What's the difference?

chrissyvcm

What's the difference between a thesis and a dissertation? Or, is there any? I always assumed that a thesis is something you write for your Master's degree and a dissertation is for your PhD. I think this particular differentiation is something I made up and clearly it's wrong since Zee is working on a thesis for her PhD program. Anyone care to clue me in?

CTbride320

I always thought they were the same thing as you - thesis = Master's, dissertation = PhD. I Googled it and some websites say the terms are interchangeable and others say what we both think. So basically I have no idea haha

kaleyandjason

I thought the same thing you thought, Chrissy. But, what the F do I know.

mofe

I had to write a thesis for my Masters, no talks of dissertations for me.

hawkilady

I definitely got my MBA without having to write a thesis or a dissertation (thank God or I wouldnt have done it most likely) but I always thought the same thing you do.

RedZee

I think a dissertation can only refer to what you write for a PhD. You would never call your Master's thesis a dissertation.

And I think that the real official title is dissertation, but most people I know just say th*sis for what they're writing. So I think that the two words are interchangeable for a PhD, but not for a Master's. But I'll have to poll some others and see what they think.

(And I also think they are differences between the US and Europe.)

vhcoleman09

I think dissertation is ONLY doctoral, but a thesis can be used for different degrees (e.g., undergraduate or Masters, and though I've never heard it, probably for doctorate too). I was lucky enough to do all three. So glad to have that behind me.

Leigha12

I always thought the distinction had more to do with length, as in a dissertation is expected to be longer than a thesis. This would go along with thesis=masters, dissertation=PhD since one would think the PhD process would require a longer paper. But I wiki'ed thesis, and it came up as "thesis and dissertation", saying usually used the way Chrissy described, but interchangeable, especially in the US.