Knowledge vs Data :: Thesis vs paper

Thesis should reflect depth of our knowledge & Papers, even in reputed journals are nothing but data.....

Even the perspective or review articles aren't the same anymore, they are just collection of articles.

As my Prof. told me, during paper writing you need to be precise and to the point as most of journals have some specific number of pages to write. While In the thesis we can explain the results in detail.

I'd not like to understand that in thesis writing you need to be less exact...

Kai Fauth Sir.....I mean to say that as most of journals have the word limits for the research papers so we can write our results in the compact form in the paper. While writing the thesis we can elaborate our results for better understanding. Obviously we have to be accurate and exact whether we are writing the research paper or the thesis.

Thank you.

Dear all, motivation of the work done for the thesis has to be written in the Introduction which we generally say Chapter 1. If the motivation was mentioned in in the first chapter then how do we start the specific chapter.

Knowledge vs Data :: Thesis vs paper

Thesis should reflect depth of our knowledge & Papers, even in reputed journals are nothing but data.....

Even the perspective or review articles aren't the same anymore, they are just collection of articles.

Dear Herojit,

in my opinion, the main differences between writing a thesis and writing a paper may start in the language. For who english is not the native language and are developing their phd studies in their own countries, writing in the native language allow them to be much more precise. In this way, the details of the research tend to be described better in native language. The other great difference was pointed above by Dinesh: A paper often should have limited word counts, pages and, mainly, a very limited number of figures. As the figures are the key for major part of explanations, it is clear that explain the research for the reader of a paper (which have no more than 5 figures) is a much more difficult task than for a reader of a thesis (which may contain as many figures you want). In my opinion, both writing a thesis or a paper should be treated with the same level of seriousness...

Writing thesis is very easy if you have several published papers. You simply copy the results from papers to the thesis and explain them in more details, and there, you have thesis.

Writing thesis is broader. Usually thesis is written in a way that at least three articles can be published from it.

@Walter...

we can't write thesis in our native Indian languages.. It MUST be in English..

Yes, I agree with you on Figures.. in Thesis we don't have to cluster all our figures as 1(a), (b)... (h) into one composite figure...

Also we can add as many reference in thesis.. these days journals are frowning when we add more references, especially if they are from rival journals..

I feel there is only one difference if the language of preparation of thesis and paper is similar. i .e. Giving very detailed protocols of your methods in thesis with citations compared to the brief protocol/highlights of methods followed by citation coding(in articles). Thesis will have a very broad objective whereas the papers will have objective withing the limits of journals scope.

Ph. D thesis is a tree with branches. On the other hand research paper is one of the branch. Hence research problem's different aspects are studied in individual research papers and collective research papers on different aspects formulates the Ph. D Thesis.

I agree with Walter Folly. Generally, in a paper it needs to synthesize, limit the number of figures and words. A thesis is a work where we can delve into a topic. Everything, however, also depends on the kind of study, the academic rules and the nation.

Of course, every country has its own requirements (as every scientific journal relative to publications ) to prepare theses. As an example, I would like to bring the requirements that apply to the design of theses in Ukraine.

The introduction includes general description of the thesis as follows:

- The relevance of the topic;

- The relationship to academic programs, plans, themes,grants ;

- The purpose and objectives of the study;

- Research methods;

- Scientific novelty of the results;

- Practical significance of the results;

- Contribution applicant;

- Publications (papers and abstracts of conferences).

The first Chapter presents a literature review which briefly and critically highlights the state of research and indicates the problems that still remain unresolved. The second section outlines the methodological issues associated with fulfillment of the thesis. The following chapters include the results of original research by the author. Then the conclusions are presented where the most important scientific and practical results that have contributed to the solution of scientific problems mentioned in Introduction are pointed out. At the end of the thesis the references are presented. The thesis may also includes supplementary material needed to more full the dissertation perception.

Thank you all for the valuable suggestions.

Research paper is comprehensive and tells everything with in 6000-8000 words where thesis describe same thing in detail in 80000 to 100000 words.

PhD Thesis is the contributory work done throughout the research duration by the investigator. The journey from start of the research topic investigation till the completion is to be included in 6 to 8 chapters.

A thesis attempts to methodically answer 3-4 relevant research question solution.

a) Attempts to presents a problem statement in the form of a research question, well formulated after careful investigation of existing work.

b) Identifies 3-4 attributes relevant to the research question formulation.

c)Develops a planned platform consisting of typical procedures to propose a solution framework.

d) The solutions provided for each of the attribute using latest technological methods act as evidences for the proposed solution framework.

These set of answers logically knitted forms the thesis.

A paper attempts to reflect the solution or procedure for a single issue with some novelty and contributory element.

a) The paper attempts to present the work done on that particular issue with a strong discussion section which illustrates the merit of the method used.

b) The design parameter concerned with that single issue is considered in the experimental section.

c) The literature review section consists only of the relevant existing literature work to the concerned key idea of the paper.

d) The design framework presented in the paper is exclusively related to the concerned performance metrics involved in the design 

My question is similar but a little more specific.

What is difference between writing a thesis chapter and a research paper where the chapter is based on that published/being published research paper?

Collection of published papers will definitely not become a thesis. 

Published/being published research paper title may be used as the thesis chapter title provided there is a continuity with the contents from the previous chapters and it is logically connected.

There will be modifications in the preamble section of this thesis chapter, i.e. the introductory one or two paragraphs. In paper it will be the abstract, the preamble should only be an introduction to the contents that follow in the chapter.

There might be a few parts of the paper which are reflecting the contents of the previous chapter. Those should be eliminated in this thesis chapter. When we start writing the thesis, the investigator keeps all the published/being published research papers in front as a reference material and then starts writing the thesis by framing the contents of the first introductory chapter end part where thesis organisation is written.

A proper knowledge connectivity is developed at this point of writing namely the thesis organization. Nevertheless this is always written based on the work published or to be published. 

The investigator writes papers and publishes them in world class reputed journals and conferences during the research duration. During that time duration the overall thesis contribution is not known in advance. It is only after completing the entire research work the investigator analyses and comes out with few contributory points from the overall work done. It is always known to all of us that the thesis writing starts after completing contributory work. Normally the thesis writing takes a few months to complete with many drafted versions,  corrected by the supervisor each time to give a better information flow to the contribution/contributions of the research work.

@ Rajeshwari Banakar. very informative and guided lines.

its growing a weat and making bread