What is involved in doing a PhD

A PhD usually culminates in a dissertation of about 100/150 pages; however, some students may work on dissertations of hundreds of pages, since they delve as deeply as possible into their thesis topic. A PhD research has to be original and conceived to create new knowledge or theories in a given area of specialization or to develop existing knowledge or theories. Basically, each student needs to work on a literature review of the chosen topic by filling in existing gaps and adding elements of originality and rediscovery. The "originality" element is of paramount importance and it is usually considered by the committee when assigning the final grade. The thesis must have a definite purpose and set one or more goals aimed at updating the existing literature and making contributions to research.