I recommend a port-based vhosts.conf like this (this is the complete vhosts.conf):
NameVirtualHost *:80
<virtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot "/var/www/"
ServerName localhost
ServerAdmin admin@localhost
</VirtualHost>
Listen 61 #use random free port number
<virtualHost *:61>
DocumentRoot "/var/vhosts/thesis/"
ServerName asdf
ServerAdmin admin@asdf
</VirtualHost>
You can then call your page with http://localhost/ and your thesis thing with http://localhost:61/
The advantage of port-based over name-based virtual hosting is that you don't need a domain, and you don't need to mess with your hosts file, which I find to be kind of "dirty".
Make sure you allow access to the directory in that you wish to host your thesis file in, for example in your httpd.conf, or just add it to your vhosts.conf:
<Directory "/var/vhosts/">
Order Deny,Allow
Allow From All
AllowOverride All
</Directory>