Dissertation Definition and 42 Threads

Hello! I just finished my PhD in physics (AMO) in the US and I was asked by my supervisor to look into PhD Thesis awards. I see there is one offered by APS, but I couldn't really find anything else. In Europe there seem to be a lot more (depending on the country where you did you thesis, e.g...

I will play devil's advocate to some extent. I'm looking from the outside in and won't have the same insight as some of you PhDs... If a research paper is around 20-30 pages tops, what's the point of spending all that time to write up a 100, 200, 500-page PhD thesis? I get the impression from...

Hi guys, I’m a final-year student studying mechanical engineering. I’m doing my dissertation on hydrogen power plants. I had a question…. How would I work out the energy needed to run a HRSG in my cycle. I understand this depends on various parameters and needs testing and simulations but...

Hi everyone, I am currently a third year University Student in the UK and I'm in the midst of doing my dissertation. My dissertation topic (Effective methods of decreasing the thermal Conductivity of Housing Materials) requires that I produce several experiments to test and analyse a certain...

Hi, I am doing my dissertation for Mechanical Engineering on Solar Stills and my mentor has suggested it would be a good idea to research the physics of light/infrared absorption, transmission, water evaporation and condensation. I am wondering if anyone has good book recommendations for me to...

Hi everyone, I'm going up for my defense in a few weeks and just wanted to get some insight from others as to what their experiences were like. I've been to many of my colleague's defense presentations, but there is always a ~60 min private session afterwards. Professors are very reluctant to...

I'm a first year PhD student and the program I'm in requires three laboratory rotations. I have finished those and all three of the PI's explicitly said they want me to join their lab. I would consider joining 2/3 of them. I really like both PI's and the work they do (and the work they would let...

..in a taught masters (UK). My undergrad project was a literature review on general relativity The topic of my project this summer (3 months) will be modified theories of gravity & cosmology. How do you go about doing some original work at this level? - would the first step be to identify a...

The code below is the the main thesis style, know as muthesis.sty; It is a style to allow Title, Signatures, Dedication, Table of Contents, Main Matter (Chapter and Sections), Biblio., and approval letter. Edit it to your liking; just make sure all the files are containted within the same...

My research requires using the multilevel structural equation model (MSEM). I've read countless articles related to MSEM and I have not been able to pinpoint the best program. They vary from SPSS, MPlus, SAS, LISREL, AMOS, R2, etc. Any recommendations? I've asked around my academic circle and...

-Defending soon, -Have a part-time job in Intelligence that I go full-time after officially graduating. -Starting to see the end of the tunnel.

Hello, I'm currently on a BSc Physics course and I need some ideas for my final year project. I'm mostly thinking about Climate and Astronomy or a mixture of both would suit me more. Regards, Jadaav.

Hi! I'm going on to the masters year of a theoretical physics course and I need some inspiration for my dissertation. Last year I did a one semester long project on quantum computation. (More specifically I discussed the general idea of a qubit, a simple method of realising a qubit using spin...

Hi, I really need some advice on this if anyone can help? Below are some excerpts from my dissertation on Sonoluminescence: My question is, is it okay to write the above as they are? Or for example in the first line is a date after the et al. ALWAYS required? Any advice on this would really...

I am currently writing my final year dissertation and have referenced not only academic papers but some internet sources that I have quoted or taken diagrams from. In particular I have referenced Wiki two times. I am concerned as I feel the inclusion of internet links is somewhat frowned upon...

Looking at different graduate programs to apply to for physics focusing on biological physics. Very different research going on from school to school in the field so most of the criteria I'm basing where I apply is what kind of research is listed. My understanding of the process at your given...

Homework Statement So I am currently in my final year working on my thesis. Below is the details of my thesis topic: Metacentric height (Computational) It is a simple matter to determine whether a body will float in a liquid, it is not so easy to determine the orientation at which the body...

Homework Statement So I am currently in my final year working on my thesis. Below is the details of my thesis topic: Metacentric height (Computational) It is a simple matter to determine whether a body will float in a liquid, it is not so easy to determine the orientation at which the body...

So I am currently in my final year working on my thesis. Below is the details of my thesis topic: Metacentric height (Computational) It is a simple matter to determine whether a body will float in a liquid, it is not so easy to determine the orientation at which the body will float or the...

Hope this is in the right place, please could someone who is familiar with writing dissertations tell me if I should use my own words underneath the Figures I have included? For example if I have taken a graph from a paper is it ok to take the description below it also, or should I write my own...

conflict? I'm currently starting to write a dissertation for my 3rd year project and wondering if someone could give me some advice? I'm finding published research papers that conflict each other, obviously up until now I have taken them and anything in textbooks as gospel. But now I'm in the...

Hi everyone. I am doing research about what happens to light energy after it has been absorbed by a leaf but before it has been used in the photosysnthetic reactions. For that I need to use system of 3 nonlinear ordinary differential equations. My dissertation title is : A hybrid numerical...

Hi everyone. I am doing research about what happens to light energy after it has been absorbed by a leaf but before it has been used in the photosysnthetic reactions. For that I need to use system of 3 nonlinear ordinary differential equations. My dissertation title is : A hybrid numerical...

I'm looking to write a dissertation in the field of logic (for a philosophy degree). I'm deeply interested in logic, but whenever I consider the material beyond my courses it becomes pretty daunting. I'm reasonably familiar with: *First Order Logic *Set Theory and ZFC *Cantor's Diagonal...

Hello Everyone, I am seeking some guidance in a topic related to my group dissertation subject. The exact title of the dissertation is 'Investigation on the effect of using nano-ceramics on the strength of composite plates subjected to dynamic (impact) load.'. I had initially been bestowed the...

Hi, I've recently started a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering. I've never taken on a research project before and I've been recommended to look into the area of Metal Additive Manufacturing as it's an area that's quickly developing. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a...

Hello! I'm in need of some guidance concerning the topic of my essay. I've been tasked with writing an essay on physics as part of my IB Diploma requirements. The IB Diploma is meant to be a 4000 word essay exploring a narrow topic of my choice. I have been extremely interested in...

Homework Statement I'm currently creating a PID control system for a Voice coil motor, my issue is obtaining the transfer equation that relates the voltage to the displacement. Ignoring gravity it is easy however once gravity is included I can't figure out how to rearrange it. Homework...

This is a question that i am struggling to find any answer to on the internet. Doing some research for my 4th year honours dissertation. I have a wind turbine capable of producing a certain output at say windspeed of 10mph. Meaning that the wind is moving towards the turbine at 10mph...

Writing a dissertation is indeed a difficult task. As a PhD student, I was expecting my adviser to help but alas ... Should I go ahead and learn by example by reading published PhD dissertations ? I need some advice from you guys who have some ideas or experience. Thank you.

Hi I am i need of some advice with regards to completing my dissertation. It was based around the idea that i should develop a humidity based control system and integrate it into a temperature control chamber to fully develop an environment chamber. I am basically quite far behind in writing the...

Hello everyone, I love reading the posts on PF. I enjoy hearing the experiences and thoughts from engineers, scientists, hobbyists, etc. who love science. I have a question regarding academia: does anyone know how easy or difficult it is to become a professor in a department outside of...

Hi, I am currently studying for a one year postgrad MSc in Theoretical Physics. In my undergraduate physics degree, my dissertation was on general relativity, so I got a taste of differential geometry and manifolds which I really enjoyed. At the moment I'm currently attending lectures...

I recently deleted my Latex code for my dissertation and now I'm starting from scratch. In my last code I had a line of code at the beginning that does all of my auto fitting for brackets, fractions etc. without having to worry about using \Bigg etc. but I can't seem to remember what it is, I...

I am wondering who to ask to supervise my dissertation (I'm in final year undergraduate mathematics). My interest is functional analysis and there two members of staff involved in this area. X is a professor and he is well respected, Y has been a lecturer here for about four years and is well...

Hey. I'm in my last year doing a degree in Physics, and this semester I have a project which is worth 1/3rd of this semester. I have chosen to do it on Global Positioning Systems. My university hasn't given me much help for my project - they have literally been like "go away and do a project...

I was wondering if its possible to start on you dissertation in your sophomore or undergraduate years. I want to start on this to plan ahead.

Hi, I'm writing a dissertation and would like to do it in Latex, I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good template that will work in MikTex for this purpose? It's to be in the style of short report on a topic not a paper (i.e. no abstract, few references), just like an essay I guess...

Hi sorry if this is very basic, I am an animal final year student and have come across a problem for my dissertation. I am looking at wavelength of light. Now the question, is a green bulb purely giving off green light, ie if it more blue green is it giving of predonimantly light of around 500...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr._authorship_issues So why is MLK allowed to plagiarize and not get his PhD revoked when any other regular PhD would have their head roll if they got caught plagiarizing? Cheated on his wife?-...

It's time I started thinking about my final year project (it's next year, and I want to make a really good go of it) The three main streams my department normally offer as project themes are: i) Experimental ii) Computational iii) Scholarly Research Theoretical physics topics tend to...

I am trying to think of a subject on which to write an 8000 word dissertation on a physics topic of my choice. I was wondering if you had any ideas which i could follow up. It can be contempary physics to historical From Super String Theory to Ether and other interpretations of the...