PhD vs Master’s Thesis: Novelty vs Extension

What’s the difference between a PhD thesis and a master’s thesis? They can look very similar, but there is an important distinction in the type of contribution they are usually expected to make. A PhD thesis typically answers an original research question and contributes new knowledge to the field: work that can potentially be published in peer-reviewed academic journals. A master’s thesis, although this varies between fields and individual programmes, is more often an extension or application of something that is already known. That distinction between novelty and extension is useful to u