This is not something for us to tell, everyone already knows that a doctoral degree and a successful PhD research serve as the highest academic qualifications in a subject area. This means it has to be as perfect as it can be.
This is why it is important to understand the basics of developing a PhD thesis which brings us to one of the most important factors of a thesis; that is, writing the abstract and thesis synopsis.
A lot of PhD aspirants often struggle with the difference in writing an abstract and a synopsis. Here, we have enlisted a few points which will help you in understanding the difference between writing an abstract and synopsis for PhD Thesis.
What Is An Abstract?
Sticking to the point, an abstract is simply a short (ranging from 200-300 words) overview of the PhD thesis which is developed for the readers, audience, future researchers, and sometimes even for your future job applications, where the reader does not have much time to go through your entire thesis to understand what the research is about.
The abstract must only contain the highlights of the PhD thesis, like:
- the research introduction
- the research purpose
- the problem statement
- the research methodology and framework
- the research findings
- the result and conclusion
Now, you see, to include all these points in a 200-300 words short paragraph or roughly one page worth of content, the abstract only has 2-3 lines dedicated to each section. It helps the readers and audience to evaluate whether the PhD thesis focuses on the things they are looking into or not.
What Is A Thesis Synopsis?
A PhD thesis synopsis is also a summarized version of the complete thesis research but it is much longer and detailed than the abstract of the thesis. In fact, in some cases, the thesis synopsis might also include the abstract of the thesis, if the university guidelines mention it.
A synopsis writing strictly include the following areas:
- the research title and topic introduction
- the research requirements
- the literature review
- the research gap and problem statement
- the research methodology
- the research significance, scope and objectives
- the expected budget and deadline of the research
A PhD thesis synopsis is also known as proposal because it proposes the idea of the researcher to the research committee. It is important to understand that synopsis, thus, needs to be well-curated in order to get the acceptance for conducting the whole research.
Difference Between Thesis Abstract And Synopsis
To keep it easily interpretable and straightforward, we have divided the differences in points on the basis of which you can deduct the basic differences between the two.
Order:
An abstract is written after the PhD thesis has been developed as it includes the result section as well and it needs to be added with the thesis while submitting it to the research committee or sending it to get published.
Whereas, a thesis synopsis needs to be written before the thesis development and must receive the acceptance by the concerned authorities in order to get the approval for the research conduct.
Significance:
The abstract is mostly significant in boosting the career and is more prominent for the later stages that come after the doctoral degree. As in getting a job or publishing the research where the editors and viewers go through the abstract first because of the time shortage.
As for the synopsis, it is more important for academia and shows the ideas and perceptions of the young scholars.
Format:
The abstract is usually written in one of two paragraphs and appears first in the PhD thesis; whereas, the synopsis contains different headlines just like the different chapters in PhD thesis writing to clearly discuss all those areas and is not connected with the PhD thesis but is submitted separately.
Inclusions:
Other than the brief introduction and highlights of the PhD thesis, the abstract also talks about the result. The main focus remains on giving the complete overview of the research. However, the synopsis writing does not include the results and conclusions. It mainly focuses on the importance of the research and the course of development providing a framework to the research that needs to be conducted.
A smart person once said “if you want a thing done well, then do it yourself”, but we say when you can get the better work, then don’t settle for anything less that can affect your PhD research and academic career in one blow.
A lot of scholars make mistakes when they end up writing the summary of synopsis in the abstract considering it right. Having errors in complex areas can still be avoided considering the overall research, but having errors in the basics may portray you as ignorant in regards to your study.
For consultancy and any PhD thesis guidance services, get in touch with our teams of experts or leave your query and we will call you back.