A thesis (or dissertation) is a formal statement of the theory, source materials, methodology, and findings of a student’s major research project. It must be a complete and sufficient document that does not require subsidiary information to substantiate its findings.
A thesis, commonly required to obtain a master’s degree runs ordinarily 100 pages, is designed to test a student’s understanding of his or her field of study. The student formulates a proposition, or thesis, based on previous work done by others in the field. This previous work is analyzed by the student in his or her paper as he or she makes a case for a certain point of view and evaluate it with his/her own view. This required for the partial fulfillment of master degree.
A dissertation, on the other hand, is usually done by a doctorate student and focuses on original research. A student who is assigned a dissertation is required to come up with a subject in his or her field that hasn’t already been researched by anybody. The student then must come up with a hypothesis and do original research to prove or disprove the hypothesis.
