What the summary covers
Theses are organised differently from journal papers: the literature review and theory chapters can take half the document, and findings are spread across several empirical chapters. With the Thesis / dissertation type, the summary reconstructs the logic of the whole work:
- Research question and motivation — the gap the thesis addresses.
- Theoretical framework — the concepts and authors it builds on.
- Methodology — design, data, cases or experiments, and how they were analysed.
- Findings per chapter — what each empirical chapter shows.
- Contribution claimed — what the author says is new.
- Limitations and future work.
How to summarize a thesis
- Upload the thesis PDFFrom your university repository or your own draft.
- Keep “Thesis / dissertation” selectedChoose Comprehensive to get headings per chapter.
- Review chapter by chapterPage references show where each finding is developed.
- Ask targeted questions“What sampling method was used?”, “How does chapter 5 answer the research question?”.
- Reuse the outputDraft an abstract with the abstract generator, or keep the summary for your literature review.
Common uses
- Preparing a defence (viva). Get an outside-view summary of your own thesis and check that the contribution comes through clearly.
- Supervisors and examiners getting the structure of a thesis before a detailed read.
- Literature reviews. Theses often contain the most complete review of a niche topic; summarize them to map the field.
- Writing the abstract. Summarize the full thesis, then use the abstract generator for a 250-word version.
Limits
Figures and diagrams are not read unless they contain text. Equations are extracted as plain text. If your thesis is longer than 300 pages, split it (for example front matter + chapters 1-4, then chapters 5-8). Your draft is deleted after processing and never used for training — see the privacy section on the home page.
Frequently asked questions
Can it summarize a 250-page PhD thesis?
Yes. The free tool handles up to 300 pages. Long theses are processed in parts and merged into one summary.
Can it write my abstract?
It can draft one from the thesis text with the abstract generator. Treat it as a starting point: check every claim and adapt it to your university's requirements.
Is it plagiarism to use an AI summary?
Using a summary to understand or review a document is not plagiarism. Submitting AI-written text as your own work may break your institution's rules — check them, and always write or rewrite the final text yourself.
Can it compare two theses?
Summarize each one, then compare the methods and findings. You can ask questions to each document separately.
Does it work for theses in French, German or Spanish?
Yes. You can keep the summary in the thesis language or choose another of the 20 output languages.