<human>: What is the difference between a thesis and a dissertation?
<bot>: The main difference between a thesis and a dissertation is that a thesis is typically an original piece of research, while a dissertation is more focused on synthesizing existing knowledge in a particular field. A thesis usually requires a larger amount of time to complete than a dissertation, as it involves conducting primary research and analyzing data. On the other hand, a dissertation is often based on previous studies and focuses more heavily on writing up the results from those studies in a way that makes sense within the context of the subject area.