On 5 Dec 2009, at 1:43 pm, regina wrote:
> Please let me correct myself on one thing I pointed out earlier:
> science/ tech PhDs are of course not in the range of 20k but rather
> 40k words, thus comparable to practice-oriented design PhDs.
I concluded long ago that discussion about the number of words that
might comprise a written thesis is rather pointless. Various
universities have quite different regulations: some insist on a
minimum number of words, some have a maximum number of words, some are
picky about appendices or CD/DVDs as part of the thesis [as book],
some have strange rules about reducing the number of words if there is
practice (that is designing) as part of the PhD. Some get themselves
in a fix over 'theory-based' PhDs as opposed to mixed-mode or project-
based study (though I am less sure that anyone really understands what
any of these terms might mean).
The written thesis should be as long as it needs to be. The thesis [as
argument] has to cover at minimum a certain range of topics such as:
context and problems; establishing prior art and what is happening now
(literature review); the research design (how I will do it); the
research project (survey or whatever); analysis; and coming to some
conclusions (including explaining clearly what is the contribution to
knowledge and limits to the work).
Whatever the project, I doubt that it can be explained successfully in
less than say 40,000 words of thesis [as argument], though there might
well be 50-100 per cent more stuff added as appendices, depending on
the nature of the investigation. These days, the appendices might be a
CD or DVD. Or possibly a web resource? In the more descriptive areas,
a thesis might have to be rather longer.
As an examiner I am looking for whether the research has been
conducted rigorously, and whether the argument is sound and well
supported by evidence, rather than counting the word length. My advice
to my students is to focus on getting the flow of argument stated
clearly in as few words as possible.
Regards,
David
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David Durling FDRS PhD http://durling.tel
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