How many words are dissertations?

Hey

I am just curious about this.. how long is the average undergraduate 3rd year dissertation?

One of my friends has just finished one, and she said she completed it in a day :| So I was wondering how many words that would have to be, lol.

Thanks in advance for the replies :smile:

Reply 1

IndiePixie

10000-15000 depending on the university/faculty.

Reply 2

Crazy Paving

It varies from uni to uni and course to course but I'd say about 15,000.

Reply 3

Jayjayjay

I'd say 12,000 on average but I know people who have had 10,000, 15,000 and as little as 5,000 or 3,000 word dissertations. Your friend may have finished it in a day but that may have just been the writing side, there is no way you can research and write a dissertation all in one day unless it was very, very specific and there wasn't much data on the topic. Writing up a 3,000 word essay could take a day, not so sure about 10,000 word one. Having said that, if it was a last minute thing then you would have to force yourself to come up with 10,000 words!

Reply 4

xoxAngel_Kxox

Thanks to both of you :biggrin:

IMO she totally lied about getting it finished in 1 day. Not a chance she'd have been able to do that :smile:

Reply 5

easter_bunny

well I'm currently finishing my 3rd year psych dissertation to hand in next week and we were advised 6-10 thousand, but most people have done 8-10.

She's probably either lying, her piece of work is totally awful, or she's one of those people who likes to make it look like she's done no work when she's done loads!

Reply 6

cloudengel

are you sure she's not talking about jsut writing it... without the research part??

Reply 7

Rimipie

what exactly are dissertations? i always hear the word but i don't know what it is, does it determine whether you get a first or a third or whatever?

Reply 8

sbeard1

Mine was 9000 +/- 10% along with a presentation and 1000 word essay on the presentation. However it totally depends on the uni.

Reply 9

GodspeedGehenna

Gemma :)!

Hey

She's talking bull ****.

Rimipie

what exactly are dissertations? i always hear the word but i don't know what it is, does it determine whether you get a first or a third or whatever?

Well, there is a little confusion around dissertations. Generally, they are meant to mean the big research project that you do during your third year. Basically this is where you put everything into practice and conduct your own research. Usually around 8,000-15,000 words long and potentially publishable. They tend to account for about 1/5th of your final year (which in turn is worth about 2/3rds of your degree). So yes, potentially they can make or break your degree.

You start planning it in your second year and over the summer and begin working on it in your third year.

Technically, however, a dissertation refers to (at least for the sciences) an optional module which is basically one huge essay about 8,000 words long. Some people choose to do a dissertation instead of a few other modules. But, people tend to use the word 'dissertation' to mean their final year project.

Reply 10

xoxAngel_Kxox

cloudengel

are you sure she's not talking about jsut writing it... without the research part??

Yes she was talking about just writing it.. but I left a 1000 word essay until the last minute this year, and even that took me 7 hours!

Reply 11

cloudengel

Gemma :)!

Yes she was talking about just writing it.. but I left a 1000 word essay until the last minute this year, and even that took me 7 hours!

I think it depends on the person. If I put my mind to it, and don't get distracted all the time, I can write 500-1000 words per hour. If you work from like 9 in the morning until midnight then 10'000 words is possible.

Now if only I could put my mind to it and stopped getting distracted I'd have finished my dissertation by now x.x

Reply 12

booraad

She probably wrote 10,000 words of nonsense.

Reply 13

frasera

I hear these sort of comments about how some students write vast amounts of words in a day or two. Having just finished my degree I couldn't think of anything worse. Writing an essay-report-dissertation is like any other task and require s time and effort. Why anyone would even consider starting their main project for their final year until a day before hand in is beyond me and quite frankly im sceptical. Why not just ask for an extension.