A thesis or dissertation is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings. In some contexts, the word "thesis" or a cognate is used for part of a bachelor's or master's course, while "dissertation" is normally applied to a doctorate, while in other contexts, the reverse is true. The term graduate thesis is sometimes used to refer to both master's theses and doctoral dissertations. Dissertations and theses may be considered to be grey literature.
The required complexity or quality of research of a thesis or dissertation can vary by country, university, or program, and the required minimum study period may thus vary significantly in duration.
The word dissertation can at times be used to describe a treatise without relation to obtaining an academic degree. The term thesis is also used to refer to the general claim of an essay or similar work.
The term "thesis" comes from the Greek θέσις, meaning "something put forth", and refers to an intellectual proposition. "Dissertation" comes from the Latin dissertātiō, meaning "path".
In music and prosody, arsis and thesis refer to the stronger and weaker parts of a musical measure or poetic foot. Arsis and thesis were the raising and lowering of the foot in beating of time, or the raising and lowering of the voice in pitch or stress. Accordingly, in music and in Greek scansion arsis is an unaccented note (upbeat), but in Latin and modern poetry it is the stressed syllable (ictus).
In Latin (and Greek) dactylic hexameter, the strong part of a foot is the first syllable — always long — and the weak part is what comes after — two short syllables (dactyl: long—short—short) or one long syllable (spondee: long—long). Because Classical poetry was not based on stress, the arsis is often not stressed; only consistent length distinguishes it.
In English, poetry is based on stress, and therefore arsis and thesis refer to the accented and unaccented parts of a foot.
Thesis is an interdisciplinary German network of young scientists, current and former PhD students in or with some relation to Germany. Thesis is a founding member of the European network of doctoral candidates Eurodoc.