Are you overwhelmed with your dissertation? everything looks the same and you have no idea how to differentiate between the undergraduate and graduate dissertation format and requirements? Then you don’t need to worry anymore!
Dissertation at any level can be hard, but if you don’t fully understand the difference between dissertations of different academic levels then it can confuse you further down the road when you start working on your undergraduate or graduate dissertation. And if you are starting your graduate study then you should pay close attention to the differences as graduate dissertations are usually more demanding and strict than an undergraduate dissertation.
Typically there is not a great deal of difference between the two, they have similarities but some key differences. To end the confusion, I have come up with a short guide to help you understand the differences that may seem minor but can impact your dissertation and grades greatly. Without any further delay, let’s delve straight into the topic.
Table of Contents
Difference Between Undergraduate and Graduates Study
Undergraduate study is the initial stage of study at the university level, and it teaches students to the knowledge and skills needed in a specific subject area. Graduate study (Masters) is a step after an undergraduate degree, requiring an advanced degree of understanding, more independent study, and more specialized expertise and knowledge.
Here are some differences between undergraduate and graduate studies.
Research Focus
A Graduate requires a more advanced level of understanding of your chosen discipline, you will need to use a more advanced research method than you did during undergraduate studies. There is a greater emphasis on your research skills in Graduate studies as it is preparing you for the possibility of furthering your studies at a PhD level.
Flexibility Within the Program
It is comparatively easy to switch majors or even schools during an undergraduate program. Even though it is not impossible, it is much more difficult to switch majors during a graduate program, as they are a specialized form of degree.
Course Load
Undergraduate students take up 5 to 6 courses per semester, while graduate students take only 3 advanced-level courses. The courses involve much more in-depth reading and researching than undergraduate courses and have comparatively fewer assignments. As the number of assignments are few in graduate studies, each assignment has more value and is expected to be a demonstration of your expertise in the subject.
Dissertation
Lastly, the most important aspect of any degree. As we discussed before, it is the end of your degree at any level. And it has specific requirements at all academic levels as well – A Dissertation.
While your undergraduate degree may also include a dissertation, your graduate dissertation will require much more intensively researched and in-depth work. As it is the main topic of the article we will explain the difference in further detail in the next heading so stay tuned peeps!
What is a Dissertation?
Let’s discuss the basics first. The majority of the degrees conclude with this assignment, but just what is a dissertation?
A dissertation is a research paper that students complete as part of an undergraduate and graduate program. Typically, students answer or respond to a question or proposition that they themselves choose. The main aim of this assignment is to test the research skills that a student developed in the course of their undergraduate and graduate degrees, and it will be used to determine their final grade.
Undergraduate Vs Graduate Dissertation
And finally, I will lay down all the differences that I could think of. Which I hope will help you transition from undergraduate dissertation to graduate dissertation.
General Differences Between an Undergraduate Dissertation and Graduate Dissertation
Word Count
Generally, a dissertation at an undergraduate level is about 5000 to 10,000 words and for a graduate dissertation, your word count will be between 10000 to 15,000 it highly depends on the requirements set by your university. It may not seem much but if you struggled to reach the word limit in your undergraduate dissertation so it may be possible that you will encounter the issue again when working on your graduate dissertation.
Originality
At the undergraduate level, the professors are only assessing your understanding of the academic procedures and your ability to follow them and produce a coherent piece of research. At a graduate level, professors are looking for your insight on a particular area of study. Hence, your graduate dissertation needs to be more original than your undergraduate degree.
Sources
At an undergraduate level, you don’t have to be as vigilant about the sources as you have to be while working on a graduate dissertation. As mentioned above, your graduate dissertation needs to be more original and authentic, so you need to be careful about where you are looking for information as your professor will look at your sources to see if your research is credible or not.
Literature Research and Practical Research
As the size of your undergraduate dissertation is limited, students often do literature research. Now you will ask what literature research is? It means to find something new from something that is already there. In a graduate dissertation, students are often required to do practical research to provide evidence to support or prove their argument.
Structural Differences Between an Undergraduate Dissertation and Graduate Dissertation
While the structure for both undergraduate and graduate dissertations is quite similar, still it has some differences that I like to highlight here for you.
Proposal Requirements
The master dissertation proposal is an important first step toward your graduate dissertation and it should be more in-depth. Whereas in an undergraduate dissertation, research proposals are not often required.
Research Requirement
As undergraduate dissertations are only assigned to assess the research skills that you acquired during your degree so the research level is basic but in a graduate dissertation you will be required a deeper level or expanded amount of research.
Overall Instructions
Overall the instructions for both dissertations are similar but it is a bit easier when it comes to an undergraduate dissertation than a graduate dissertation as it is a bit more demanding in nature.
Hopefully, with this guide, you understand the difference between the dissertation at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
