> if he took his papers, put them in a stack, and put a staple in the upper left corner, then they would accept that stack as his dissertation
When I was finishing my PhD, my advisor pulled out his dissertation to show me what it looked like. It was literally his papers sandwiched between the covers.
If you're lucky you publish 2 - 3 papers in your PhD career along a similar topic. Stick those in and coheretize them with an introduction and a conclusion.
Those whose fields are less productive or who are in groups which don't publish very much will have a harder time getting their final bit written...but it isn't exactly supposed to be easy.
When I was finishing my PhD, my advisor pulled out his dissertation to show me what it looked like. It was literally his papers sandwiched between the covers.
(Edit: formatting)