The Paper-Thesis Carbon Analogy

I've recently compared the difference between writing a paper and a thesis to the manipulation of carbon. A paper is like a diamond that has gone through many iterations to be as compact and perfectly structured as possible, a shiny thing. Trying to spread that paper out in a thesis is like picking up the diamond you've spent so many hours on and trying to make graphite out of it. An ugly process you don't really want to go through. Sure, you'll try to make a beautiful enamelled pencil out of it, but it's not as shiny as the paper!