As students embark on their PhD journeys, they often grapple with a range of academic questions, including the crucial one: how long should a PhD thesis be? One of the biggest
challenges they face is managing word count to strike a balance, avoiding overly lengthy or excessively brief documents that can compromise both quality and depth. When you have a deadline to meet in a few days, this process might become even more stressful.
Don’t worry; strategies like removing unnecessary words (adjectives, adverbs), using active voice, symbols, and abbreviations, and combining similar concepts logically can help you write a simple, clear, and meaningful thesis.
In this article, we have compiled eight effective strategies that can help you manage the word count according to the thesis word limit.
How Many Words Is a Typical PhD Thesis?
The University of Bath reported that PhD thesis typically ranges from 70,000 to 90,000 words (100 to 300 pages), divided into chapters, divisions, and subdivisions, with around 10,000 words per chapter. The thesis runs from the introduction, which has specific goals and objectives, to the conclusion.
However, determining the actual length of a PhD thesis is based on several key elements, including the research study regarding the chosen topic, research methodologies, and university criteria. The word count of the thesis document covers the main body, including appendices, references, and additional materials.
Top 8 Tips to Manage PhD Thesis Word Count
Understanding the expected length and structure of your thesis is necessary for effective planning and execution. Proper guidance can help you stay on track, ensuring that your research meets academic standards. However, asking experts to “write my PhD thesis” can provide valuable support in refining your methodology and enhancing the overall quality of your work. It makes the writing process smoother and more efficient.
Managing the word count while keeping all the necessary information intact can be challenging. You can manage thesis word count by following the tips given below:
- Eliminate redundancies
- Use active voice
- Remove unnecessary adjectives and adverbs
- Disentangle nested information
- Combine sentences
- Use abbreviations and symbols
- All killer, no filler (words)
- Rewrite running starts
1. Use Active Voice
Using active voice in the PhD thesis makes the writing direct and clearer. It provides the identity of the subject who is acting. Passive voice, however, is easy to use, but it may cause ambiguity about the subject and use relatively more words. Researchers should preferably use active voice sentences that are clear, crisp, and shorter.
However, the University of Walden emphasises the authors’ writing in an active voice. The University stated that the APA style recommends using the active voice rather than the passive voice for clarity purposes in writing. When a phrase is written in the active voice, it is clear that the subject carries out the action that the verb describes.
For example, it is possible to change “It was observed that the Fusarium fungus grows best at low temperature and humid environment” to “We observed that Fusarium grow best at low and humid temperatures”. In the later sentence, “we observed” directly indicates the action of the researcher.
2. Eliminate Redundancies
Redundancies are one of the typical mistakes that students make while writing PhD thesis. Redundant phrases contain more words to convey the point that can be delivered in relatively shorter phrases or words.
Instead of “few in number” and “past history,” “few” and “history” can serve the same purpose. These extra words not only make the reader wade through long sentences to get the actual point but also create clutter in the document.
Try to eliminate the words that do not add value. This study’s conclusion reveals a large difference between these two groups, which” can be written as “the study concludes a clear difference between the groups.
Types of Redundancy
Here are types of redundancy that must be essential to consider to manage word count regarding a flawless thesis:
- Pleonasm: Repetition of two or more words than are required to express a message, as in “burning fire” and kick it with your feet.”
- Tautology: The process of repeating the same theme with different terms, such as “final outcome” or “close proximity.”
- Prolixity: The overuse of words that obscure the core idea of the sentence, making it challenging to read and understand. For example, “She is a person who possesses a notable amount of intelligence.”
- Circumlocution: Use too many phrases to express a concept that may be delivered in a few. For example, “He is a person who possesses an ability to articulate his ideas well.”
To stay on track and finish your thesis on time, it’s crucial to eliminate redundancies in your writing, ensuring that every word serves a purpose and contributes to your overall argument.
3. Remove Unnecessary Adjectives and Adverbs
Researchers sometimes bombard the thesis with adjectives and adverbs to emphasise the given information. These adjectives and adverbs seem to add value but do nothing except increase the word count. They can easily be omitted to manage the writing effectively.
Words like “extremely”, “very”, “somewhat”, and “quite” can be removed without changing the essence of the sentence. For example, “very difficult” can be written as “difficult” only.
Similarly, a larger sentence with unnecessary adjectives and adverbs, such as “the results were very astonishing and revealed that cell showed significantly increased growth in the humid environment,” can be written as “the results showed significant growth of cells in the humid environment,” which is a clearer and shorter version that keeps the actual meaning intact.
4. Disentangle Nested Information
Scientific writings usually contain difficult concepts. Researchers try to nest all the information in one sentence using different phrases and conjunctions. It often results in a more complex sentence structure that causes confusion, and the reader can’t understand the crux.
It is better to divide the information into two sentences to make it easily readable and comprehensible for the readers. This also reduces the length of the thesis by removing the need for long explanations of concepts that can easily be written in simple words.
5. Combine Sentences
Logically combining sentences is a helpful technique to manage the word count. Don’t confuse it with the point we discussed above. Specifically, relative information can be written in combined sentences. For example, “Product A is relatively larger in size than Product B. The concept C was also explained by its help” can be combined as “Product A is larger than Product B, and it elaborates the concept C.”
Another example is that “The spectrometer was used to assess the outcomes of the experiment, which was carried out in a controlled setting. The results demonstrated a connection between low pH and protein. can be expressed as “A spectrometer analysis of the experiment’s results indicates a correlation between low pH and protein in a controlled environment.” But don’t overuse this technique, as it may cause writing to appear robotic and weird.
6. Use Abbreviations and Symbols
The use of abbreviations and symbols can also help manage word count. Most importantly, abbreviations should be according to the topic. For example, the term “e.g.,” can be used to give an example of a particular concept.
The term (AI) can be used in place of artificial intelligence. The term, i.e., is used to describe the meaning of any specific phrase. Instead of writing, click-through rate (CTR) can be written.
In mathematics, the use of symbols can also reduce word count. < or.> or = sign can be used at the place of greater than, less than, or equal.
In chemistry, the use of formulas can save space. But one thing must be kept in mind: used abbreviations should be mentioned at the start of the article. So that someone unfamiliar with those terms can read and understand the topic easily. The thesis will also have a word count limit.
7. All killer, no filler (words)
Unexperienced writers use filler words to expand their thesis. These words are actually and really, basically, totally, absolutely, etc. These terms don’t create value in the thesis, but they just increase word count. If these words are removed from the paragraph, they will not have any effect.
The use of simple, to-the-point words makes the structure more powerful. Therefore, avoiding filler words is essential to creating a clear and concise thesis. This helps the readers understand the point of the thesis more easily and keeps them engaged and interested.
These are some of the common filler words you should avoid using for flawless writing:
- Really/very: These phrases are considered a useless modifier. You must try to find a strong verb for whatever you are trying to evaluate.
- That: The word “that” helps to join sentences to understand the purpose clearly what is trying to present. If your sentence still makes sense without “that” term, then cut down it.
- Totally, literally, absolutely and completely: These types of words don’t give a sentence any new information. Example: “The cupboard was full of clothes” reads the same as “The cupboard was full of clothes.”
8. Rewrite Running Starts
Write clear and to-the-point starting sentences instead of using “these are” and “in fact” phrases. It can help avoid using words that are of no use and manage the word count effectively.
However, you must start your sentence with action verbs or key concepts that can grab the reader’s attention and convey your points more powerfully. For example, instead of writing, “These findings suggest that,” you could say, “The findings suggest that.” This approach creates a more engaging narrative, ensuring that each sentence contributes meaningfully to your overall argument.
Conclusion
The thesis is written proof of your extensive research, tireless hard work, and sleepless nights. It’s no doubt a very daunting task for students to complete the academic journey. Writing effectively requires planning, discipline, and skill.
Many PhD students struggle to complete their thesis on time. Managing academic work with part-time jobs often makes it hard to stay on track. As a result, many students get services from the best PhD thesis writing firms. These platforms offer expert guidance, which boosts the quality of research and writing, helping students produce their best work. With this support, students can manage the complexities of thesis writing more easily and meet submission deadlines.
All in all, setting up a clear outline of the topic, prioritising the main points and arguments, and using tables, figures, and graphs to present the data beautifully can help craft a well-presented document.
