engineering phd thesis word count

  • How Long Is a PhD Thesis?
  • Doing a PhD

It’s no secret that one of the most challenging aspects of a PhD degree is the volume of work that goes into writing your thesis . So this raises the question, exactly how long is a thesis?

Unfortunately, there’s no one size fits all answer to this question. However, from the analysis of over 100 PhD theses, the average thesis length is between 80,000 and 100,000 words. A further analysis of 1000 PhD thesis shows the average number of pages to be 204 . In reality, the actual word count for each PhD thesis will depend on the specific subject and the university it is being hosted by. This is because universities set their own word length requirements, with most found to be opting for around 100,000.

To find out more about how these word limits differ between universities, how the average word count from STEM thesis differ from non-STEM thesis and a more detailed breakdown from the analysis of over 1000 PhDs, carry on reading the below.

Word Count Differences Between Universities

For any PhD student writing a thesis, they will find that their document will be subject to a word limit set by their university. In nearly all cases, the limit only concerns the maximum number of words and doesn’t place any restrictions on the minimum word limit. The reason for this is that the student will be expected to write their thesis with the aim of clearly explaining their research, and so it is up to the student to determine what he deems appropriate.

Saying this, it is well accepted amongst PhD students and supervisors that the absence of a lower limit doesn’t suggest that a thesis can be ‘light’. Your thesis will focus on several years worth of original research and explore new ideas, theories or concepts. Besides this, your thesis will need to cover a wide range of topics such as your literature review, research methodology, results and conclusion. Therefore, your examiners will expect the length of your thesis to be proportional to convey all this information to a sufficient level.

Selecting a handful of universities at random, they state the following thesis word limits on their website:

  • University of Edinburgh: 100,000
  • University of Exeter: 100,000
  • University of Leister: 80,000
  • University of Bath: 80,000
  • University of Warwick: 70,000

The above universities set upper word limits that apply across the board, however, some universities, such as the University of Birmingham and the University of Sheffield, set different word limits for different departments. For example, the University of Sheffield adopts these limits:

  • Arts & Humanities: 75,000
  • Medicine, Dentistry & Health: 75,000
  • Science: 80,000
  • Social Sciences: 75,000-100,000

Although there’s a range of limit, it’s safe to say that the majority fall within the 80,000 to 100,000 bracket.

Word Count Based on Data from past Theses

A poll of 149 postdocs.

In mid-2019, Dr Eva Lantsoght, a published author, academic blogger and Structural Engineering Professor, conducted a poll which asked postgraduate doctoral students to share the length of their final thesis. 149 PostDoc students responded to the survey, with the majority reporting a length falling within the ‘80,000 – 120,000 words’ bracket as seen below.

DiscoverPhDs_How-long-is-a-PhD-Thesis_Poll

Analysis of 1000 PhD Theses

Over a three-year time period, Dr Ian Brailsford, a then Postgraduate Learning Adviser at the University of Auckland, analysed 1000 doctoral thesis submitted to his university’s library. The PhD theses which formed the basis of his analysis were produced between 2008 to 2017 and showed:

  • Average number of pages = 204
  • Median number of pages = 198
  • Average number of chapters = 7.6

We should note that the above metrics only cover the content falling within the main body of the thesis. This includes the introduction, literature review, methods section, results chapter, discussions and conclusions. All other sections, such as the title page, abstract, table of contents, acknowledgements, bibliography and appendices were omitted from the count.

Although it’s impossible to draw the exact word count from the number of pages alone, by using the universities recommended format of 12pt Times New Roman and 1.5 lines spacing, and assuming 10% of the main body are figures and footnotes, this equates to an average main body of 52,000 words.

STEM vs Non-STEM

As part of Dr Ian Brailsford’s analysis, he also compared the length of STEM doctorate theses to non-STEM theses. He found that STEM theses tended to be shorter. In fact, he found STEM theses to have a medium page length of 159 whilst non-STEM theses had a medium of around 223 pages. This is a 40% increase in average length!

Can You Exceed the Word Count?

Whilst most universities will allow you to go over the word count if you need to, it comes with the caveat that you must have a very strong reason for needing to do so. Besides this, your supervisor will also need to support your request. This is to acknowledge that they have reviewed your situation and agree that exceeding the word limit will be absolutely necessary to avoid detriment unnecessary detriment to your work.

This means that whilst it is possible to submit a thesis over 100,000 words or more, it’s unlikely that your research project will need to.

How Does This Compare to a Masters Dissertation?

The average Masters dissertation length is approximately 20,000 words whilst a thesis is 4 to 5 times this length at approximately 80,000 – 100,000.

The key reason for this difference is because of the level of knowledge they convey. A Master’s dissertation focuses on concluding from existing knowledge whilst a PhD thesis focuses on drawing a conclusion from new knowledge. As a result, the thesis is significantly longer as the new knowledge needs to be well documented so it can be verified, disseminated and used to shape future research.

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

Related Reading

Unfortunately, the completion of your thesis doesn’t mark the end of your degree just yet. Once you submit your thesis, it’s time to start preparing for your viva – the all-to-fun thesis defence interview! To help you prepare for this, we’ve produced a helpful guide which you can read here: The Complete Guide to PhD Vivas.

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Before submitting

The word limit is 65,000 words (including appendices, footnotes, tables and equations, but excluding the bibliography). It must not contain more than 150 figures. See  Word limits and requirements of your Degree Committee . If you need to increase your word limit, you must apply for permission via your CamSIS self-service account. Requests for more than 72,000 words will not be considered under any circumstances.

Additional Materials

Additional materials* are defined as materials created by the candidate which are integral to the thesis and essential for examination, but cannot be easily included in the main body of the thesis. Examples may include 3D models, simulations, video or audio recordings, hi-resolution images, or computer programmes. Additional materials are defined as materials created by the candidate which are integral to the thesis and essential for examination, but cannot be easily included in the main body of the thesis. Examples may include 3D models, simulations, video or audio recordings, hi-resolution images, or computer programmes.

If you need to include additional materials , you need permission to do so BEFORE submitting your thesis for examination.

*Please note that additional materials cannot be used to circumvent the thesis maximum word limit

Format and presentation

Please see the information on the  Cambridge Students website.

Your submission deadline

Your PhD thesis should be submitted before the last day of your fourth year of study. You can find your submission deadline on your CamSIS self-service account. The earliest date you can submit is the first day of your ninth term. We strongly advise students to aim to submit within ten terms, or by the end of their funding date, whichever is soonest . This will allow you some contingency time in case of unexpected delays.

Extensions can only be granted in limited circumstances (ie where you have experienced unforeseen delays); see  Extending your submission date . Please ensure that you read and follow the guidance carefully if you need to apply for an extension. If you do not submit by your deadline, you will be removed from the register of graduate students, which will result in you losing access to resources. However, if this happens, you will still be able to submit your thesis at a later date .

Preparing to submit

Four weeks before you intend to submit your thesis, please complete the online  Intention to Submit Form . After consulting with your supervisor, the GSO will arrange for your examiners to be appointed and your title approved. At this point the GSO will add you to the Moodle site so that you can submit your thesis when it is complete.

If you wish to notify examiners of any disability or request adjustments on account of such disability for your viva voce examination (either for your first year assessment or final examination), you can do this via your Degree Committee by completing and submitting the  voluntary disclosure form .

Where and what to submit

You should submit an electronic pdf copy of your thesis via the Engineering Degree Committee thesis submission   Moodle site. Please name the file "PhD_ Your CRSid.pdf" so that it is identifiable.

Providing examiners have been appointed, your thesis will be forwarded to the examiners within two days of receipt by the GSO. For details of where to submit your thesis and what paperwork to include, see  Submitting your Thesis .

After submitting

The oral examination (viva).

We will email you when your thesis has been forwarded to your examiners. You should expect to wait at least 8 weeks for your  oral examination . In most cases the viva will be between you and two examiners, usually one internal and one external.

After your oral examination, you may be asked to make some corrections to your thesis. If your examiners do not provide you with a list of corrections, please contact the GSO and we will arrange for a list to be sent to you.  When the corrections are complete, you should show them to your internal examiner (and/or your external examiner in some cases).

After the examination

Your examiners' reports will be considered at a meeting of the Engineering Degree Committee . Following this meeting, the Degree Committee will send their decision to the Student Registry. You will usually receive an email from the Student Registry within about a week of the Degree Committee meeting, informing you of the outcome, along with copies of your examiners' reports. In some cases, your examination paperwork will also need to be considered by the Postgraduate Committee (see 'Other outcomes' below).

No corrections needed, or corrections completed and approved before paperwork considered by Degree Committee

If you were not required to make any corrections, or you have already completed your corrections and they have been approved by your examiners before your paperwork is considered by the Degree Committee, then following the meeting you will receive an email from the Student Registry informing you to submit the hardbound and electronic copies of your thesis . In some cases where corrections have been completed, you may first receive notification that corrections are required, and then another email within a day or two to confirm that those have been completed and you can submit your hardbound and e-thesis.

Corrections required

Examiners can recommend that you need to complete some corrections  to your thesis. These can be either minor, which you will be given three months to complete, or major, which you will be given six months to complete. These timings start from the date that your examination paperwork is approved by the Degree Committee, and you will receive an email from the Student Registry informing you of the relevant timeframes following that meeting.

You remain on the register of graduate students during this period (unless your corrections are approved sooner), however the working restrictions for graduate students do not apply during this time. You should still apply for leave to work away if you are completing your corrections away from Cambridge. After completing your corrections, you should send them to your internal examiner to approve, who will then confirm to the Degree Committee, via the GSO, when they have done so. Approval of corrections does not need to go through any further committee meetings. The GSO will notify the Student Registry, who will then send you an email about submitting the hardbound and electronic copies of your thesis .

Other outcomes

Although the most common outcome is that corrections are required before you can be awarded a PhD (or occasionally an outright pass), it is also possible that you may be asked to Revise and Resubmit your thesis for a new examination. Alternatively, you may be offered the award of a lower degree, or in rare cases, outright failure is a possible outcome. You can find the full list of potential outcomes in the Code of Practice . If the Degree Committee wishes to recommend one of these outcomes, your examination results will need to be considered at a meeting of the University's Postgraduate Committee before a decision is agreed and notified to you. If your examination results are to be considered at a Postgraduate Committee meeting, you will be informed by the Student Registry after the Degree Committee meeting, 

After degree approval

After your PhD, including any corrections required, has been approved by the Degree Committee, you will be notified that you need to submit the hardbound copy of your thesis, as well as an electronic copy. You can find information about this, as well as what to do if you need to restrict or embargo your thesis, on the Cambridge Students website.

You can then make arrangements to attend a congregation, or have your degree awarded in absentia .

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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

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 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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Academia Insider

How long is a PhD dissertation? [Data by field]

The final piece of the PhD journey is the PhD dissertation. It takes many years to accumulate enough original and new data to fill out a dissertation to the satisfaction of experts in your field. Interestingly, the PhD dissertation length and content vary significantly based on the field you are studying and the publishing conventions.

A PhD can be anywhere from 50 pages to over 450 pages long. This equates to between about 20,000 words to 100,000 words. Most PhD theses are between 60,000 and 80,000 words long excluding contents, citations and references.

A PhD thesis contains different sections including an introduction, methods, results and discussion, conclusions, further work, and references. Each one of these different sections will vary in length depending on the field of study and your particular topic.

Ultimately, a PhD dissertation should contain as many pages and words as it takes to communicate the results of your multi-year investigation.

It is very rewarding to see your thesis come together as you are writing day after day. When I was writing my PhD dissertation I wrote the sections separately and my heart filled with joy when I finally put them all together and compile them into a single PDF document.

Counting the pages should not be the way to determine a PhD dissertation’s value but it certainly helps when your thesis is starting to look substantial in thickness.

How many pages should a PhD dissertation be?

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

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

engineering phd thesis word count

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

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

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

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

  • How Long is a Masters Thesis? [Your writing guide]
  • How long is a Thesis or dissertation? [the data]

Can a PhD dissertation be too long?

A PhD thesis should contain enough evidence and discussion to report on the most significant findings of your PhD research.

A PhD dissertation should not contain everything that you have done during your PhD. It should only include the data and information required to convince your PhD examining body that wraps up and tells the full story of particular lines of investigation.

Including random results, thoughts, or superfluous explanation can result in a dissertation that is unfocused. I have heard of music PhD is being described as too verbose and physical sciences PhD dissertations as being unfocused.

Therefore, a PhD thesis can be too long if the information it contains does not form a full and cohesive story.

One of my colleagues during their PhD removed an entire chapter from the thesis after writing it as the supervisor said that it needed more experiments to be a full story. They did not want to spend the next six months gathering the data and simply removed the chapter altogether.

How short can PhD dissertation be?

The shortest PhD dissertations are typically found in mathematics.

George Bernard Danzig was an American mathematical scientist who made contributions to industrial engineering and many other mathematical-related fields. An interesting miscommunication led to 1 of the shortest PhD theses ever.

In 1939 his professor wrote two problems on the blackboard and Danzig thought they were homeless assignments. He stated that they were harder than usual but handed in solutions to the surprise of the professor.

They were, in fact, open mathematical problems in statistics.

His professor said to bind the solution to the two problems together and submit them as his thesis – the total thesis length = 14 pages.

Obviously, most PhD theses and dissertations will be so much longer than that!

My PhD dissertation was 256 pages long. It was full of schematics, diagrams, and tables to demonstrate and communicate my findings.

I would say that most people’s PhD thesis experience will be closer to mine than Prof George Bernard Danzig’s.

Why PhD dissertations are typically so long

PhD dissertations are often over 200 pages long.

One of the primary reasons they are so long is that it is a single document that summarises many years of hard work. Also, summarising the research field to date and making sure that all of your references and citations are included so you avoid plagiarism will bolster the word count of the thesis dramatically.

Here are all of the reasons PhD dissertations tend to be so long.

Many years of work

PhD theses or dissertations contain many years of research and analysis.

In many of my YouTube videos I recommend that a PhD student work towards their PhD thesis by doing at least three hours of focused work every work day.

This amount of work quickly adds up.

Of course, not every bit of work makes it into the PhD dissertation but a lot of it does. It can be difficult to work out what to include or leave out of your thesis.

As a PhD student, I perfected the art of turning one experiment into many different types of grafts and schematics to fully explore the limits of my data. The graphs can take up a lot of space in your PhD thesis and, therefore, bolster the page count significantly.

In depth literature review

One of the most substantial parts of a PhD dissertation is the literature review.

The literature review can take up a huge portion of the early part of your PhD dissertation depending on the amount of data and publications in your field.

Writing an in-depth literature review requires just as much meticulous data analysis and searching as the central part of your dissertation.

Figures and schematics

Some fields end up producing a lot of figures and schematics.

My thesis had many full-page figures of atomic force microscopy experiments with much more explanation on subsequent pages.

engineering phd thesis word count

As they say, a picture paints a thousand words and a dissertation can really benefit from having many schematics to highlight the important aspects of your findings.

References and citations

The recommended PhD dissertation word count from an institution or university does not include citations, references, or other thesis parts such as summary of abbreviations, table of figures, et cetera.

However, these components of your dissertation can take up many pages and add to the overall thickness of your PhD dissertation.

University formatting rules

University formatting rules will also dictate how you many pages your words take up.

I often get roasted on my YouTube channel for having doublespaced lines and wide margins. Unfortunately, this layout was dictated by my university before printing.

PhD dissertations often end up going into long-term storage and therefore, need to adhere to archival and standardised formatting rules.

Deep in the depths of the University of Newcastle, there is a copy of my thesis on a shelf. The formatting and binding rules mean that my thesis looks like everyone else’s.

Universities will often have their own requirements for PhD dissertation cover colour, quality, and type of paper. Even the quality of the paper can change the thickness of the PhD dissertation significantly.

PhD by publication

It is becoming increasingly common to submit a number of peer-reviewed papers bound together with supplementary information in between instead of a PhD dissertation.

The benefits of this to the researcher and university are:

  • More early career peer-reviewed journals for career advancement
  • an easier review process – they have already been peer-reviewed
  • an early focus on publishing means better research outcomes for the researcher, supervisor, and Department.
  • No mad rush at the end to finish a thesis
  • continually writing peer-reviewed papers throughout your PhD helps with timely analysis and communication of results

Even though this option has been available to PhD students for a number of years, I have only known a handful of students actually submit their PhD via publication.

Nonetheless, having this option will suit some research fields better than others and lead to a more productive PhD.

Wrapping up

This article has been through everything you need to know about the length of a PhD dissertation and the common lengths of PhD dissertations for various fields.

Ultimately, there is no predefined length of a PhD.

A PhD thesis is as long as it needs to be to convince your examiners that you have contributed significantly enough to an academic field to be awarded the title of Dr of philosophy.

Mathematical and analytical theses tend to be shorter and can be as short as 50 pages (with one of the shortest being only 14 pages long). At the other end of the spectrum, PhD students in anthropology and history tend to produce the longest dissertations.

engineering phd thesis word count

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

Thank you for visiting Academia Insider.

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engineering phd thesis word count

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engineering phd thesis word count

Frequently asked questions

How long is a dissertation.

Dissertation word counts vary widely across different fields, institutions, and levels of education:

  • An undergraduate dissertation is typically 8,000–15,000 words
  • A master’s dissertation is typically 12,000–50,000 words
  • A PhD thesis is typically book-length: 70,000–100,000 words

However, none of these are strict guidelines – your word count may be lower or higher than the numbers stated here. Always check the guidelines provided by your university to determine how long your own dissertation should be.

Frequently asked questions: Dissertation

A dissertation prospectus or proposal describes what or who you plan to research for your dissertation. It delves into why, when, where, and how you will do your research, as well as helps you choose a type of research to pursue. You should also determine whether you plan to pursue qualitative or quantitative methods and what your research design will look like.

It should outline all of the decisions you have taken about your project, from your dissertation topic to your hypotheses and research objectives , ready to be approved by your supervisor or committee.

Note that some departments require a defense component, where you present your prospectus to your committee orally.

A thesis is typically written by students finishing up a bachelor’s or Master’s degree. Some educational institutions, particularly in the liberal arts, have mandatory theses, but they are often not mandatory to graduate from bachelor’s degrees. It is more common for a thesis to be a graduation requirement from a Master’s degree.

Even if not mandatory, you may want to consider writing a thesis if you:

  • Plan to attend graduate school soon
  • Have a particular topic you’d like to study more in-depth
  • Are considering a career in research
  • Would like a capstone experience to tie up your academic experience

The conclusion of your thesis or dissertation should include the following:

  • A restatement of your research question
  • A summary of your key arguments and/or results
  • A short discussion of the implications of your research

The conclusion of your thesis or dissertation shouldn’t take up more than 5–7% of your overall word count.

For a stronger dissertation conclusion , avoid including:

  • Important evidence or analysis that wasn’t mentioned in the discussion section and results section
  • Generic concluding phrases (e.g. “In conclusion …”)
  • Weak statements that undermine your argument (e.g., “There are good points on both sides of this issue.”)

Your conclusion should leave the reader with a strong, decisive impression of your work.

While it may be tempting to present new arguments or evidence in your thesis or disseration conclusion , especially if you have a particularly striking argument you’d like to finish your analysis with, you shouldn’t. Theses and dissertations follow a more formal structure than this.

All your findings and arguments should be presented in the body of the text (more specifically in the discussion section and results section .) The conclusion is meant to summarize and reflect on the evidence and arguments you have already presented, not introduce new ones.

A theoretical framework can sometimes be integrated into a  literature review chapter , but it can also be included as its own chapter or section in your dissertation . As a rule of thumb, if your research involves dealing with a lot of complex theories, it’s a good idea to include a separate theoretical framework chapter.

A literature review and a theoretical framework are not the same thing and cannot be used interchangeably. While a theoretical framework describes the theoretical underpinnings of your work, a literature review critically evaluates existing research relating to your topic. You’ll likely need both in your dissertation .

While a theoretical framework describes the theoretical underpinnings of your work based on existing research, a conceptual framework allows you to draw your own conclusions, mapping out the variables you may use in your study and the interplay between them.

A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical first steps in your writing process. It helps you to lay out and organize your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding what kind of research you’d like to undertake.

Generally, an outline contains information on the different sections included in your thesis or dissertation , such as:

  • Your anticipated title
  • Your abstract
  • Your chapters (sometimes subdivided into further topics like literature review , research methods , avenues for future research, etc.)

When you mention different chapters within your text, it’s considered best to use Roman numerals for most citation styles. However, the most important thing here is to remain consistent whenever using numbers in your dissertation .

In most styles, the title page is used purely to provide information and doesn’t include any images. Ask your supervisor if you are allowed to include an image on the title page before doing so. If you do decide to include one, make sure to check whether you need permission from the creator of the image.

Include a note directly beneath the image acknowledging where it comes from, beginning with the word “ Note .” (italicized and followed by a period). Include a citation and copyright attribution . Don’t title, number, or label the image as a figure , since it doesn’t appear in your main text.

Definitional terms often fall into the category of common knowledge , meaning that they don’t necessarily have to be cited. This guidance can apply to your thesis or dissertation glossary as well.

However, if you’d prefer to cite your sources , you can follow guidance for citing dictionary entries in MLA or APA style for your glossary.

A glossary is a collection of words pertaining to a specific topic. In your thesis or dissertation, it’s a list of all terms you used that may not immediately be obvious to your reader. In contrast, an index is a list of the contents of your work organized by page number.

The title page of your thesis or dissertation goes first, before all other content or lists that you may choose to include.

The title page of your thesis or dissertation should include your name, department, institution, degree program, and submission date.

Glossaries are not mandatory, but if you use a lot of technical or field-specific terms, it may improve readability to add one to your thesis or dissertation. Your educational institution may also require them, so be sure to check their specific guidelines.

A glossary or “glossary of terms” is a collection of words pertaining to a specific topic. In your thesis or dissertation, it’s a list of all terms you used that may not immediately be obvious to your reader. Your glossary only needs to include terms that your reader may not be familiar with, and is intended to enhance their understanding of your work.

A glossary is a collection of words pertaining to a specific topic. In your thesis or dissertation, it’s a list of all terms you used that may not immediately be obvious to your reader. In contrast, dictionaries are more general collections of words.

An abbreviation is a shortened version of an existing word, such as Dr. for Doctor. In contrast, an acronym uses the first letter of each word to create a wholly new word, such as UNESCO (an acronym for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

As a rule of thumb, write the explanation in full the first time you use an acronym or abbreviation. You can then proceed with the shortened version. However, if the abbreviation is very common (like PC, USA, or DNA), then you can use the abbreviated version from the get-go.

Be sure to add each abbreviation in your list of abbreviations !

If you only used a few abbreviations in your thesis or dissertation , you don’t necessarily need to include a list of abbreviations .

If your abbreviations are numerous, or if you think they won’t be known to your audience, it’s never a bad idea to add one. They can also improve readability, minimizing confusion about abbreviations unfamiliar to your reader.

A list of abbreviations is a list of all the abbreviations that you used in your thesis or dissertation. It should appear at the beginning of your document, with items in alphabetical order, just after your table of contents .

Your list of tables and figures should go directly after your table of contents in your thesis or dissertation.

Lists of figures and tables are often not required, and aren’t particularly common. They specifically aren’t required for APA-Style, though you should be careful to follow their other guidelines for figures and tables .

If you have many figures and tables in your thesis or dissertation, include one may help you stay organized. Your educational institution may require them, so be sure to check their guidelines.

A list of figures and tables compiles all of the figures and tables that you used in your thesis or dissertation and displays them with the page number where they can be found.

The table of contents in a thesis or dissertation always goes between your abstract and your introduction .

You may acknowledge God in your dissertation acknowledgements , but be sure to follow academic convention by also thanking the members of academia, as well as family, colleagues, and friends who helped you.

A literature review is a survey of credible sources on a topic, often used in dissertations , theses, and research papers . Literature reviews give an overview of knowledge on a subject, helping you identify relevant theories and methods, as well as gaps in existing research. Literature reviews are set up similarly to other  academic texts , with an introduction , a main body, and a conclusion .

An  annotated bibliography is a list of  source references that has a short description (called an annotation ) for each of the sources. It is often assigned as part of the research process for a  paper .  

In a thesis or dissertation, the discussion is an in-depth exploration of the results, going into detail about the meaning of your findings and citing relevant sources to put them in context.

The conclusion is more shorter and more general: it concisely answers your main research question and makes recommendations based on your overall findings.

In the discussion , you explore the meaning and relevance of your research results , explaining how they fit with existing research and theory. Discuss:

  • Your  interpretations : what do the results tell us?
  • The  implications : why do the results matter?
  • The  limitation s : what can’t the results tell us?

The results chapter or section simply and objectively reports what you found, without speculating on why you found these results. The discussion interprets the meaning of the results, puts them in context, and explains why they matter.

In qualitative research , results and discussion are sometimes combined. But in quantitative research , it’s considered important to separate the objective results from your interpretation of them.

Results are usually written in the past tense , because they are describing the outcome of completed actions.

The results chapter of a thesis or dissertation presents your research results concisely and objectively.

In quantitative research , for each question or hypothesis , state:

  • The type of analysis used
  • Relevant results in the form of descriptive and inferential statistics
  • Whether or not the alternative hypothesis was supported

In qualitative research , for each question or theme, describe:

  • Recurring patterns
  • Significant or representative individual responses
  • Relevant quotations from the data

Don’t interpret or speculate in the results chapter.

To automatically insert a table of contents in Microsoft Word, follow these steps:

  • Apply heading styles throughout the document.
  • In the references section in the ribbon, locate the Table of Contents group.
  • Click the arrow next to the Table of Contents icon and select Custom Table of Contents.
  • Select which levels of headings you would like to include in the table of contents.

Make sure to update your table of contents if you move text or change headings. To update, simply right click and select Update Field.

All level 1 and 2 headings should be included in your table of contents . That means the titles of your chapters and the main sections within them.

The contents should also include all appendices and the lists of tables and figures, if applicable, as well as your reference list .

Do not include the acknowledgements or abstract in the table of contents.

The abstract appears on its own page in the thesis or dissertation , after the title page and acknowledgements but before the table of contents .

An abstract for a thesis or dissertation is usually around 200–300 words. There’s often a strict word limit, so make sure to check your university’s requirements.

In a thesis or dissertation, the acknowledgements should usually be no longer than one page. There is no minimum length.

The acknowledgements are generally included at the very beginning of your thesis , directly after the title page and before the abstract .

Yes, it’s important to thank your supervisor(s) in the acknowledgements section of your thesis or dissertation .

Even if you feel your supervisor did not contribute greatly to the final product, you must acknowledge them, if only for a very brief thank you. If you do not include your supervisor, it may be seen as a snub.

In the acknowledgements of your thesis or dissertation, you should first thank those who helped you academically or professionally, such as your supervisor, funders, and other academics.

Then you can include personal thanks to friends, family members, or anyone else who supported you during the process.

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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

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How Long is a PhD Thesis?

  • Maisie Dadswell
  • September 6, 2023

engineering phd thesis word count

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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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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Regulations and Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes

  • Summary of regulatory changes and/or additions
  • Section 1 – Introduction
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University home > Academic Quality and Policy Office > Postgraduate Education > Regulations and Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes > Annex 4 – Dissertation format

Annex 4 - Format of the dissertation for research degrees

The format of the dissertation – including for research degrees by published work – are set out below and covers both the examination and final Library versions.

Supervisors should advise their research students on the norms and practices of their discipline in terms of the dissertation. Guidance on the integration of publications as chapters within the dissertation, which should only be used following a discussion between supervisors and the student, is provided in Annex 5 .

Candidates must declare if they have secured ethics approval for their research in their dissertation, including information on the approval reference number and the date approval was granted. 

The examination copy must be submitted as a fully formatted pdf. The final Library copy should be electronically deposited in pdf format or other format acceptable to the University and appropriate to the medium as agreed with supervisors. 

See Annex 17 for the inclusion of a Covid-19 statement in the dissertation.

Format of dissertations for research degrees

Preliminary pages

The five preliminary pages (with the addition of a cover sheet if there is a partial deferment version – see below) must be the Title Page, Abstract, Dedication and Acknowledgements, Author’s Declaration and Table of Contents. The preliminary pages should be single-sided and the main body of the dissertation should be double-sided.

At the top of the title page, within the margins, the dissertation should give the title and, if necessary, sub-title and volume number. If the dissertation is in a language other than English, the title must be given in that language and in English. The full name of the author should be in the centre of the page. At the bottom centre should be the words “A dissertation submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements for award of the degree of … in the Faculty of ...” with the name of the school and month and year of submission. The word count of the dissertation (which excludes references, appendices and lists of contents) should be entered at the bottom right-hand side of the page.

Each copy must include an abstract or summary of the dissertation in not more than 300 words, which should be single-spaced in a font size in the range 10 to 12. If the dissertation is in a language other than English, an abstract in that language and an abstract in English must be included.

Author’s declaration

I declare that the work in this dissertation was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the University's Regulations and Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes and that it has not been submitted for any other academic award. Except where indicated by specific reference in the text, the work is the candidate's own work. Work done in collaboration with, or with the assistance of, others, is indicated as such. Any views expressed in the dissertation are those of the author.

SIGNED: .............................................................  DATE:..........................

Students must print their name on the examination copy and on the final Library copy. 

Partial deferment

Where a partial deferment for the public release of the final Library copy has been granted (see Section 9.2.5 ) both the redacted and full versions of the final version of the dissertation must be submitted. The redacted version file should adopt the following naming approach: ‘Redacted_Final_Copy_[year_month_day]_[candidate surname_candidate initials]_[Degree type].’

A cover sheet must be integrated as the first page of the redacted version with a statement on the redactions agreed by the candidate, supervisors and any industrial sponsors. The following is a suggested wording for the statement, which should be adapted for individual circumstances.

This is a redacted version of the full dissertation, as agreed by the candidate, the supervisors and [name], the industrial sponsor of this [degree type] studentship in the Faculty of [name]. The redactions cover key information that was deemed too sensitive to be published. The redactions have been kept to the minimum level necessary, so that the dissertation still shows the research excellence of the candidate.

The version for examination will contain the full text, even if a partial deferment has been granted.

Table of contents, list of tables and illustrative material

The table of contents must list, with page numbers, all chapters, sections and subsections, the list of references, bibliography, list of abbreviations and appendices. The list of tables and illustrations should follow the table of contents, listing with page numbers the tables, photographs, diagrams, etc., in the order in which they appear in the text.

Page numbering

The pages should be numbered consecutively at the bottom centre of the page.

Text should be in double or 1.5 line spacing, and font size should be chosen to ensure clarity and legibility for the main text and for any quotations and footnotes.

Digital recording media and research data

Appended digital recording media should be in a standard format and there should be a declaration in the dissertation of the programs used and the size of the files.

For the final copy of the dissertation, digital media such as Excel files should be combined into a single pdf file with the dissertation text. Students should discuss any accompanying research data that may be submitted with the dissertation with their supervisors. Guidance is also available from Library Services.

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1. Thesis preparation

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2. Formatting your thesis

Your thesis must comply with the formatting requirements outlined in section 3.4 of the  Higher Degree by Research Thesis Examination Procedures .

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.

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As stated in the  Student Registry PhD format requirements , a PhD thesis in the Department of Computer Science and Technology “is not to exceed [...] 60,000 words including tables and footnotes, but excluding appendices, bibliography, photographs and diagrams.”

Candidates abusing these rules mostly risk annoying their examiners. Of particular concern is the misconception that tables and equations do not count as words, while they actually take significantly longer to read than mere text. The words “photographs and diagrams” refer to entities that can be taken in with a single glance rather than a page of detailed equations. Tables, equations and the like are best counted as having the number of words that text occupying the same area would have. The safest way to justify being under the 60,000 word limit is to count the words on a page with most plain text, and divide 60,000 by that to give a page limit. Another way of getting an estimate of the effective word count is

If the main body of your thesis (from first page to last page before the bibliography) is 150 pages or more then you have probably exceeded the size limit – and your thesis risks summary rejection. Remember that it is not necessary to write 59,995 words; as noted in the regulations for Physics and Chemistry: “[the] Degree committee points out that some of the best dissertations extend to only half this length”.

Sometimes candidates would like a bigger word-count limit. This is often a sign they have done too much work; a good thesis selects from the work done rather than slavishly including every minor result. There are three reasons not to do too much work on a thesis: poverty after your funding expires, scoring black marks for the department by submitting four years after starting, and having to leave out research results from your thesis!

The Degree Committee for the Faculty of Computer Science and Technology agreed, at its meeting of July 2nd 2009, that the word limit will remain at 60,000 words and, furthermore, emphasized that should students exceed 175 pages, students and their supervisors will be asked to explain.

The Degree Committee for the Faculty of Computer Science and Technology agreed, at its meeting on 23 November 2021, that while the word limit will remain at 60,000 words, the Committee recognises some theses are interdisciplinary. An application for an extension to the word counts where there is a compelling case - such as an interdiscipinary thesis - will be considered. Students should apply for an extension to the thesis word count via CamSIS Change of Circumstances.

Related links

  • Word limits and requirements of your Degree Committee

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The Graduate School Manual - Theses and Dissertations

Guidelines for preparing or submitting a thesis or dissertation.

Manual of Style

Sequence of Pages

Copyright Notice

Committee Page

Table of Contents

Spacing and Margins

Page Numbering

Corrections and Hand Lettering

Illustrative Materials

Tables and Figures

Bibliography or References

Print Quality

You should consult with your department to determine the preferred textual arrangement and manual of style, including the presentation of footnotes/endnotes and the manner in which references are to be cited. In the absence of a departmental preference, the recommended style manual is the Chicago Manual of Style , published by the University of Chicago Press.

All text should be black; font size should be no smaller than 10-point and no larger than 14-point.

  • Copyright notice
  • Committee page
  • Acknowledgments
  • Table of contents
  • List of tables
  • List of figures
  • List of plates
  • Body of manuscript
  • Bibliography

The title page, copyright page, committee page, table of contents, and abstract page are mandatory. All students must include copyright notices in their theses and dissertations even if they do not pay the $55 fee through ProQuest/UMI to have the thesis or dissertation registered with the federal copyright office.

The title page consists of three main parts: title, author and degrees, and submission statement.

  • Center all lines on the page.
  • Type the title 2 inches from the top of the page.
  • Use all capital letters in the title. Font size should be no smaller than 10-point and no larger than 16-point.
  • Underline only words that would appear in italics.
  • Single space if the title is two lines. Double space if the title is more than two lines.
  • If the title is more than one line, use an inverted pyramid form, dividing lines by thought groups if possible.
  • Type the author's name in all capital letters at the center of the page.
  • Type the word BY in all capital letters two lines above the name.
  • Type previous degree(s) earned two lines below the name using the format shown on the Thesis/Dissertation Sample .
  • Make sure there is the same amount of space between the title and the word "by" as there is between the previous degrees and the submission statement .
  • Type the word DISSERTATION or THESIS in all capital letters two lines above the submission statement.
  • Type the submission statement as shown on the Thesis/Dissertation Sample , using single spacing and dividing the lines exactly as shown.
  • Type the year your degree is to be awarded one line below the submission statement. This line should be 1 inch from the bottom of the page.

View the Thesis/Dissertation Sample with additional formatting tips.

To protect the right of authorship by copyright, it is only necessary under current law to affix a notice of copyright to the page following the title page. The copyright notice should give the full legal name of the author, centered at the bottom of the page as per this sample:

© Copyright by Suzette Van Brown 2012

All Rights Reserved

or centered, placed in the middle of the page, and double-spaced as per this sample:

copyright by Johnathan Agonistes 2012

Unless a thesis or dissertation is copyrighted in this way, it becomes part of the public domain as soon as it is accepted by the Graduate School and delivered to the ProQuest/UMI website.

The Graduate School also urges students to register their thesis and dissertations with the federal copyright office. The advantage of taking this step could be considerable. In the case of plagiarism, for example, the author may bring an action against the guilty party and recover damages. In the case of scholarly work, proving and recovering damages may be difficult, if not impossible. But if the work bears a notice of copyright and has also been registered with the copyright office, statutory damages may be awarded, and may include attorney's fees incurred in prosecuting the suit. Registration of the thesis or dissertation with the copyright office entails applying at the ProQuest/UMI website and payment of a $55 fee through that website. However, even without registering the dissertation with the copyright office, the copyright notice on the page following the title page is sufficient to effect a copyright for the author.

  • The acceptance statement must end 1 inch from the bottom of the page. Therefore, the first line of text will start approximately more than halfway down the page. See sample committee page for proper vertical alignment.
  • Acceptance statement is to be single-spaced, worded, and line divided as shown in sample.
  • List date of final acceptance below acceptance statement.
  • List committee members, department, outside examiner (if applicable), and affiliated university of each member.
  • Signatures are not allowed in the electronic submission.

Since the shift to electronic filing of theses and dissertations in Fall 2005, it is no longer mandatory for the student to submit a committee page with signatures of its members. 

View the Thesis/Dissertation Sample.

Effective with the dissertation and theses submissions for Spring 2008 and forward, certain items ARE NOT to be included in the Table of Contents.

Do not include line entries for the title page, copyright page, committee page, or table of contents. Per the Chicago Manual of Style , only pages appearing AFTER the Table of Contents (e.g., List of Tables, List of Figures, chapters and subsections, etc.) should be included within the contents table.

The text of the manuscript is double-spaced. Footnotes, bibliography or list of references, tables and figure captions are single-spaced. Bibliographic entries are separated by double spacing. Margins should be 1 inch on the top, bottom and right side; and 1.5" on the left side. Each chapter starts on a new page, with a 2-inch top margin. Justifying the text at the right margin is optional. All textual material must be double-spaced. Long quotations may be indented and single-spaced, although some disciplines prefer them to be indented and double-spaced. Footnotes/endnotes should be single-spaced. Leave a double space between notes.

Abstract is mandatory.

The maximum acceptable length for an abstract to be published is 350 words for Dissertation Abstracts International (DAI) and 150 words for Masters Thesis Directories (MTD). However, an abstract within the dissertation or thesis need not be limited. The student may prepare a lengthy abstract for inclusion in the thesis or dissertation and a more concise summary for publication in DAI/MTD. The abstract is expected to give a succinct account of the student's work so that a reader can quickly learn the essential contents and results. A typical abstract includes a statement of the problem, an account of procedure or methods followed, and an account of main results and conclusions.

Abstracts must be prepared carefully, since they are published in DAI/MTD without editing or revision.

Each page must be numbered, with the exception of the title page and the copyright page. The number may be centered at the top or bottom of the page or may appear at the top right corner. For the preliminary pages, use lowercase Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, etc.), beginning with "iii". The title page and the copyright page count as "i" and "ii", but the numbers do not appear. For the remainder of the manuscript, including all text, illustrations, appendices and bibliography, use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.). The numbering begins with "1" on the first page of text and runs consecutively to the end of the manuscript. Page numbers may fall within the one-inch top or bottom margin, but at least a 0.5-inch margin should remain between the page number and the edge of the page.

No marks or corrections in pen or pencil are acceptable. Symbols, accent marks, and equations must all be typescript.

Static graphics (photographs, etc.) should be inserted into the body of the document. Supplementary files (images, sounds, etc.) should be submitted separately.

Tables and figures must conform to the same margins as the text. Oversized computer-generated tables can be reduced and included in the original. If a table or figure must be placed in landscape orientation (horizontally on the page), the margins and page number location must be the same as on a regular page. Captions for tables and figures and page numbers should be in the same type as the body of the text.

The style for references should follow the format used for journal publications in the student's field of study and must be consistent throughout the manuscript. The accepted placement of the bibliography or references is at the end of the manuscript.

The manuscript should be clearly readable throughout, for both electronic and printed documents. If there are questions regarding print quality, the student is encouraged to consult the Graduate School.

All of the following steps must take place by the thesis/dissertation deadline indicated on the degree completion calendar : register at the ProQuest/University Microfilms International (UMI) website, enter basic information about you and your work, complete the non-exclusive publishing agreement, attach your document, and click the final "Submit" button. No part of the submission is registered until you click the final "Submit" button. The Graduate School then reviews your submission and checks for formatting errors and makes sure that your academic record is complete and that all required fees are paid and forms are submitted. Once the Graduate School has accepted your paper and received all required items, the Graduate School delivers your work to ProQuest/UMI. You will be notified by email about the status of your submission. UMI will prepare archival digital copies and microfilm copies, both of which are maintained in perpetuity and migrated to new storage media as necessary, in accord with UMI's contract with the Library of Congress. UMI then disseminates your work to various bibliographic databases and indexes and publishes a full-text copy of your work on a website available to the Binghamton University community. Readers outside of Binghamton University may find your dissertation and purchase copies directly from UMI.

Before you begin, be sure that you have the following:

  • A free virtual print spooler
  • A free document conversion tool
  • Adobe's free web-hosted service, available at http://www.adobe.com
  • Adobe software
  • ProQuest/UMI abstract for DAI or MTD (350-word limit for doctoral dissertations; 150-word limit for master's theses). The ProQuest/UMI abstract may be an edited version of the full abstract in the document.
  • Optional supplementary files (images, sound, etc.) that are an integral part of the dissertation, but not part of the full text.

Thesis or dissertation formatting questions should be directed to the Degree Completion Team at [email protected] .

After submitting your thesis/dissertation electronically, submit the following materials:

  • Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) - mandatory for all doctoral students only
  • Thesis/Dissertation Processing Fees - mandatory for all students

The processing fees cover electronic submission; indexing and abstract services; microfilming and archiving; and digital storage and access. The thesis processing fee is $85, and the dissertation processing fee is $100.

You do not need to provide the Graduate School with any paper copies of your dissertation/thesis. Your department may require a bound hard copy, which can be ordered through ProQuest/UMI or another binding company. Many departments do not require bound hard copies. Check with your department for details. Please view the list of departments/programs that have informed the Graduate School that they do not require bound hard copies below: 

  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Community and Public Affairs
  • Computer Science (Required for doctoral degree students, but not required for master's degree students)
  • Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Higher Education and Student Affairs
  • Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership
  • Theatre 

During the submission process, you will have the option to request that ProQuest/UMI file for copyright on your behalf. If you choose this option, there will be an additional $55 fee payable directly to ProQuest/UMI.

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Last Updated: 2/5/24

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Thesis word count and format

Three months ago you considered whether you required a restriction to the access of your thesis, and you submitted your ‘Approval of Research Degree Thesis Title’ form. You’ve now finished writing up your thesis and it’s time to submit. We require your thesis to be presented and formatted in a certain way, so it’s important you read through the requirements below, before submitting your thesis. Find out more about thesis submission policy  (.pdf)

The completed thesis should be saved in PDF format. Once saved, please review the file to ensure all pages are displayed correctly.

Page layout

  • Double line spacing should be used for everything except quotations, footnotes, captions to plates etc.
  • It is desirable to leave 2.5cm margins at the top and bottom of the page.
  • The best position for the page number is at the top right 1.3cm below the top edge.
  • The fonts of Arial or Times New Roman should be used throughout the main body of the thesis, in the size of no less than 12 and no greater than 14

Illustrations (Graphs, diagrams, plates, computer printout etc.)

Illustrations embedded within the thesis should be formatted, numbered and titled accordingly:

a) Illustration upright - Caption at the bottom, Illustration number immediately above the

Illustration.

b) Illustration sideways - Caption at right-hand side with Illustration number above it.

Numbers for graphs, diagrams and maps are best located in the bottom right hand corner.

For further advice, please consult your supervisor.

Word counts

The following word counts are the maximum permitted for each level of award*:

What's excluded from the word count

*In all cases above, the word count includes quotations but excludes appendices, tables (including tables of contents), figures, abstract, references, acknowledgements, bibliography and footnotes (as long as the latter do not contain substantive argument). Please note these are word limits, not targets.

Specific requirements

For degrees which involve Practice as Research (PaR), no less than 50% of the research output should be the written thesis. The written thesis for PaR degrees may be comprised of a range of written elements including, but not limited to, a critical review, a portfolio, and/or a statement on theoretical discourse or methodology.

**In cases of practice-based PhD’s or MPhil’s these suggested word counts may be different. It is normally expected that the written component would comprise no less than 50% of the overall output.

Each copy of the thesis should contain a summary or abstract not exceeding 300 words.

As an example, see how the  layout of your title page (.pdf) should be.

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IMAGES

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COMMENTS

  1. How Long Is a PhD Thesis?

    However, from the analysis of over 100 PhD theses, the average thesis length is between 80,000 and 100,000 words. A further analysis of 1000 PhD thesis shows the average number of pages to be 204. In reality, the actual word count for each PhD thesis will depend on the specific subject and the university it is being hosted by.

  2. Average length of PhD dissertations by major : r/dataisbeautiful

    It's not about pages, it's not grade school, and most of the multiple-hundred page dissertations are full of charts, graphs, images, etc. Put a bunch of code/pseudo-code in yours with some Big-O analyses and you could turn 20 written pages into a 50+ page dissertation no problem. Reply reply. rhiever.

  3. PhD: thesis submission and examination

    Where and what to submit. You should submit an electronic pdf copy of your thesis via the Engineering Degree Committee thesis submission Moodle site. Please name the file "PhD_ Your CRSid.pdf" so that it is identifiable. Providing examiners have been appointed, your thesis will be forwarded to the examiners within two days of receipt by the GSO.

  4. Word limits and requirements of your Degree Committee

    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.

  5. A Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Engineering

    thesis, regularly reminding the reader how each result fits into your overall scientific/engineering goal. If you are unsure if your research project will fulfill a thesis in your area of engineering please reach out early (sophomore or junior year) to your DUS or ADUS in engineering. Biomedical Engineering ADUS: Linsey Moyer, PhD

  6. How long is a PhD dissertation? [Data by field]

    A PhD can be anywhere from 50 pages to over 450 pages long. This equates to between about 20,000 words to 100,000 words. Most PhD theses are between 60,000 and 80,000 words long excluding contents, citations and references. A PhD thesis contains different sections including an introduction, methods, results and discussion, conclusions, further ...

  7. A Guide to Writing a PhD Thesis

    The PhD thesis is the most important part of a doctoral research degree: the culmination of three or four years of full-time work towards producing an original contribution to your academic field. Your PhD dissertation can therefore seem like quite a daunting possibility, with a hefty word count, the pressure of writing something new and, of ...

  8. How long is a dissertation?

    An undergraduate dissertation is typically 8,000-15,000 words. A master's dissertation is typically 12,000-50,000 words. A PhD thesis is typically book-length: 70,000-100,000 words. However, none of these are strict guidelines - your word count may be lower or higher than the numbers stated here. Always check the guidelines provided ...

  9. PDF Thesis Dissertation Guide

    *Hereafter, the thesis/dissertation shall be referred to only as thesis. A. Format Review. Submit a draft on ordinary printer paper to the CCOE Graduate Coordinator in the Dean's Office in E421 of Engineering Bldg 2, D3. Figures and tables can be printed in black-and white for this draft. The Coordinator will review and make in- text ...

  10. 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.

  11. How Long is a PhD Thesis?

    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 ...

  12. PDF Guidance on word counts for final Thesis / Portfolio

    the word limits 2. Examiners may request that the thesis is shortened as part of their post-viva recommendations (but may not return a submitted thesis with an excessive word count - see regulation 16 'A viva voce examination is mandatory once a … candidate has submitted a thesis.'). 70,000 words PDHealth 45,000 words write 45,000 words for

  13. PDF Guidance on word counts for final Thesis / Portfolio

    45,000 word count limit (for students who first register before August 2020) 65,000 word count limit (for students who first register after 1st August 2020) EdD (Doctor of Education) Research Enquiry will comprise one thesis of 45,000 words DPRP (Professional Doctorate in Policy Research and Practice) 45,000 words All quotations, (i.e. text ...

  14. ask.unimelb: FAQ / PhD Thesis Word Limit

    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 ...

  15. PDF Introduction to Thesis Formatting Guidelines

    If many tables, they may be collected at the end of the thesis as an appendix Normally portrait Word Count A Phd thesis should not normally exceed 100,000 words of text (including your appendices and additional material). However, the PGR Committee of the College of Social Sciences suggest the following limits: PhD: 70,000 to 100,000 words.

  16. Annex 4

    The word count of the dissertation (which excludes references, appendices and lists of contents) should be entered at the bottom right-hand side of the page. Abstract. Each copy must include an abstract or summary of the dissertation in not more than 300 words, which should be single-spaced in a font size in the range 10 to 12.

  17. 1. Thesis preparation

    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 ...

  18. Writing up and word count

    Writing up and word count. As stated in the Student Registry PhD format requirements, a PhD thesis in the Department of Computer Science and Technology "is not to exceed [...] 60,000 words including tables and footnotes, but excluding appendices, bibliography, photographs and diagrams.". Candidates abusing these rules mostly risk annoying ...

  19. The Graduate School Manual

    The processing fees cover electronic submission; indexing and abstract services; microfilming and archiving; and digital storage and access. The thesis processing fee is $85, and the dissertation processing fee is $100. You do not need to provide the Graduate School with any paper copies of your dissertation/thesis.

  20. PDF Guidelines ON THESIS / Dissertation FORMAT

    1.1 Length of Thesis/Dissertation Total number of words for the Doctoral/Master's thesis is based on the MQA programme standard and listed in APPENDIX A for each faculty. The total number of words does not include endnotes, quotations, appendixes, tables, and diagrams. 1.2 Organizational Structure and Format

  21. Thesis word count and format

    What you need to know about thesis word counts as well as laying out and printing your thesis. Student Directory. Menu The Essex website uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are consenting to their use. ... Word count : PhD** 80,000: Professional Doctorate: 40,000: MD: 65,000: MPhil: 50,000: MA/MSC by Dissertation: 30,000:

  22. Words per day for my master thesis : r/EngineeringStudents

    Writing is a very slow process for me. I managed to scrape together about 8-9,000 words for my interim report with the full 20,000-word honours thesis due in October. A lot more reading (and all my practical work) still to come. Congratulations on completing yours! 189.

  23. Engineering Phd Thesis Word Count

    Engineering Phd Thesis Word Count - Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free. Scribd is the world's largest social reading and publishing site.