disertation

[Rbannana]

hi guys! silly question, but I need some clarification on the topic: for a cancer-based dissertation, do I need to come up with something that has never been done before? or can i just base my thesis on previous and similar articles? hope that makes sense. thank you

[Country Boy]

For God's sake, don't ask us!  Ask your dissertation director.  It is the people who will be reviewing your dissertation that count!   Generally speaking, while a master's thesis can be a "review" of other work, a doctoral dissertation must be original work- but that original work can extend previous work by others.

[BabcockHall]

A thesis-based master's degree must involve novel work.  A literature-based master's degree may involve an extensive review of the literature.  Any one department may offer only one or the other option.

[swansont]

12 minutes ago, BabcockHall said:

A thesis-based master's degree must involve novel work.  A literature-based master's degree may involve an extensive review of the literature.  Any one department may offer only one or the other option.

That depends on the field and the policies of the institution. I have a master's degree in physics which was based only on coursework and the comprehensive exam that I passed to qualify for the PhD program (PhD qual required a higher score than a master's pass). Any individual program may or may not require original research for a dissertation.

http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/

[BabcockHall]

swansont,

My experience is in chemistry, and things may be different.  Based on your description of your master's degree in physics, I would call it a coursework-based master's degree.  Maybe I should have used a different term in my first post, such as "research-based masters" for one that has original research as one of the requirements.  Revising my terminology, I would say that a thesis-based master's could either be research-based or literature-based (in which one writes an extensive review of the literature on some topic).

Edited October 3, 2017 by BabcockHall

[CharonY]

3 hours ago, BabcockHall said:

swansont,

My experience is in chemistry, and things may be different.  Based on your description of your master's degree in physics, I would call it a coursework-based master's degree.  Maybe I should have used a different term in my first post, such as "research-based masters" for one that has original research as one of the requirements.  Revising my terminology, I would say that a thesis-based master's could either be research-based or literature-based (in which one writes an extensive review of the literature on some topic).

Schools can have very different requirements and programs. There are, for example non-thesis degrees that are often based entirely on coursework (which I believe swansont is describing). Often (but not always) the course is more applied and requires some form of report, rather than a full thesis on a subject.

[swansont]

13 hours ago, CharonY said:

Schools can have very different requirements and programs. There are, for example non-thesis degrees that are often based entirely on coursework (which I believe swansont is describing). Often (but not always) the course is more applied and requires some form of report, rather than a full thesis on a subject.

Right. I'm just pointing out that there are more scenarios than the two (thesis vs literature review) that had been described. Details can vary by country, discipline, and institution, and likely have changed over time.

There isn't a definitive description of how it's done.

[CharonY]

6 hours ago, swansont said:

Right. I'm just pointing out that there are more scenarios than the two (thesis vs literature review) that had been described. Details can vary by country, discipline, and institution, and likely have changed over time.

There isn't a definitive description of how it's done.

Interestingly, I found that there are more variations in the US system compared to the German one, which was initially quite confusing to me. You chaotic Americans always with ze freedom of choice.

[Juno]

Don't forget that you can also have dissertations at undergraduate level too, I did one as part of my BA.

[CharonY]

On 10/4/2017 at 1:25 PM, Juno said:

Don't forget that you can also have dissertations at undergraduate level too, I did one as part of my BA.

Like an Honor's thesis?

[BabcockHall]

At my institution, about 5% of the undergraduates write an Honor's thesis.  Students doing directed independent study typically write research reports.

[Juno]

10 hours ago, CharonY said:

Like an Honor's thesis?

I don't know what that is and I wonder if it's American-specific, we don't have them in the UK as far as I'm aware.  What I mean is, for my degree content I had to choose 8 subjects, and although most of those were taught subjects, one of the options was a 10,000 word dissertation, on a subject of my choosing (which then meant one less exam).  I think they called it a library dissertation, i.e. you weren't expected to carry out research (that was a separate option).  

EDIT in fact it was indeed called a library dissertation - scroll down to the bottom of the table here:- 

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses-listing/psychology-experimental?wssl=1

Edited October 6, 2017 by Juno

[BabcockHall]

At my institution an Honor's thesis covers novel research done by the undergraduate over the course of about a year.    Obviously, the amount of research is much less than a Ph.D. thesis.

[CharonY]

8 hours ago, Juno said:

I don't know what that is and I wonder if it's American-specific, we don't have them in the UK as far as I'm aware.  What I mean is, for my degree content I had to choose 8 subjects, and although most of those were taught subjects, one of the options was a 10,000 word dissertation, on a subject of my choosing (which then meant one less exam).  I think they called it a library dissertation, i.e. you weren't expected to carry out research (that was a separate option).  

EDIT in fact it was indeed called a library dissertation - scroll down to the bottom of the table here:- 

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses-listing/psychology-experimental?wssl=1

Ah, yes an Honor's in the US would typically involve some lab work (in experimental sciences, obviously). The German system is more streamlined, requiring all Bachelor's to do labwork and write a thesis (as far as  I know). But overall, depending on where you are  all three variants, coursework no thesis, theoretical thesis, practical work and thesis are  potential options for bachelor and master's.

[Area54]

On 06/10/2017 at 8:40 AM, Juno said:

I don't know what that is and I wonder if it's American-specific, we don't have them in the UK as far as I'm aware.

My UK geology honours degree required a thesis based upon 8-10 weeks of independent field mapping. This did not contribute directly to the final degree, but was used to distinguish between, for example, a 1st and a 2.1, where the Finals results were marginal.

[hypervalent_iodine]

On 06/10/2017 at 5:40 PM, Juno said:

I don't know what that is and I wonder if it's American-specific, we don't have them in the UK as far as I'm aware.  What I mean is, for my degree content I had to choose 8 subjects, and although most of those were taught subjects, one of the options was a 10,000 word dissertation, on a subject of my choosing (which then meant one less exam).  I think they called it a library dissertation, i.e. you weren't expected to carry out research (that was a separate option).  

EDIT in fact it was indeed called a library dissertation - scroll down to the bottom of the table here:- 

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses-listing/psychology-experimental?wssl=1

In Australia your honours year is a research intensive year with some minor coursework, culminating in a thesis. You also have to write a literature review / research proposal. It's a non compulsory year, but it is required to enter into a PhD (unless you have a Masters, though they aren't common here in the sciences).

[Juno]

4 hours ago, hypervalent_iodine said:

In Australia your honours year is a research intensive year with some minor coursework, culminating in a thesis. You also have to write a literature review / research proposal. It's a non compulsory year, but it is required to enter into a PhD (unless you have a Masters, though they aren't common here in the sciences).

So do you only receive an honours degree if you do that extra year?  I think here honours is the standard degree.

[hypervalent_iodine]

3 hours ago, Juno said:

So do you only receive an honours degree if you do that extra year?  I think here honours is the standard degree.

 

That's correct. Some degrees have a compulsary honours year, but here at least the standard BSc is a three year degree with an optional fourth year for honours.