Purchasing paper for thesis

[shadowclaw]

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for what paper I should get for printing my thesis. The graduate school's requirements are 100% cotton and 20 lb. It seems like most people go with Southworth exceptional thesis paper, here on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Southworth-Exceptional-Thesis-Cotton-35-120-10/dp/B001I8ZY22/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430455298&sr=8-1

However, I also found 100% cotton business paper made by Southworth and I can't figure out what makes it different from the thesis paper. Linked here: http://www.amazon.com/Southworth-Cotton-Business-Paper-White/dp/B00006IE2C/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1430455298&sr=8-4

The business paper is about half the price, and I'd rather spend $27 than $50 for 500 sheets. Any thoughts or experiences with either of these papers?

[TakeruK]

My MSc grad school did not require a paper thesis submission at all. The only requirement was electronic, however, we were given the option of getting two copies of the thesis bound and shipped to whatever address at no charge. So, I made a keepsake copy for myself and one for my supervisor.

 

I just printed it on regular printer paper. If I was in your shoes, I would go with the $27 for 500 sheets option because it seems like the cheapest/easiest way to meet the grad school requirements.

 

From examining these two products, it appears that the more expensive paper will have a nicer feel to it since the finish is described as "wove" instead of "smooth". It does sound like it would feel a lot nicer to touch the more expensive paper! So if you enjoy this sensation or if you are making a copy as a gift for someone who would enjoy this finish, it might be worth it (up to your personal choice). 

 

Personally, I've had my MSc thesis for two years and I probably have only opened it 3 or 4 times since, so if I had used nice paper, it would have been wasted! I do occasionally refer to my MSc thesis but I always use my PDF version because I can search my annotations and the text! Also, a lot of the figures in my thesis were actually animations so I need the electronic version to render those properly. And I do like seeing the bound cover on my bookshelf (gives me warm fuzzy feelings of accomplishment!) so I definitely recommend getting a keepsake copy but I personally don't need the nice paper to get the warm fuzzies

[Sigaba]

Were I in your situation I would go with conventional wisdom and get the thesis paper and have one less thing to worry me.

Else, I would contact a sales representative at Southworth.

http://www.southworth.com/contact-us/

ETA. @takeruK, I think the requirement for high quality paper is more about the durability of a thesis. IME, they get archived in the library.

Edited May 1, 2015 by Sigaba

[TakeruK]

ETA. @takeruK, I think the requirement for high quality paper is more about the durability of a thesis. IME, they get archived in the library.

Makes sense! Just that both my previous school and current school's only official library archive for theses are electronic. They do not have a physical paper copy of my thesis--my supervisor and I have the only two printed copies. I had thought this was the norm so I was surprised to learn that other schools still keep physical copies and thus have requirement on paper types! But it's fun to learn new things / how different places do different things

[twentysix]

Makes sense! Just that both my previous school and current school's only official library archive for theses are electronic. They do not have a physical paper copy of my thesis--my supervisor and I have the only two printed copies. I had thought this was the norm so I was surprised to learn that other schools still keep physical copies and thus have requirement on paper types! But it's fun to learn new things / how different places do different things

 

I'm pretty sure my school quit archiving the physical copies a few decades ago. They are all archived on proquest now.

[fuzzylogician]

Yeah, my school required two copies of my thesis on what we like to refer to as 'fancy paper.' The library website had along with its list of specifications also a list of brands that were acceptable and some suggestions of where to find them. I personally inherited some fancy paper from others who had some left over; you could look into that. If you have to buy your own, I'd just pay for whatever is cheap(er) and meets the requirements. This thing is going to sit at the library and collect dust while anyone who is actually interested in reading it will just download a pdf from your website.

[shadowclaw]

Thanks for the comments! I definitely don't have a preference for how the paper feels for my own copy, so paying extra for that would be senseless. My thesis will almost certainly sit on shelves gathering dust and never be opened, save for someone perhaps looking at it to find out if it's printed single-sided or double-sided (which is what I did). One copy will sit in the library and one in the department's conference room. I'm getting one for myself and one for each of my committee members (though I will probably skip the fancy book binding for them and go with spiral). I doubt they will ever actually look at them either, especially considering I'm going to publish it and they will ultimately have PDF files of the papers to reference.

I did inherit a single piece of thesis paper from my advisor. When searching his office for some, it was all he found, and he was quite amused when he gave it to me.