Even more to the point, the congressional election results also cast doubt on the thesis that this year's election, or that of 1980, signals a political realignment.

WSJ: This Election Has Not 'Realigned' the Country

Buck, a graduate student then working on a photography project in Egypt for his master's thesis, met Maree, a 23-year-old Egyptian veterinary student, in Mahalla.

CNN: Freed student uses Twitter to demand translator's release

Ex-Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg resigned from his post last year after it emerged he copied large parts of his doctoral thesis.

BBC: German minister Annette Schavan denies plagiarism

Essentially, this is the question that George Zisiadis, a researcher at CouchSurfing, who graduated from Harvard last year, with a degree in sociology, asked in his senior thesis.

NEWYORKER: You��re Welcome

This legal definition of jihad remains consistent through the 1400 year span that incorporates the contributions of the authorities relied on in the thesis.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

In case you missed the 43-year-old Facebook executive speaking with Oprah or on the cover of Time, the thesis of her "Lean In" book is this: We have educated a generation of women well, but too few make it to the top rungs.

WSJ: The Economics of Leaning In

Some supporting evidence for the sieving thesis comes from a study for a British committee that reported on higher education earlier this year.

ECONOMIST: A little learning

Last year, Brian, one of the two founders, was thirteen days away from defending his doctoral thesis in chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute, in La Jolla, when his adviser discovered that he was planning to leave academia and start a biotech company.

NEWYORKER: No Death, No Taxes

"There's definitely a My-thesis-is-cooler-than-yours' aspect, " says Blair, a 43-year-old triathlete and aeronautical engineer.

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