How Long is a Dissertation Project? What You Should Know

To write a good dissertation, you need to develop a solid structure and stay within a reasonable word count. There’s indeed a lot of writing to do, and once you find how long your project should be, working on it shouldn’t be too difficult. 

How long a dissertation should be depends on the field, institution, and level of education. Most projects are 100 to 300 pages long. The typical word count is 8,000 to 15,000 words for undergraduates, 12,000 to 50,000 words for masters, and 70,000 to 100,000 words for PhD.

You’ll need to have relevant word distribution throughout the project.

Your dissertation outline should feature an abstract, an introduction, literature review, methodology, results, conclusion, and discussion in their respective order. Longer dissertations may require the inclusion of chapters, main divisions, and subdivisions, but it’s important to check with your professor first.

How Long Should Each Part of a Dissertation Be?

In the following section, we look at the expected length of the proposal, abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, results, and conclusion.

How Long is a Dissertation Proposal?

A dissertation proposal should be 10 to 15 pages long, an equivalent of 2,750 to 4,125 words.

The proposal document has an abstract, introduction, statement of the problem, research question, literature review, methodology, implications, and timeline.

It should justify the chosen theme’s significance or articulate why the explored issue is noteworthy.

How Long is a Dissertation Abstract?

The abstract should be a paragraph long. The word count varies between universities, but the average length falls between 200 and 300 words. 

In dissertation or thesis, an abstract is a summary of the most important points of your research. It highlights the purpose of the research, the methodology used, the key findings, and the implications of the research results.

The purpose of an abstract is to communicate the main idea of your work. By reading this section, your professor should immediately understand your investigate without having to read the entire project. With this information, your professor can decide whether your research is worth reading or otherwise.

How Long is a Dissertation Introduction?

The introduction should comprise 10% of your assignment. That’s about 15 pages long or an equivalent of 4,125 words.

Your introduction should provide background information and highlight the significance of your research. Draw your professor’s attention to your topic by going deeper into your highlight. Write the research question you intend to investigate, state the importance of your topic, and highlight your declarative statement.

How Long is a Dissertation Literature Review?

Make your dissertation literature review 30 to 40 pages long or 8,250 to 11,000 words unless specified otherwise.

The review analyzes existing research on the topic and gives a summary of your personal opinion on the information source. By going deep into this section, you demonstrate that you’ve conducted extensive research and assimilated relevant information on what others have already done.

How Long is a Dissertation Methodology, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion?

The length or words count equivalent for methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion, based on current academic standards, should be as follows:

• Methodology: The length should be between 10 and 15 pages. 
• Results: This section should not exceed 10 pages.
• Discussion: Your discussion should be no more than 40% of the word count.
• Conclusion: The conclusion should be at most 7% of the overall word count.

As much as the length of the dissertation varies based on the level of education, institution, and country, these approximations can give you a clue to help prepare yourself to handle each section of the project accordingly.

How Long Should My Dissertation Be?

A dissertation’s length typically ranges from 100 to 300 pages, subject to factors like topic, academic level, and institutional guidelines. We strongly recommend that you consult your institution’s professor for the specific length of the project. 

From what we understand, some guidelines require a literature review of at least 40 pages but no more than 60 for comprehensive and concise coverage. Furthermore, institutional templates often provide structured headings for sections for effective organization.

Committee feedback further influences dissertation length, with drafts reviewed to gauge adequacy and credibility. The objective is to demonstrate a thorough exploration and understanding of the research topic without unnecessary verbosity.

How Long Does It Take to Write a Dissertation?

The duration to complete a dissertation varies based on individual factors, education level, and professor’s timeline. Typically, it should take no more than 18 months to research, write, proofread, and submit the project for review.

The dissertation is often a focal point in the final year at Bachelor and Master’s levels. You can opt to work on it alongside other coursework throughout the year or dedicate the last six months solely to it. Notably, six months is generally sufficient for ideation, extensive research, and writing.

PhD dissertations require more time due to their primary focus. Depending on the institution and professor’s instructions, the process may span the entire four-year program, with the writing phase alone lasting at least 18 months.

Can I Buy a Dissertation Online?

Do you have limited time left to complete your dissertation? Or maybe you already have a topic but you haven’t started your research? You can buy a dissertation online on College Assignment Lab.

We have a team of expert writers who invest time and resources in research, planning, and custom writing. The team can get you from a completely blank page to 10,000 to 100,000 words dissertation 

College Assignment Lab charges $19.99 per page for a 14-day deadline. You also get up to 10% discount if you’re new to our platform. Plus, we extend our dissertation editing service to you at no additional cost.

Our team focuses on in-depth research and custom writing. It means we write every word, sentence, and paragraph from scratch. We know about AI writing tools such as Claude, Chegg, ChatGPT 4, and Quillbot, but we don’t have a plan to integrate these into our writing process. Our focus is 100% on quality work and timely delivery.