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Dissertation Explained: A Grad Student’s Guide

Updated: June 19, 2024

Published: March 10, 2020

Higher education is filled with milestones. When completing your PhD , you will be required to complete a dissertation. Even if you’ve heard this word thrown around before, you still may be questioning “What is a dissertation?” It’s a common question, especially for those considering to join or are already in a graduate program. As such, here’s everything you need to know about dissertations.

What is a Dissertation?

A dissertation is a written document that details research. A dissertation also signifies the completion of your PhD program. It is required to earn a PhD degree, which stands for Doctor of Philosophy.

A PhD is created from knowledge acquired from:

1. Coursework:

A PhD program consists of academic courses that are usually small in size and challenging in content. Most PhD courses consist of a high amount and level of reading and writing per week. These courses will help prepare you for your dissertation as they will teach research methodology.

2. Research:

For your dissertation, it is likely that you will have the choice between performing your own research on a subject , or expanding on existing research. Likely, you will complete a mixture of the two. For those in the hard sciences, you will perform research in a lab. For those in humanities and social sciences, research may mean gathering data from surveys or existing research.

3. Analysis:

Once you have collected the data you need to prove your point, you will have to analyze and interpret the information. PhD programs will prepare you for how to conduct analysis, as well as for how to position your research into the existing body of work on the subject matter.

4. Support:

The process of writing and completing a dissertation is bigger than the work itself. It can lead to research positions within the university or outside companies. It may mean that you will teach and share your findings with current undergraduates, or even be published in academic journals. How far you plan to take your dissertation is your choice to make and will require the relevant effort to accomplish your goals.

Moving from Student to Scholar

In essence, a dissertation is what moves a doctoral student into becoming a scholar. Their research may be published, shared, and used as educational material moving forwards.

Thesis vs. Dissertation

Basic differences.

Grad students may conflate the differences between a thesis and a dissertation.

Simply put, a thesis is what you write to complete a master’s degree. It summarizes existing research and signifies that you understand the subject matter deeply.

On the other hand, a dissertation is the culmination of a doctoral program. It will likely require your own research and it can contribute an entirely new idea into your field.

Structural Differences

When it comes to the structure, a thesis and dissertation are also different. A thesis is like the research papers you complete during undergraduate studies. A thesis displays your ability to think critically and analyze information. It’s less based on research that you’ve completed yourself and more about interpreting and analyzing existing material. They are generally around 100 pages in length.

A dissertation is generally two to three times longer compared to a thesis. This is because the bulk of the information is garnered from research you’ve performed yourself. Also, if you are providing something new in your field, it means that existing information is lacking. That’s why you’ll have to provide a lot of data and research to back up your claims.

Your Guide: Structuring a Dissertation

Dissertation length.

The length of a dissertation varies between study level and country. At an undergraduate level, this is more likely referred to as a research paper, which is 10,000 to 12,000 words on average. At a master’s level, the word count may be 15,000 to 25,000, and it will likely be in the form of a thesis. For those completing their PhD, then the dissertation could be 50,000 words or more.

Photo by  Louis Reed  on  Unsplash

Format of the dissertation.

Here are the items you must include in a dissertation. While the format may slightly vary, here’s a look at one way to format your dissertation:

1. Title page:

This is the first page which includes: title, your name, department, degree program, institution, and submission date. Your program may specify exactly how and what they want you to include on the title page.

2. Acknowledgements:

This is optional, but it is where you can express your gratitude to those who have helped you complete your dissertation (professors, research partners, etc.).

3. Abstract:

The abstract is about 150-300 words and summarizes what your research is about. You state the main topic, the methods used, the main results, and your conclusion.

4. Table of Contents

Here, you list the chapter titles and pages to serve as a wayfinding tool for your readers.

5. List of Figures and Tables:

This is like the table of contents, but for graphs and figures.

6. List of Abbreviations:

If you’ve constantly abbreviated words in your content, define them in a list at the beginning.

7. Glossary:

In highly specialized work, it’s likely that you’ve used words that most people may not understand, so a glossary is where you define these terms.

8. Introduction:

Your introduction sets up the topic, purpose, and relevance. It’s where readers will understand what they expect to gain from your dissertation.

9. Literature Review / Theoretical Framework:

Based on the research you performed to create your own dissertation, you’ll want to summarize and address the gaps in what you researched.

10. Methodology

This is where you define how you conducted your research. It offers credibility for you as a source of information. You should give all the details as to how you’ve conducted your research, including: where and when research took place, how it was conducted, any obstacles you faced, and how you justified your findings.

11. Results:

This is where you share the results that have helped contribute to your findings.

12. Discussion:

In the discussion section, you explain what these findings mean to your research question. Were they in line with your expectations or did something jump out as surprising? You may also want to recommend ways to move forward in researching and addressing the subject matter.

13. Conclusion:

A conclusion ties it all together and summarizes the answer to the research question and leaves your reader clearly understanding your main argument.

14. Reference List:

This is the equivalent to a works cited or bibliography page, which documents all the sources you used to create your dissertation.

15. Appendices:

If you have any information that was ancillary to creating the dissertation, but doesn’t directly fit into its chapters, then you can add it in the appendix.

Drafting and Rewriting

As with any paper, especially one of this size and importance, the writing requires a process. It may begin with outlines and drafts, and even a few rewrites. It’s important to proofread your dissertation for both grammatical mistakes, but also to ensure it can be clearly understood.

It’s always useful to read your writing out loud to catch mistakes. Also, if you have people who you trust to read it over — like a peer, family member, mentor, or professor — it’s very helpful to get a second eye on your work.

How is it Different from an Essay?

There are a few main differences between a dissertation and an essay. For starters, an essay is relatively short in comparison to a dissertation, which includes your own body of research and work. Not only is an essay shorter, but you are also likely given the topic matter of an essay. When it comes to a dissertation, you have the freedom to construct your own argument, conduct your own research, and then prove your findings.

Types of Dissertations

You can choose what type of dissertation you complete. Often, this depends on the subject and doctoral degree, but the two main types are:

This relies on conducting your own research.

Non-empirical:

This relies on studying existing research to support your argument.

Photo by  freddie marriage  on  Unsplash

More things you should know.

A dissertation is certainly no easy feat. Here’s a few more things to remember before you get started writing your own:

1. Independent by Nature:

The process of completing a dissertation is self-directed, and therefore can feel overwhelming. However, if you approach it like the new experience that it is with an open-mind and willingness to learn, you will make it through!

2. Seek Support:

There are countless people around to offer support. From professors to peers, you can always ask for help throughout the process.

3. Writing Skills:

The process of writing a dissertation will further hone your writing skills which will follow you throughout your life. These skills are highly transferable on the job, from having the ability to communicate to also developing analytical and critical thinking skills.

4. Time Management:

You can work backwards from the culmination of your program to break down this gargantuan task into smaller pieces. That way, you can manage your time to chip away at the task throughout the length of the program.

5. Topic Flexibility:

It’s okay to change subject matters and rethink the point of your dissertation. Just try as much as possible to do this early in the process so you don’t waste too much time and energy.

The Wrap Up

A dissertation marks the completion of your doctoral program and moves you from being a student to being a scholar. While the process is long and requires a lot of effort and energy, you have the power to lend an entirely new research and findings into your field of expertise.

As always, when in the thick of things, remember why you started. Completing both your dissertation and PhD is a commendable accomplishment.

In this article

At UoPeople, our blog writers are thinkers, researchers, and experts dedicated to curating articles relevant to our mission: making higher education accessible to everyone. Read More

10 Steps to becoming a prolific scholar

1) Write 15–30 minutes daily

According to Gray, “Inspiration follows a daily writing habit, it doesn’t precede it.” She advises writing daily and making your writing a priority by scheduling it first in your workday – even if you are between projects.

2) Record Your Minutes Spent Writing—Share Records Daily

Gray argues that it is not enough simply to develop a habit of writing daily, but that it is important to share your results with someone who can hold you accountable. She says, “Hold yourself accountable to a writing coach the way athletes do. Be accountable for writing daily.” Even a quick email with just two digits in the subject line – your minutes spent writing – can serve as accountability communication with your coach. A good coach will be invested in your writing, so Gray suggests selecting someone who cares about your success and whose opinion you care deeply about.

3) Write informally from the first day of your research project

Writing freely without trying to revise your paragraphs as you write is a tactic that Gray says may seem pointless but leads you to more focused, purposeful writing. She also states that our time spent reading should be focused on reading to write, not on reading to learn.

4) Outline based on an exemplar – an excellent paper, grant proposal, thesis, etc. on a subject as close to your research as possible

“Writing becomes easier when working with an outline because you are filling in blanks”, states Gray. By starting with an exemplar, you can outline the topics covered in the model and further outline what you will do in your paper to parallel the original work.

5) Identify key sentences

“Key sentences represent the point of the paragraph, are often found early in the paragraph, and cover everything in the paragraph – but no more”, says Gray. Once identified, the key sentences are used to organize paragraphs by transition, topic, and support or evidence.

6) Make a list of key sentences – an after the fact outline or “reverse outline” to help organize between paragraphs

With the reverse outline, Gray advises reading the key sentences both backwards and forwards. First, read them backwards to check for purpose and remove ones that don’t serve the purpose of the paper. Next, read them forward to check for organization, reordering as necessary. Finally, re-read your changes and repeat the process as needed.

7) Seek informal feedback before formal review

There are two key types of informal reviewers that Gray suggests seeking before the formal review – non-experts and Capital-E experts. Non-experts may be outside your discipline – even family and friends, whereas the Capital-E experts are those you cite most in your work. Gray says that with either audience it is important to ask pointed questions. For non-experts, ask “In what two places is my paper 1) least clear, 2) least organized, and 3) least persuasive?” When approaching the Capital-E experts, she adds “explain how their work informed yours, ask specific questions, ask for a ‘quick read’, ask ‘where to send the manuscript’, and volunteer to read for them” for a greater response rate.

8) Respond effectively to feedback

The goal of review and feedback is improvement, but in order to improve you must be open to and act upon the feedback received. Gray makes two suggestions for responding effectively to feedback. First, “listen without judgement, keep your readers talking or writing, and realize that when it comes to clarity the reader is always right.” Second, “respond thoroughly and quickly by doing something with each feedback item.”

9) Read your manuscript out loud

Reading out loud just before sending to press allows you to “see your manuscript through a new lens and make your prose more conversational”, says Gray. To slow the process down, she suggests reading paragraph by paragraph backwards. Where you find wordy sentences, break them apart. To untangle sentences, she adds, “put the subject and verb together within the first seven words of the sentence.”

10) Kick it out the door and make them say No!

At this point, Gray says only three obstacles remain – pride, perfectionism, and fear of rejection. Offering advice on how to overcome all three, she concludes, “Your job is to write it and submit it. Your reviewer’s job is to tell you if it will embarrass you publicly, so kick it out the door and make them say yes.”

The complete session recordings are available in TAA’s Presentations on Demand library.

Tara’s book, Publish & Flourish: Become a Prolific Scholar , can be purchased in both paperback and eBook versions.

Eric Schmieder is the Membership Marketing Manager for TAA. He has taught computer technology concepts to curriculum, continuing education, and corporate training students since 2001. A lifelong learner, teacher, and textbook author, Eric seeks to use technology in ways that improve results in his daily processes and in the lives of those he serves. His latest textbook,  Web, Database, and Programming: A foundational approach to data-driven application development using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, MySQL, and PHP, First Edition , is available now through Sentia Publishing.

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What is a thesis?

What is a dissertation, getting started, staying on track, thesis abstract, lit(erature) review.

A thesis is a long-term project that you work on over the course of a semester or a year. Theses have a very wide variety of styles and content, so we encourage you to look at prior examples and work closely with faculty to develop yours. 

Before you begin, make sure that you are familiar with the dissertation genre—what it is for and what it looks like.

Generally speaking, a dissertation’s purpose is to prove that you have the expertise necessary to fulfill your doctoral-degree requirements by showing depth of knowledge and independent thinking.

The form of a dissertation may vary by discipline. Be sure to follow the specific guidelines of your department.

• PhD This site directs candidates to the GSAS website about dissertations , with links to checklists,  planning, formatting, acknowledgments, submission, and publishing options. There is also a link to guidelines for the prospectus . Consult with your committee chair about specific requirements and standards for your dissertation.
• DDES This document covers planning, patent filing, submission guidelines, publishing options, formatting guidelines, sample pages, citation guidelines, and a list of common errors to avoid. There is also a link to guidelines for the prospectus .
• Scholarly Pursuits (GSAS) This searchable booklet from Harvard GSAS is a comprehensive guide to writing dissertations, dissertation-fellowship applications, academic journal articles, and academic job documents.

Finding an original topic can be a daunting and overwhelming task. These key concepts can help you focus and save time.

Finding a topic for your thesis or dissertation should start with a research question that excites or at least interests you. A rigorous, engaging, and original project will require continuous curiosity about your topic, about your own thoughts on the topic, and about what other scholars have said on your topic. Avoid getting boxed in by thinking you know what you want to say from the beginning; let your research and your writing evolve as you explore and fine-tune your focus through constant questioning and exploration.

Get a sense of the broader picture before you narrow your focus and attempt to frame an argument. Read, skim, and otherwise familiarize yourself with what other scholars have done in areas related to your proposed topic. Briefly explore topics tangentially related to yours to broaden your perspective and increase your chance of finding a unique angle to pursue.

Critical Reading

Critical reading is the opposite of passive reading. Instead of merely reading for information to absorb, critical reading also involves careful, sustained thinking about what you are reading. This process may include analyzing the author’s motives and assumptions, asking what might be left out of the discussion, considering what you agree with or disagree with in the author’s statements and why you agree or disagree, and exploring connections or contradictions between scholarly arguments. Here is a resource to help hone your critical-reading skills:

https://guides.library.harvard.edu/sixreadinghabits  

https://youtu.be/BcV64lowMIA

Conversation

Your thesis or dissertation will incorporate some ideas from other scholars whose work you researched. By reading critically and following your curiosity, you will develop your own ideas and claims, and these contributions are the core of your project. You will also acknowledge the work of scholars who came before you, and you must accurately and fairly attribute this work and define your place within the larger discussion. Make sure that you know how to quote, summarize, paraphrase ,  integrate , and cite sources to avoid plagiarism and to show the depth and breadth of your knowledge.

A thesis is a long-term, large project that involves both research and writing; it is easy to lose focus, motivation, and momentum. Here are suggestions for achieving the result you want in the time you have.

The dissertation is probably the largest project you have undertaken, and a lot of the work is self-directed. The project can feel daunting or even overwhelming unless you break it down into manageable pieces and create a timeline for completing each smaller task. Be realistic but also challenge yourself, and be forgiving of yourself if you miss a self-imposed deadline here and there.

Your program will also have specific deadlines for different requirements, including establishing a committee, submitting a prospectus, completing the dissertation, defending the dissertation, and submitting your work. Consult your department’s website for these dates and incorporate them into the timeline for your work.

Accountability

Sometimes self-imposed deadlines do not feel urgent unless there is accountability to someone beyond yourself. To increase your motivation to complete tasks on schedule, set dates with your committee chair to submit pre-determined pieces of a chapter. You can also arrange with a fellow doctoral student to check on each other’s progress. Research and writing can be lonely, so it is also nice to share that journey with someone and support each other through the process.

Common Pitfalls

The most common challenges for students writing a dissertation are writer’s block, information-overload, and the compulsion to keep researching forever.

There are many strategies for avoiding writer’s block, such as freewriting, outlining, taking a walk, starting in the middle, and creating an ideal work environment for your particular learning style. Pay attention to what helps you and try different things until you find what works.

Efficient researching techniques are essential to avoiding information-overload. Here are a couple of resources about strategies for finding sources and quickly obtaining essential information from them.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/writing_in_literature_detailed_discussion/reading_criticism.html

https://students.dartmouth.edu/academic-skills/learning-resources/learning-strategies/reading-techniques

Finally, remember that there is always more to learn and your dissertation cannot incorporate everything. Follow your curiosity but also set limits on the scope of your work. It helps to create a folder entitled “future projects” for topics and sources that interest you but that do not fit neatly into the dissertation. Also remember that future scholars will build off of your work, so leave something for them to do.

An abstract is a short (approximately 200-word) summary or overview of your research project. It provides enough information for a reader to know what they will find within the larger document, such as your purpose, methodology, and results or conclusion. It may also include a list of  keywords. An abstract is an original document, not an excerpt, and its contents and organization may vary by discipline.

A literature review establishes a set of themes and contexts drawn from foundational research and materials that relate to your project. It is an acknowledgment that your scholarship doesn’t exist in a vacuum. With the review, you identify patterns and trends in the literature to situate your contribution within the existing scholarly conversation.

What is a literature review? A literature review (or lit review, for short) is a critical analysis of published scholarly research (the "literature") related to a specific topic. Literature here means body of work, which traditionally was done in written form and may include journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations and thesis, or conference proceedings. In the case of design, however, literature has an expanded breadth since the body of work is oftentimes not represented by words. A design review may include plans, sections, photographs, and any type of media that portrays the work.

A literature review may stand on its own or may be inside a larger work, usually in the introductory sections. It is thorough but not exhaustive--there will always be more information than you can reasonably locate and include. Be mindful of your scope and time constraints and select your reviewed materials with care. A literature review

• summarizes the themes and findings of works in an area
• compares and contrasts relevant aspects of literature on a topic
• critically assesses the strengths and omissions of the source material
• elaborates on the implications of their findings for one's own research topic

What does a literature review look like? Each discipline has its own style for writing a literature review; urban planning and design lit reviews may look different than those from architecture, and design lit reviews will look significantly different than reviews from the biological sciences or engineering. Look at published journal articles within your field and note how they present the information.

• Introduction: most scholarly articles and books will have a literature review within the introductory sections. Its precise location may vary, but it is most often in the first few paragraphs or pages.

Dedicated literature reviews: these are stand-alone resources unto themselves. You can search for "literature review" and a topic, and you may find that one already exists. These literature reviews are useful as models within your field, for finding additional sources to explore, and for beginning to map the general relationships within the scholarly conversation around your topic. Be mindful not to plagiarize the source material.

Database search tip : Add the phrase "literature review" to your search to find published literature reviews.

Browsing through theses and dissertations of the past can help to get a sense of your options and gain inspiration but be careful to use current guidelines and refer to your committee instead of relying on these examples for form or formatting.

Theses at the Frances Loeb Library  is a research guide to finding p ast GSD theses.

DASH Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard.

HOLLIS Harvard Library’s catalog provides access to ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global .

MIT Architecture has a list of their graduates’ dissertations and theses.

Rhode Island School of Design has a list of their graduates’ dissertations and theses.

University of South Florida has a list of their graduates’ dissertations and theses.

Harvard GSD has a list of projects, including theses and professors’ research.

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Estimation of the impact of transport conditions on the demographic development and structure of the rural settlement pattern in Tver oblast

• Population Geography
• Published: 15 September 2012
• Volume 2 , pages 234–240, ( 2012 )

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• S. N. Kuznetsova &
• S. I. Yakovleva  

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The long-term dynamics of the rural population and the modern structure of the rural settlement pattern in Tver oblast are shown in interrelation with the dynamics of transport conditions. Tver oblast is the largest early developed intercapital region with a very low density of rural population and settlements. The low-populated network of settlements is significantly destroyed: about 20% of settlements have no permanent residents. At that, a quarter of the rural population (according to the authors’ estimates) lives without permanent transport connection. It is one of the main problems of the region’s rural population. The largest decrease in the population occurred in districts where there are few hard-surface roads. Difficult transport conditions of the rural settlement pattern prevail in peripheral districts remote from Tver, but they are also present in all other districts of the oblast and even in the suburban area.

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Original Russian Text © S.N. Kuznetsova, S.I. Yakovleva, 2012, published in Izvestiya Russkogo Geograficheskogo Obshchestva, 2012, vol. 144, no. 3, pp. 68–77.

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Kuznetsova, S.N., Yakovleva, S.I. Estimation of the impact of transport conditions on the demographic development and structure of the rural settlement pattern in Tver oblast. Reg. Res. Russ. 2 , 234–240 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970512030057

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Received : 21 November 2011

Published : 15 September 2012

Issue Date : July 2012

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970512030057

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Definition of prolific

• cornucopian

fertile , fecund , fruitful , prolific mean producing or capable of producing offspring or fruit.

fertile implies the power to reproduce in kind or to assist in reproduction and growth

; applied figuratively, it suggests readiness of invention and development.

fecund emphasizes abundance or rapidity in bearing fruit or offspring.

fruitful adds to fertile and fecund the implication of desirable or useful results.

prolific stresses rapidity of spreading or multiplying by or as if by natural reproduction.

Examples of prolific in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'prolific.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

French prolifique , from Middle French, from Latin proles + Middle French -figue -fic

1650, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Dictionary Entries Near prolific

proliferous

Cite this Entry

“Prolific.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prolific. Accessed 27 Sep. 2024.

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Kids definition of prolific, more from merriam-webster on prolific.

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[ pr uh - lif -ik ]

a prolific pear tree.

Synonyms: abundant , fecund , teeming

Antonyms: barren

a prolific writer.

a bequest prolific of litigations.

a prolific year for tomatoes.

/ prəˈlɪfɪk /

• producing fruit, offspring, etc, in abundance
• producing constant or successful results
• often foll byin or of rich or fruitful

Derived Forms

• proˈlificness , noun
• proˈlifically , adverb

Other Words From

• pro·lif·i·ca·cy [ pr, uh, -, lif, -i-k, uh, -see ] , pro·li·fic·i·ty [ proh-l, uh, -, fis, -i-tee ] , pro·lific·ness noun
• pro·lifi·cal·ly adverb
• nonpro·lific adjective
• nonpro·lific·ness noun
• nonpro·lifi·ca·cy noun
• nonpro·lifi·cal·ly adverb
• over·pro·lific adjective
• over·pro·lific·ness noun
• over·pro·lifi·cal·ly adverb
• unpro·lific adjective
• unpro·lific·ness noun
• unpro·lifi·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of prolific 1

Synonym Study

Example sentences.

Holding a Guinness World Record as the planet’s most prolific professional blogger, Murph has been working from home for nearly his entire professional career.

That means the county can cut other kinds of gases, like methane from landfills, but it’s all measured against carbon dioxide, the most prolific greenhouse gas.

Studies pointed out the bias toward temperate zones in previous work, and indicated that in the tropics, females of many species are prolific singers.

I would be hard pressed to think of any author more prolific than Baggott when it comes to quantum mechanics.

East Ventures, one of the most prolific and influential investment firms in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest market, will be represented by Melisa Irene, the firm’s first female partner.

As a prolific and early entry in the cannon of television drama, The Twilight Zone never fully disappeared from the airwaves.

Glackens was a prolific cartoonist in Philadelphia and his comics are one of the most surprising elements in the Puck book.

Since Westlake was as prolific as he was versatile, this all took a while.

All of this comes across in her writing about cultural politics—and she is staggeringly prolific.

Now, here is a sweet taste of the South from one of our most prolific and talented writers.

The soil of Cuba is prolific, and the variety of tropical plants and fruits grown upon the island is quite remarkable.

The free book system that prevails in some schools is a prolific source of infection.

Such are the gifts the gods have endowed us withal: such was the facility of this prolific writer!

The previous works of this prolific author have proved by their popularity that they meet a genuine demand.

These animals are very prolific; the young ones follow the dam, and do not separate from her till they are full grown.

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Tver , city and administrative centre of Tver oblast (region), western Russia . The city lies at the confluence of the upper Volga and Tvertsa rivers.

The first mention of Tver dates from 1134–35, when it was subject to Novgorod . It became part of the Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal in 1209, and in 1246 it became the capital of the Principality of Tver. In 1327, with its kremlin large and well fortified, Tver organized an uprising against the Tatars but was defeated. The Principality of Tver was annexed by Moscow in 1485. In the 14th and 15th centuries Tver was well known as an important crafts centre. With the construction of the Vyshny Volochok canal system between the Tvertsa and the Msta rivers in 1703–08, river trade through Tver became important. Although this route is no longer used, Tver remains the major river port of the upper Volga and is linked by the Moscow Canal to the national capital. The city was laid out in a gridiron pattern in the 18th century, and a number of historic buildings survive.

Tver is now the centre of a major flax-growing region and is also an industrial centre, with emphasis on textile manufacturing and other light industries and on the manufacture of railroad rolling stock. It was renamed Kalinin in 1931 after Mikhail Kalinin (1875–1946), a revolutionary and ceremonial head of state of the Soviet Union , but it reverted to its old name in 1990. The city was severely damaged during World War II when it was captured and occupied by the Germans in 1941. Its buildings were subsequently restored. Pop. (2006 est.) 405,618.