Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A lengthy, formal treatise, especially one written by a candidate for the doctoral degree at a university; a thesis.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A set or formal discourse.
  • noun A written essay, treatise, or disquisition: as, Newton's dissertations on the prophecies.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A formal or elaborate argumentative discourse, oral or written; a disquisition; an essay; a discussion.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A formal exposition of a subject, especially a research paper that students write in order to complete the requirements for a doctoral degree; a thesis.
  • noun A lengthy lecture on a subject; a treatise; a discourse; a sermon.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a treatise advancing a new point of view resulting from research; usually a requirement for an advanced academic degree

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin dissertationem, from dissertare.

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Examples

  • Everybody Dies puts you in the shoes of a chubby metalhead who has smoked his last smoke, with illustrations by Michael Cho; Nightfall drops you into a mysterious city where everyone's fled before the approaching Enemy; and in Violet your struggle to write your dissertation is aided by the most charming voice-in-your-head character in history.

    Boing Boing 2008

  • In the meantime I'm floored by the fact that your dissertation is actually 8 chapters long!

    Open Letters, All Unsent 2006

  • And it goes without saying that the dissertation is a source of tension.

    Archive 2006-04-01 2006

  • Chapter 4 of my dissertation is all about the way in which some Muslims coerce other Muslims into remaining silent in expressing their moderation.

    More on (non)Dhimmis and (non)Dhimmitude Richard Nokes 2006

  • And it goes without saying that the dissertation is a source of tension.

    Tension 2006

  • Chapter 4 of my dissertation is all about the way in which some Muslims coerce other Muslims into remaining silent in expressing their moderation.

    Moderate Muslims as Dhimmi Richard Nokes 2006

  • I'm glad that my dissertation is almost at the halfway point, that I'm going on the job market, and that I'm undertaking my own research and not worrying about the administrivia of the department.

    Sometimes It Sucks and Sometimes It's OK 2005

  • I'm glad that my dissertation is almost at the halfway point, that I'm going on the job market, and that I'm undertaking my own research and not worrying about the administrivia of the department.

    Archive 2005-08-01 2005

  • I've been told a part of the problem with the first chapter of a dissertation is that there is still an immense degree of fluctuation between what's necessary to a chapter and what will eventually become a part of the introduction to the dissertation as a whole.

    Sarah Maclachlan and the Old English Orosius Mary Kate Hurley 2009

  • Besides, technically, under federal law, unless the thesis or dissertation is actually published, they are protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Period.

    Your thesis and you « Dating Jesus 2009

Comments

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  • Irritation, constipation, aggravation, consternation, deprivation, agitation, infuriation, machination... Supposedly independent project that serves a gatekeeping function.

    June 28, 2008