pedagogic reasons for it to be held in another language, or where there is a formal agreement in place that requires the viva to be conducted in another language. Permission should be sought from the appropriate faculty for a viva to be conducted in a language other than English.

Guidance on writing the thesis

The main source of advice and guidance for students beginning to write their thesis is the supervisory team. Students should discuss the proposed structure of the thesis with their supervisor at an early stage in their research programme, together with the schedule for its production, and the role of the supervisor in checking drafts. Supervisors should be prepared to advise on such matters as undertaking a literature review, referencing and formatting the thesis, and on what should or should not be included in the thesis, including any supplementary or non-standard material.

Additional support is also available via the English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC), which offers academic writing and thesis writing courses. In addition, the University offers a Thesis Mentoring programme to help students to manage better the process of writing their thesis.

Students may also find it helpful to consult theses from the same subject discipline that are available in institutional repositories such as White Rose Etheses Online or via the British Library’s EThOS service.

Students who intend to include in their thesis any material owned by another person should consider the copyright implications at an early stage and should not leave this until the final stages of completing the thesis. The correct use of third-party copyright material and the avoidance of unfair means are taken very seriously by the University. Attendance at a copyright training session offered by the Library is strongly recommended.

Students should take care to ensure that the identification of any third-party individuals within their thesis (e.g. participants in the research), is only done with the informed consent of those individuals, and in recognition of any potential risks that this may present to them. This is especially important because an electronic copy of the thesis will normally be made publicly available via the White Rose Etheses Online repository.

Use of copyright material

Guidance on good practices in authorship is set out in the GRIP policy expectations.

Good practices in authorship

Acceptable support in writing the thesis

It is acceptable for a student to receive the following support in writing the thesis from the supervisory team (that is additional to the advice and/or information outlined above), if the supervisory team has considered that this support is necessary:

Where the meaning of the text is not clear the student should be asked to re-write the text in question in order to clarify the meaning.
If the meaning of the text is unclear, the supervisory team can provide support in correcting grammar and sentence construction to clarify its meaning. If a student requires significant support with written English above what is considered to be correcting grammar and sentence construction, the supervisory team will, at the earliest opportunity, request that the student obtains remedial tuition support from the University’s English Language Teaching Centre.
The supervisory team cannot rewrite text that changes the meaning of the text (ghost writing/ghost authorship in a thesis is unacceptable).
The supervisory team can provide guidance on the structure, content and expression of writing.
The supervisory team can proofread the text.
Anyone else who may be employed or engaged to proofread the text is only permitted to change spelling and grammar and must not be able to change the content of the thesis.

The Confirmation Review and the oral examination are the key progression milestones for testing whether a thesis is a student's own work.

Requests for an extension to a student’s time limit for the student to improve their standard of written English in the thesis will not be approved. Students who require additional language support should be signposted to appropriate sources of help at an early stage in their degree to avoid such an occurrence.

Yellow Sticker scheme for disabled students

The University runs a sticker scheme for students who have an impairment that can affect aspects of their written communication. This applies to all students, including PGRs submitting a thesis for examination.

Yellow Sticker scheme

The University does not have any regulatory requirements governing the length of theses, but most faculties have established guidelines:

Arts and Humanities: 40,000 words (MPhil); 75,000 words (PhD)
Health: 40,000 words (MPhil); 75,000 words (PhD, MD)
Science: 40,000 words (MPhil); 80,000 words (PhD)
Social Sciences: 40,000 words (MPhil); 75,000-100,000 words (PhD)

The above word counts exclude footnotes, bibliography and appendices. Where there are no guidelines, students should consult the supervisor as to the length of thesis appropriate to the particular topic of research.

Related information

Contact the Research Degree Support Team

Thesis submission

Use of unfair means in the assessment process

How Long is a PhD Thesis?

Maisie Dadswell
September 6, 2023

If you look for an answer to the question, how long is a PhD thesis, you will notice that there is a lot of contradictory information on the internet because there is no one-size-fits-all answer for PhD students. Each university sets its maximum and minimum word count limits for PhD students.

PhD. Thesis Word Count

So how many words is a Ph.D. thesis? At UWS London, your PhD thesis should not typically exceed 40,000 words for PhD students studying Mathematics, Technology, Science, and Engineering – this excludes ancillary data. For PhD students studying in all other fields, a PhD thesis should not exceed 80,000 words.

How Many Pages is a PhD Thesis?

80,000 words should equate to around 350 pages, depending on how many photographs, tables, and figures are included. When you submit your thesis, you must also submit a statement of length. This statement confirms your thesis doesn’t exceed the word limit that has been set by your PhD committee.

As for the minimum word limits, your PhD thesis should be near the maximum limit; however, it should never exceed it. The word limit includes the contents page and the appendices, excluding the acknowledgements, the abstract, the footnotes, the references, the bibliography, abbreviations, the glossary, and any notes made on translations.

How Flexible Are PhD Limits of Length?

All limits of length are set by your university degree committee. If, for any reason, you need to increase the specified word limit set by your university for your field of study, you will need to make a written request for permission to go above the set word count. You will also need to apply for permission to extend the word count of your thesis if you need to increase your word limit following your viva after the corrections are made.

How to Structure Your PhD Thesis

Spending time thinking about the structure of your thesis will always be time well-spent. To start the structuring process, organise the material you have already drafted into distinct chapters. Your thesis should read as a continuous story you are trying to write. What works well for some PhD candidates while structuring their thesis works less for others; you can try discussing the structure with someone with a background in your field of study, using mind-mapping techniques, creating a storyboard, using index cards, or placing post-it notes on a whiteboard.

PhD structures can vary by field; however, they are commonly structured in the following way:

The title page
Acknowledgements
Content page or pages
Introduction
A literature review (which may have already been covered in the introduction)
Materials, sources and methods – unless these differ for each chapter
Themed topic chapters
Publications – if necessary
References
Appendices

Once you have sketched out a rough structure, many PhD students find it beneficial to assign a word count for each chapter and section. However, you should always remain flexible between the sections and chapters until you have a final draft. If after you have your final draft, you find that you have exceeded the specified word count, you will likely find that you can cut out unnecessary words during the editing process. In terms of thesis writing, PhD candidates typically have a planned writing approach or a generative writing approach.

Planned Writers

For planned writers, it may be helpful to define sections under each chapter and break down sub-sections to paragraph by paragraph level. With this method, you can work methodically through each section and put a tick mark next to completed tasks on your PhD thesis plan.

Generative Writers

For generative writers, it is typically easier to put ideas down on paper before arranging and organising them. If you use this approach, you will need to ensure you have imposed a structure afterwards; by summarising each paragraph or subsection as bullet points to create an overview of the structure. Re-ordering the sections or subsections may be required to strengthen the cohesion of your writing, and additional sub-headings may have to be written to make your thesis flow better. For both planned writers and generative writers, it is crucial to keep reviewing your thesis and structure as your writing and research develops. Amendments are a natural part of the process as you become aware of what your PhD thesis needs to include to demonstrate your understanding and contribution to your field of study.

PhD Writing Tips

After years of research and study, when it is finally time to start writing the PhD thesis, many candidates can feel overwhelmed by the task and the word count, which is significantly higher than what they encountered while writing their undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations. The good news is that there is no need to be daunted by the process. By spending a fraction of your research time on finding ways to maximise your chances of success, by the time you submit your PhD thesis, you will feel confident in how you have showcased your creative knowledge and your contribution to your field of study. Below, we have outlined some tips you can follow to make the writing-up stage as stress-free as possible.

1. Clear Exposition is Key

Though wordcount is important, PhD candidates should pay mind to plenty more than their thesis wordcount when drafting and structuring. Writing as concisely as possible with adequate and clear exposition is just as important for PhD candidates aiming for no corrections or minor corrections following their PhD viva.

2. Trust in the Process

Remember that even the most experienced and eloquent writers, in academia or otherwise, never hit the ground running and knock it out of the park with the first draft. As the adage goes, you can’t edit a blank page; even if you start with rough bullet points that outline your subsections, these can be built on and around until you have fully mind-mapped your thesis. In time, your thesis will take clear and concise form; there is no use trying to stride over the finishing line before you have entered the race! Rewriting and editing is never a sign of failure or literary inadequacy; many writers spend most of the writing process editing their work!

3. Don’t Be Shy Asking Your Supervisor for Help

By the time you have reached the writing-up stage as a PhD candidate, you will have already leaned on your PhD supervisor to flesh out your ideas and develop your creative knowledge. Your supervisor may not be able to map or write your thesis for you, but they can provide invaluably helpful tips on structuring your thesis. Never replace online advice for the guidance your PhD supervisor can offer you! To allow your supervisor to help, create rough drafts that you can bring to your meetings; in time, you can refine them as the writing-up stage approaches.

4. Style It Out with Flair

Contrary to popular belief, academic writing doesn’t need to be dry. While the amount of flair you can put into your work will vary with respect to your field of study, there is nothing to say that you can’t use your voice – to an extent. As long as your PhD reads clearly and concisely and proves you are worthy of your doctorate title, you will impress your examiners in your viva!

5. Refrain from Using Passive Words and Phrases

By using active wording in your thesis instead of passive phrases, you can simplify your work and make it read with more authority and conviction. To write actively instead of passively, always allow the subject in the sentence to act on the target. For example, a passive phrase would be “The philosophical discourse was changed by Foucault. The active equivalent of that phrase would be, “Foucault changed the political discourse”. It takes time to develop these habits; however, online tools, such as Grammarly, can help you to notice when you are writing passively or using excessive and unnecessary words.

6. Steer Clear from Chronological Writing

Even though your thesis plan sets a roadmap of what needs to be completed, chronological writing can ultimately kill your creativity. Always write when the material or epiphanies are fresh in the mind – if you save them for later, there is a chance that they could be forgotten, or they may lose their substance or contextual importance. During the writing-up stage, some research could be more pertinent to chapters you have not turned to yet. Remember you will always return to each section later to ensure your full thesis is coherent.

Looking to find out how long the PhD will take to complete? Whether you want to complete it in the UK full-time or part-time; it is a big commitment, which shouldn’t be taken lightly. The gratification may not be immediate, but the rewards can be lifelong when considering the professional careers that are more accessible for PhD holders, the increased earning potential and the sense of satisfaction that comes with creating unique knowledge and gaining a title only a minute fraction of the global population will only acquire.

For More Support and Information

The information outlined in this article will give you plenty of clues on how to construct your thesis and which parameters you should use while structuring and drafting it. However, your PhD supervisor will be in the best position to inform you of the limits of length and stylistic requirements for your particular field of study. At UWS London, all our PhD supervisors are committed to ensuring all our PhD candidates receive the support, information, and guidance required for their writing-up stage and PhD Viva to run as smoothly as possible.

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Preparing my thesis
Writing my thesis

Getting started on your thesis

The approach to writing will vary by discipline. The best way to make sure you are doing the right thing is to talk to your supervisors, plan the structure of your thesis and start writing early and regularly.

In creative arts disciplines where your thesis may take the form of creative works and a dissertation, you should also discuss the form and presentation of your thesis with your supervisor, to ensure that it is presented as a cohesive whole. You can refer to the thesis with creative works page for further information on formatting , weighting and the examination process for creative works.

Thesis formats, preface and word limits

The rules governing thesis content, language and word limits are contained in the Graduate Research Training Policy while the formatting and preface requirements for theses, compilations and creative works are provided in the Preparation of Graduate Research Theses Rules . You can also refer to the sample thesis title page .

If your thesis includes some of your publications, or material extracted from some of your publications, format requirements are explained under Including your published material in your thesis .

The University repository, Minerva Access , stores completed theses and is a good resource for viewing how others have presented their work. Just browse by types and choose Masters research thesis, PhD thesis or Doctorate .

You will need to add an Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) to your thesis title page. Information on the ORCID and how to apply for one is available from the University Library

If your thesis includes third party copyright material, the Preparation of Graduate Research Theses Rules requires you to include a list of the material and whether or not you have gained permission from the copyright owners to make this material publicly available as part of your thesis. When creating the list, please use the Template for Listing Third Party Copyright Material . For further information on copyright and dealing with the copyright of others, see Copyright & Research .

Check the Handbook entry for your course for specific word limits and, where applicable, for the proportion of the thesis to be presented as a creative work.

The maximum word limit for theses (including footnotes but excluding tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices) are:

50 000 words for Masters theses
100 000 words for a PhD or doctoral thesis.

You should aim to write a thesis shorter than the maximum allowed, for example 40 000 for a Masters thesis or 80 000 words for a PhD. Any thesis that exceeds the maximum limit requires permission to proceed to examination, which must be sought via the Graduate Research Examinations Office prior to submission.

It may have been necessary for you to significantly alter your research plan, due the COVID-19 pandemic or other major disruption. In some cases, this may mean that the thesis you submit is not typical for your discipline. In your thesis, you should discuss any methodological changes you have made and explain how the changes arose because of the disruptions. Theses usually also include discussion of possible future research; you may wish to outline research that could be done once conditions change. Your discussion in the thesis of COVID-19 or other impacts will guide the examiners’ understanding of the reported work and the environment in which it was undertaken.

Acknowledging COVID-19 disruptions in your thesis

This guide discusses how to explain the impact of COVID-19 disruptions in your thesis. You should consult with your supervisors to decide what approach suits your situation best.

What to include or exclude

When you include statements within your PhD, other than in the Acknowledgements, they must be objective and within the scope of matters that examiners consider. You can include statements about the impact of COVID-19 or other significant external disruptions on matters such as the scope of the thesis; experimental design; or access to resources including facilities, collections, cohorts of experimental subjects, fieldwork, laboratories, and performance spaces. Note this list is indicative only. If in doubt, contact your supervisor or advisory committee chair about other relevant inclusions.

It is not appropriate to include emotional statements, how your experience compared to others (examination is not competitive), nor impacts such as the need to work remotely, or personal statements on mental or physical health, family, finances, nor the behaviour or availability of supervisors. Examiners are not asked to consider these matters.

While these factors may have had a profound impact on many candidates during the disruptions, there is no concept of ‘special consideration’ in examination of theses. Challenges to candidature are expected to be managed prior to submission and are not considered by examiners. For example, if access to supervisors was a difficulty, alternative arrangements should have been made. Examiners are not asked to make allowance for such factors.

Major changes to the project

If the disruptions led to significant changes to your project, you could address this in a single location.

For example, you might include a section that addresses the impact that the disruptions had on the entire thesis, or on multiple chapters within the thesis in a systematic and explicit way.

The introduction is where candidates lay out the thesis for examiners and so provides an opportunity to present objective statements regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the thesis. If the disruptions meant that different methodologies were pursued in different parts of the thesis, the introduction is a good place to explain why in a cohesive way.

Alternatively, statements can be added to the preface, to provide context to the work as a whole.

A final conclusions chapter is used to summarise the work and outline future research opportunities. If the disruption prevented you from undertaking particular research activities, you can use this section to highlight these gaps in the study and how they might be addressed.

Carefully explaining how the methodology was shaped by the disruption demonstrates your capacity to think beyond the PhD and to adapt to changing conditions. It can show that you are creative, flexible, and exploratory as a problem-solver.

The skills expected of a strong candidate include an ability to formulate a viable research question and to analyse information critically within and across a changing disciplinary environment.

You have the opportunity to demonstrate these attributes, even if the investigative component of the research was impeded. Remember that the core goal is research training, not the achievement of specific research outcomes.

Impact on specific chapters

If the disruptions impacted just one or two chapters of your thesis, they still need to stand alone as quality research.

One option is to explain the original design and how it was revised, either in the chapter introduction or in the section where it best fits in your narrative. It is important to explain to the examiners why you chose that methodology, particularly if it is unusual for your discipline. For example, the disruption may have affected the number or type of interviews that were conducted or have forced a change from experimental work to computational modelling.

Again, writing a focused discussion of the impact of the disruptions on a specific piece of work is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the qualities and skills that an examiner seeks in a strong candidate.

Impact that was not specific

You may wish to note that your thesis was completed during COVID-19 disruptions, even if there was no specific identifiable impact on the scope of the thesis or the project design. The appropriate location for this note is in the acknowledgements section because it is not examined. Remember that although this is the section where you might offer gratitude for family, friends, supervisors, inspirations, and supports; not every examiner will read the acknowledgements.

Editing my thesis

Your thesis must be your own work, and you must clearly understand your role as well as the roles of your supervisors and others throughout the editorial process.

The Graduate Research Training Policy limits the editing of theses by others to that permitted in the current Guidelines for Editing Research Theses .

As editorial intervention (other than by your supervisors) should be restricted to copyediting and proofreading, as covered on page two of the Guidelines for Editing Research Theses , it is important that you understand the types of editing as explained on the Institute of Professional Editors Limited (IPEd) website.

The University does not maintain a list of editors. If you would like help finding a suitable editor, the Institute of Professional Editors Limited (IPEd) has a register of accredited editors.

If your thesis has had the benefit of editorial advice, in any form, you must provide the name of the editor or company providing the service and a brief description of the service rendered, in terms of the Standards, in the preface of your thesis.

Registering my intention to submit

Prior to submission, or prior to your performance or exhibition of a creative component of your thesis, register your intention to submit by logging into the Thesis Examination System (TES). About 2-months prior to your submission is the ideal time for this. Your estimated submission date, or your thesis submission date, must not exceed your maximum submission date, i.e. your expected thesis submission date as listed on the Graduate Research Details page of my.unimelb .

Registering your intention to submit begins the process of the selection of examiners. You will need to provide a brief (80-word) overview of your research question, methods and results which will be sent to potential examiners. If you are submitting a thesis with creative work, include the weighting of the proportion of the written dissertation and creative component/s. You will also be given the opportunity to name up to two people that you consider to be unsuitable examiners, along with substantiated reasons. You are encouraged to create and enter an ORCID .

Preparing to submit your thesis soon? Download our Thesis Submission Checklist to assist you.

More information

Read the FAQs on using the Thesis Examination System

You must be admitted to the relevant graduate research degree in order to submit your thesis. If your candidature is suspended, cancelled or terminated and you wish to submit, you must first apply for reinstatement and readmission . Before applying for readmission you should contact your supervisor or head of department to discuss your thesis. If your supervisor is no longer available please contact the graduate research team for your faculty , or the faculty nearest in discipline to your former department.

Resources and workshops to help you write

Writing skills
Publication, open access and copyright
Library skills for researchers
Systems and tech tools including - Nvivo, LabArchives, File Management 101, Producing excellent graphs and sessions for a range of reference management software
Communication skills and presentation skills workshops including - Oral presentations, Working with people and managing complex relationships and Working with a supervisor
Upcoming workshops offered by Research@Library including digital skills webinars.
Melbourne talks - a free program for international graduate researchers to the University of Melbourne delivered by the Student Peer Leader Network in partnership with Academic Skills.
The University’s Library Guides provide a resource of library research support information on research, reading and writing skills
We recommend you watch the series of eight short videos on Getting Started with Library Research
The Eastern Resource Centre Library will be regularly updated to include information on when they are hosting structured social writing sessions known as ‘shut up and write’ and library information sessions
Connect to the Thesis Writers’ Community on LMS. Established by Academic Skills, the Community provides information and support through the writing process for graduate researchers
You can join GSA’s regular Shut Up & Write sessions and Shut Up & Write-a-Thons
Book an adviser for individual appointments to help with your thesis
Your graduate school may have writing groups and they may offer 'boot camps' for an intensive writing effort. GSA also runs regular thesis bootcamps .
You may also find it helpful to look at theses from past candidates in your field. You can use the Browse “Communities and Collections” function in the University's institutional publications repository, Minerva Access to find the “Theses” collection for your faculty or department (use the “+” symbol to expand the list of communities available). You can also use the search function to find theses with relevant keywords.
Annual graduate research competitions organised by the University such as the Three minute thesis (3MT®) competition and Visualise your thesis competition

Please note: These programs and workshops are subject to change, based on bookings and demand.

Resources for candidates
Orientation and induction
Mapping my degree
Principles for infrastructure support
Peer activities
Change my commencement date
Meeting expectations
Working with my supervisors
Responsible Research & Research Integrity
Guidelines for external supervisors
Pre-confirmation
Confirmation
At risk of unsatisfactory progress
Unsatisfactory progress
Add or drop coursework subjects
Apply for leave
Return from leave
Apply for Study Away
Return from Study Away
Change my study rate
Check my candidature status
Change my current supervisors
Request an evidence of enrolment or evidence of qualification statement
Change my project details
Change department
Transfer to another graduate research degree
Late submission
Withdraw from my research degree
Check the status of a request
Re-enrolment
Advice on requesting changes
Extension of candidature
Lapse candidature
How to cancel a form in my.unimelb
Resolving issues
Taking leave
About Study Away
Finishing on time
Accepting an offer for a joint PhD online
Tenured Study Spaces (TSS) Usage Guidelines
Tenured Study Spaces Procedures
Research skills
Academic writing and communication skills
Building professional and academic networks
Research internships
Commercialising my research
Supplementary PhD Programs
Examples of thesis and chapter formats when including publications
Thesis with creative works
Research Integrity in my Thesis
Graduate researchers and digital assistance tools
TES Statuses
Submitting my thesis
Depositing multiple components for your final thesis record
The Chancellor's Prize
TES Graduate Researcher FAQs
Career planning
Publishing my research
Getting support
Key graduate research contacts
Melbourne Research Experience Survey
Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT)
Current Students

Ask - /faq/3267/phd-thesis-word-limit/

Phd thesis word limit, what is the word limit for a phd thesis.

You should aim to write a thesis of 80,000 words. The word limit is exclusive of words in tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices. Footnotes are included as part of the word limit.

If you need to exceed 100,000 words, you must submit a request to the Chair of the Higher Degrees Research Comittee via the Graduate Research Examinations Office before you submit your thesis. This must include:

your justification for the request
the expected length of your thesis
support by your supervisor(s) and Head of Department, who must also certify that the proposed examiners do not object to examining a longer thesis

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Last updated: Dec. 10, 2021, 5:58 p.m.

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Department of Physics

Thesis writing and submission.

A PhD thesis should be presented within four years after the start of full-time research. The following notes and guidelines are intended to help students to do that.

To see examples of previous theses from students in the Department please look at the WRAP archive .

Thesis Writing

Use of papers published during the phd studies.

(This guideline refers to use of papers written while studying for a PhD. There are separate University regulations covering a PhD based entirely on published work.)

Where a candidate has produced a large body of published work, these published papers may constitute a part of the thesis provided that:

the papers are substantial, self-contained, and published in reputable peer reviewed journals
the candidate was the principal author of the papers
the work was performed during the period of PhD registration
the thesis includes a substantial introduction to the methodology employed that puts the papers in context and, in the case of multiple authors, established the candidate’s contribution to the published work. Typically this introduction would be around 50 pages.

The time required to write a thesis is longer than is often supposed. A respectable timetable, allowing for the possibility arising of the need for further experimental observations or calculations and for the checking the literature, might be:

This means that writing should normally begin around 6 months before the planned submission date (e.g. 6 months before a student's funding completes). In any case, in the final year of your PhD you will be asked to complete a Thesis Plan to help assess your progress towards submission.

Presentation of thesis

Please ensure you read the Guide to examinations for higher degrees by research (warwick.ac.uk) before starting your thesis, paying particular attention to the model title page. The abstract should be limited to 300 words on one A4 Page .

The Physics Department guidelines for the presentation of theses for the degrees of PhD, MPhil and MSc are as follows:-

The PhD thesis shall not exceed 70,000 words excluding appendices, footnotes, tables and bibliography. For appendices there is a 5000 word limit. MSc by Research 40,000 words, exclusive of appendices, footnotes, tables and bibliography
A thesis submitted for the degree of PhD should be an original investigation characterised by rigorous methodology and capable of making a significant contribution to knowledge commensurate with the normal period of registration for a full or part time student.
You should not feel that your thesis must necessarily be as long as the maximum word limit allowed…Theses which exceed the word limit may not be accepted for examination.
The appropriate lengths for Physics theses are as follows:- Ph.D. - 90 to 110 pages of text M.Phil. - 70 to 90 pages of text M.Sc. - 50 to 70 pages of text plus essential diagrams, tables etc.
Students are advised not to include unessential data as appendices in the bound thesis.

The guidelines in 1(a) and (2) above at first sight appear different, because the University regulations do not mention figures and diagrams. Counting the equivalent number of words that would fit in the space of a figure, with on average 350 words to a double spaced side of A4, the University regulations effectively limit the final bound thesis to 200 pages including everything. In practice this is far longer than necessary.

In practice a suitable target would be a PhD thesis of ~100 pages of text with ~50 diagrams. Within this length, the original contribution should exceed any background material that can be found in a text book or thesis submitted previously from the same group.

Note especially the last paragraph from the University Regulations - it is only necessary to write sufficient to demonstrate the aims of a PhD have been satisfied, and no more. All the work done during three years does not have to appear in the final thesis. It is always possible to finish early and write papers afterwards, while awaiting the viva.

The thesis should be no longer than necessary to provide a succinct introduction to the field of study for the non-specialist, to present your results and to discuss what conclusions can be drawn from the results in the context of current knowledge of the field. These conclusions should be backed up with adequate references from the published literature.

Before Writing

Adequate preparation before beginning to write can help greatly to obtain a logically arranged, readable thesis and to shorten both the thesis and the writing time. First analyse the problem by answering the following questions.

What information do I want to present? What background can I assume? What is the most sensible sequence in which to present the information?

Make a detailed outline. Identify as many subdivisions as possible. It is easier to combine subheadings, or eliminate them, than to insert new ones later. Plan tables and figures. It is a good idea to make extra prints of photographic illustrations such as micrographs at the time you are dealing with them rather than wait until you are preparing the thesis. Avoid duplication of results in tables and figures unless there is specific justification. Consign material that would disturb the smooth flow of an argument to an Appendix. Bulky material such as computer programmes should normally be omitted; if appropriate, copies should be left with the supervisor.

Some excellent tips are contained in a short article Writing your thesis by J.M. Pratt (Chemistry in Britain, 20 (December 1998. 1114-5) which you would do well to read. (But note that he allows 250 page theses - we most certainly do not!); and in Communicating in Science: Writing and Speaking by V Booth, CUP 1985.

Scientific writing is not exempt from the rules of good grammar, spelling and punctuation! Keep a dictionary handy (and use a good spell checker, but don't rely on it!)

Avoid long, meandering and contorted sentences, but do not achieve brevity by becoming telegraphic - do not omit a’s and the’s. Remember that it is an invariable rule that every sentence begins with a capital letter, contains at least one verb and ends with a full stop. Good punctuation is an aid to clarity; if someone familiar with the subject has to re-read a sentence to understand it, the sentence probably needs more punctuation, or reconstruction. Go through paragraphs when you have written them, trying to put yourself in the place of the reader rather than the writer.

Avoid vague and inexact terms: for instance, y increases as x increases is preferable (if appropriate) to y changes with x , the signal duration was very small is almost meaningless - the signal was very small compared with the recovery time is much better. Whenever possible quantitative, rather than qualitative, comparisons should be used: z increased by 25% more than y for the same change in x . Define all non-standard terms, symbols and abbreviations where first used, and stick to them. Try to develop your arguments in a logical manner, this may be quite different from the chronological order in which you performed the research!

Copying (Plagiarism)

Any material copied word for word MUST be placed in quotation marks and the original source fully referenced. This principle applies to diagrams as well as text. Students are reminded that plagiarism - reproducing another person’s work as your own - is considered a very serious offence. Your attention is drawn to the following paragraph

‘The Thesis must be entirely the candidate's own work, and all sources used should be fully referenced and acknowledged in the thesis. There is no distinction to be made between plagiarism of reviews or summaries of existing knowledge on a subject and original research work.

The University's regulations on plagiarism appear in the University Calendar-Regulation 11 ’,

This cheating guideline should be read in conjunction with The University of Warwick Regulation 11

It is also a requirement to complete the Library's Course: Avoiding Plagiarism (warwick.ac.uk) Moodle course as part of your degree.

The general style of presentation should conform to that required for scientific papers in reputable journals. The thesis will be longer than typical research papers. It will therefore require a list of contents. A suitable style is that adopted for Institute of Physics journals, as described in Notes for Authors . An alternative style guide can be found from Review of Modern Physics , although you will need to change some peculiarities of US English. In particular, SI units should be used, figures and tables should have captions in words, standard notation for physical quantities and units should be used. This notation is to be found in the pamphlet ‘Quantities, Units and Symbols’ 2nd Edn (London: the Royal Society, 1975), which is among a number of useful publications listed in ‘Notes for Authors’. Number all pages including diagrams, illustrations and tables. Collect all references and put them either at the end of the thesis or at the end of individual chapters.

After Writing

When you have completed the first draft (of a chapter, for example) put it aside for a day or two. Then, coming to it afresh, read it carefully for a final revision, making sure notation and symbols are uniform throughout and consistent with what you have used in other chapters. Look out for obscurities, duplication or omissions. Adequate marginal annotation of your manuscript will help the typist and minimise the number of corrections to the typescript.

Proof read the typescript for typographical errors and accidental omissions. This requires the utmost care if the thesis is not to be spoiled by residual minor errors. Allow yourself enough time for this essential final stage; it cannot be hurried. You can expect your supervisor to read and comment on your first or second drafts in general terms, but not rewrite it for you. Remember, it is your thesis!

Regulations

The University provides some relevant documents which should be read in conjunction with this page:

Guide to Examinations for Higher Degrees by Research
University Calendar , Regulation 38 Governing Research Degrees

You should note that, among other requirements, the University insists that the thesis have an abstract, a declaration regarding joint work, and a specification in the bibliography of the set of guidelines used - in your case this document. Further information on the examinations process can be found on the Doctoral College website - click here

Thesis submission

It is very useful to the Department if you could make sure the following pieces of information are provided to the Postgraduate Programmes Officer ( [email protected] )

The date and time of your PhD viva and where it is being held.
The outcome of your viva (e.g. pass with no corrections / pass with minor corrections / etc).
Contact details, including alternative email addresses, so we can keep in touch with you (please complete form found here )

Nomination of Examiners form

Prior to the submission of your thesis, please complete the Nomination of Examiners Form at least one month before you intend to submit. Your supervisor will help you complete part 2 of the form.

Please email your completed form to Physics PG [email protected] or alternatively hand to Rosalind in P522

It will then be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies or the Head of Department and then submitted to the Doctoral College for final approval.

For information and guidance on submitting your thesis, please see: Submitting Your Thesis

The Doctoral College will inform us when you have submitted, so please don't worry about advising the department yourself.

From the time of submission the Student Records office provide an automatic 4-month extension to your University Card, so access to the Department, Library etc is still possible.

Once your thesis has been submitted to the Doctoral College your nominated internal examiner will set a date for your viva. Please see the Doctoral College pages for further information. How long this is after the time you submitted depends entirely on the availability of both the internal and external examiners, but the process must be completed within four months.

For further information on the submission and viva processes, including how to prepare and courses provided at Warwick please use the links provided.

Guide to examinations for higher degrees by research
Research Student Skills Programme

Final Submission of Corrected Thesis

After any “minor corrections” on your thesis have been completed these must then be approved by your internal examiner. Once approved you are then able to submit the final version of your thesis, further details can be found here: final thesis submission form

The final electronic copy of your thesis will be used for storage in the University’s institutional repository. Theses stored in this way will be accessible through the British Library (BL) EThOS service. Details on this service can be found on the following link: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/main/research/instrep/faqs/theses

If your examiners recommended a “resubmission” or then please contact the Director of Graduate Studies for further information.

Depending on when you submit your final corrected thesis and the date at which this is approved by the University Senate committee, you will then be able to graduate either in the summer (July) or winter (January) University graduation ceremonies. More information can be found here .

The University will contact you directly with details about registering for the appropriate graduation ceremony.

If you have any queries regarding the submission deadline to attend either of these ceremonies, please contact either the Postgraduate Programmes Officer or the Doctoral College .

Up to date information on dates of Degree Ceremonies can be found here.

Alumni Information

Information on alumni activities and services can be found via the Department's Alumni and Careers website

1. Thesis preparation

Information and services
Higher Degree by Research
Preparing for the Thesis Examination Process
Formatting your thesis
Alternate thesis formats
Including publications in your thesis
Language and writing
Preliminary pages
Plagiarism and iThenticate
Nominating thesis examiners
Requesting a confidential examination
Resources and training

2. Formatting your thesis

Your thesis must comply with the formatting requirements outlined in the Higher Degree by Research Thesis Examination Procedures:

Procedures with Oral Examination
Procedures without Oral Examination

The most appropriate referencing style will depend on your discipline and your advisory team will be able to provide advice on disciplinary norms.

It's important to adhere to the word limit when writing your thesis. Your thesis must not exceed:

80,000 words for a PhD
40,000 words for an MPhil .

The word limit:

includes the preliminary pages
includes all footnotes and appendices
includes all in-text referencing, but
does not include your bibliography/reference list.

Permission to exceed the word limit

If your thesis is more than 10% over the word limit, you can request special consideration by emailing the Dean of the Graduate School at [email protected] .

In your email, explain why you need to exceed the maximum word limit. You should also ask your principal advisor and Director of Higher Degree Research (DHDR) to write a letter supporting your request. Attach their letters to your email.

Art history thesis by exhibition format
Creative writing MPhil thesis format
Creative writing PhD thesis format
Music thesis format
2. Thesis submission
3. Thesis examination
4. Award of degree
Thesis submission date and scholarship extension

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Chat to the Graduate School Team

How To Format A PhD Thesis In Microsoft Word (An Illustrative Guide)

The format of a PhD thesis is as important as the content of the thesis. Different institutions have different formatting guidelines so PhD students should always refer to their handbook.

However, there are some standard requirements of PhD theses which do not change with institutions thus making the theses look similar in many aspects. This article highlights the common formatting standards expected of PhD theses and provides step-by-step instructions on how to format some sections in Microsoft Word.

A PhD thesis or dissertation is divided into three distinct components – front matter, main text and back matter – each of which has its own sub-components, as discussed below:

Front matter

Declaration by the candidate and approval of thesis, table of contents, list of figures, list of tables, list of abbreviations, acknowledgements, inserting figures into main text, inserting tables into main text, back matter, numbering the thesis, related article.

The front matter refers to the preliminary pages that come before the main chapters of the theses. These include:

The title page is the first page of the thesis. It includes: the title of the PhD thesis, the name of the PhD student, the school or department and university in which the study took place, the city and country in which the university is located, and lastly the month and year in which the degree was conferred.

A sample title page is shown below:

Originality is very crucial for PhD-level theses and dissertations. In this section, the PhD candidate declares that his work has not been published elsewhere to the best of his knowledge. The declaration is followed by approval of thesis and includes the names of all those people who reviewed and approved the thesis. These could be the supervisors, the Head of Department/School and/or the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies. The wordings on this page may vary from one institution to another, it is therefore important for the candidates to refer to their handbooks.

The abstract is a short summary of the thesis, normally a paragraph in length. Abstracts can be structured or unstructured. A structured abstract is one that has headings and text below each heading, while an unstructured abstract does not have headings, it is written in paragraph form.

A sample of a structured and unstructured abstract is provided below:

The table of contents provides the outline of the thesis and shows all the headings and sub-headings of the thesis and their page numbers.

To insert a table of contents in Microsoft Word:

Make sure all the headings and sub-headings of the front matter pages, the main text and the back matter pages have been properly specified in the Word document.
Click the references tab, then select table of contents option.
The table of contents has a drop-down arrow which when clicked shows the different style of TOC.
Select the preferred style of TOC and click OK.
The TOC will be inserted automatically.

The list of figures shows the titles of all the figures in the thesis and their page numbers.

To insert the list of figures in Microsoft Word:

Click on the references tab, then click on “insert table of figures” option.

The following dialogue box will open. In the caption label window, select “figure”. It will show different formats for the list of figures. Choose the style you prefer and click OK.

Like the list of figures, the list of tables shows the titles of all the tables in the thesis and their page numbers.

To insert the list of tables in Microsoft Word:

The following dialogue box will open. In the caption label window, select “table”. It will show different formats for the list of tables. Choose the style you prefer and click OK.

The list of figures and the list of tables should be on different pages.

All acronyms and their abbreviations used throughout the thesis should be highlighted in their own separate page titled ‘list of abbreviations.”

In a PhD thesis, it is mandatory to acknowledge all those who helped you in your PhD journey. These include: your supervisors, other faculty who either reviewed your work or gave advice, people who proofread your work, institutions that helped you gain access to your data, your research respondents, fellow colleagues etc.

Some PhD candidates dedicate their thesis to people who are dear to them, for instance, parents, siblings, spouse/partner, children etc. This section is however not mandatory.

Page numbering for front matter

For front matter, Roman numerals should be used excluding the title page which should not be numbered. The page numbers should be placed at the bottom and centre-aligned.

The main text of thesis is the meat of the thesis and starts from chapter all the way to the last chapter of the thesis. The chapters of theses vary from one institution to another but generally have the following structure:

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Literature review

Chapter 3: Research methodology

Chapter 4: Research findings/results

Chapter 5: Discussions

Chapter 6: Conclusions and recommendations

Each chapter should be organised into headings. There are different levels of headings: level 1, level 2, level 3 etc. The use of these different levels depends on a student’s work.

Other formatting requirements for the main text include:

Font: the most recommended font styles are Times New Roman, Arial, Book Antiqua etc. Students should refer to their handbook for guidance on the font required by their institution.

Spacing: the most recommended spacing for theses is 1.5 for the main text except for things like tables.

Referencing style: the recommended referencing style (such as APA, MLA, Havard etc) should be used throughout the text.

Page numbering: for main text, Arabic numerals are used. The page numbers should be placed at the bottom and centre-aligned.

It is advisable to include figures into theses. Figures help to present some information in a more appealing way than plain text. For each figure inserted, make sure to number it and include a caption explaining what the figure is about.

To insert figures’ captions and numbers into Microsoft Word:

Click on the references tab, then click on insert caption.

A dialogue box will open. Under options, choose “figure” as the label.

Type the caption for the figure, choose the numbering format preferred and click OK. The caption and number of the figure will be inserted.

How to insert captions and numbers for figures.

The procedure for tables is the same as for figures.

To insert tables’ captions and numbers into Microsoft Word:

A dialogue box will open. Under options, choose “table” as the label.

Type the caption for the table, choose the numbering format preferred and click OK. The caption and number of the table will be inserted.

How to insert captions and numbers for tables.

The same procedure is used when you have equations, maps and other illustrations.

Important points to remembers:

When inserting captions and numbers for figures and tables, the cursor should be placed at the right position, that is, above the figures and tables.

If the table or figure has been lifted from somewhere else, the source should be acknowledged at the bottom of the table or figure.

The numbering of the figures and tables should be done by chapter. For instance, all figures in chapter 1 should be numbered: figure 1.1, figure 1.2, figure 1.3 etc. while all figures in chapter 2 should be numbered: figure 2.1, figure 2.2, figure 2.3 etc. Same for the tables, equations and all other illustrations.

The back matter has two main content: the references and the appendices.

The references should be done in accordance with the referencing style recommended by the institution.

The appendices section lists all other materials pertaining to the study that were not included in the front matter. Depending on the study, these may include: the research protocol, a letter of introduction for the research, the questionnaire used for the study, the list of respondents etc.

The page numbers for the references and appendices should be Arabic numerals and a continuation of the pages from main text.

The title of the appendices should be done using either Roman numerals (Appendix I, Appendix II, Appendix III etc) or the alphabet letters in caps, that is, Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C… etc.

Each appendix should start on its own page.

As discussed earlier, different numbering styles are used for the different sections of the thesis:

The title page should not be numbered.

The other front matter pages should be numbered using Roman numerals.

The main text and back matter pages should be numbered using Arabic numerals.

Many students struggle with doing the numbering correctly.

The best way to do this in Microsoft Word is to use the “section break” function which divides the thesis into different sections. Each section is then numbered separately from the other sections. To do this:

Go to the end of the page where you want to insert the section break. This should be: at the end of the title page, and after the last front matter page (dedication). Because the main text and back matter pages are numbered using the same style, there is no need to create a section break after the main text.

From insert menu, go to break then section break and select the one written (next page).

Word will create different sections for the title page, the other front matter pages and the main text and back matter pages.

Use the insert tab and page number function to insert different formats for the different sections: not to be numbered (title page), numbered using Roman numerals (for front matter pages) and numbered using Arabic numerals (main text and back matter pages).

How to insert different page number formats into a Microsoft Word document.

In conclusion, formatting a PhD thesis requires careful consideration of the requirements given by an institution for the different parts of a thesis. PhD students should always consult their handbooks to ensure that their theses meet the high academic standards required of them. This article discussed some key formatting issues and provided step-by-step instructions on some formatting options.

Comprehensive Guidelines for Writing a PhD Thesis Proposal (+ free checklist for PhD Students)

Grace Njeri-Otieno

Grace Njeri-Otieno is a Kenyan, a wife, a mom, and currently a PhD student, among many other balls she juggles. She holds a Bachelors' and Masters' degrees in Economics and has more than 7 years' experience with an INGO. She was inspired to start this site so as to share the lessons learned throughout her PhD journey with other PhD students. Her vision for this site is "to become a go-to resource center for PhD students in all their spheres of learning."

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UCL Doctorate In Clinical Psychology

Guidelines for Writing and Presenting the Thesis

The DClinPsy thesis has two volumes. The major research project forms Volume 1; Volume 2 contains the four case reports and the service-related research report. These guidelines describe what goes into each part of the thesis and how it all fits together. They mostly focus on Volume 1, which is covered in the following section; the later section on layout and formatting covers both volumes.

What goes in Volume 1

Volume 1, the research component of the thesis, has a three-part structure, consisting of a literature review paper, an empirical paper and a critical appraisal. In addition, from June 2018 onwards, UCL regulations stipulate that the thesis should contain a brief (≤500 words) Impact Statement , explaining how the work in the thesis could be put to beneficial use inside and outside of academia.

The first two parts (the literature review and the empirical paper) are in the form of papers that might be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal; the third part (the critical appraisal) is not intended for publication, but aims to give you an opportunity to reflect critically on the research that you carried out. Each part is described below.

There will inevitably be some overlap between each of the three parts: for example, the introduction section of the empirical paper may partly be condensed from the literature review paper, and the critical appraisal may address in greater detail some of the issues raised in the discussion section of the empirical paper. However, overlap should generally be minimal, and the same sentences should not normally be repeated in different parts of the thesis.

The regulations state that the length of the research thesis shall be approximately 25,000 words, with a maximum of 40,000 words; there is no minimum word count. We suggest that you aim for about 20,000 to 25,000 words. Conciseness of expression is greatly valued by the examiners, who may require overly wordy theses to be shortened.

We strongly encourage you to start writing drafts of your thesis early on, as this is an essential way to clarify your thoughts. It is a bad idea to leave a lot of the writing until late in the project, since this usually leads to a rushed, poor quality thesis.

Part 1. Review paper

The review paper (of approximately 8,000 words not including tables and references) is a focused review of a body of literature relevant to the research topic. It is not necessary to address the literature for every aspect of your empirical study (the introduction section of your empirical paper will provide the necessary background). The review paper should either be a stand-alone paper in its own right, which should pose a question and then systematically examine the empirical literature that addresses that question OR a Conceptual Introduction which reviews the evidence in a more narrative fashion. Guidance for both formats is avaiable on this website.

The structure that follows is for the stand alone paper - for a conceptual introduction you are free to organise it how you wish (see suggestions in the more detailed guidance in the Literature Review section of the website here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/clinical-psychology-doctorate/guidance-conceptual-... ):

A structured Abstract (of about 200 words), with headings of Aims, Method, Results, Conclusions. It should specify the number of papers reviewed.
The Introduction gives the background to the topic and ends with a clearly specified question that the review will address.
The Method section specifies the inclusion and exclusion criteria for the studies to be reviewed and the search strategy for locating them. The latter should indicate which databases you used, with which search terms, and specify other search limits, e.g. date or publication type. You should also describe how you narrowed down the studies from the initial (usually large) number of hits generated by the search to the final set of studies that you focus on. The steps in the narrowing down process are usually illustrated by a flowchart.
The Results section reviews the assembled studies. It is usually helpful to include a table listing their important characteristics and findings. The review should not be simply descriptive; it should weigh up the evidence, taking into account the methodological soundness of the studies, and take a critical perspective on the evidence base as a whole. It is often helpful to use a structured critical appraisal checklist -- there are several in the literature (see the list on Moodle).
The Discussion section addresses what can be concluded from the body of studies reviewed. It should draw on the methodological critique of the studies in order to evaluate the quality of the evidence. It should also address the limitations of the review, draw any clinical implications and make suggestions for further research (that may, by remarkable coincidence, bear considerable similarity to the empirical project reported in the second part of the thesis).
The References.
Any appendices are placed at the end of Volume 1 (see section below on layout).

One model for the stand-alone paper style of this part of the thesis is articles in Clinical Psychology Review . You could also look at any theoretical or review article in other clinical psychology journals. However, these published review papers, particularly those in prestigious journals, are usually much more ambitious in terms of quantity, scope and method than is possible within the constraints of the DClinPsy.

Part 2. Empirical paper

The empirical paper (of approximately 8,000 words not including tables and references) reports on your study. Its structure follows the usual research article format, although the length of each section will vary according to the nature of the project, and additional detail may need to be provided in the Method or Results sections (or in an Appendix). You can model it on papers in any mainstream peer-reviewed clinical psychology journal, e.g. the British Journal of Clinical Psychology or the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , or a specialist journal in your particular research area. As a rough guide, each of the four main sections is usually in the range of about 1,500 to 2,500 words, with the Results section usually being longer than the other three. The structure is as follows:

A structured Abstract (of about 200 words), with headings of Aims, Method, Results, Conclusions.
Introduction . A brief review of the literature, which shows the flow of ideas leading to your research questions. The rationale for the study should be clearly articulated. The Introduction ends with your research questions or hypotheses.
Method . A description of participants, procedures, design and measures. The methods should be described in sufficient detail to enable the reader to understand what was done and potentially to be able to replicate the study. For quantitative studies, the statistical power analysis should normally be reported. Descriptions of measures need to include sample items, response options, scoring methods and psychometric properties. There will also be a section on ethics, saying where approval was obtained and discussing any ethical issues in the study. For confidentiality reasons, no names of services where participants were recruited should be given.
Results . The findings and any statistical analyses should be presented with the aid of tables and, if necessary, figures. It should be possible for the reader to evaluate the data from which your conclusions are drawn. Qualitative papers will include quotes to illustrate each of the themes.
Discussion . An examination of the research questions in the light of the results obtained and the methods used. It will interpret the findings in the context of the research questions and the wider theoretical context in which the work was carried out, including a consideration of alternative explanations, methodological limitations and reasons for unexpected results. It will conclude with a discussion of the scientific and professional implications of the findings.
References . A list of all references cited.

Part 3. Critical appraisal

The final part of the thesis (of approximately 3,000 to 5,000 words not including tables and references) is intended to encourage critical reflection on the whole process of doing the research. Its structure and content are more flexible than those of the other two parts. You could, for example, discuss how your previous experiences or theoretical orientation might have influenced how you set about the study, how the process of doing the research might have modified your views (it is often helpful to draw on your research journal here), how you dealt with any dilemmas or methodological choices that arose during the course of the study, and what you might have done differently and why. You could also include an expanded discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the study, its clinical and scientific implications, and future directions for research (depending on how extensively each of these areas is covered in the discussion section of the empirical paper). It is essential, however, to ensure that all important points are mentioned in your empirical paper first – this is not the place to introduce significant limitations of the study or different ways of interpreting the findings. Whilst it is less formal than the other two parts, the critical appraisal should not be overly personal; it should ideally be addressed to an audience of fellow researchers who might benefit from your considered thoughts about conducting the research.

All appendices are placed at the end of Volume 1. Include here any additional material related to the empirical study, or to the other two parts if needed. Essential material to append includes: the official letter giving ethical approval, sample letters to participants, participant information sheet, informed consent form, instruction sheets, questionnaires, interview schedules and any measures not in common use. Measures that are sensitive or copyrighted will eventually need to be removed. Raw data and computer printouts are not normally needed. However, for qualitative studies, examples of the procedures of analysis should be included.

Confidentiality and privacy

Once your thesis is completed it will effectively become a public document, available on the internet via the UCL's e-thesis repository (UCL Discovery). Therefore it is essential when presenting your work that your participants' right to confidentiality and privacy be upheld. In particular, students writing up small-N and qualitative studies should be especially careful to ensure that no participants are identifiable from the thesis.

Layout and formatting

The text should be double-spaced on plain, white A4 paper. Both sides of the paper may be used - you can choose whether to print the thesis single-sided or double-sided. Margins at the binding edge should be 4cm. The other margins (i.e. top, bottom and unbound side) should be 2.5cm. Remember, if you include a table or figure that uses a landscape page setup then the margins need to be adjusted accordingly, i.e. 4cm becomes the top margin.

Number pages on the bottom right or bottom centre of the page. Page 1 is the title page (although it looks tidier if you suppress the page numbering for that page only).

For general guidance on formatting, follow APA style , as set out in the APA Publication Manual (7th edition). It is essential to use APA citation and referencing style (see the course document on Moodle), and also to lay out tables in APA format. Heading formats can depart slightly from APA style (e.g. you can use italicised headings, or adopt a numbering system if you wish): what is important is to adopt a systematic hierarchy of headings within each part of the thesis. Look at recent theses for models of layout and formatting (ask your UCL supervisor to recommend one or two). Pay meticulous attention to spelling, grammar, punctuation and format: poorly presented theses give an impression of carelessness and will be referred for revision.

The thesis is more easily readable if you left justify the text and use a standard font. We recommend Times New Roman 12 point or Arial 11 point for the main body of the text, although tables and figures can be set in a smaller font size if necessary, as long as they are readable. In accordance with APA style, the best way to indicate a new paragraph in double-spaced text is to indent its first word; there is then no need to leave a blank line between paragraphs.

Tables and figures are numbered (Table 1 etc.) and usually placed on their own separate pages, although smaller ones can be embedded in the text, usually just below the paragraph that first refers to them (in contrast to APA format for submitted journal articles, where the tables and figures are at the end of the paper).

Volume 1 is laid out in the following order:

the Title Page gives the title (usually the same as that of the empirical paper), your name, and lower down on the page, the words "DClinPsy thesis (Volume 1), [year of submission]" and on the line below "University College London". The title page is justified as centred. You can use a slightly larger font if you wish.
a Signed Declaration that the work presented is your own. The professional doctorate regulations specify that this be inserted right after the title page of the thesis There is a declaration form on the course website.
an Overview (up to 250 words), giving a summary of the contents of all three parts of the thesis. (Note that this will ultimately be used by the library to catalogue your thesis, and it will form part of the meta-data that will be seen first by people searching for your thesis.)
an Impact Statement that describes, in no more than 500 words, how the expertise, knowledge, analysis, discovery or insight presented in your thesis could be put to a beneficial use. Please see guidance from the UCL Doctoral School on this.
the Table of Contents covers all three parts of Volume 1, including the appendices, and gives a separate list of tables and figures.
the Acknowledgements page mentions everyone whose contribution to the work you wish to recognise.
Part 1 (the literature review) with a title page and abstract (both on separate pages) and references. The title page should say “Part 1: Literature Review” and then give the title of the review paper on a separate line.
Part 2 (the empirical paper) with a title page and abstract (both on separate pages) and references. The title page should say “Part 2: Empirical Paper” and then give the title of the empirical paper on a separate line. The text of the main body of the paper should run continuously: the main sections (Methods, Results, Discussion) should not start on new pages. Tables and figures should be numbered afresh for the empirical paper, so the first table in the empirical paper is Table 1, even if there is also a Table 1 in the literature review.
Part 3 (the critical appraisal) with a title page (just saying “Part 3: Critical Appraisal”), and references.
the Appendices , each with their own title page. (There’s no need to number the pages within the appendices if this is fiddly.) There is only one set of appendices for all of Volume 1, placed at the end of the volume. They are numbered in the order in which they appear in the thesis. (If there is only one appendix, just call it Appendix, with no number.)

If your research is part of a joint project (e.g. with another trainee or with a PhD student), you must state this in the Overview and in the Method section of your empirical paper, and include an Appendix setting out each person’s contribution to the project. Please see the course document on submission of joint theses .

Volume 2 (no longer submitted but you should assemble it as a document as follows)

Volume 2 begins with a title page, which says "Case Reports and Service-Related Research Project", then lists on separate lines your name, "D.Clin.Psy. thesis (Volume 2), [year of submission]" and "University College London". On the next page there is the table of contents, giving the full title, as below; there is no need to list tables and appendices. Then follows each of the four case reports and the service-related research report, in the order in which each was submitted. For case reports, the title page gives the submission number, your own title and the type of case report, e.g., Case report 4: "An angry young man" (Completed Clinical Intervention). For the service-related research it has the words "Service Related Research Report (submitted as Case Report x)"; the title of the report is then listed on a new line. Word counts and trainee code numbers should be omitted. After the title page comes the body of the report, its references, and then any appendices pertaining to that report. Each case report is a stand-alone entity, so tables and appendices are numbered afresh (i.e. each report could have a Table 1, etc.). As described above, Volume 2 is separately paginated.

Handing in before the viva

Electronic submission.

You need to submit an electronic version of Volume 1 in pdf format. Send it to the Research Administrator at [email protected] via the Moodle submission link with a file name of Thesis_submission_volume1_[yourlastname] (e.g. Thesis_submission_volume1_Smith).

NOTE - Volume 2 does not need to be submitted at this point but must be made available on request.

Running volume 1 through turnitin.

In addition to the procedures outlined above for submission of the thesis, we require that Volume 1 of the thesis be submitted via Turnitin, a plagiarism-detection programme.

As with case reports, submission of Volume 1 of the thesis to Turnitin is done via Moodle. The link for thesis submission on your Moodle homepage is called ‘Thesis Volume 1 Submission’.

When uploading Volume 1 please call the file ‘Volume 1 [First name] [Family name]’. For example, ‘Volume 1 Ed Miliband’ or ‘Volume 1 Nicola Sturgeon’. You should upload your full Volume 1 (as outlined in the section above called ‘Volume 1’) as a word document.

Turnitin is being used to promote good academic practice, not to catch students out. For this reason the system has been configured so that you can submit your Volume 1, look at the Turnitin report to identify any sections where there may be potential plagiarism, delete the submission and submit a revised report.

Resubmissions can be made up to 14.00 on the day on which theses are due, although in practice it is strongly recommended that Turnitin submissions are made well before then: it will be important to leave yourself time to submit to Turnitin before you submit your final version of Volume 1. Also, please note that Turnitin can take upto 24 hours to generate a similarity report for each submission, so you will need to factor this in to any plans for checking and resubmission.

How to judge the Turnitin report to decide whether the thesis needs to be amended?

Turnitin will give your Volume 1 an originality score, but this tells you very little about whether there are any problems with plagiarism in your thesis. That is because theses contain copies of measures, participant information sheets, references and so on, which inflate the Turnitin originality score.

Trainees need to use their own judgement to decide whether they should amend their thesis because of inadvertent plagiarism. The key principle is that ideas and quotations are appropriately referenced. Please look at the guidance about plagiarism on the UCL website , which is also reproduced in Section 23 of the Training Handbook.

If you have any queries about using Turnitin as part of the thesis submission, please contact Priya Dey, the Research Administrator, in the first instance.

After the viva

Ongoing access to ucl library resources.

All DClinPsy students continue to have access to UCL library resources after the viva, whilst they work on any required thesis revisions. Once you have have completed any revisions, had them approved and submitted your thesis, your access to the library as a UCL student will come to an end. However, the good news is that UCL alumni are entitled to library access after they complete their studies. You just need to re-register, following the instructions given on the UCL library website .

You need to submit two electronic copies of Volume 1 in pdf format:

1. One e-copy to the Research Administrator with a filename of Thesis_final_volume1_[yourlastname]

2. One e-copy to UCL's e-thesis repository (UCL Discovery) via the Research Publication Service . The library have produced a useful document (available on the Project Support Moodle site) outlining the e-thesis submission procedure.

Once the Research Administrator can confirm that you have completed all other components of the course, they will inform the HCPC that you have satisfied all the course requirements. However, before the Research Administrator can report to UCL that you have completed the course, you also need to have submitted the e-thesis copy to UCL Discovery. Once this is done, you will get a letter from the Course Directors confirming that you have passed the DClinPsy.

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Research Student Administration Office

The submission and examination process.

Throughout your research degree
Regulations and policies
Information for supervisors
Information for examiners
Forms and letter requests

Find out about the submission and examination process for research students.

You may also find it helpful to look at the advice and information given to examiners and supervisors regarding the examination of research degrees, as this will familiarise you with the different roles people play in the examination process and can help you with your viva preparation. Please note the information on this webpage has regulatory status. See about these webpages .

Submitting your thesis

To submit your thesis or portfolio to the Research Student Administration Office you must:

complete section A of the Intention to Submit form, available under Forms and Letter Requests
attach a copy of your summary (see below) to the form.

Section B of the form should be completed by your main supervisor before the form is returned to us. You'll get written confirmation of receipt of your application.

Two months’ notice is required as internal and external examiners need to be identified and formally appointed by the Research Degrees Examination Board. If you don't give full notice of your intention to submit, this will delay the examination of your thesis.

You must be registered at the time of the submission of your thesis or portfolio.

See more about preparing your work below.

You should give at least two months’ notice of your intention to submit your thesis or portfolio to the Research Student Administration Office by completing the Intention to Submit form available from our Forms and Letter Requests page and attaching a copy of your summary to the form (below is a description of what the summary should include). You should then pass the form to your main supervisor. You will receive written confirmation of receipt from the Research Student Administration Office.

Two months’ notice is required as internal and external examiners need to be identified and formally appointed by the Research Degrees Examination Board. Failure to give full notice of your intention to submit will delay the examination of your thesis.

Please note that you must be registered at the time of the submission of your thesis or portfolio.

If you are being funded through your studies, and there is commercially sensitive information within your thesis, funders can request a non-disclosure agreement. This would be between your examiners and the University of Sussex. In these instances, staff in the Research Student Administration Office can advise ( [email protected] ) and arrange for an agreement to be signed.

The summary or abstract should provide a synopsis of the thesis, and should clearly state the nature and scope of the research undertaken and contribution made to the knowledge of the subject. It should include a brief statement of the method of investigation where appropriate, an outline of the major divisions or principal arguments of the work and a summary of any conclusions reached.

A loose leaf copy of the summary should be submitted with your Intention to Submit form and a copy should be bound (not loose) into each of your temporary bound theses/ portfolios when submitted.

Your summary should be single spaced and each copy should be on a separate sheet of A4 paper, separately printed, and must not exceed 300 words, except in the following subjects: Education/Social Work, Music-Theatre Performance, Creative Writing and Media Practice, which must not exceed 600 words. Each summary should include a heading set out in the following style:

UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX

YOUR FULL NAME

DEGREE FOR WHICH THE THESIS OR PORTFOLIO IS SUBMITTED

TITLE OF THESIS OR PORTFOLIO SUMMARY

Your thesis should be submitted to the Research Student Administration Office by email as a .pdf. The email address is [email protected] .Please note that you must be fully registered in order to submit your thesis.

If your thesis is too large to send by email please contact us and we will arrange for a Box folder where you can upload it directly.

Once you have submitted your thesis, your registration status changes to ‘research examination’. While you are in this status you will not be required to re-register annually and fees are not accrued.

PLEASE NOTE : Current submission is by .pdf only.

Apart from quotations, the thesis or portfolio should be written in English.

The Doctoral Studies Committee may approve the submission of a thesis in a language other than English in exceptional circumstances.

The maximum word length for a PhD thesis is 80,000 words.

The maximum word length for an MPhil thesis is 40,000 words.

In the following subjects no limits are specified:

Biochemistry
Engineering and Design
Environmental Science
Informatics
Mathematics
Physics & Astronomy
SPRU: Science & Technology Policy Research

The maximum word length includes footnotes and bibliography but excludes any appendices. Any request to exceed the word limit would not normally exceed 10% of the stated maximum and must be submitted via the Approval to Exceed Thesis Length form and approved by your School, as here: www.sussex.ac.uk/rsao/forms/

A PhD or MPhil taken by musical composition should be submitted in the format of a portfolio of compositions and a discursive or written component.

The portfolio must contain at least one substantial composition and one or more related shorter compositions.

The substantial composition should consist of either:

a written score to be scored either for larger forces or for smaller forces in which case it should exceed 15 minutes in duration
or an equivalent-scale musical, sonic or audio-visual work for digital media
or an equivalent-scale musical performance of original work, which must be documented on DVD and submitted with the critical commentary
the written component [associated commentary] must be between 8000 and 10,000 words in length. The portfolio of compositions should normally contain at least one large-scale work and a number of related smaller compositions.

The large-scale work should consist of either:

a written score for larger forces or for smaller forces in which case it should exceed 30 minutes in duration
an equivalent-scale musical, sonic or audio-visual work for digital media
an equivalent-scale musical performance of original work documented on DVD and submitted with the critical commentary.

The written component [associated commentary] must be between 20,000 and 40,000 words in length.

The thesis should consist of either a substantial performance work, or a performance work with a portfolio of compositions or other creative work, and a discursive and critical written component.

The performance may involve any media or disciplines in combination with music, and may or may not involve the Doctoral Researcher themselves. The performance work must be documented on electronic media, which must be submitted with the critical commentary.

The MPhil discursive or critical written component of the thesis will be between 10,000 and 20,000, PhD will be between 20,000 and 40,000 words in length. The summary for both the MPhil and the PhD shall not exceed 600 words.

The MPhil shall be no more than 40,000 words in length. The PhD shall be no more than 80,000 words.

The thesis will be an original piece of creative writing and research. Many creative writing theses will consist of a creative component:

in any recognised genre of creative writing, together with a related critical study
the critical component should occupy no less than 20% and no more than 80% of the total word length
where poetry is the chosen genre, the creative component will be a book length manuscript and the critical component will be no less than 25,000 words (MPhil) or 50,000 words (PhD)
the thesis may also be presented in such a way that the creative and critical components are interwoven to create a distinctive whole. In this instance, the creative and critical components may be seen, for example, as two different but interdependent responses to the same topic
or the creative component may arise out of the critical component (or vice versa) and be a vehicle for exploring it further
in either case, the summary for both the MPhil and the PhD shall not exceed 600 words.

The thesis can either be submitted as a written thesis or through a combination of thesis and performance work. Where the thesis does not include a practice-based component it should follow the standard thesis format and guidelines (80,000 words for a PhD, 40,000 words for an MPhil).

Thesis and practice: the submission should consist of either a substantial practice-based work, such as a performance, a series of workshops, an installation or a durational work, or a portfolio of works. The work must be documented in relevant and retainable form such as video/digital recording, scores or scripts, photographic evidence or a combination of these, agreed and approved by the supervisor(s). The work may or may not involve the student as performer but must be entirely her/his work. The practice-based component must be accompanied by a discursive, critical written component of between 10,000 and 20,000 words (MPhil) and between 20,000 and 40,000 words (PhD). The summary for both the MPhil and the PhD must not exceed 600 words.

The thesis will consist of a substantial creative work, or a portfolio of creative work, in either video or digital imaging or photography or interactive media or sound or any other digital media or combination of media, and a discursive and critical written component.

The work may incorporate live performance and installation in which case these elements must be documented in retainable forms, such as videos, scripts and plans, that are approved by the supervisor(s).

The MPhil discursive or critical written component of the thesis will be between 10,000 and 20,000 words in length and PhD between 20,000 and 40,000 words in length. The summary for both the MPhil and the PhD must not exceed 600 words.

The thesis must not normally exceed 50,000 words. The summary for both the Doctor of Education and Doctor of Social Work must not exceed 600 words.

You may incorporate, as an integral part of the thesis, any of your work published or submitted for publication before the submission of the thesis, provided that the greater proportion of the work for the thesis has been carried out after registration for the degree and under supervision. Candidates submitting a ‘papers-style’ thesis are required to include a declaration confirming their contribution to each paper, especially in cases where the co-author is a supervisor. Examiners will be asked to pay particular attention to consistency or otherwise in the quality of those parts of the thesis which have not been submitted for publication (linking chapters).

Please note that in preparing a ‘papers style’ thesis you should bear in mind that the examiners will be judging the overall contribution of the research project in addition to the quality or impact of the individual papers. You should therefore include a section in the introduction to your thesis which explains how your project represents a significant contribution to knowledge. The introduction should also be expanded to include a short description of each chapter or paper and their contribution to the overall project. You should also prepare a final chapter bringing the papers and chapters together into a conclusion.

Please note that you may amend the original papers for inclusion in your thesis, even if they have already been published elsewhere. For example, a single set of appendices containing your data, and a single bibliography, will aid the examiners in reading and evaluating the overall thesis.

This course of registration relates to those who are the author of substantial research-led publications prior to registration.

This PhD is awarded for the submission of a portfolio of published research of the same standard as a typical PhD. The work can take the form of refereed articles, chapters, monographs, scholarly editions, software and creative work (including fine art, audiovisual works, design, music or performance) or other original artefacts, as long as they are available or traceable in the public domain.

Three copies will be required of a portfolio consisting of the following: an abstract of the submission, including a list of the items of published work; the items of published work; and a 10,000 word supporting paper that:

summarises each published work to be submitted
provides a commentary on the status of the publishing outlets
describes the interrelationship of the published works to be submitted
gives a critical review of the current state of knowledge and research in the relevant field
reports on the reception of the published works as indicated by citations and reviews
demonstrates how the published works to be submitted have made a significant contribution to knowledge in a particular field.

Presentation of your thesis As it is important that your thesis is presented for examination in a complete form before submission you are advised to check;

All chapters/sections are present and complete, correctly numbered and in the correct order.
Tables of contents, etc. are present and correct.
All Figures and Tables are present, inserted in the correct place, have an appropriate title and legend where necessary, and are in final form and appropriately numbered.
A minimum font size of not less than 9 is suggested after insertion of a Figure into the main text of the thesis.
The text has been carefully checked to remove typographical, spelling and grammatical errors. As complete elimination is very difficult, insertion of a few corrections at a later stage is usually allowed, although please be advised more than one error per page is not considered acceptable.
The bibliography is presented in an acceptable format, your supervisor should be able to advise you further.
References are cited accurately, and every reference cited in the text is given in the bibliography and vice-versa.
All pages are present and correctly numbered and located.
You have correctly set out subject-specific aspects such as statistical analyses, formulae or quotations.

Advisory note You may wish to retain the services of a proof reader or editor to assist you in completing a draft of your thesis. A thesis presented for examination in an incomplete or poor form could result in the examiners being unable to assess the academic work properly.

Format of the Thesis or Portfolio The approved format of your thesis or portfolio is as follows:

The typeface should be clear and easy to read.
For the main text, double or one-and-a-half line-spacing.
For indented quotations or footnotes, single line-spacing.
The left-hand-side should be 4cm.
The top and bottom margins should be 2.5cm deep.
The right hand margin should be 2cm.
Pages should be numbered consecutively through the main text, excluding photographs and/or diagrams which are not embodied in the text.
Page numbers should be located centrally at the top of the page.
Any photographs or diagrams not included in the text must be indexed separately by reference to the page which follows it.

Title Page The title page should include:

the full title of the thesis and the sub-title if any;
the full name of the author;
the qualification aimed for;
the name of the University of Sussex;
the month and year of submission.

Table of Contents A table of contents should be included in the thesis and should list in sequence with the page numbers all relevant sub-divisions of the thesis including;

the titles of chapters;
sections and paragraphs as appropriate;
the bibliography;
the list of abbreviations and other functional parts of the thesis,
any appendices and the index (if provided).

Drawings, maps and similar documents should preferably be included with the text, but may, if necessary, be submitted in a separate volume lettered in similar fashion to the text.

Bibliography A composite bibliography should be presented at the end of the thesis after the main text and before any appendices. Individual bibliographies for sub-divisions of the thesis should not be employed.

The composite bibliography should be;

either numbered consecutively, as far as possible, in the same order as references appear in the text, with numbers only in the text;
or be placed in alphabetical order of authors, sub-divided chronologically by year of publication, with authors' names and years of publications in the text.
In the latter case publications in the same year by the same author(s) should be distinguished in the bibliography and the text by letters in alphabetical sequence (e.g. 1979a, 1979b).
Referencing system: please use the referencing system most prevalent in your discipline. The same referencing system should be used throughout the thesis.

Acknowledgements In the introduction to your thesis, you should set out the sources of your information, such as particular libraries, archives, organisational records, private papers and department files.

You should also set out the plan of your research procedures, indicating what general categories of persons you interviewed and you should indicate any special conditions of access to information.

Statement Your thesis or portfolio must include a signed declaration bound into the thesis or portfolio after the title page which states:

the thesis or portfolio, whether in the same or different form, has not been previously submitted to this or any other University for a degree, unless you are re-submitting the thesis or portfolio for re-examination.
To what extent any material has already been submitted as part of required coursework, at any university and any award obtained as a result.
The sources from which the information has been derived and, if any part of the thesis or portfolio results from joint work with other persons. If so, the extent to which the thesis or portfolio has drawn on the work of those others and the portion of the thesis or portfolio which you claim to be your own original work.
in the case of the papers-style thesis, the declaration must state the candidate's contribution to each paper.

Examples of standard statements

Example 1: Work submitted elsewhere for examination

I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. However, the thesis incorporates to the extent indicated below, material already submitted as part of required coursework and/or for the degree of:

...................................................................................................................................................

In ...................................................................................................................................... (subject)

which was awarded by...........................................................................................................(institution)

Signature:..................................................................................................................................

Example 2: Work not submitted elsewhere for examination

I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree.

Signature:………………………………………

It is an offence for any student to be guilty of, or party to, collusion, plagiarism or any other form of misconduct in an examination or work which is submitted for assessment. It is also an offence to commit any form of misconduct during the course of your research. The main types of misconduct are defined as follows:

Plagiarism is the use, without acknowledgement, of the intellectual work of other people, and the act of representing the ideas or discoveries of another as one’s own in written work submitted for assessment. To copy sentences, phrases or even striking expressions without acknowledgement of the source (either by inadequate citation or failure to indicate verbatim quotations), is plagiarism; to paraphrase without acknowledgement is likewise plagiarism. Where such copying or paraphrase has occurred the mere mention of the source in the bibliography shall not be deemed sufficient acknowledgement; each such instance must be referred specifically to its source. Verbatim quotations must be either in inverted commas, or indented, and directly acknowledged.

Deliberate deception, usually involving the invention of data or the fabrication of results or observations. It does not include unintentional error or professional differences in interpretation or judgement of data.

Collusion is the preparation or production of work for assessment jointly with another person or persons unless explicitly permitted. An act of collusion is understood to encompass those who actively assist others as well as those who derive benefit from others’ work. Where joint preparation is permitted but joint production is not, the submitted work must be produced solely by the candidate making the submission. Where joint production or joint preparation and production of work for assessment is specifically permitted, this will be stated explicitly in the relevant course documentation. This does not preclude collaborative working arrangements (e.g. experimental research in laboratories) where this is permitted by the School; however, the student is required to acknowledge in the thesis where the results of collaborative work are presented and outline the contributions made by each party.

Interference

Intentional damage to, or removal of, the research-related property of another.

Non-compliance with requirements governing research

Intentional non-compliance with the terms and conditions governing the award of external funding for research or with the University’s policies and procedures relating to research, including accounting requirements, ethics, and health and safety regulations. At the time you submit your thesis, you will be asked to sign a statement to confirm that you understand the definition of plagiarism and that the sources used in your thesis have been fully acknowledged. Allegations or complaints of misconduct committed by Doctoral Researchers will be investigated by the appropriate authority, depending on the timing and nature of the allegation. Where a Doctoral Researcher is found guilty of misconduct, a range of penalties may be applied, up to and including disqualification from eligibility for the award for the most serious offences. The detailed procedures for the consideration of misconduct by Doctoral Researchers, or others, engaged in research can be accessed at: www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/research/rqi/policy/research-policy .

Turnitin for doctoral researchers

Turnitin, the text-matching service can be accessed via the online learning portal ‘Canvas’, at https://canvas.sussex. ac.uk/courses/6596 . Turnitin enables you to check the text in chapters or sections of your thesis or research reports, to ensure that material from other sources have all been identified and referenced. Turnitin does this by comparing your submitted text with its enormous database of digital text from journals, books, conference proceedings, web pages, and archived student papers. You then have a confidential and detailed report on text similarities, which you can use to identify material taken from other sources. The site also provides links to helpful resources such as copyright and referencing information and guidance for researchers. Where examiners or internal assessors of your work request so, an electronic copy of your thesis will be requested to be submitted through Turnitin. The resulting originality report will be shared with you and all involved.

Schools will ensure that students are offered support in preparation for the viva (for example participation at a suitable workshop, offer of a mock viva or reference to relevant written guidance materials).

Your principal source of support in preparation for the viva should be your main supervisor, though input from others involved in your supervision is also encouraged.

The opportunity to present and defend academic work should take place regularly and form part of the Progression Review.

Centrally-run workshops on preparation for the viva are available to all students. Details can be found on the Doctoral School website.

The examination process

See below for details of the examination process.

Your examiners will be guided by the assessment criteria outlined on the information for examiners webpage.

They will also take into account the doctoral-level qualification descriptors produced by the Quality Assurance Agency, which specify the standards and characteristics expected of those awarded doctoral-level qualifications.

Your thesis will be examined by at least one examiner, unless you are a member of Sussex staff when you would normally be examined by two external examiners. One copy of your thesis or portfolio will be sent by the Research Student Administration Office to each of your examiners and the remaining copy will be kept in the Research Student Administration Office.

As part of the examination process you will be required to attend a viva voce examination in defence of your thesis or portfolio. The internal examiner will contact both you and the external examiner to arrange a mutually convenient time to hold the viva voce examination. Please note that if you refuse to agree a time, or if you do not attend at the agreed time, you risk failure of the examination and the examiners will have the right to go ahead and conduct the examination and make a recommendation to the Examination Board, on the basis of the evidence before them, i.e. the thesis alone.

Your supervisor, with your agreement, may be invited by the examiners to attend your viva voce examination. If a supervisor does attend a viva voce examination they should only contribute to the discussion if directly addressed by the examiners.

If anyone additional attends at a viva voce examination as an observer this must be approved by the Director of Doctoral Studies of your School and on the condition that they play no part in the examination. Your consent must be obtained, and the rationale for the additional person attending must be clearly explained to you in advance, and confirmed at the outset of the viva.

Where it is School or departmental level policy, or where there are particular circumstances that warrant it, an independent chair may be employed at your viva voce examination. Where this is the case, you will be notified in advance.

The examination is normally held approximately two to three months after the time of submission of your thesis. If you will be unavailable to attend the viva voce examination for any period of time you should inform the Research Student Administration Office at the time of submission.

If you are unable to attend your viva voce examination due to illness, you should inform the internal examiner and the Research Student Administration Office as soon as possible in order that an alternative date may be arranged.

The viva may be conducted remotely via Skype or videoconference. These arrangements must be approved by the Research Degrees Examination Board well in advance. Contact the Research Student Administration Office for details.

Please note that you may not make contact with your examiners at any time other than to arrange the viva date as this may result in the examination being invalidated. Any contact, if necessary, should be made via your supervisors.

Basis of assessment

In order to decide whether you have met the required standard for the degree for which you are being examined, your examiners will be guided by the assessment criteria for your degree. They will also take into account the doctoral-level qualification descriptors produced by the Quality Assurance Agency, which specify standards and characteristics that are expected of those who are awarded doctoral-level qualifications. See the information for examiners for further details.

The role of the Research Degrees Examination Board

The role of the Research Degrees Examination Board is to formally appoint examiners on behalf of Senate and to consider the recommendations made by those examiners on the outcome of the doctoral examination. The Research Degrees Examination Board will then make a recommendation to Senate on the award of the degree, and the Research Student Administration Office will communicate the result to the Doctoral Researcher.

Most of the work of the Research Degrees Examination Board is carried out by the three ‘specialist members’, who are appointed by Doctoral Studies Committee for a three-year term, and who must have experience of graduate work at research degree level in the humanities, social sciences or science or engineering. The Exam Board Chair has discretion to call a meeting of the full Research Degrees Examination Board to consider any cases where the recommendation of the examiners, following the viva, does not appear to be straightforward.

The Research Degrees Examination Board becomes involved with a Doctoral Researcher’s progress at various points during the examination process:

at the time of the appointment of examiners (at least two months before the thesis is submitted)
when they have received the individual and joint reports of the internal and external examiners for consideration of the recommended outcome (several weeks after the viva)
when they recommend the award of the degree to Senate (after all corrections requested by the examiners have been made to the thesis and approved by the examiners).

Examination outcome categories

The outcome of the examination is based both on the quality of the submitted thesis and the candidate’s performance in the viva. The examiners will recommend one of the following outcomes to the Research Degrees Examination Board:

The thesis is of doctoral quality and may be awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy unconditionally. A very small number of minor typographical errors, which can be corrected immediately but do not require checking by the examiners, are permitted.

The thesis is of doctoral quality and will pass pending the completion of minor corrections. This category allows for a period of up to three months during which the candidate may undertake the following types of minor corrections: spelling/typing errors, textual errors, reordering of material, correction of citations, and correction of figures, tables and diagrams, and the addition of a small number of paragraphs for clarification or qualification.

The thesis is of doctoral quality and will pass pending the completion of a number of more substantial corrections. This category allows for a period of up to six months during which the candidate may undertake the following types of corrections in addition to those specified in category 2: more substantial addition of paragraphs, including the incorporation of some new material, reordering and restructuring of chapters, or some additional data analyses.

The thesis is not of doctoral standard but may be resubmitted for examination for the award of Doctor of Philosophy. This category allows for a period of up to 12 months during which the candidate is required to thoroughly revise their thesis for resubmission, using the guidance set out in the examiners’ joint report. Fees are payable for this additional year.

The thesis is not of doctoral standard and may not be resubmitted for the award of PhD, but the MPhil may be awarded according to one of the three pass categories above, the corrections to be approved by the examiners.

The candidate be failed and not be permitted to revise and re-submit the thesis for examination.

Pass subject to minor corrections, or corrections

If your thesis or portfolio is referred for corrections only, you must return your corrected thesis to the Research Student Administration Office who will seek approval from your examiners. The corrected thesis must be accompanied by a cover-note to examiners, listing the location and detail of all changes made to the thesis.

In exceptional circumstances it is possible to apply for an extension of up to one month (minor corrections) or three months (corrections) through the Research Student Administration Office. You will not be required to re-register whilst under minor corrections or corrections.

Revision and re-submission of a thesis or portfolio

If you have not met the standard required for the award at the first attempt you will be required by the Examination Board to revise and resubmit your thesis or portfolio for re-examination within one year. The Research Student Administration Office will write to you to inform you of the recommended revisions and of the date by which your thesis or portfolio must be resubmitted. In exceptional circumstances it is possible to apply for an extension of up to six months through the Research Student Administration Office, with registration fees applying.

You will be asked to confirm your acceptance of the decision of the Examination Board of revision and resubmission and pay any appropriate fees. You should consult your supervisor regarding the recommended revisions but you must not communicate with the examiners during the period of revision. Your revised thesis must be submitted to the Research Student Administration Office who will arrange for a second examination.

Once you have resubmitted your thesis for re-examination, you will not be able to revert to the original offer made by the Examination Board following your original examination.

Unsuccessful candidates

If you are unsuccessful in your examination, the University will retain one copy of the thesis which shall become the property of the University.

Return of theses

On request, the Research Student Administration Office will return copies of your thesis to you:

by recorded delivery, if you live in the United Kingdom
by registered surface mail or by insured mail (if you live outside the United Kingdom)
or you may collect your thesis in person from the Research Student Administration Office.

Please note that the Research Student Administration Office are unable to take responsibility for the safe delivery of theses by post, we would be happy to make alternative arrangements for you but they would be at your own expense.

As a precaution we advise you to retain a copy of any work submitted for examination.

Submission of the final version of the thesis

On successful completion of the examination process you must submit an electronic copy of your thesis. You must not change the thesis title at this stage unless your joint examiners’ report has specifically requested a change.

IT Services have several electronic guides that relate to creating and managing PDFs .

The electronic version of your thesis will be uploaded into the institutional repository, Sussex Research Online, where it will be available for download via open access.

Third party copyright and confidential sources

Before submitting the hard and electronic copies of your thesis, you should check that you are able to use any third party material e.g. photographs, images, diagrams, maps and long extracts from other works.

While you are permitted to use third party material in a thesis for the purposes of examination, you do not automatically have permission to make these materials freely available online. Under copyright law, making a thesis available online is considered a form of ‘publishing’ as it makes the work available to the public. Every attempt should be made, at the earliest opportunity, to gain permission from the rights holder to include such material. All permission should be obtained in writing and an electronic copy of the correspondence should be submitted along with the electronic copy of your thesis.

Further information on third party copyright permissions, including what to do if permission is not granted, is available from the Library website .

The following is intended to illustrate the kinds of material, which may be termed confidential sources, and to offer guidance on the problems which such material presents.

The nature of confidential sources

The following are examples of sources of confidential information which may be encountered by Doctoral Researchers:

information from documents or files which were produced under the authority of a public agency or Government department, and made available by private agencies, such as firms, or individuals, with or without conditions
information from letters written by individuals in a public or private capacity which have not been published or available in a public archive for more than one hundred years
information from interviews with individuals about the activities and/or personnel of public or private organisations.

Any material which is protected by copyright should also be considered to determine whether it is also confidential.

In the course of their research, Doctoral Researchers may obtain information from confidential sources, and then face decisions about how to take account of the information, and how to clear it for publication. The problems should not be put aside until the thesis has been written. It is important to realise that a thesis is legally considered to have been published as soon as it is made available to anyone at all, and therefore it cannot be written as a private document.

Treatment of confidential sources

Given that a thesis is a publication it cannot, without permission, include quotations from, or citations of, documents or letters or oral statements which are confidential. Doctoral Researchers who have obtained confidential information should proceed as follows:

Every effort should be made to find published sources which make points or substantiate data which have been encountered in confidential sources.
Some institutions allow a researcher to consult records on condition that manuscripts of any material intended for publication are submitted to them for approval prior to publication; in such cases, copies of the letter stating conditions of access and signifying approval of the thesis manuscript should be included when the thesis is submitted for examination.
Doctoral Researchers may be given documents or letters held by a private individual who is an employee, or former employee, of some public or private institution. If Doctoral Researchers wish to quote from or cite documents or letters belonging to such private collectors, they should obtain written permission from the originators of the letters or documents, whether personal or institutional.
In many cases, the amount of confidential material which Doctoral Researchers will obtain in the course of their research can be dealt with simply, but if students intend to base their theses to a large extent on such sources, then they should discuss this matter carefully with their supervisor at the outset of their studies and continue to review outstanding copyright matters on an annual basis as their thesis progresses, keeping a record of any actions that need to be taken prior to submission.
The Researcher Development Programme includes regular copyright workshops run by the Library which are specifically intended to assist Doctoral Researchers by raising awareness and understanding of the copyright issues involved in e-theses submission. Details are available via the Doctoral School website.

Access to theses and embargo arrangements

When a thesis is submitted, it is subject to the following arrangements:

it is made available for use in the electronic University Repository, Sussex Research Online
it is automatically uploaded to the British Library ‘EThOS’ service and hence becomes publicly available for download subject to the acceptance of the EThOS End User Licence Agreement
details of the thesis, sometimes including abstracts, are sent to various national, international and subject bodies, and to bibliographies.

There may be valid reasons for restricting access to your thesis. Usually this will be for a limited period. Below are some common reasons why you may need to restrict access to your thesis:

you have an agreement with a publisher to publish all or part of your thesis
your thesis contains commercially sensitive information that may prejudice the commercial interests of another person or company
your thesis contains material that was obtained under a promise of confidentiality
your thesis contains sensitive material about an individual or individuals that may endanger their physical or mental well-being

All requests for an embargo should be discussed in the first instance with your supervisor who will advise you on how to proceed. Access may, with the approval of the Director of Doctoral Studies, be restricted for a period of up to three years via the thesis embargo form available on the Research Student Administration website.

If your thesis contains material for which you do not have cleared copyright, you may remove that material to a separate volume which will be permanently embargoed. In such cases you will need to submit one hard bound copy of your thesis which will be placed in the University Library for consultation by scholars but not on public access. However you must make every effort to obtain copyright during the preparation of your thesis.

You will be asked to complete an end-of-programme evaluation form following your submission which will provide an opportunity for feedback to the Doctoral School on the working of your examination process, as well as some overall reflections on your experience as a Doctoral Researcher during your time at Sussex.

All Doctoral Researchers are encouraged to complete the national Postgraduate Research Student Experience Survey. This survey is the primary way in which the University reflects on and makes changes to its Doctoral Researcher offer. The survey contains questions about supervision, research culture, resources and expectations and will be publicised by email direct to all Doctoral Researchers.

Graduation ceremonies are currently held in January and July. You will be sent details of the next appropriate ceremony based on the expected date of your viva.

Please note there is no guarantee that you will have completed in time to be eligible to graduate at the ceremony you have been sent the details for, as the process of submitting, examining and correcting your thesis typically takes several months.

In order to graduate, you must have no outstanding academic commitments or fees. If you are asked by your examiners to make corrections to your thesis after your viva, these corrections must be completed and approved by the Research Degrees Examination Board before you will be eligible to graduate.

See Sussex' s Graduation pages for more details about your ceremony.

IMAGES

Word Template for PhD Thesis
1000 Words Essay: Examples and Guides
How to Write a Thesis for PhD
Phd thesis sample by PhD Thesis Online
Ms Word Thesis Template
Doctoral Thesis Thesis Acknowledgement Phd

VIDEO

PhD Thesis Chapters
Exp19_Word_Ch05_HOEAssessment_Haverty/WORD 2019-Word CH 5 HOEAssessment_Haverty @pearson999
Head Space Gallery Talk/Thesis Defense: Olivia Van Natta
Mastering Academic Writing: Paragraphs
Three Minute Thesis Competition
Study with me

COMMENTS

What would be the fast and smart strategy for writing a 40,000 word PhD
To write a PhD thesis of 40,000 words or more within 1-2 months is not systematic for carrying research. Research follows a methodology and there are several steps to be done which need a suitable ...
Word limits and requirements of your Degree Committee
For the MSc Degree the thesis is not to exceed 40,000 words, EXCLUDING bibliography, but including tables, tables of contents, footnotes and appendices. Classics. ... A PhD thesis must not exceed 80,000 words, and will normally be over 60,000 words. This word limit includes footnotes and endnotes, but excludes appendices and reference list ...
r/PhD on Reddit: What is the minimum number of words for your thesis in
For my masters (languages), the minimum was 16,000 and the maximum 24,000. For my PhD (languages), my minimum is 80,000 and my maximum is 100,000. It's fairly standard for my discipline I think, though I might be wrong! In my first year I'm expected to write ~20k words for a literature review, so I suppose that's helpful in some respects ...
How long should be a Doctoral Dissertation or Thesis?
The PhD dissertation is an academic essay, structured, formal and concise and precisely written. ... their thesis is 80,000 to 1,20,000 words long while 21% of students voted to have a dissertation length of fewer than 40,000 words. However, the study is irrelevant as students aren't categorized based their subjects. (but it's just a ...
A Guide to Writing a PhD Thesis
How long is a PhD thesis? The length of a PhD thesis varies from subject to subject, but all are far longer than those for undergraduate or Masters degrees. Your university will usually set an upper limit - typically between 70,000 and 100,000 words, with most dissertations coming in at around 80,000 words.
How Long Is a PhD 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 ...
Word limits: Arbitrary or purposeful writing boundaries?
In any form of writing there are word limits. 1500 words for a first-year essay, 40000 words for a Masters thesis, 80000-100000 words for a doctoral dissertation, 7000 words for a journal article. Even in blogging land, the average post tends to hover around 800-1000 words, a fairly standard word limit for the average post.
PhD: is the doctoral thesis obsolete?
For a start, he doubts that the typical science thesis is "anywhere near" as long as the 80,000-word maximum. Those he has supervised or examined have consisted, he estimates, of only 30,000 to 40,000 words (plus figures). "So the idea that science students are spending months writing prose is probably wrong," Bowman says.
Tips for writing a PhD dissertation: FAQs answered
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. The structure of a dissertation will vary depending on discipline (humanities, social ...
Preparing a thesis
Social Sciences: 40,000 words (MPhil); 75,000-100,000 words (PhD) The above word counts exclude footnotes, bibliography and appendices. Where there are no guidelines, students should consult the supervisor as to the length of thesis appropriate to the particular topic of research.
What Is a PhD Thesis?
The typical PhD thesis structure will contain four chapters of original work sandwiched between a literature review chapter and a concluding chapter. There is no universal rule for the length of a thesis, but general guidelines set the word count between 70,000 to 100,000 words .
How Long is a PhD Thesis?
So how many words is a Ph.D. thesis? At UWS London, your PhD thesis should not typically exceed 40,000 words for PhD students studying Mathematics, Technology, Science, and Engineering - this excludes ancillary data. For PhD students studying in all other fields, a PhD thesis should not exceed 80,000 words.
PDF G ACADEMIC WRITING FOR DOCTORAL S
This will help to break down your thesis (normally between 40,000-80,000 words) to much more manageable chapter lengths of around 6,000 to 10,000 words, or even ... Brewer, R. (2007) Your PhD thesis: How to plan, draft, revise and edit your thesis. Abergele: Study Mates Oliver, P. (2004) Writing your thesis. London: Sage Publications.
19. Format of the thesis
for a PhD: 15,000 - 25,000 words; for an MPhil: 8,000 - 10,000 words; Where the programme of research involves the preparation of a scholarly edition of texts, creative writing or other work (see regulation 6.5), the written thesis should be within the following range: for a PhD: 30,000 - 40,000 words; for an MPhil: 15,000 - 20,000 words
Writing my thesis
The maximum word limit for theses (including footnotes but excluding tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices) are: 100 000 words for a PhD or doctoral thesis. You should aim to write a thesis shorter than the maximum allowed, for example 40 000 for a Masters thesis or 80 000 words for a PhD.
ask.unimelb: FAQ / PhD Thesis Word Limit
What is the word limit for a PhD thesis? You should aim to write a thesis of 80,000 words. The word limit is exclusive of words in tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices. Footnotes are included as part of the word limit. If you need to exceed 100,000 words, you must submit a request to the Chair of the Higher Degrees Research Comittee via ...
Thesis Writing and Submission
The PhD thesis shall not exceed 70,000 words excluding appendices, footnotes, tables and bibliography. For appendices there is a 5000 word limit. For appendices there is a 5000 word limit. MSc by Research 40,000 words, exclusive of appendices, footnotes, tables and bibliography
How many words per day? : r/PhD
It's a rather short dissertation of approximately 40,000 words as the second part of my PhD requirement is a short story collection (I'm doing a creative PhD). 3. Sort by: Add a Comment. downsideleft. • 4 yr. ago. I wrote 2 to 4 pages per day, 4 days a week with the expectation that I would edit it down by 25 - 35%.
1. Thesis preparation
Word limit. It's important to adhere to the word limit when writing your thesis. Your thesis must not exceed: 80,000 words for a PhD; 40,000 words for an MPhil. The word limit: includes the preliminary pages; includes all footnotes and appendices; includes all in-text referencing, but; does not include your bibliography/reference list.
How To Format A PhD Thesis In Microsoft Word (An Illustrative Guide)
To insert figures' captions and numbers into Microsoft Word: Click on the references tab, then click on insert caption. A dialogue box will open. Under options, choose "figure" as the label. Type the caption for the figure, choose the numbering format preferred and click OK. The caption and number of the figure will be inserted.
Guidelines for Writing and Presenting the Thesis
The regulations state that the length of the research thesis shall be approximately 25,000 words, with a maximum of 40,000 words; there is no minimum word count. We suggest that you aim for about 20,000 to 25,000 words. Conciseness of expression is greatly valued by the examiners, who may require overly wordy theses to be shortened.
PDF Guidelines for the presentation of the thesis, or exegesis
40,000 words. The exegesis accompanying a thesis by creative practice is normally no less than 20,000 words for a doctoral thesis and 10,000 words for a Masters degree. The word count does not include footnotes, appendices, references or tables etc. 2.2. If length limits have been exceeded, notification of the length and number of volumes is to ...
Research Student Administration Office
Where the thesis does not include a practice-based component it should follow the standard thesis format and guidelines (80,000 words for a PhD, 40,000 words for an MPhil). Thesis and practice: the submission should consist of either a substantial practice-based work, such as a performance, a series of workshops, an installation or a durational ...