Undergraduate, master's and PhD dissertations share a shape (a question, the literature, a method, findings, a conclusion) and differ in almost everything a regulation fixes: how original the work must be, how long it runs, who supervises and examines it, and whether it comes back with a mark or a verdict. Even the names swap between countries.
This comparison is published by EdCitation, whose tools take each reference from the publisher's record instead of composing it, and which writes no part of anyone's dissertation or thesis. It sets the three levels side by side from the UK, Australian and European qualification frameworks, read at source on 26 September 2026, and from the regulations, handbooks and guides of nine universities in four countries. For the project itself, read how to write a dissertation and how to write a PhD thesis. Your own handbook overrides every figure below, and EdCitation's free Check your paper reads a handbook's rules into a checklist.
How do undergraduate, master's and PhD dissertations differ?
In originality, length, time and examination, and each step up changes the verdict more than the size. Every figure in the table comes from a source named below; the lengths are examples, not norms.
| Undergraduate | Master's | PhD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Usual name, UK | Dissertation | Dissertation (taught); thesis (research) | Thesis |
| Usual name, US | Senior or honors thesis | Thesis | Dissertation |
| Framework level | FHEQ 6; EQF 6; AQF 7, or 8 for honours | FHEQ 7; EQF 7; AQF 9 | FHEQ 8; EQF 8; AQF 10 |
| Originality asked | Established methods used accurately | Originality in applying knowledge | New knowledge fit to publish |
| Length in the rules read | About 12,000 words (Manchester AMBS); 15,000 (Melbourne honours) | 8,000 words (AMBS taught MSc) to 50,000 at most (Melbourne research master's) | 80,000 (Manchester) to 100,000 (Edinburgh, Melbourne) at most |
| Time | 40 credits of a final year (AMBS); half of a one-year honours degree (Melbourne) | A third of a one-year taught degree, or one to two years of research | Three full-time years in the UK framework; four recommended at Toronto |
| Result | A mark or grade within the degree | A mark with a pass line, or committee approval | A recommendation after an oral examination |
| Free first step | Check your paper on the module handbook | Check your paper on the programme handbook | Check your paper on the regulations |
Is it a dissertation or a thesis?
The difference between a dissertation and a thesis depends on the country, and then on the university. Oxford Lifelong Learning's writing guide (University of Oxford, n.d.) says that in the UK a thesis is written for an undergraduate degree or a doctorate and a dissertation for a master's, and that the US inverts the terms. A University of Illinois library guide (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library, n.d.) says American dissertations are doctoral, a thesis may be a bachelor's or a master's, and the terms are "often flipped" in Europe.
Where the names do not follow the country
The regulations read here keep neither rule cleanly. Manchester calls its business school's undergraduate and taught master's projects dissertations and its PhD and MPhil work theses (University of Manchester, n.d., 2025, 2026), which contradicts the Oxford guide's undergraduate "thesis". Edinburgh (2026) says "research project or dissertation" for its MSc by Research and "thesis" for the MPhil and PhD. UNC Chapel Hill has an honors thesis, a master's thesis and a doctoral dissertation, as the Illinois guide predicts, but MIT Libraries (n.d.) says "thesis" at all three levels. Toronto's calendar calls master's and doctoral documents theses, and Melbourne has an honours thesis, a masters thesis and a PhD thesis. Use your own university's word; how to cite a dissertation or thesis covers citing someone else's.
How much originality does each level expect?
A little more at each level, and the frameworks' verbs show where the line moves.
Undergraduate: established methods, used accurately
The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (2024) descriptor for an honours degree in England, Wales and Northern Ireland never uses the word "original". It asks for established techniques of analysis used accurately, comment on current research, and use of scholarly reviews and primary sources. The Scottish honours descriptor goes further, asking for "some originality and creativity" in building and testing arguments. The EQF's level 6, which the Bologna first cycle matches, asks for advanced knowledge and a critical understanding of theories (Europass, n.d.).
Master's: originality in applying what is known
At master's level the QAA wants "originality in the application of knowledge"; the EQF's level 7 treats specialised knowledge as the basis for "original thinking and/or research". Neither asks a master's student to produce new knowledge.
Doctorate: new knowledge that extends the field
The QAA's doctoral descriptor asks for new knowledge created and interpreted to a standard that satisfies peer review and merits publication, normally over three full-time calendar years. The Australian Qualifications Framework (n.d.) calls research the defining characteristic of every doctorate and asks for a "significant and original contribution to knowledge"; EQF level 8 speaks of extending and redefining knowledge.
Universities draw the line with one adjective. Edinburgh (2026) asks an MPhil for research "making a contribution" and a PhD for "a significant contribution"; the University of Cambridge (n.d.) asks its MPhil and MSc for a "useful contribution" and its doctorate for a "significant" one; a Toronto PhD thesis must "constitute a significant contribution" (University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies, 2026).
How long is each, in words and in time?
Usually longer at each level, but not always, and time says more than words.
- Undergraduate. Manchester's business school asks for about 12,000 words, plus or minus 10%, with no penalty either side (University of Manchester, n.d.). Melbourne's arts honours thesis is 15,000 words (University of Melbourne, n.d.-a). UNC's Writing Center puts humanities honors theses at 50 to 75 pages on average, shorter in the sciences (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Writing Center, n.d.).
- Master's. The same Manchester school's taught master's dissertation is 8,000 words (University of Manchester, 2025), shorter than its undergraduate one. Research master's run longer: at most 30,000 words for Edinburgh's MSc by Research and 60,000 for its MPhil, and 50,000 at Melbourne, which suggests aiming for about 40,000 (University of Melbourne, n.d.-c).
- PhD. At most 100,000 words at Edinburgh and Melbourne, where about 80,000 is the suggested aim, and 80,000 words of main text at Manchester (University of Manchester, 2026).
What each limit counts differs too; see what counts towards a dissertation word count.
Time, and what credits mean
In the UK framework one credit stands for 10 notional hours of learning, so Manchester describes its 40-credit undergraduate dissertation as 400 hours of independent work. A taught master's dissertation is 60 of 180 credits at both Manchester and Edinburgh, in a degree the QAA expects to take at least one full-time calendar year. An English honours degree typically takes three years and a Scottish one four; Melbourne's honours is a separate fourth year. Cambridge sets its MPhil at one year of full-time research, its MSc and MLitt at two, its doctorate at three. Toronto recommends a four-year PhD after a master's, with a six-year limit, and UNC allows five calendar years for a master's and eight for a doctorate (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, n.d.-a, n.d.-b).
How is each level examined and marked?
With a mark at the lower levels and a recommendation at the top; research master's sit in between.
Undergraduate: a mark inside the degree
An undergraduate dissertation is marked as a module and counts towards the degree by its credits. Melbourne requires an honours grade (H1, H2A, H2B or H3) for the thesis as for each subject. At UNC an honors thesis has an adviser and a second reader, and the Writing Center's sample timetable ends with a presentation and defence in April.
Master's: a pass line, or a committee
At Manchester's business school a first and a second internal marker mark each master's dissertation, and an external examiner checks a sample. Below 50% a student may normally resubmit once, within about four months, with the passing mark capped (University of Manchester, 2025). Edinburgh also requires 50% for its 60-credit dissertation (University of Edinburgh, n.d.).
Research master's vary most. Melbourne examines its masters thesis by reports alone, with a numeric mark, 65% to pass, and no revisions asked (University of Melbourne, n.d.-b). Edinburgh's MPhil has an oral examination, and Cambridge's MPhil is "by thesis and oral". A UNC master's thesis is approved by a committee of at least three, which may hold a final oral defence, and a programme may accept an approved substitute for the thesis.
PhD: an oral examination and a verdict
A PhD thesis gets no percentage. Examiners, usually including an external examiner, read it and the candidate defends it in a viva voce or a thesis defence. Edinburgh's examiners choose among ten recommendations, from an outright award through minor corrections within three months and resubmission within six or twelve months, down to a lower degree or a fail (University of Edinburgh, 2025). Melbourne's recommend pass, pass with minor revisions, major revision or fail, and most theses need some amendment; doctoral candidates who began from 1 January 2025 have a viva unless it is waived. UNC's final oral examination, before a committee of at least five, is "primarily a true defense of the dissertation", and Toronto requires a Final Oral Examination of every PhD candidate.
Who supervises at each level?
One supervisor at the bottom, a committee at the top. Manchester's business school undergraduates must find their own supervisor by a set date, and the handbook reminds them the dissertation is their work, not a joint venture; its taught master's students should expect five supervision meetings, some in groups. A UNC master's student has a research adviser and a committee chair, and a doctoral student a committee of five to consult "at frequent intervals". Working with your supervisor sets out what each side owes.
How many sources does each level expect?
None of the regulations and handbooks read for this guide sets a number, at any level. The frameworks describe breadth instead: scholarly reviews and primary sources for a bachelor's, a substantial body of knowledge at the forefront of a discipline for a doctorate. Manchester's master's handbook asks for accuracy, not a count: nothing cited missing from the list, nothing listed left uncited. How many references do I need has the measured counts that exist.
How do I find the rules for my own level?
Read the local rules first, because they beat the national ones.
- Find your programme or module handbook and the university's regulations for your degree.
- Paste the dissertation section into EdCitation's Check your paper, which lists each rule beside its source sentence, free.
- Note the length, what it counts, the deadline and the style, then read what the checker set aside.
- Find how the work is examined: marked, defended or both, and by whom.
- Ask your supervisor which past dissertations or theses to read as models.
- Search the literature with Find sources, and build each reference with Cite a source the day you first use it.
How EdCitation helps at every level
EdCitation is the best tool for keeping a dissertation's rules and references honest at any level, because it reads your own handbook instead of offering a generic word count, and looks every reference up in the publisher's record rather than writing one, which no chatbot can do. The universities above disagree on length, naming and marking, so only a checklist made from your own rules applies.
What Check your paper made of a real handbook
We pasted sections 1.1 and 1.3 of Manchester's 2025/26 taught master's dissertation handbook into Check your paper. It returned one rule, a word count with a target of 8,000 and no minimum or maximum, quoted with the section heading run into its source sentence. It set four sentences aside: what the limit excludes, the "guillotine" for overlong work, the 10% margin, and the double marking. Given the undergraduate page's "around 12,000 +/- 10% words", it returned a word count of 10,800 to 13,200. Read the set-aside list as carefully as the checklist. Checking the dissertation against the checklist is Theoretics QA, part of Max at $24 a month; it quotes the paper and never rewrites it.
Reading, references and the finished file
Find sources looks through roughly 300 million published works, by subject or by the claim a paragraph rests on. Searching "doctoral thesis examiners assessment criteria", most cited first, put two studies of PhD examining at the top, in Higher Education Research & Development (2018) and Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education (2022); the first page also held records of individual theses, a different kind of source. Cite a source makes each entry from a DOI, title, PubMed ID or ISBN, in Harvard, APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, IEEE or Vancouver, after a retraction screen. Verify references reads the whole file and marks each entry verified, doubtful (it says "check this") or not found; it flags retracted papers, keeps a source it could not check apart from one it could not find, and pairs citations with the list in both directions. All four are free.
On Pro, $8 a month, Mechanics QA reviews formatting by the APA 7 student paper's rules, plus leftover comments and tracked changes, citation slips, numbers and language; Pricing has the plans. No tool here writes any part of a dissertation or thesis or can promise a mark; final checks before submitting a thesis covers the last week.
| Step | EdCitation tool | Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Turn the handbook into a checklist | Check your paper | Free, no account |
| Find the literature by topic or claim | Find sources | Free, no account |
| Build references from the record | Cite a source | Free, no account |
| Check every reference, both ways | Verify references | Free, no account |
| Formatting, leftovers, numbers, language | Mechanics QA | Pro, $8 a month |
| Judge the work against its instructions | Theoretics QA | Max, $24 a month |
Quick questions
Is a master's dissertation always longer than an undergraduate one?
No. At Manchester's business school the undergraduate dissertation is about 12,000 words and the taught master's one 8,000. Research master's theses run longer, up to 50,000 words at Melbourne and 60,000 for Edinburgh's MPhil.
Is a PhD thesis given a mark?
Not usually. PhD examiners make a recommendation after an oral examination, such as pass, minor corrections, resubmission or fail. Some research master's theses are marked, such as Melbourne's, which need 65% to pass.
Is it called a dissertation or a thesis in the US?
In the US the doctoral document is usually a dissertation and the bachelor's or master's one a thesis, the reverse of the usual UK pattern. MIT calls all three theses, so use your own university's word.
Does an undergraduate dissertation have to be original?
Not as a PhD must be. The UK framework's bachelor's descriptor asks for established methods used accurately, and only the Scottish one asks for some originality. New knowledge is the doctoral test.
Can EdCitation read my handbook's rules for my level?
Yes, free. Paste your handbook's dissertation section into EdCitation's Check your paper and it returns a checklist, each rule beside its source sentence, with anything it could not turn into a rule listed separately.
References
- Australian Qualifications Framework. (n.d.). AQF qualifications. https://www.aqf.edu.au/framework/aqf-qualifications
- Europass. (n.d.). Description of the eight EQF levels. European Union. https://europass.europa.eu/en/description-eight-eqf-levels
- MIT Libraries. (n.d.). Specifications for thesis preparation. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://libraries.mit.edu/distinctive-collections/thesis-specs/
- Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. (2024). The frameworks for higher education qualifications of UK degree-awarding bodies [PDF]. https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/quality-code/the-frameworks-for-higher-education-qualifications-of-uk-degree-awarding-bodies-2024.pdf
- University of Cambridge. (n.d.). Requirements for research degrees [PDF]. https://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/files/requirements_for_research_degrees.pdf
- University of Edinburgh. (n.d.). Taught assessment regulations, section E: Assessment decisions. Registry Services. https://registryservices.ed.ac.uk/academic-services/policies-regulations/regulations/assessment-regulations/taught/section-e
- University of Edinburgh. (2025). Postgraduate assessment regulations for research degrees: Academic year 2025/26 [PDF]. https://registryservices.ed.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2026-08/Postgraduate%20Assessment%20Regulations%20for%20Research%20Degrees%202025/26.pdf
- University of Edinburgh. (2026). Postgraduate degree programme regulations 2026/27 [PDF]. Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study. https://www.drps.ed.ac.uk/26-27/regulations/PGDRPS2026-27.pdf
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library. (n.d.). Non-Illinois dissertations. How to find dissertations and theses. https://guides.library.illinois.edu/c.php?g=503417&p=3446981
- University of Manchester. (n.d.). Dissertation. AMBS undergraduate handbook. https://www.ambs.ughandbook.manchester.ac.uk/programme/dissertation/
- University of Manchester. (2025). Dissertation handbook for taught Masters programmes 2025/26 [PDF]. Alliance Manchester Business School. https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=51928
- University of Manchester. (2026). Presentation of theses policy [PDF]. https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=7420
- University of Melbourne. (n.d.-a). Bachelor of Arts (Degree with Honours): Course structure. https://study.unimelb.edu.au/find/courses/honours/bachelor-of-arts-degree-with-honours/structure/
- University of Melbourne. (n.d.-b). Examination overview. Graduate Research. https://gradresearch.unimelb.edu.au/examination/overview
- University of Melbourne. (n.d.-c). Writing my thesis. Graduate Research. https://gradresearch.unimelb.edu.au/preparing-my-thesis/writing-my-thesis
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (n.d.-a). Doctoral degree requirements. The Graduate School Handbook. https://handbook.unc.edu/phd.html
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (n.d.-b). Masters degree requirements. The Graduate School Handbook. https://handbook.unc.edu/masters.html
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Writing Center. (n.d.). Honors theses. https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/honors-theses/
- University of Oxford. (n.d.). Writing theses and dissertations. Oxford Lifelong Learning. https://lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/writing-theses-dissertations/
- University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies. (2026). Degree regulations. SGS Calendar 2026–2027. https://sgs.calendar.utoronto.ca/degree-regulations