That's not really the point. The point is that the author 'knows' what is in it. It makes him/her an expert in that research and that's a personal achievement for those seeking knowledge.
I quoted alot from master thesis in my bachelors, although that wouldnt be counted by him as actual readers I guess, since the bachelors isnt published aswell. Still there might be some unknown lurkers enjoying ones masters thesis.
Depends. My master thesis is included in my book. On my phd now and will likely use it in a book also. But many times in my field will publish the thesis.
I agree with you. There is no comparison between a Thesis and a Dissertation. My PhD made me feel proud and excited about the future. Whereas my Master did not have that feeling. Thank you for sharing your journey on youtube. Best,
Well, my PhD thesis saved my mental health. I have been working on it for 10 years. It was a terrible mess of fragments. Lo and behold, some unpleasant event happens in my life. And the only way to overcame it was to edit my PhD. The more the text looked tidy, the brighter became my mood. I haven't received philosophy Doctor status yet, but I hope I will manage to do it.
Loved the comparison of meaning in the end. This is what every artisan or handymann is experiencing everyday, but a scholar could bei searching for his/her whole Life. An original and unique piece of Work.
I just want to add that different countries have different standards. My masters degree was by research, meaning I had to produce a dissertation. My dissertation was examined by 1 or 2 external examiners (I can't remember exactly). If the work was novel enough it could be upgraded to a PhD, it wasn't (but I wasn't surprised by this).This varies by field of course too so it's a lot more complex then 'a masters is x'. Our masters are also graded but PhDs are not. Some naturally get offered the option to extend into PhD, I didn't get this but I also didn't want it having seen how long PhDs took people to complete and what it took out of them. Research is a dangerous time consuming activity and a supervisor bent on getting everything perfect can totally ruin the experience. My masters took 5 years to finish not just because of my supervisor but also because of personal circumstances. I'm proud I did it but I do view it as an extreme waste of time. However it's a 150 odd page document that likely no one will gain much benefit from (in part due to not pushing back on certain decisions).
There can be different standards for different projects, even within the same University, because it's so difficult to standardise research work across a wide variety of topics. Usually PhD theses take more work and are of higher quality, but this isn't always the case. It can be very dependent on the specific project and the student and supervisors involved. My Master's in the UK was by research, and it took 2 years after BSc graduation. My supervisor said that it was almost a PhD, and asked me to keep working to convert it. However, I declined, as I had worked pretty much 24/7, and found the whole experience to be quite unpleasant. I went back and got a PhD later, which took another 6.5 years. I produced a larger volume of results for this, but in terms of originality and quality of work, it wasn't particularly any higher than my Master's. 5 years for a Master's sounds particularly extreme. In the UK, the only way that I can think of to take so long for a Master's is for those who submit their PhD, and their examiners give them a Master's degree for it! This happened to a couple of people that I know.
Finished my M.A, Thesis, Literature,awhile back...but Video brings memories back..., all during time of no RUclips advice.....Laughed and cried ( figuratively), to finish all and present it.....Passed.....What a relief Thanks
I find it funny that Claude shannon doesn’t pop up in their minds with his Msc thesis "Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits," this literally becam the theoretical basis of digital electronics.
My Masters' was kind of an 'along the way project' while doing my PhD. The way it was explained to me (by my supervisor), the Master's was a convenient exit point for grad students who wanted to give up on the PhD (at least they didn't waste their time and earned a degree) or for PIs who did not want to see that student through to the end 😟. Already published a paper when I was an undergrad, so on day 1 my supervisor started by just giving me a project to get done. Got that done within a year while learning R and Python and then published it as my Masters' thesis and as a paper. Then the real fun started and I had way more autonomy over the PhD research.
@@komalpatel7564 Self-taught, but I had 2+ years of experience with Matlab during undergrad, so coding wasn't new to me. Matlab I learnt on the job during an internship in an engineering lab (but I was a psych major). After that I worked in a psych lab, putting that Matlab skill to use, which led to a publication, which led to me going to grad school.
This was a very interesting video to listen to, especially because it shows the differences in thesis' between countries and cultures to me. The university I went to in Czech Republic wouldn't allow a "simple compilation of previous works" as a valid Master's thesis. Previous articles are of course a part of the thesis, but the Master's (and partialy even Bachelor's) requires something new that hasn't been done yet, based on an original hypothesis or idea. Of course, it can still be quite shallow and in many ways derivative, but if you were to just combine three different works together, you wouln't pass the exams, unless you really figured out something new. A compilation cannot be your goal here, it might be only a way of achieving it, if you are very lucky - let's be honest, reading a couple of papers and summarizing/combining them, is something very easy. That's actually why I didn't want to get my doctorate after the engineering degree. The master's thesis I wrote took quite a toll on me and it wasn't even a good one. I cannot imagine what would be required from me to get a PhD. The other reason is teaching. I love to teach, but unless I get at least a decade of experience in the field, I don't think I am competent to teach and evaluate other students.
Same here, Poland univ (at least when it comes to history) won't allow it even at bachelor lvl. However history remains quite different from this type of studies - maybe in this we may find an answer.
Probably not much more would be required of you to get a PhD. Just a bit more time, and more of the same kind of work. I studied in the UK, and there wasn't a lot of difference between my Master's and PhD theses, except I spent longer gathering results for my PhD.
@@sebfox2194 Exactly. The period for the doctorate just allows more data gathering and volume to be put into the research work. It is not necessarily novel, as many are not precisely offering new knowledge but the idea might be.
As someone who just got a master's this past summer, I completely agree with the feeling of the thesis. At the end of the day, it is just a 100 page essay demonstrating my knowledge in the field, not something that actually expands upon the existing body of knowledge. I look forward to getting my PhD someday.
Could you make a video on getting a PhD later in life? Is it ok to get a PhD in your 40s, 50s, or 60s? Is it ever too late to get a PhD? Or is there a point where it no longer makes sense (since you may be too old to work or have to retire soon)
I submitted my doctoral thesis aged 52, when I was already a full-time lecturer. I then published it as a book. It helped the last phase of my career, but I retired voluntarily at 60. My main motivation though was personal satisfaction (and now aged 73, I still use the title Dr because I earned it).
@@1000pollak where do you use the title if you are retired? I can't think of anybody I know with a PhD (including myself) who uses their title outside of an academic setting.
@@1000pollak OK, I don't remember filling out many forms that ask for a title, but fair enough. I must admit, I have never used my title out of academia, because using it otherwise would feel a bit cringy, and I think most people would confuse it with a medical doctor. But, if you feel the need, I can understand.
My 1995 PhD thesis took 3 years and spans 600 pages on using neural networks in operations research. My masters was 100 pages on using simulation to plan a real high reliability storage solutions and took about 9 months. The rigorosum took 6 hours. I slept for 28 hrs after it.
I guess it depends on the University and the Subject... At the Univ. TX in the Chemistry Department (1960's), a Master's was a consolation prize for those who could not complete the Ph. D. On the other hand, in the Education Department, the Master's was the target degree for the majority of the students.
A Google Scholar paper titled "A multilayered approach to polyfluorene water based organic photovoltaics" is out there lead titled by Andrew Stapleton. It's just a twelve page abstract of a paper paywalled by Elsevier. But there's a lot there.
Can you give better clarification about a thesis for those who don’t know? There are a lot of questions new students may have, and you are in the position to give a real and clear picture. As a recent PhD graduate, I did NOT write a thesis. It was a dissertation. There is a very clear distinction of the two types of works. As a PhD yourself, you already know this. New students in either program need to understand the difference and the amount of work that goes into each process. I would want to know this to help me make decisions about what I am going to pursue. We worked very hard to write a dissertation, so calling it a thesis upset me a little bit. You have great information and a lot to share with others.
PhD thesis is thick maybe because some early parts of theory introduction was mentioned/reiterate in such a deep depth that fills more pages. Master thesis cut short by skipping more unnecessary theories and assumed some basic understanding of the audience.
The stages of uni stand like this: bachelor's: your last chance for free life master's: tutorial for phd phd: pay to work to be able to be paid for work
Great video. Thank you. You raise an interesting point. Someone else asked. Why would a team and the candidate continue to pursue a PhD if the end result wasn't a doctorate? Surely from experience, they'd know early on and advise on a more logical course of action and monetary investment. Surely they could have spent more time supervising other students more effectively and the candidate could have invested their time and energy more effectively. Plus isn't the whole point to work together, get one together as a team. To see the novel idea in the work and write the dissertation. Otherwise, it just doesn't seem practical and lacks common sense, to pursue nothing from both sides, doesn't it?
Ah, PhD days... What a memories, nothing is like them. Also, it is not correct comapring masters and doctoral studies. Beside what author addressed, he did not mention 6 months vs 4 years duration span, numerous conferences, academic mobility(ies) and buliding up one's scientific network of contacts, which is a must for doctoral degree.
Our master thesis needs to be atleast 100 pages. 60 pages is a bachelor.. my master was 130 pages. So size is not an indicator at all. I saw 60 page phd thesis (we dont talk about quality)
As someone who is undedrgraduate, I also had to write a thesis. I submitted my 9-10 page thesis which was satisfactory, and it felt like it was more of a proof that I was able to teach myself mathematics and convey the information I learned to someone else. That's really it.
Funny thing, acquaintance doing A LOT of PhD reviews invariably wishes for no cover, bound on top, 2 page per sheet printouts which would make the work less tiresome than paging through beautiful, hard cover souvenirs. ;)
... as a German Biologist - I wanted to be able to do my OWN research from the first Semester on. Then a Ph D is sort of the entrance into your OWN Lab and Research. There is no other way. And it should even be much tougher to get there - as far too many overwhelm the research facilities - competing with precious resources - so it is good to dis courage... - and it may be an entire Life of frustration and deception - as the biggest Idiots decide on the resources. And when you find something fascinating - you may be ridiculed - and honored only decades later - if ever... A world for Masochists...
I applaud you for your master and PhD. However, when I learned you did not need a masters to get a PhD and that most Master students are failed PhD students, so their education was paid for, I realized that was how you crack the code of education.
Hmm just as i suspected my masters degree experience was very PHD like. the length of it, it was research based in a field with barely any study. they used external reviewers as well as internal. interesting
It's about the library. A Bachelor's degree means you have demonstrated to a committee that you know, vaguely, what a library is and can be trusted, usually, to use it without chewing on the bindings or going potty on the floor and using the pages for ass-wiping or otherwise requiring an inordinate amount of supervision. A Master's degree is conferred upon writing (!) a paper that demonstrates that you are able to use the library well enough to find statements in its volumes that support your idea or assertion--or at least appear to. A Doctorate is awarded when you write a work that the committee can grudgingly admit is not too terribly out of place in the library.
I like that. The library as the center of gravity for all academic work and levels. Next question: who determines that a Library is of proper quality - and that the Librarian his/herself is a proper gatekeeper and/or arbiter of the quality(!) ?
@@OgamiItto70 Knowledge is virtuous - no doubt about it. But the #1 reason I don't want to be an academic is because of the elitism of it all. I just straight-up... don't want to be like (nor accepted by) those type of people. It's not how I want to spend my life. It doesn't seem like a good lifestyle. Anxious-ridden & validation-dependent.
@@charlescurtis6321 good point, the only reason i want to take doctorate degree is that will be good to put it on my name on my son wedding invitation card.
I am currently writing my PhD thesis, looking back at my masters it was easy back then. I was able to monkey around in a lab for 6 months, trying things out to improve CIGS solar cells, which worked. I got large improvements which I found through experimentation. We even were able to write a paper and publish it. Which was great. My masters is in Nanoscience, now I am doing a PhD in physics, developping new methodology in surface science analytics. It is hard and from time to time I am a bit defeated. But I am writing my thesis, and a paper for publishing and going back to the lab for more experiments soon. Looking back at my masters, that was easy, since the research question was simpler: find a way to improve those solar cells While my PhD is harder: develop a new method, find ways to make it work. Sometimes it is hard to find the motivation each day to get up and just do it. I guess many feel the same way, and I hope you find the strength to see it through.
I think if you're achieving these fantastic things and it seemed easy, you were one of the more exceptional students. Congratulations though for both your past and ongoing achievements.
My wife, used to chase me down in social media and yt comments to tell me to stop screwing around and to get back to writing my thesis, so what are you doing here ;)
Huh, I am just writing my Masters thesis in Computer Science and this actually motivated the heck out of me right now! Seeing the differences between your PhD and your masters thesis made me realize that I kinda don't have to worry about all of this too much. Man, what a relief! Thank you so much :D
do you mind telling me what you're writing about? I'm starting my CSE degree soon but if you want to keep it confidential, it's alright! I just need a general idea about what thesis in CSE is thank you :)
@@revalovesyou It's about a Serious VR Game to teach lean management :) I think in CSE, you're really open to explore many topics, and often it can be a more practical master thesis (at least at my uni)
@@Memo-sq1bb Learn how to learn! Starting in 2nd semester I rarely went to any lectures, but always attended any exercise lessons where we went through task sheets! I can sit down for two weeks before the exam and actually learn everything from the semester using provided slides. You gotta know yourself and learn how you work most effectively! Teaching others is an INSANELY effective way to solidify anything you've learned! Don't put too much pressure on yourself, if it takes an additional semester for you, it won't be the end of the world (and any future employer etc will most likely not care) Hope that helps, and best of luck
Imagine the hardest part of your masters that you were glad to move past after a few months. The PhD is this, for years, finishing with an expert making sure you know it.
@@sparkequinox Sounds about accurate. I'd add to this the need that, after years of failing, you still need to wake up every morning and try again. Pursuing a PhD is truly mostly a lesson in humility and a railroad to burnout if you're not careful.
The size of the dissertation doesn't really matter. I've seen plenty of professors who preferred shorter ones as it spares them lots and lots of time reading through and back-checking it. I worked as assistant for an institute at my university while I was preparing for my masters degree and while being there I often heard complains that people writing walls of text when essentially the same could have been said in 3-4 lines. I.e. look at John Nash's dissertation which has 26 pages. Some mathematicians also have dissertations of roughly 30-40 pages as they prove certain theorems and the language they are using to explain their solution is pure math equations. So, it's not about the size, it's about the novelty of the content.
Sadly not true for most professors at my old uni... I literally developed my "make senctences longer" skill specifically for uni, naturally im quite blunt and short
I just finished my Master's thesis to which I dedicated the last year of my life and I have feeling in between of what you said. I felt I could get much more with more time, but at the same time I didn't want to hahaha It wasn't something ground-breaking but was new and I feels like a great achivement. If I ever make a PhD, I'll probably feel prouder, but I'm content with what I have now.
I feel like Master’s level is of course original but not yet a novelty, as it is a piece of work to confirm established knowledge and what is found from the thesis can be utilized to critique literature in your chosen topic/field. For PhD, it’s definitely novel as the research dives deep into new knowledge and provides a credible, peer-reviewed scholastic paradigm and prepares you for an academic profession if chose to.
@@makingadjustments Yes unfortunately thats what it has become, especially in India. There is no quality or practical usefullness. But thats how Research and Development advance, a bit here a bit there and time.
My masters thesis a 248 page document was examined outside of my university, defended in a viva voce and I've been asked to covert it into a book or pull out several papers for journal publications. I actually spent time in the film. All I can say is, it depends on what and how the thesis is done.
I agree with the sentiment. My Bachelor Thesis was 125 pages long and in it I described how we identified the Enzyme responsible in plants for detoxifying apocarotenals. My Master Thesis by comoarison was 72 pages long and mainly the result of a few succesful Experiments, while most of them were a disaster. I am currently almost finished with my first year of PhD and am not certain what will happen
@@andso7068 Yeah, books. not university level papers. 250+ without attachements is nuts for undergraduate level. Even the OP comment indicates that this is overachieving, majority (normal) thesises dont get afapted into books
It is always interesting to look back and realize how much smaller all the previous hurdles used to be. I am currently writing a Master Thesis (drug metabolomics in crops) and looking back a Bachelor thesis looks much more relaxing and during writing the Bachelor thesis I looked back at my high-school thesis (in Austria we have to write a small thing called "Vorwissenschaftliche Arbeit" or "pre-scientific work") and I felt like I could write one of those in a week-end, not the months of time afforded to highschool-students. One grows with the challenges at hand I guess. ^^ ps: I really also get the pride part. When I finished high-school I was kinda proud, because I got the best marks in my grade you know its something. And when I entered university, there are some single exams or seminar-papers that I am more proud of than that my high-school diploma. The "higher up" something is in the tiered education system, the prouder I am upon achieving it, but that is normal I think. ^^
@@CptMole read "A Random Walk Down wall Street" and understand that for each high school dropout that makes 10x what I do, there are 1000 of them making 1/10th what I do. If want the best risk-adjusted return, then getting more education is basically always better.
@@CptMole nah. I am not a big money guy. The only thing that pisses me off in that regard are landlords, who just happened to inherit a bunch of wealth and are now price-gouging people who just want a roof over their head. But as long as you are working for a salary I see you as an ally. ^^
@@OjasParashar Yeah. Ifs just crazy to look back and realize how much one has grown, because when looking forward it feels like you have achieved nothing and everything is still as daunting as it was years ago.
Both my thesis and dissertation were original questions that were published. The real difference was the scope and scale of the project, one was 50 pages the other was 220. The level of independence and methodological sophistication was much higher on the PhD too. I also despised both my thesis and PhD by the end, none of the pride you discussed. Being so close to them meant I could see every flaw and worry and I felt like a fraud.
While writing my master's thesis, my PI told me that a master's thesis is basically a single section of a PhD thesis. That may have been a bit reductionist as my thesis was certainly longer and went into more depth than a single section from a PhD thesis, but I feel like the spirit of the statement gets the point across. After all I'd expect someone to have produced significantly more after 6 years of advanced research than I did in two years fumbling around the lab with my micropipette. However I will say that while my master's thesis was certainly novel, I had the benefit of being part of a multiple decade long project related to the molecular mechanisms of aging in plants and would have absolutely floundered without the help of my team.
Actually, the PhD isn't 6 years of dogged research. More like 3 at best as it takes time to keep such concerted efforts over that long a period of time. Some go on to complete it in 2 years after doing their master's.
I am working on my masters dissertation right now and there's only one thing I can say about how it makes me feel: disappointed. I feel like I am doing nothing but collecting previous data and presenting it nicely. Yes my ideas can be found here and there throughout the paper but it's anything but original and new.
When my friend got his Master's degree, the advisor who helped him strategize his thesis-writing told him that one of the principles of writing a Master's thesis is "nobody cares what you think." So, if you have some Big Idea you want to expound in your paper, you have to bury it under tons of copperplate sourced from personages much more august than you and kind of sneak your idea in with all that corroboration from the previous eminent scholar big-wig types' works.
My biggest and ongoing grad school blunder is turning my master's thesis into a PhD thesis. Too late to fix now, but advice to everyone else here: keep it boring, be done with it, spend your full potential on the PhD instead. Edit: I notice this may confuse the USians. I don't mean a formal conversion, I mean picking too big/ambitious a project for your master's.
@@amentrison2794 I mean that depeds, but in my case my first project was a quantitative analysis of word stress in some language. It was much more complex than it initially seemed, and then we found out methods weren't settles enough to just take something and apply. Mu current project is similarly methodologically somewhat novel, in discourse analysis, and I am suffering from similar problems, but to a lesser extent. Too much novelty is difficult.
Maybe you should’ve done a masters thesis on the tragedy of a sound that is saying the word USian out loud lol. I never get the logic that “wow Americans are so arrogant to call themselves Americans” while you are literally deciding that because you don’t like it your changing their name for them.
If I'm going to be honest I believe I am kind of ashamed of my masters... It was in Organizational Leadership (social science) and it was (1) a capstone, (2) the university picked the project, (3) it was a group project where my advisor was the project leader (4) there wasn't even a final report, only a presentation. The upside of it was that I carried most of the group on my back and I had the opportunity to do qualitative research and dig deeper into the findings. But I definitely was expecting MUCH more from it!! I am applying for a PhD this year and I hope I get my hands dirtier this time!! #FingersCrossed
@@Feministt Do you want to talk more about this through email or something?? I literally don't know how or even if I can help you but maybe my experience can help you somehow. I don't know.
Not getting my hands dirty/dirtier makes me so ashamed of my masters. In my program you didn't have to write a thesis, and could take two more courses instead. I knew I was going to be doing a PhD, so I chose to take courses in bionanotechnology and a course on regulation of new drugs and biologics. Part of me is happy with the decision because both courses have already proven to be significant for future career objectives, with many of the projects I'm interested in having nano-components, and being on the fence about leaving academia for industry having regulatory background will be quite useful, but having a degree without doing novel work feels cheap. I was doing research at another institution and contributed to several major publications, but even then, I often felt like I was more a pair of hands than a contributor to the actual information. Going into PhD it's making me want to work extra hard because I want to feel I've earned my education. Best of luck with your PhD applications!
I'm getting to my first year of PhD study and I feel a bit overwhelmed by all the theoretical reading, but yes I have learnt A LOT in this year. I completed my masters 15 years ago, and been working all those years in between. I liked what you said that it is truly representative of your life, because for me to do this research will also allow me to crystallize all my work experience from the past 15 years.
I feel like the main difference is the journey you go through. Finishing my regular studies and writing my first thesis was more like dipping my toe into the water whereas the doctoral thesis was really starting to swim. So while in terms of size they may not be that different, the amount of knowledge, learning, doubt and growth as an academic were very different for me. Both are fun in their own right though.
They were pretty much the same for me, except the PhD took longer because that was the expected norm. It's possible that my Master's thesis might even be better quality work than my PhD. Of course I didn't intend it to be that way, but different projects will have different results, and its not always possible to fully control the outcome. Neither of them were fun, and both were somewhat damaging to my physical and mental health, despite my interest in the subject matter and general love of learning.
How can you compare a honours thesis with a masters thesis? Andrew, the way you put it is like my honours thesis is more or less similar to a masters thesis (except it’s hardly going to pass the novelty check for a publication). The other thing I want to mention is how can you compare the difference of a master of research and master of philosophy? I’m going to do the latter despite having a honours degree and I’m not quite sure whether I’m going to be delivering the same type of thesis that I wrote in my honours or whether I have to demonstrate the research caliber as a PhD student.
Exactly! And as I saw many pages without any illustration there, of course nobody is going to read it! The thing is to put pictures and plots and tables to give it a bit of structure and easiness for the reader. If you're going to do PhD/doctorate only for yourself, that's ok. But would you have patience to re-read and understand what you did there easily?
Our thesis director at American Military University made us work hard. My M.A. thesis was 158 pages long (80,000+ words) and he required it to be as original as possible. So, as I am now in my PhD program I am wondering what I am going to write on as I have been published in journals for the past 12-years and I feel like I may have already written one or two of my best ideas a journal contributions. Most researchers publish, at least from what I hear, their PhD thesis in paper form since each of the chapters is about 26/7 pages long in a dissertation. I am also wondering how I can top 158 pages for detail and depth of coverage. At the end, I believe that I will feel better about my accomplishment given that I have so many pre-loaded obstacles.
While finishing my master in biotechnology, I feel like a PhD would completely burn me out. Also having a PhD gives me a feeling of impostor syndrome somehow, with such high expectations that people have Does it make sense?
From my own experience (in psychology), I’d say it’s pretty much impostor syndrome throughout the 3+ years. You constantly get the feeling that everyone around you seems to be reading much more than you do, and more importantly, that they’re also *memorising* much more of it than you do. So you expect it to be only a matter of time until you get “called out” for not knowing something everyone else seems to know somehow. So far, that has never actually happened to me, though - and I’m almost done (about to hand in). Some other colleagues have told me that my supervisors may just have been nit-picky during some of my presentations. That can of course make you second-guess yourself on every theoretical idea you’re proposing. But in either case: You’re always gonna be living with the constant *expectation* to be uncovered as ignorant or less enthusiastic about a subject than your nerd colleague. And that makes it a situation of persisting tension, because you feel like you have to practise constant vigilance.
That's really cool, I'm probably never going to get anywhere close to phd in my life (since I rely entirely on self-education) but I'm still hoping to create something new and useful for everyone.
I suppose that ought to be commendable actually 🤔 That way one isn't doing it for any commendation/approbation but only for the pure love of learning itself .... Good going 👏
I spent 4 years trying to figure what my masters was going to be in, I spent 2 years trying to get to that masters. Now I have to rethink everything since my original plan is falling apart since the classes I want to take don't work with my work schedule. I am sad, but I am happy to see your accomplishments since it is inspiring and if not now, hopefully I will be as proud as you when I reach my academic goals.
I kinda have to disagree on some parts. Doing my masters in chemistry right now and my project has a seed paper on which I try and develop new molecules to use in a different manner. Once I‘m done synthesizing those molecules will be evaluated and at the end of the day there will be a paper published with this data (It will be in my mentors name though). However, this is not an extension of another project it rather is its own piece of scientific work that will hopefully bring this field a teeny tiny bit forward. I guess my point is not every masters thesis is just a project to combine two known pieces. And not every PhD is something ground breakingly new. My mentor is doing the same stuff as I am just with more derivatives and with another target. I just took over one of his projects and either him or I will further establish my findings (I‘ll hopefully do my PhD in this field right after). And in chemistry at least I have never heard of a Dissertation to be downgraded to a masters degree. We all have our masters degrees before starting the PhD. Also our PhD requires us to have at least one first author publication (usually it’s three publications total) and the Dissertation is always published, you don’t get the title until it is. Furthermore, the dissertation is defended in a Kolloquium with between three professors (for everything but summa cum laude) or four professors (for summa cum laude, only then one prof is from another university). I‘m from Germany though so maybe different countries have different rules on what goes in a dissertation.
This is exactly how it is in the Netherlands, atleast in the field of Biology. There might be a big difference between social science and beta science though.
Things must have changed a lot since I have gained my doctorate in the same field and country as you. There was no requirement of having a firtst author publication of your results, my results are published with me as co auther but not first author. At least when I was defending my thesis, 4 professors were the norm, with at least two of them being from adjacent fields.
Same here. 😂 Probably because, at least when you’re hired for a PhD project, the project has been created in advance, so your research question has already been established. Consequently, your theoretical contribution doesn’t really feel like your own work, but more like having to understand the details of the accounts of your supervisors, and others who came before them. Basically, you’re trying to add something new while not really “threatening” the previous research of your own supervisors. Which feels odd, because guess what: Sometimes you don’t replicate the findings that others in your field who came before you have found. And yet, you merely try to expand on their findings, rather than refuting their propositions. You don’t really get a lot of opportunities to add in your own thoughts; you’re more concerned about not going against the stream of your own department / not rocking the boat. Sometimes I felt I was just parroting theoretical propositions of previous studies in my own words, even though I thought that my own findings barely supported them, just so that the novel findings remained in line with what my co-authors had found earlier. So yeah - I’d be proud of something where I’m actually free to write down my own thoughts. Like my music, or a novel. Not a synopsis serving as a summary for a couple of papers, which, in all honesty, largely yielded inconclusive evidence; yet, you’re trying to somehow explain that inconclusive evidence in terms of previous research, just to get it published. Because a PhD thesis requires at least three papers, after all.
@@cosmicprison9819 I feel like the requirement to publish and the difficulty in publishing negative and inconclusive results is a terrible combination that kills good science.
Schools & programs have a great deal to do with how these are completed. My first MS thesis was essentially the research design and how data would be analyzed and eventually used. My second MS consisted of all 5 chapters of a dissertation: the experiment design, methodology, analysis, etc but using smaller sample group (dissertation light, if you will). My doctorate was a bit less stressful since I knew pretty much what to expect, though each degree was from a different school. What I didn’t expect was how some advisors would drag their feet (not just slow in returning chapters, but all but disappearing). Nearly a complete semester of waiting. Check the dissertation/thesis requirements beforehand if you see the accepted process might be an issue. Hint: Purchase the book ”Surviving Your Dissertation” by Rudestam & Newton as it provides some useful tips.
Your videos were just randomly recommended to me. I just started my master’s. Don’t believe no one will look at your thesis if it’s published. Last year in one of my undergrad class I found someone’s thesis that documented the history of a novel drug class really well.
Didn't know I needed the video but since I'm going for a master's I'll watch it, no interest in a PhD tho, it'd suck the little life I still have inside out of me
I like how this video starts like a proper research paper or thesis, with giving an abstract. Most videos on youtube will learn you at least half way in before even touching the main points hinted by the title and thumbnail.
Interesting. When I did my masters in the early 2000's, my institution had several requirements. These included an external, secret examiner from the field and you had to publish a research paper in a journal. Some of us did original research work while others did literature studies of existing work.
Hi Andy. Really love your content. Could you please make a video on how to convert your master's thesis to a journal article? I believe it would be really helpful for loads of masters students trying to get into PhD programs.
I'll be doing my masters soon but I'm constantly thinking "Everything's already been written. What can I bring in that's useful and interesting?". This question only applies to some areas of study and mine is political science, which is not as flexible as say chemistry.
Interestingly, my Master's thesis was 190 pages. My PhD dissertation was 124 pages. Both were original contributions to knowledge. Just saying that there can be significant overlap between the two.
@@austinbarton6874 That's why I decided to make my dissertation as short as possible. Part of what motivated me to do this was hearing about 300 page preliminary exams in my department that just seemed excessive.
In almost all cases, the only person who will ever read either document is the author, so it's really up to them. I'm not a big reader, so I kept them as short as I could.
Thank you, Doctor Stapleton, for your unique contributions to the world's future, and all the personal sacrifices you had to make in order to contribute such value. One day our descendants will make use in their daily lives of what you've done.
My master thesis was externally evaluated and based on extensive original research that contributed to the field. I feel like I've written two PhD theses tbh. I even had an oral defense with external examiners for the masters. What is expected varies to widely from university to university, country to country, even between institutes within a university. Important to keep in mind. Im almost done with my PhD thesis and Im proud of it primarily because I did most of it during Covid lockdowns and am still managing to finish on time.
Here in Hungary/ELTE, my BSc Thesis was done with a viva voce and 2 external examiners and 3 internal ones plus my supervisor who said "it can go to be defended."
Nah....That PhD argument is sometimes right but often not. Many PhD's of my friends are a doddle compared to many masters degrees and the 'student' are just used by universities to cover lectures over a long time, while finishing a PhD research that could be finished in a year or less. and its not too hard to get published at any level. I even got my Undergraduate research published and presented at conferences. It feels good for the ego to prove to yourself that you can do it. Did a Science Masters and graduated but I just felt disillusioned after believing that it was gonna change my life. It did not.... employers that previously said 'we cant pay you big money because you do not have a Masters or PHD,' are now saying, 'oh, well, there are so many people with PhD's and Masters so nothing special there. we do not pay more.' and universities will always tell you that you NEED more education, and CPD Courses....It's just a money making scheme.
Well done getting over that milestone of acquiring a PHD. Given me a bit of a jolt to comtemplate extending my own Masters into the former. An objective comparison betwixt the two ,this well elucidated, should aid many weighting up their options.
Master's thesis you ask questions and find the answers on google. Doctoral thesis you ask questions and manage to answer them by yourself. Or at least that is what is expected.
Idk, I seem to think, through experience, that a PhD is basically a masters, except you don’t just have one study, you’ve got study 2 and 3 and this is where the thickness comes from. In my university at least, the standard of a masters (in medical sciences anyway) should still be producing original work. Nine times out of ten, a professor will go to a conference, see a project using a new technique or measure and then come back home and say, right, here’s a new masters/PhD project: heart rate variability (or machine learning, or some other new model) in this population. Students might then take on ownership and the minor details of the project, but ultimately it was pre-determined. This wasn’t my experience through just the one university, but my knowledge of what happens at many universities. Additionally, my masters had to be internally and externally reviewed all the same as a PhD. This realisation lead me to decide, although prestigious, you learn nothing new in a PhD (except the project specific tasks and outcomes) so why even bother unless I wanted to be a prof. Which I don’t. It is an enormous feat to complete a PhD (as it is twice as long as masters) but to me that accounts for more time spent on a project. Instead I moved into working in clinical trials rather than getting a PhD and feel like I’ve learnt and contributed more than what I could have if I applied myself to a PhD. Indeed, a PhD is essential if you wish to be a prof. That is it.
I just got my bachelor's in chemistry and my work has been used by the professor I was under and integrated by her PhD students to make a publication. It was about the potential of ginkgolides to act as antioxidants in cell membranes. It felt incredibly satisfying when the paper was published and my name was on it, bear in mind that I'm 22! I'm now enrolled in a master's course and I hope I'll be able to progress further and become a researcher
Nanoparticle Based Organic Photovoltaic Devices? like what? can you give examples of such devices? all i can think of when i hear this title is you taking chloroplasts from a plant, cutting them into nanoparticles and rearranging them into some photovoltaic device which seems so weird so pls tell me some examples
Andy, thank you for the video. I could see your enthusiasm in your explanation of the acknowledgement section of your PhD, which demonstrates how proud you are of the new information generated. That section really encouraged me, and I promised myself that one day I will have such a document and be as proud of my work as you are. Thank you for continuing to share; I'm always inspired to keep going.
You said someone's PhD thesis was downgraded to a masters. Could someone's masters thesis be good enough to upgrade to a PhD thesis? Imagine the shock😄
Bachelors: able to read and understand scientific workings and papers on a surface level and rewriting the data by repeating already known information in own words. Not much thinking, problem solving or creativity involved. Masters: basically the same on a deeper subject, with higher volume, but still no real innovation or creativity involved. Phd: knowing and thinking a specific field completely through, acknowledging the complexities and finding unsolved parts in it, trying to solve them with the help of all information gathered until today. Highly creative thinking and problem solving process, leading towards innovation.
I didn't even do a real thesis for my Masters in Computer Science. I built a number of tools and other programs based on the courses and my interests and wrote some documentation about them.
I think this is a good video to show to ~16 year olds to give an idea of what would be coming depending on what academic path they go down. I know I was clueless heading into university.
No 16 year old is going to get a master first or a pHD. First they go for the bachelor or an associate. A college student going for their undergrad is who would benefit from these videos
I found it more beneficial to get a careerfield specific doctorate, doctorate in nurse anesthesia practice, I’ve got the best of both worlds where I’m able to conduct research as well as handle patients under a medical specialty. I’d say to go that route if your profession has a specific career-field related doctorate.
Great video! I just recently finished my master's thesis, sadly in the field of theoretical psychology while I was actually studying clinical psychology. Therefore the "procdure" aspect you talk about, just something that is part of the process instead of something truly in line with me as a person and my valued accomplishments was really relatable for me :)
As im coming from engineering I always find it amusing that there has to be some "novel" knowledge. Ive seen PhD Thesis of Profs that were in the likes of "new optical method to measure and determine vortexes in tubulent fluid flow". Certainly no breakthroughs in chemistry or physics, but absolutely creative and smart applications of scientific knowledge. Afterall of what use are a novel effect or better understanding of it, if it cant be exploited for the better of humanity? I really love engineering for that.
![The fastest way to do your literature review [Do it in SECONDS]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8oEOa9wStjk/mqdefault.jpg)
![The fastest way to do your literature review [Do it in SECONDS]](/img/tr.png)
"...no one will actually read" sad truth
That's not really the point. The point is that the author 'knows' what is in it. It makes him/her an expert in that research and that's a personal achievement for those seeking knowledge.
I quoted alot from master thesis in my bachelors, although that wouldnt be counted by him as actual readers I guess, since the bachelors isnt published aswell. Still there might be some unknown lurkers enjoying ones masters thesis.
r/swoosh@@TheWinterShadow...and that's not my point nor his point (because I quoted from him), either
Depends. My master thesis is included in my book. On my phd now and will likely use it in a book also. But many times in my field will publish the thesis.
But if they decide to, they shud find smth good.
I agree with you. There is no comparison between a Thesis and a Dissertation.
My PhD made me feel proud and excited about the future.
Whereas my Master did not have that feeling.
Thank you for sharing your journey on youtube.
Best,
Well, my PhD thesis saved my mental health. I have been working on it for 10 years. It was a terrible mess of fragments. Lo and behold, some unpleasant event happens in my life. And the only way to overcame it was to edit my PhD. The more the text looked tidy, the brighter became my mood. I haven't received philosophy Doctor status yet, but I hope I will manage to do it.
Best of Luck with that!
@@tjajaja many thanks!
Loved the comparison of meaning in the end. This is what every artisan or handymann is experiencing everyday, but a scholar could bei searching for his/her whole Life. An original and unique piece of Work.
I just want to add that different countries have different standards.
My masters degree was by research, meaning I had to produce a dissertation. My dissertation was examined by 1 or 2 external examiners (I can't remember exactly). If the work was novel enough it could be upgraded to a PhD, it wasn't (but I wasn't surprised by this).This varies by field of course too so it's a lot more complex then 'a masters is x'. Our masters are also graded but PhDs are not. Some naturally get offered the option to extend into PhD, I didn't get this but I also didn't want it having seen how long PhDs took people to complete and what it took out of them.
Research is a dangerous time consuming activity and a supervisor bent on getting everything perfect can totally ruin the experience. My masters took 5 years to finish not just because of my supervisor but also because of personal circumstances. I'm proud I did it but I do view it as an extreme waste of time. However it's a 150 odd page document that likely no one will gain much benefit from (in part due to not pushing back on certain decisions).
There can be different standards for different projects, even within the same University, because it's so difficult to standardise research work across a wide variety of topics. Usually PhD theses take more work and are of higher quality, but this isn't always the case. It can be very dependent on the specific project and the student and supervisors involved.
My Master's in the UK was by research, and it took 2 years after BSc graduation. My supervisor said that it was almost a PhD, and asked me to keep working to convert it. However, I declined, as I had worked pretty much 24/7, and found the whole experience to be quite unpleasant.
I went back and got a PhD later, which took another 6.5 years. I produced a larger volume of results for this, but in terms of originality and quality of work, it wasn't particularly any higher than my Master's.
5 years for a Master's sounds particularly extreme. In the UK, the only way that I can think of to take so long for a Master's is for those who submit their PhD, and their examiners give them a Master's degree for it! This happened to a couple of people that I know.
Finished my M.A, Thesis, Literature,awhile back...but Video brings memories back..., all during time of no RUclips advice.....Laughed and cried ( figuratively), to finish all and present it.....Passed.....What a relief Thanks
I find it funny that Claude shannon doesn’t pop up in their minds with his Msc thesis "Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits," this literally becam the theoretical basis of digital electronics.
My Masters' was kind of an 'along the way project' while doing my PhD. The way it was explained to me (by my supervisor), the Master's was a convenient exit point for grad students who wanted to give up on the PhD (at least they didn't waste their time and earned a degree) or for PIs who did not want to see that student through to the end 😟. Already published a paper when I was an undergrad, so on day 1 my supervisor started by just giving me a project to get done. Got that done within a year while learning R and Python and then published it as my Masters' thesis and as a paper. Then the real fun started and I had way more autonomy over the PhD research.
How did you learn R and Python during your Master's program? Was it self-taught?
@@komalpatel7564 Self-taught, but I had 2+ years of experience with Matlab during undergrad, so coding wasn't new to me. Matlab I learnt on the job during an internship in an engineering lab (but I was a psych major). After that I worked in a psych lab, putting that Matlab skill to use, which led to a publication, which led to me going to grad school.
This was a very interesting video to listen to, especially because it shows the differences in thesis' between countries and cultures to me. The university I went to in Czech Republic wouldn't allow a "simple compilation of previous works" as a valid Master's thesis. Previous articles are of course a part of the thesis, but the Master's (and partialy even Bachelor's) requires something new that hasn't been done yet, based on an original hypothesis or idea. Of course, it can still be quite shallow and in many ways derivative, but if you were to just combine three different works together, you wouln't pass the exams, unless you really figured out something new. A compilation cannot be your goal here, it might be only a way of achieving it, if you are very lucky - let's be honest, reading a couple of papers and summarizing/combining them, is something very easy.
That's actually why I didn't want to get my doctorate after the engineering degree. The master's thesis I wrote took quite a toll on me and it wasn't even a good one. I cannot imagine what would be required from me to get a PhD. The other reason is teaching. I love to teach, but unless I get at least a decade of experience in the field, I don't think I am competent to teach and evaluate other students.
Same here, Poland univ (at least when it comes to history) won't allow it even at bachelor lvl. However history remains quite different from this type of studies - maybe in this we may find an answer.
Probably not much more would be required of you to get a PhD. Just a bit more time, and more of the same kind of work. I studied in the UK, and there wasn't a lot of difference between my Master's and PhD theses, except I spent longer gathering results for my PhD.
@@sebfox2194 Exactly. The period for the doctorate just allows more data gathering and volume to be put into the research work. It is not necessarily novel, as many are not precisely offering new knowledge but the idea might be.
As someone who just got a master's this past summer, I completely agree with the feeling of the thesis. At the end of the day, it is just a 100 page essay demonstrating my knowledge in the field, not something that actually expands upon the existing body of knowledge. I look forward to getting my PhD someday.
Could you make a video on getting a PhD later in life? Is it ok to get a PhD in your 40s, 50s, or 60s? Is it ever too late to get a PhD? Or is there a point where it no longer makes sense (since you may be too old to work or have to retire soon)
It is absolutely fine to do your PhD later in life. In my department (CS) three people recently graduated who were already retired.
I submitted my doctoral thesis aged 52, when I was already a full-time lecturer. I then published it as a book. It helped the last phase of my career, but I retired voluntarily at 60.
My main motivation though was personal satisfaction (and now aged 73, I still use the title Dr because I earned it).
@@1000pollak where do you use the title if you are retired? I can't think of anybody I know with a PhD (including myself) who uses their title outside of an academic setting.
@@AnthonyLauder On all forms where it says "Title: Mr, Ms, Mrs, Dr," etc. I haven't felt like Mr since I graduated
@@1000pollak OK, I don't remember filling out many forms that ask for a title, but fair enough. I must admit, I have never used my title out of academia, because using it otherwise would feel a bit cringy, and I think most people would confuse it with a medical doctor. But, if you feel the need, I can understand.
My 1995 PhD thesis took 3 years and spans 600 pages on using neural networks in operations research. My masters was 100 pages on using simulation to plan a real high reliability storage solutions and took about 9 months.
The rigorosum took 6 hours. I slept for 28 hrs after it.
I remember delivering PhD theses for my aunt when I lived with her. Chillin in the office and deriving theses lol
I guess it depends on the University and the Subject... At the Univ. TX in the Chemistry Department (1960's), a Master's was a consolation prize for those who could not complete the Ph. D. On the other hand, in the Education Department, the Master's was the target degree for the majority of the students.
A Google Scholar paper titled "A multilayered approach to polyfluorene water based organic photovoltaics" is out there lead titled by Andrew Stapleton. It's just a twelve page abstract of a paper paywalled by Elsevier. But there's a lot there.
Can you give better clarification about a thesis for those who don’t know? There are a lot of questions new students may have, and you are in the position to give a real and clear picture. As a recent PhD graduate, I did NOT write a thesis. It was a dissertation. There is a very clear distinction of the two types of works. As a PhD yourself, you already know this. New students in either program need to understand the difference and the amount of work that goes into each process. I would want to know this to help me make decisions about what I am going to pursue. We worked very hard to write a dissertation, so calling it a thesis upset me a little bit. You have great information and a lot to share with others.
He put it in a gud way. It matches my phd. I have a theory section, then every chapter was a peer reviewed journal that i cut and paste into thesis
PhD thesis is thick maybe because some early parts of theory introduction was mentioned/reiterate in such a deep depth that fills more pages. Master thesis cut short by skipping more unnecessary theories and assumed some basic understanding of the audience.
Thanks for your help and advice
The stages of uni stand like this:
bachelor's: your last chance for free life
master's: tutorial for phd
phd: pay to work to be able to be paid for work
Dr. San is here.
Ahhh I am doing a masters in Chemistry this Sept. I'm so excited but feel like an Imposter at the same time!
I have a master’s in aerospace engineering and did not have to write a thesis
Great video. Thank you. You raise an interesting point. Someone else asked. Why would a team and the candidate continue to pursue a PhD if the end result wasn't a doctorate? Surely from experience, they'd know early on and advise on a more logical course of action and monetary investment. Surely they could have spent more time supervising other students more effectively and the candidate could have invested their time and energy more effectively. Plus isn't the whole point to work together, get one together as a team. To see the novel idea in the work and write the dissertation. Otherwise, it just doesn't seem practical and lacks common sense, to pursue nothing from both sides, doesn't it?
Ah, PhD days... What a memories, nothing is like them. Also, it is not correct comapring masters and doctoral studies. Beside what author addressed, he did not mention 6 months vs 4 years duration span, numerous conferences, academic mobility(ies) and buliding up one's scientific network of contacts, which is a must for doctoral degree.
Our master thesis needs to be atleast 100 pages. 60 pages is a bachelor.. my master was 130 pages. So size is not an indicator at all. I saw 60 page phd thesis (we dont talk about quality)
he wrote about the terpenes? terpentenes? Terps from da herbs? terpine terpintine brine CiGrip
As someone who is undedrgraduate, I also had to write a thesis. I submitted my 9-10 page thesis which was satisfactory, and it felt like it was more of a proof that I was able to teach myself mathematics and convey the information I learned to someone else. That's really it.
Funny thing, acquaintance doing A LOT of PhD reviews invariably wishes for no cover, bound on top, 2 page per sheet printouts which would make the work less tiresome than paging through beautiful, hard cover souvenirs. ;)
In malaysia MSc are examined externally with a defence viva
What if the field is considered a new extension? So there aren’t as many papers looking in the specific area of interest?
That’s good man
... as a German Biologist - I wanted to be able to do my OWN research from the first Semester on. Then a Ph D is sort of the entrance into your OWN Lab and Research. There is no other way. And it should even be much tougher to get there - as far too many overwhelm the research facilities - competing with precious resources - so it is good to dis courage... - and it may be an entire Life of frustration and deception - as the biggest Idiots decide on the resources. And when you find something fascinating - you may be ridiculed - and honored only decades later - if ever... A world for Masochists...
I applaud you for your master and PhD. However, when I learned you did not need a masters to get a PhD and that most Master students are failed PhD students, so their education was paid for, I realized that was how you crack the code of education.
Errr... I hope I don't get downgraded...
A Masters doesn't have to analyse existing data only. Mine included a lot of original qualitative research.
How often does a PhD thesis get read by others?
Hmm just as i suspected my masters degree experience was very PHD like. the length of it, it was research based in a field with barely any study. they used external reviewers as well as internal. interesting
Imho, your master's is way above minimum requirements.
It's about the library. A Bachelor's degree means you have demonstrated to a committee that you know, vaguely, what a library is and can be trusted, usually, to use it without chewing on the bindings or going potty on the floor and using the pages for ass-wiping or otherwise requiring an inordinate amount of supervision. A Master's degree is conferred upon writing (!) a paper that demonstrates that you are able to use the library well enough to find statements in its volumes that support your idea or assertion--or at least appear to. A Doctorate is awarded when you write a work that the committee can grudgingly admit is not too terribly out of place in the library.
I like that. The library as the center of gravity for all academic work and levels. Next question: who determines that a Library is of proper quality - and that the Librarian his/herself is a proper gatekeeper and/or arbiter of the quality(!) ?
@@charlescurtis6321 Our betters. High and mighty august personages surrounded by the awful majesty of tenure. Or maybe rich donors.
@@OgamiItto70 Knowledge is virtuous - no doubt about it. But the #1 reason I don't want to be an academic is because of the elitism of it all. I just straight-up... don't want to be like (nor accepted by) those type of people. It's not how I want to spend my life. It doesn't seem like a good lifestyle. Anxious-ridden & validation-dependent.
@@charlescurtis6321 good point, the only reason i want to take doctorate degree is that will be good to put it on my name on my son wedding invitation card.
Oof that’s bad news for me! I am in the second year of my phd, having not used a library book since school 😅
My son has just completed his PhD in isotopic geochemistry and published a paper, very proud parents.
when will he get a real job then?
@@anderstermansen130 Starting as an associate professor in 4 weeks. $100k.
😁😁
@@johnstirling6597 goddamn that a lot of money
@@anderstermansen130 your comment backfired, you condescending pos.
@@anderstermansen130 ratioed to hell
I am currently writing my PhD thesis, looking back at my masters it was easy back then.
I was able to monkey around in a lab for 6 months, trying things out to improve CIGS solar cells, which worked. I got large improvements which I found through experimentation. We even were able to write a paper and publish it. Which was great.
My masters is in Nanoscience, now I am doing a PhD in physics, developping new methodology in surface science analytics.
It is hard and from time to time I am a bit defeated. But I am writing my thesis, and a paper for publishing and going back to the lab for more experiments soon.
Looking back at my masters, that was easy, since the research question was simpler: find a way to improve those solar cells
While my PhD is harder: develop a new method, find ways to make it work.
Sometimes it is hard to find the motivation each day to get up and just do it.
I guess many feel the same way, and I hope you find the strength to see it through.
I think if you're achieving these fantastic things and it seemed easy, you were one of the more exceptional students. Congratulations though for both your past and ongoing achievements.
Are you fucking hunting achievements? Like steam achievements?
monkey around .. cannot relate .. lol job well done btw
Hey I’m a physics major as well. What kind of books for physics would you recommend that help you to get where you’re at today?
My wife, used to chase me down in social media and yt comments to tell me to stop screwing around and to get back to writing my thesis, so what are you doing here ;)
Huh, I am just writing my Masters thesis in Computer Science and this actually motivated the heck out of me right now! Seeing the differences between your PhD and your masters thesis made me realize that I kinda don't have to worry about all of this too much. Man, what a relief! Thank you so much :D
do you mind telling me what you're writing about? I'm starting my CSE degree soon
but if you want to keep it confidential, it's alright! I just need a general idea about what thesis in CSE is
thank you :)
Like wise I’m on going to my second year of computer science and at least pursing a masters any tips mate ?
@@revalovesyou It's about a Serious VR Game to teach lean management :)
I think in CSE, you're really open to explore many topics, and often it can be a more practical master thesis (at least at my uni)
@@Memo-sq1bb Learn how to learn! Starting in 2nd semester I rarely went to any lectures, but always attended any exercise lessons where we went through task sheets!
I can sit down for two weeks before the exam and actually learn everything from the semester using provided slides. You gotta know yourself and learn how you work most effectively!
Teaching others is an INSANELY effective way to solidify anything you've learned!
Don't put too much pressure on yourself, if it takes an additional semester for you, it won't be the end of the world (and any future employer etc will most likely not care)
Hope that helps, and best of luck
What is your topic?
I just finished my masters and I’m constantly asking myself if really want to do a PhD! Your videos made me not to do so 😂
Imagine the hardest part of your masters that you were glad to move past after a few months. The PhD is this, for years, finishing with an expert making sure you know it.
@@sparkequinox Sounds about accurate. I'd add to this the need that, after years of failing, you still need to wake up every morning and try again. Pursuing a PhD is truly mostly a lesson in humility and a railroad to burnout if you're not careful.
doing a masters right now and doing a research project with a PhD student was the final nail in the coffin of my doctoral aspirations
Doing a PhD was the biggest mistake of my life. Wish I never bothered. A waste of time and the end result is not worth it at all in my opinion.
@@Scott-xl3sc in what field? Just curious.
The size of the dissertation doesn't really matter. I've seen plenty of professors who preferred shorter ones as it spares them lots and lots of time reading through and back-checking it. I worked as assistant for an institute at my university while I was preparing for my masters degree and while being there I often heard complains that people writing walls of text when essentially the same could have been said in 3-4 lines. I.e. look at John Nash's dissertation which has 26 pages. Some mathematicians also have dissertations of roughly 30-40 pages as they prove certain theorems and the language they are using to explain their solution is pure math equations. So, it's not about the size, it's about the novelty of the content.
The size actually matters for some supervisors. They want minimum 150 pages..
@@zinedinezidane2364 yuck
I agree !
@@zinedinezidane2364 150 pages is a reasonable size for sure.
Sadly not true for most professors at my old uni... I literally developed my "make senctences longer" skill specifically for uni, naturally im quite blunt and short
Master thesis: An extension of previously published research
PhD thesis: Creating new knowledge
I just finished my Master's thesis to which I dedicated the last year of my life and I have feeling in between of what you said. I felt I could get much more with more time, but at the same time I didn't want to hahaha It wasn't something ground-breaking but was new and I feels like a great achivement. If I ever make a PhD, I'll probably feel prouder, but I'm content with what I have now.
I feel like Master’s level is of course original but not yet a novelty, as it is a piece of work to confirm established knowledge and what is found from the thesis can be utilized to critique literature in your chosen topic/field.
For PhD, it’s definitely novel as the research dives deep into new knowledge and provides a credible, peer-reviewed scholastic paradigm and prepares you for an academic profession if chose to.
@Thee Z, that's exactly what he said in the video.
I think that is more accurate
Feel like this is at least the ideal. "finding novel stuff" is vague enough that I've seen PhD work that is nothing more than a padded Master thesis.
@@makingadjustments Yes unfortunately thats what it has become, especially in India. There is no quality or practical usefullness. But thats how Research and Development advance, a bit here a bit there and time.
Thanks for your conclusion
My masters thesis a 248 page document was examined outside of my university, defended in a viva voce and I've been asked to covert it into a book or pull out several papers for journal publications.
I actually spent time in the film.
All I can say is, it depends on what and how the thesis is done.
I agree with the sentiment. My Bachelor Thesis was 125 pages long and in it I described how we identified the Enzyme responsible in plants for detoxifying apocarotenals. My Master Thesis by comoarison was 72 pages long and mainly the result of a few succesful Experiments, while most of them were a disaster.
I am currently almost finished with my first year of PhD and am not certain what will happen
Pls tell me that majority of those were attachments, because t248 pages of pure text is nuts
@@HelloOnepiece Uh, most noteworthy books are double that.
@@andso7068 Yeah, books. not university level papers. 250+ without attachements is nuts for undergraduate level. Even the OP comment indicates that this is overachieving, majority (normal) thesises dont get afapted into books
It is always interesting to look back and realize how much smaller all the previous hurdles used to be. I am currently writing a Master Thesis (drug metabolomics in crops) and looking back a Bachelor thesis looks much more relaxing and during writing the Bachelor thesis I looked back at my high-school thesis (in Austria we have to write a small thing called "Vorwissenschaftliche Arbeit" or "pre-scientific work") and I felt like I could write one of those in a week-end, not the months of time afforded to highschool-students. One grows with the challenges at hand I guess. ^^
ps: I really also get the pride part. When I finished high-school I was kinda proud, because I got the best marks in my grade you know its something. And when I entered university, there are some single exams or seminar-papers that I am more proud of than that my high-school diploma. The "higher up" something is in the tiered education system, the prouder I am upon achieving it, but that is normal I think. ^^
It doesn't get easier, you just get better. 🙂
Does it upset you that there are high school graduates with no additional education that earn several multiples of what you'll be making?
@@CptMole read "A Random Walk Down wall Street" and understand that for each high school dropout that makes 10x what I do, there are 1000 of them making 1/10th what I do. If want the best risk-adjusted return, then getting more education is basically always better.
@@CptMole nah. I am not a big money guy. The only thing that pisses me off in that regard are landlords, who just happened to inherit a bunch of wealth and are now price-gouging people who just want a roof over their head. But as long as you are working for a salary I see you as an ally. ^^
@@OjasParashar Yeah. Ifs just crazy to look back and realize how much one has grown, because when looking forward it feels like you have achieved nothing and everything is still as daunting as it was years ago.
Both my thesis and dissertation were original questions that were published. The real difference was the scope and scale of the project, one was 50 pages the other was 220. The level of independence and methodological sophistication was much higher on the PhD too. I also despised both my thesis and PhD by the end, none of the pride you discussed. Being so close to them meant I could see every flaw and worry and I felt like a fraud.
Yeah. I think that's kinda natural, since many professors feel the same about their thesis. It's like the more u know the more u don't know.
Dunning Kruger effect.
It proves that you must know quite a bit
Andy had hair before he started his thesis.
While writing my master's thesis, my PI told me that a master's thesis is basically a single section of a PhD thesis. That may have been a bit reductionist as my thesis was certainly longer and went into more depth than a single section from a PhD thesis, but I feel like the spirit of the statement gets the point across. After all I'd expect someone to have produced significantly more after 6 years of advanced research than I did in two years fumbling around the lab with my micropipette. However I will say that while my master's thesis was certainly novel, I had the benefit of being part of a multiple decade long project related to the molecular mechanisms of aging in plants and would have absolutely floundered without the help of my team.
Actually, the PhD isn't 6 years of dogged research. More like 3 at best as it takes time to keep such concerted efforts over that long a period of time. Some go on to complete it in 2 years after doing their master's.
@@oluwaogundiran 2 years is super rare. Usually, it takes about 3 - 4 years.
Can you link your masters? I love learning about plant science so I’d be keen to read it!
Imposter syndrome is real. I’m sure your colleagues felt the same way unless they were much more senior.
I am working on my masters dissertation right now and there's only one thing I can say about how it makes me feel: disappointed. I feel like I am doing nothing but collecting previous data and presenting it nicely. Yes my ideas can be found here and there throughout the paper but it's anything but original and new.
When my friend got his Master's degree, the advisor who helped him strategize his thesis-writing told him that one of the principles of writing a Master's thesis is "nobody cares what you think." So, if you have some Big Idea you want to expound in your paper, you have to bury it under tons of copperplate sourced from personages much more august than you and kind of sneak your idea in with all that corroboration from the previous eminent scholar big-wig types' works.
@@OgamiItto70 well this makes perfect sense! It should be mandatory to give students this piece of information
@@RoseDawsonworld I know it's supposed to be education, but have you ever noticed how much information you're never given?
@@OgamiItto70 I sure did! So much so that I actually regret applying for my masters. It was only worth it for a couple of subjects
Well that's your own fault...
My biggest and ongoing grad school blunder is turning my master's thesis into a PhD thesis. Too late to fix now, but advice to everyone else here: keep it boring, be done with it, spend your full potential on the PhD instead.
Edit: I notice this may confuse the USians. I don't mean a formal conversion, I mean picking too big/ambitious a project for your master's.
could you give an example of a project that you consider too ambitious for a masters?
@@amentrison2794 I mean that depeds, but in my case my first project was a quantitative analysis of word stress in some language. It was much more complex than it initially seemed, and then we found out methods weren't settles enough to just take something and apply. Mu current project is similarly methodologically somewhat novel, in discourse analysis, and I am suffering from similar problems, but to a lesser extent. Too much novelty is difficult.
Maybe you should’ve done a masters thesis on the tragedy of a sound that is saying the word USian out loud lol. I never get the logic that “wow Americans are so arrogant to call themselves Americans” while you are literally deciding that because you don’t like it your changing their name for them.
@@monhi64 A lot of USians I know call themselves USian, so settle it with your fellow USians, dear USian ;)
If I'm going to be honest I believe I am kind of ashamed of my masters...
It was in Organizational Leadership (social science) and it was (1) a capstone, (2) the university picked the project, (3) it was a group project where my advisor was the project leader (4) there wasn't even a final report, only a presentation. The upside of it was that I carried most of the group on my back and I had the opportunity to do qualitative research and dig deeper into the findings. But I definitely was expecting MUCH more from it!!
I am applying for a PhD this year and I hope I get my hands dirtier this time!! #FingersCrossed
I am going to start my masters project next month and already know it is going to be exactly like you said. I am already depressed before starting it.
@@Feministt Do you want to talk more about this through email or something?? I literally don't know how or even if I can help you but maybe my experience can help you somehow. I don't know.
Not getting my hands dirty/dirtier makes me so ashamed of my masters. In my program you didn't have to write a thesis, and could take two more courses instead. I knew I was going to be doing a PhD, so I chose to take courses in bionanotechnology and a course on regulation of new drugs and biologics. Part of me is happy with the decision because both courses have already proven to be significant for future career objectives, with many of the projects I'm interested in having nano-components, and being on the fence about leaving academia for industry having regulatory background will be quite useful, but having a degree without doing novel work feels cheap. I was doing research at another institution and contributed to several major publications, but even then, I often felt like I was more a pair of hands than a contributor to the actual information. Going into PhD it's making me want to work extra hard because I want to feel I've earned my education. Best of luck with your PhD applications!
That sounds so strange. Is this a non-traditional university?
I'm getting to my first year of PhD study and I feel a bit overwhelmed by all the theoretical reading, but yes I have learnt A LOT in this year. I completed my masters 15 years ago, and been working all those years in between. I liked what you said that it is truly representative of your life, because for me to do this research will also allow me to crystallize all my work experience from the past 15 years.
I feel like the main difference is the journey you go through. Finishing my regular studies and writing my first thesis was more like dipping my toe into the water whereas the doctoral thesis was really starting to swim. So while in terms of size they may not be that different, the amount of knowledge, learning, doubt and growth as an academic were very different for me. Both are fun in their own right though.
They were pretty much the same for me, except the PhD took longer because that was the expected norm.
It's possible that my Master's thesis might even be better quality work than my PhD. Of course I didn't intend it to be that way, but different projects will have different results, and its not always possible to fully control the outcome.
Neither of them were fun, and both were somewhat damaging to my physical and mental health, despite my interest in the subject matter and general love of learning.
neither my ego nor intellect meet the requirements of obtaining a PhD
How can you compare a honours thesis with a masters thesis? Andrew, the way you put it is like my honours thesis is more or less similar to a masters thesis (except it’s hardly going to pass the novelty check for a publication).
The other thing I want to mention is how can you compare the difference of a master of research and master of philosophy? I’m going to do the latter despite having a honours degree and I’m not quite sure whether I’m going to be delivering the same type of thesis that I wrote in my honours or whether I have to demonstrate the research caliber as a PhD student.
Exactly! And as I saw many pages without any illustration there, of course nobody is going to read it! The thing is to put pictures and plots and tables to give it a bit of structure and easiness for the reader. If you're going to do PhD/doctorate only for yourself, that's ok. But would you have patience to re-read and understand what you did there easily?
Our thesis director at American Military University made us work hard. My M.A. thesis was 158 pages long (80,000+ words) and he required it to be as original as possible. So, as I am now in my PhD program I am wondering what I am going to write on as I have been published in journals for the past 12-years and I feel like I may have already written one or two of my best ideas a journal contributions. Most researchers publish, at least from what I hear, their PhD thesis in paper form since each of the chapters is about 26/7 pages long in a dissertation. I am also wondering how I can top 158 pages for detail and depth of coverage. At the end, I believe that I will feel better about my accomplishment given that I have so many pre-loaded obstacles.
I'm sure you'll be able to make something you'd be proud of.
While finishing my master in biotechnology, I feel like a PhD would completely burn me out. Also having a PhD gives me a feeling of impostor syndrome somehow, with such high expectations that people have
Does it make sense?
From my own experience (in psychology), I’d say it’s pretty much impostor syndrome throughout the 3+ years. You constantly get the feeling that everyone around you seems to be reading much more than you do, and more importantly, that they’re also *memorising* much more of it than you do. So you expect it to be only a matter of time until you get “called out” for not knowing something everyone else seems to know somehow. So far, that has never actually happened to me, though - and I’m almost done (about to hand in). Some other colleagues have told me that my supervisors may just have been nit-picky during some of my presentations. That can of course make you second-guess yourself on every theoretical idea you’re proposing.
But in either case: You’re always gonna be living with the constant *expectation* to be uncovered as ignorant or less enthusiastic about a subject than your nerd colleague. And that makes it a situation of persisting tension, because you feel like you have to practise constant vigilance.
A student gets accepted on a doctoral programme on merit, I honestly never felt or understood 'impostor syndrome'.
That's really cool, I'm probably never going to get anywhere close to phd in my life (since I rely entirely on self-education) but I'm still hoping to create something new and useful for everyone.
I suppose that ought to be commendable actually 🤔 That way one isn't doing it for any commendation/approbation but only for the pure love of learning itself .... Good going 👏
Cool! Whatever Works for you ☺
I spent 4 years trying to figure what my masters was going to be in, I spent 2 years trying to get to that masters. Now I have to rethink everything since my original plan is falling apart since the classes I want to take don't work with my work schedule. I am sad, but I am happy to see your accomplishments since it is inspiring and if not now, hopefully I will be as proud as you when I reach my academic goals.
I hope you succeed one day
And you will reach your goals. Keep your chin up!
I kinda have to disagree on some parts. Doing my masters in chemistry right now and my project has a seed paper on which I try and develop new molecules to use in a different manner. Once I‘m done synthesizing those molecules will be evaluated and at the end of the day there will be a paper published with this data (It will be in my mentors name though). However, this is not an extension of another project it rather is its own piece of scientific work that will hopefully bring this field a teeny tiny bit forward.
I guess my point is not every masters thesis is just a project to combine two known pieces. And not every PhD is something ground breakingly new. My mentor is doing the same stuff as I am just with more derivatives and with another target. I just took over one of his projects and either him or I will further establish my findings (I‘ll hopefully do my PhD in this field right after).
And in chemistry at least I have never heard of a Dissertation to be downgraded to a masters degree. We all have our masters degrees before starting the PhD. Also our PhD requires us to have at least one first author publication (usually it’s three publications total) and the Dissertation is always published, you don’t get the title until it is. Furthermore, the dissertation is defended in a Kolloquium with between three professors (for everything but summa cum laude) or four professors (for summa cum laude, only then one prof is from another university).
I‘m from Germany though so maybe different countries have different rules on what goes in a dissertation.
This is exactly how it is in the Netherlands, atleast in the field of Biology. There might be a big difference between social science and beta science though.
Things must have changed a lot since I have gained my doctorate in the same field and country as you. There was no requirement of having a firtst author publication of your results, my results are published with me as co auther but not first author. At least when I was defending my thesis, 4 professors were the norm, with at least two of them being from adjacent fields.
Interesting, I never felt my pride in my thesis. I was mostly glad it was over 😂
Same here. 😂 Probably because, at least when you’re hired for a PhD project, the project has been created in advance, so your research question has already been established. Consequently, your theoretical contribution doesn’t really feel like your own work, but more like having to understand the details of the accounts of your supervisors, and others who came before them. Basically, you’re trying to add something new while not really “threatening” the previous research of your own supervisors. Which feels odd, because guess what: Sometimes you don’t replicate the findings that others in your field who came before you have found.
And yet, you merely try to expand on their findings, rather than refuting their propositions. You don’t really get a lot of opportunities to add in your own thoughts; you’re more concerned about not going against the stream of your own department / not rocking the boat. Sometimes I felt I was just parroting theoretical propositions of previous studies in my own words, even though I thought that my own findings barely supported them, just so that the novel findings remained in line with what my co-authors had found earlier.
So yeah - I’d be proud of something where I’m actually free to write down my own thoughts. Like my music, or a novel. Not a synopsis serving as a summary for a couple of papers, which, in all honesty, largely yielded inconclusive evidence; yet, you’re trying to somehow explain that inconclusive evidence in terms of previous research, just to get it published. Because a PhD thesis requires at least three papers, after all.
@@cosmicprison9819 I feel like the requirement to publish and the difficulty in publishing negative and inconclusive results is a terrible combination that kills good science.
Schools & programs have a great deal to do with how these are completed. My first MS thesis was essentially the research design and how data would be analyzed and eventually used. My second MS consisted of all 5 chapters of a dissertation: the experiment design, methodology, analysis, etc but using smaller sample group (dissertation light, if you will). My doctorate was a bit less stressful since I knew pretty much what to expect, though each degree was from a different school. What I didn’t expect was how some advisors would drag their feet (not just slow in returning chapters, but all but disappearing). Nearly a complete semester of waiting.
Check the dissertation/thesis requirements beforehand if you see the accepted process might be an issue.
Hint: Purchase the book ”Surviving Your Dissertation” by Rudestam & Newton as it provides some useful tips.
Your videos were just randomly recommended to me. I just started my master’s. Don’t believe no one will look at your thesis if it’s published. Last year in one of my undergrad class I found someone’s thesis that documented the history of a novel drug class really well.
Didn't know I needed the video but since I'm going for a master's I'll watch it, no interest in a PhD tho, it'd suck the little life I still have inside out of me
I like how this video starts like a proper research paper or thesis, with giving an abstract. Most videos on youtube will learn you at least half way in before even touching the main points hinted by the title and thumbnail.
Interesting. When I did my masters in the early 2000's, my institution had several requirements. These included an external, secret examiner from the field and you had to publish a research paper in a journal. Some of us did original research work while others did literature studies of existing work.
Hi Andy. Really love your content. Could you please make a video on how to convert your master's thesis to a journal article? I believe it would be really helpful for loads of masters students trying to get into PhD programs.
Tag me once you get it.
I'll be doing my masters soon but I'm constantly thinking "Everything's already been written. What can I bring in that's useful and interesting?". This question only applies to some areas of study and mine is political science, which is not as flexible as say chemistry.
Interestingly, my Master's thesis was 190 pages. My PhD dissertation was 124 pages. Both were original contributions to knowledge. Just saying that there can be significant overlap between the two.
Sounds like you went above and beyond what was expected in the Masters' thesis.
Your masters thesis is super unusual and over the top.
Number of pages means almost nothing but okay
@@austinbarton6874 That's why I decided to make my dissertation as short as possible. Part of what motivated me to do this was hearing about 300 page preliminary exams in my department that just seemed excessive.
In almost all cases, the only person who will ever read either document is the author, so it's really up to them. I'm not a big reader, so I kept them as short as I could.
Could a Masters be done to a PhD standard? eg if it's good enough could it be novel research?
Thank you, Doctor Stapleton, for your unique contributions to the world's future, and all the personal sacrifices you had to make in order to contribute such value. One day our descendants will make use in their daily lives of what you've done.
My master thesis was externally evaluated and based on extensive original research that contributed to the field. I feel like I've written two PhD theses tbh. I even had an oral defense with external examiners for the masters. What is expected varies to widely from university to university, country to country, even between institutes within a university. Important to keep in mind. Im almost done with my PhD thesis and Im proud of it primarily because I did most of it during Covid lockdowns and am still managing to finish on time.
Here in Hungary/ELTE, my BSc Thesis was done with a viva voce and 2 external examiners and 3 internal ones plus my supervisor who said "it can go to be defended."
@@runakovacs4759 Meanwhile Corvinu: The petty professor said it is fine, so its fine
Nah....That PhD argument is sometimes right but often not. Many PhD's of my friends are a doddle compared to many masters degrees and the 'student' are just used by universities to cover lectures over a long time, while finishing a PhD research that could be finished in a year or less. and its not too hard to get published at any level. I even got my Undergraduate research published and presented at conferences. It feels good for the ego to prove to yourself that you can do it. Did a Science Masters and graduated but I just felt disillusioned after believing that it was gonna change my life. It did not.... employers that previously said 'we cant pay you big money because you do not have a Masters or PHD,' are now saying, 'oh, well, there are so many people with PhD's and Masters so nothing special there. we do not pay more.' and universities will always tell you that you NEED more education, and CPD Courses....It's just a money making scheme.
Well done getting over that milestone of acquiring a PHD. Given me a bit of a jolt to comtemplate extending my own Masters into the former. An objective comparison betwixt the two ,this well elucidated, should aid many weighting up their options.
Betwixt?
@@redstonerti9918 I need a certain candy bar now
@@redstonerti9918 between
An original contribution to knowledge. That's a steep filter, and worthy of a PhD.
Master's thesis you ask questions and find the answers on google. Doctoral thesis you ask questions and manage to answer them by yourself. Or at least that is what is expected.
Bit cynical if you don't mind me saying.
Idk, I seem to think, through experience, that a PhD is basically a masters, except you don’t just have one study, you’ve got study 2 and 3 and this is where the thickness comes from.
In my university at least, the standard of a masters (in medical sciences anyway) should still be producing original work.
Nine times out of ten, a professor will go to a conference, see a project using a new technique or measure and then come back home and say, right, here’s a new masters/PhD project: heart rate variability (or machine learning, or some other new model) in this population.
Students might then take on ownership and the minor details of the project, but ultimately it was pre-determined.
This wasn’t my experience through just the one university, but my knowledge of what happens at many universities.
Additionally, my masters had to be internally and externally reviewed all the same as a PhD.
This realisation lead me to decide, although prestigious, you learn nothing new in a PhD (except the project specific tasks and outcomes) so why even bother unless I wanted to be a prof. Which I don’t.
It is an enormous feat to complete a PhD (as it is twice as long as masters) but to me that accounts for more time spent on a project. Instead I moved into working in clinical trials rather than getting a PhD and feel like I’ve learnt and contributed more than what I could have if I applied myself to a PhD. Indeed, a PhD is essential if you wish to be a prof. That is it.
I just got my bachelor's in chemistry and my work has been used by the professor I was under and integrated by her PhD students to make a publication. It was about the potential of ginkgolides to act as antioxidants in cell membranes. It felt incredibly satisfying when the paper was published and my name was on it, bear in mind that I'm 22! I'm now enrolled in a master's course and I hope I'll be able to progress further and become a researcher
Weird flex but ok
They're both the same, except with a PhD you really should have known better. It's like a really awful version of "fool me once...".
Nanoparticle Based Organic Photovoltaic Devices? like what? can you give examples of such devices? all i can think of when i hear this title is you taking chloroplasts from a plant, cutting them into nanoparticles and rearranging them into some photovoltaic device which seems so weird so pls tell me some examples
Andy, thank you for the video. I could see your enthusiasm in your explanation of the acknowledgement section of your PhD, which demonstrates how proud you are of the new information generated. That section really encouraged me, and I promised myself that one day I will have such a document and be as proud of my work as you are.
Thank you for continuing to share; I'm always inspired to keep going.
You said someone's PhD thesis was downgraded to a masters. Could someone's masters thesis be good enough to upgrade to a PhD thesis? Imagine the shock😄
Bachelors: able to read and understand scientific workings and papers on a surface level and rewriting the data by repeating already known information in own words. Not much thinking, problem solving or creativity involved.
Masters: basically the same on a deeper subject, with higher volume, but still no real innovation or creativity involved.
Phd: knowing and thinking a specific field completely through, acknowledging the complexities and finding unsolved parts in it, trying to solve them with the help of all information gathered until today. Highly creative thinking and problem solving process, leading towards innovation.
In the UK for Masters it is called a dissertation and only a thesis for PhD.
Same for Portugal
I did a Master's thesis in the UK. Whether it's a dissertation or a thesis depends on whether you're doing an MA/MSc/MEng or an MRes/MPhil.
As a dungeons and dragons game master I 100% agree with thesis that Master > PhD
Your feelings about your PhD thesis is how I feel about mine. Currently editing it after my defense.
I didn't even do a real thesis for my Masters in Computer Science. I built a number of tools and other programs based on the courses and my interests and wrote some documentation about them.
I think this is a good video to show to ~16 year olds to give an idea of what would be coming depending on what academic path they go down. I know I was clueless heading into university.
It is mandatory knowledge for anyone attending an university..
No 16 year old is going to get a master first or a pHD. First they go for the bachelor or an associate. A college student going for their undergrad is who would benefit from these videos
What if the new information runs out though, like there is nothing left to do in the subject that isn't something ground breaking?
I found it more beneficial to get a careerfield specific doctorate, doctorate in nurse anesthesia practice, I’ve got the best of both worlds where I’m able to conduct research as well as handle patients under a medical specialty. I’d say to go that route if your profession has a specific career-field related doctorate.
Great video! I just recently finished my master's thesis, sadly in the field of theoretical psychology while I was actually studying clinical psychology. Therefore the "procdure" aspect you talk about, just something that is part of the process instead of something truly in line with me as a person and my valued accomplishments was really relatable for me :)
As im coming from engineering I always find it amusing that there has to be some "novel" knowledge.
Ive seen PhD Thesis of Profs that were in the likes of "new optical method to measure and determine vortexes in tubulent fluid flow".
Certainly no breakthroughs in chemistry or physics, but absolutely creative and smart applications of scientific knowledge. Afterall of what use are a novel effect or better understanding of it, if it cant be exploited for the better of humanity? I really love engineering for that.
First viewer here. Big and boring enough🤣🤣
His beard reminds me of something or somebody, but I don't know who or what!
The difference is approximately one foot of beard.