In assessing the thesis, the commission looks not only at the qualitative, but also at the quantitative characteristics. The volume of the thesis is one of these characteristics. Dissatisfaction may be caused by too many or too few pages.
How many pages should be in the thesis
Many students are wondering what the volume of the thesis should be. On the one hand, this is not a logical question, because a thesis involves research. And how many “pages” your research will take will depend on you. On the other hand, unlike the studies of venerable scientists, the dissertation is more educational in nature, therefore the author’s freedom in determining the volume is limited.
A clear answer to how many pages should be in the thesis in 2019 is impossible. The fact is that at the level of state standards the number of sheets, which should be in the thesis, is not regulated. This is due to the large variety of scientific fields and the characteristics of their qualification requirements. That is why each university (or even its units – faculties, departments) independently determine the requirements for the thesis, including how many pages should be in the graduation work. Typical requirements for the number of pages in the thesis:
For bachelor – 40-60 pages.
For a specialist – 50-70 pages.
For masters 70-90 pages.
Requirements
The volume of the thesis (as well as what should be the amount of course work) in 2019 is not regulated. However, there are a number of requirements that directly affect the volume of the thesis:
The text of the thesis is printed on one side of the sheet. Accordingly, the number of sheets and pages in the thesis are the same.
When preparing the report, A4 paper is used (in some cases it is acceptable to use sheets A3).
The font used to write a thesis should be at least 12pt in size. Most often theses are printed in 14pt font. Increasing or decreasing the font can significantly change the amount of text.
Line spacing used in the thesis work can be single or one and a half. This also significantly affects the amount of text.
Applications are not counted in the scope of work. This makes it possible for the student to bring into the application three-dimensional tables, graphs and charts, if the report volume exceeds the recommended one.
Volume of main parts
In addition to the total volume of the thesis, there are requirements for the volume of structural elements. It is unacceptable that the structure is significantly different from the recommended one, since this indicates a lack of deep elaboration of an aspect.
The first page is a title page, followed by the content (usually takes 1-2 pages).
The standard amount of introduction for the thesis is 2-5 pages (or 5-10% of the amount of work). This volume should include such items as the justification of relevance, the purpose and objectives of the work, the object and subject of research, the methods used, as well as a review of literary sources.
Most pages (about 70-80% of the total) are in the main part, which is divided into chapters. The most common is the division into three chapters, but some universities establish other requirements (2, 4 or even 5 chapters). Heads should have approximately equal volume.
Example 1
It is unacceptable that one chapter was 40 pages, and the second – 10 pages. If the total volume of the thesis is 50 pages, then the volume of each of the three chapters should be about 12-15 pages (if there are two chapters, then about 20 pages).
Chapters are divided into paragraphs, the volume of which must also be balanced.
The conclusion by volume should be somewhat (but not significantly) greater than the introduction — approximately 0.5–1 page. The optimal volume of the conclusion – 7-10% of the volume of the thesis, or 3-7 pages.
After the conclusion follows a list of references. Its volume is not regulated in the pages, but among the bibliographic units. As a rule, at least 30-40 items are required. At registration they will occupy about 4 pages.
The volume of applications is not limited in any way (and is not included in the scope of the thesis). In this part there may be tables, charts, company documents, drawings, etc.
Recommendations
Definition 1
Thesis – the final work of the student, the most serious of all time study.
It is most strictly checked, including compliance with formal requirements. Therefore, it is best not to focus on the general and most common sample requirements, but to take in your department the guidelines for registration or the provision of final qualifying work, from which you can learn the requirements for the volume of the thesis. You can also take a sample design. Knowing the volume, it is useful to assess your strength, how many pages you can write per day, and not to delay the start of work at the last moment.
The error is “pulling” the volume. It is not necessary to rewrite in a different way what was said earlier (or, especially, to copy paragraphs verbatim). Most of the topics submitted to the final qualifying works allow finding enough material, so if there is a shortage of volume, it is better to add some idea, consider another research position or method. Also, do not increase the volume due to tricks with formatting (increasing fields, line spacing).
Another mistake is too much volume. One must be able to ruthlessly reduce unnecessary, to remove introductory constructions that do not carry a semantic load.
Example 2
It is unlikely that a thesis (especially for a bachelor degree) of 300 pages will contain fundamental research or discovery at the level of a revolution in science.