Each university has its own rules

Before taking a look at the examples, take into account that all universities have
their own guidelines for writing theses.

For instance, the Oxford University has own requirements for each faculty,
regarding the number of words. The number of words here can vary from 50,000 to
100,000 words, whereas another university may ask you to only write 20,000 words.

Therefore, we highly recommend that you take a look at your own universitys
policies.

Examples of PhD theses and dissertations that have been awarded

University: California Institute of Technology

Faculty: Physics
Author: Michael P. Mendenhall
Award: Dissertation Award in Nuclear Physics 2015
Level: Dissertation Doctor of Philosophy
Title: Measurement of the neutron beta decay asymmetry using ultracold neutrons

University: University of Oxford St Hildas College

Faculty: Computer Science
Author: Mattias P. Heinrich
Award: 2014 Sullivan Thesis Prize
Level: Dissertation Doctor of Philosophy
Title: Deformable lung registration for pulmonary image analysis of MRI and CT
scans

University: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Faculty: Mathematical, Physical & Life Sciences Division Engineering Science
Author: John Criswell
Award: 2014 Doctoral Dissertation Award
Level: Dissertation Doctor of Philosophy
Title: Secure Virtual Architecture: Security for Commodity Software Systems

University: University of Wisconsin-Madison

Faculty: Economics
Author: SeoJeong Lee
Award: Dissertation Doctor of Philosophy
Level: 2014 Zellner Award
Title: Misspecification-Robust Bootstrap for Moment Condition Models

University: Stanford University

Faculty: Management Science and Engineering
Author: Shayan O. Gharan
Award: Doctoral Dissertation Award 2013
Level: Dissertation Doctor of Philosophy
Title: New Rounding Techniques for the Design and Analysis of Approximation
Algorithms

University: University of Minnesota

Faculty: Chemical Engineering
Author: Eric Vandre
Award: Dissertation Doctor of Philosophy
Level: 2014 Andreas Acrivos Dissertation Award in Fluid Dynamics
Title: Onset of Dynamics Wetting Failure: The Mechanics of High-speed Fluid
Displacement
University: Erasmus University Rotterdam
Faculty: Management
Author: Ezgi Akpinar
Award: McKinsey Marketing Dissertation Award 2014
Level: Dissertation Doctor of Philosophy
Title: Consumer Information Sharing: Understanding Psychological Drivers of Social
Transmission

University: University of Yale

Faculty: Economics
Author: Zhipeng Liao
Award: 2012 Zellner Award
Level: Dissertation Doctor of Philosophy
Title: Shrinkage Methods for Automated Econometric Model Determination

University: University of Washington

Faculty: Computer Science & Engineering
Author: Keith N. Snavely
Award: Doctoral Dissertation Award 2009
Level: Dissertation Doctor of Philosophy
Title: Scene Reconstruction and Visualization from Internet Photo Collections