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About this tool
Splits a thesis word count across the standard six chapters and writes an outline prompt with research questions and scope built in.
The Thesis Outline Prompt Builder allocates a thesis word count across the conventional six-chapter dissertation structure — introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion — and writes an AI outline prompt that embeds the budget, numbered research questions and an explicit scope statement. It is built for undergraduate, master's and doctoral students who want a chapter plan that traces every research question through all six chapters, using the common 10% introduction / 25% literature review share guidance found in university dissertation handbooks.
Open Thesis Outline Prompt Builder on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
Every chapter in the prompt carries its own word allocation using the largest-remainder method, so the six budgets always sum exactly to your total.
The prompt requires each numbered RQ to be introduced, grounded, operationalised, answered and interpreted — and flags any RQ that disappears mid-thesis.
Choosing quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, systematic review or design project swaps in a directive written for that research design.
A widely used planning split is 10% introduction, 25% literature review, 20% methodology, 20% results, 15% discussion and 10% conclusion. For a 20,000-word master's thesis that gives 2,000 / 5,000 / 4,000 / 4,000 / 3,000 / 2,000 words. Treat it as a starting point — your university handbook and supervisor override any rule of thumb.
Most theses work best with one to three research questions, and this tool caps the count at six because more cannot each be answered properly in a single thesis. Each question should be answerable with your chosen methodology and name its unit of analysis.
Common norms are 8,000–12,000 words for an undergraduate dissertation, 15,000–20,000 for a taught master's, and up to 80,000 words for a doctoral thesis — the 80,000 cap appears in the regulations of many universities, including Oxford and Cambridge for humanities doctorates. Always confirm the limit in your own institution's regulations.
The prompt explicitly instructs the model to write [source needed] wherever literature must be filled in rather than fabricate authors, papers or datasets. You still must find and verify real sources yourself — AI-invented references are a common cause of academic misconduct findings.