How long is a phd dissertation supposed to be?

There mere fact is that there is no single answer. From a thorough analysis of the situation, it is clear that your dissertation can be anywhere between 50 and 300 pages, but it varies according to the subject you choose in general. However, according to experts, what is more important is that your dissertation should be an independent piece that stands on its own and shows your committee and the general public that you have adequate expertise in your field.

Research reveals that in areas like history, anthropology, communication studies, mass communication, English, geography, sociology, and sociology, the phd dissertations tend to be longer, while areas like educational psychology, ecology evolution and behavior, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, statistics, physics, economics, mathematics, and biostatistics tend to have the shortest. While a phd dissertation is nearly 250 pages in the former, it tends to be around 100 pages for the latter group. More important, according to all universities, is that your dissertation should show quality, not quantity.

Now let’s see what essential things a phd dissertation should contain. In general, a dissertation has three major components; the front matter, the body, and the back matter.

The front matter includes contents like half-title page, title page, copyrights page, dedication, epigraph, contents page, list of illustrations, list of tables, abstract, acknowledgements, not on transliterations, and list of abbreviations. Remember, these all things usually appear in the same order, and are usually numbered in lowercase roman numerical, for example i, ii, iii etc. The half-title page is considered the first counted page of your book. The interesting fact is that this page contains nothing other than mere title of the book, and the back of this page is left blank. The title page comes immediately after that. The essential components of the title page are a title, a subtitle, full name of the author, the university logo, the academic degree, and the place and time of submitting the dissertation.

The back of the title page is called the copyright page.

It usually deals with information like the copyright notice, name of the publisher, and the ISSN. The next important page is Dedication, which is optional. It is entirely up to the author to decide whether to dedicate the work or not, and whom it is dedicated to. Another optional part of the front matter is the Epigraph. It is usually a short poem or quotation, with the intention to show your work’s connection to any particular subject matter. This information is usually right aligned, and the source is usually mentioned immediately below the quotation, starting with a dash.

The body matter of the PhD dissertation is the main content of the dissertation. It is usually divided into various chapters. As your divide the chapters, make sure that the chapters are of almost equal length wherever possible. The first chapter is usually named ‘Introduction’ and the last chapter is usually termed ‘Conclusion’.

The back matter usually consists of an appendix, notes, and a reference list. So, the summary is, give more attention to the quality of the paper you write, and let the content decide the size of your paper.