Writing a good and effective thesis statement is an important skill for students and researchers to acquire. Although everyone agrees that research reports should be concise, there seems to be little guidance as to the optimal length. So how long should a thesis statement be? Well, that depends… is the boring but correct answer.
To get to the question, let’s separate the following:
Table of Contents
- How long is a thesis statement and where should it be?
- How long can and can’t be a thesis statement?
- How long should a thesis be for a high school student?
- How many sentences are there in a thesis statement?
- How long should a thesis last?
- What is the expected duration of a thesis for a high school essay?
- How long are thesis statements for college essays?
- How long is a standard thesis statement for professional research papers?
- How long should a thesis be?
How long is a dissertation that concludes many things and raises several questions such as how many words should a thesis statement have? It should not be too long, thirty to forty words maximum. In general, your thesis statement should reflect your knowledge and the scope of the essay you are writing. Whether you are writing an analytical research paper or an essay, the introduction part should include the thesis statement. Your thesis should be at the beginning of the article, preferably in the first paragraph.
Why are thesis statements so long?
The main purpose of the thesis statement is to give you a quick, brief and detailed description or idea of the topic of the thesis. Therefore, it is extremely important that your thesis statement be short and to the point. So when it comes to short, detailed statements, the minimum may be 1 sentence. Therefore, the thesis statement should be just one long sentence.
Also, speaking of word limit, a sentence that is between 20 and 60 words is compatible to be short and precise.
Any sentence with a word count of more than 60 words is considered long and not a sentence. Therefore, the word limit for a thesis statement is 20-60 words only.
Survey of 149 PostDocs
In mid-2019, Dr. Eva Lantsoght, a published author, academic blogger, and professor of structural engineering, conducted a survey asking students for a Ph.D. complete. graduate time. her final thesis. A total of 149 postdoctoral students responded to the survey, with the majority indicating a length of between 80,000 and 120,000 words, as shown below.
Thesis template
You can also download our full thesis template below in the format of your choice. Our template includes a ready-to-use table of contents, along with instructions on the content of each chapter. It’s easy to do yourself and will help you get started.
Download Word template Download Google Docs template