Style[edit]

Degree-awarding institutions often define their own house style that

candidates have to follow when preparing a thesis document. In addition to
institution-specific house styles, there exist a number of field-specific, national,
and international standards and recommendations for the presentation of
theses, for instance ISO 7144.[2] Other applicable international standards
include ISO 2145 on section numbers, ISO 690 on bibliographic references,
and ISO 31 on quantities or units.

Some older house styles specify that front matter (title page, abstract, table of
content, etc.) must use a separate page number sequence from the main text,
using Roman numerals. The relevant international standard[2] and many
newer style guides recognize that this book design practice can cause confusion
where electronic document viewers number all pages of a document
continuously from the first page, independent of any printed page numbers.
They, therefore, avoid the traditional separate number sequence for front
matter and require a single sequence of Arabic numerals starting with 1 for
the first printed page (the recto of the title page).

Presentation requirements, including pagination, layout, type and color of

paper, use of acid-free paper (where a copy of the dissertation will become a
permanent part of the library collection), paper size, order of components,
and citation style, will be checked page by page by the accepting officer before
the thesis is accepted and a receipt is issued.

However, strict standards are not always required. Most Italian universities,
for example, have only general requirements on the character size and the
page formatting, and leave much freedom for the actual typographic details.[8]

Thesis committee[edit]
A thesis or dissertation committee is a committee that supervises a student's
dissertation. In the US, these committees usually consist of a primary
supervisor or advisor and two or more committee members, who supervise the
progress of the dissertation and may also act as the examining committee, or
jury, at the oral examination of the thesis (see below).
At most universities, the committee is chosen by the student in conjunction
with his or her primary adviser, usually after completion of the comprehensive
examinations or prospectus meeting, and may consist of members of the
comps committee. The committee members are doctors in their field (whether
a PhD or other designation) and have the task of reading the dissertation,
making suggestions for changes and improvements, and sitting in on the
defense. Sometimes, at least one member of the committee must be a
professor in a department that is different from that of the student.

Regional and degree-specific practices and

terminologies[edit]
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Argentina[edit]
In the Latin American docta, the academic dissertation can be referred to as
different stages inside the academic program that the student is seeking to
achieve into a recognized Argentine University, in all the cases the students
must develop original contribution in the chosen fields by means of several
paper work and essays that comprehend the body of
the thesis.[9] Correspondingly to the academic degree, the last phase of an
academic thesis is called in Spanish a defensa de grado, defensa
magistral or defensa doctoral in cases in which the university candidate is
finalizing his or her licentiate, master's, or PhD program. According to a
committee resolution, the dissertation can be approved or rejected by an
academic committee consisting of the thesis director, the thesis coordinator,
and at least one evaluator from another recognized university in which the
student is pursuing his or her academic program. All the dissertation referees
must already have achieved at least the academic degree that the candidate is
trying to reach.[10]

Canada[edit]
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At English-speaking Canadian universities, writings presented in fulfillment

of undergraduate coursework requirements are normally called papers, term
papers or essays. A longer paper or essay presented for completion of a 4-year
bachelor's degree is sometimes called a major paper. High-quality research
papers presented as the empirical study of a "postgraduate" consecutive
bachelor with Honours or Baccalaureatus Cum Honore degree are
called thesis (Honours Seminar Thesis). Major papers presented as the final
project for a master's degree are normally called thesis; and major papers
presenting the student's research towards a doctoral degree are
called theses or dissertations.

At Canadian universities under the French influenced system,[11] students

may have a choice between presenting a "mémoire"', which is a shorter
synthetic work (roughly 75 pages) and a thèse which is one hundred pages or
more.[citation needed] A synthetic monograph associated with doctoral work is
referred to as a "thèse". See also compilation thesis. Either work can be
awarded a "mention d'honneur" (excellence) as a result of the decision by the
examination committee, although these are rare.

A typical undergraduate paper or essay might be forty pages. Master's theses

are approximately one hundred pages. PhD theses are usually over two
hundred pages. This may vary greatly by discipline, program, college, or
university. However, normally the required minimum study period is primarily
depending on the complexity or quality of research requirements.
Theses Canada acquires and preserves a comprehensive collection of Canadian
theses at Library and Archives Canada' (LAC) through a partnership with
Canadian universities who participate in the program.[12]