{"id":10382,"date":"2012-07-17T13:48:43","date_gmt":"2012-07-17T17:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/polisci\/?page_id=10382"},"modified":"2026-02-20T13:52:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T18:52:44","slug":"masters-thesis-and-essay-guidelines","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/polisci\/graduate\/ma-program\/masters-thesis-and-essay-guidelines\/","title":{"rendered":"Master’s Thesis and Research Essay Guidelines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Master’s Thesis and Research Essay Guidelines\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

The following are unofficial<\/em> guidelines comparing the master\u2019s thesis (PSCI 5909) and master\u2019s research essay (PSCI 5908) and their relative features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thesis<\/th>Research Essay<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
80-100 pages<\/td>65-80 pages<\/td><\/tr>
  • based around original research using primary sources (e.g. – documents, interviews, raw data such as election studies, etc.)<\/li>
  • original theoretically-filling clear gap in existing literature<\/li><\/ul><\/td>
  • while incorporating original research and primary documents, these may not form the core of the work if there is strong analysis and discussion of secondary sources<\/li><\/ul><\/td><\/tr>
  • designed, researched and written with regular consultations of the supervisor and\/or other faculty<\/li><\/ul><\/td>
  • supervisor must be consulted at major points of the process but will have a lesser role; other faculty usually not involved until grading<\/li><\/ul><\/td><\/tr>
  • should represent a distinct and original contribution to the field<\/li><\/ul><\/td>
  • should represent a strong understanding of the field and an original and insightful interpretation of it<\/li><\/ul><\/td><\/tr>
  • will reflect the workload of four one-term graduate courses, for 2.0 credits<\/li><\/ul><\/td>
  • will reflect the workload of two one-term graduate courses, for 1.0 credit<\/li><\/ul><\/td><\/tr>
  • takes on average approximately eight months of full-time work from beginning to completion, but this will vary considerably according to a wide range of factors<\/li><\/ul><\/td>
  • takes on average approximately four months on a full-time basis, but will also vary considerably<\/li><\/ul><\/td><\/tr>
  • defended before a formal thesis board<\/li><\/ul><\/td>
  • graded by the supervisor and one other faculty member<\/li><\/ul><\/td><\/tr>
  • as a distinct contribution to the field, should likely be publishable if it can be summarized into article length<\/li><\/ul><\/td>
  • may or may not be publishable<\/li><\/ul><\/td><\/tr>
Will be particularly valuable for students who:
  • strongly wish to study a particular topic in depth using primary resources<\/li><\/ul>
    • want to undertake a major piece of research to prepare themselves for eventual PhD studies<\/li><\/ul>
      • are not planning to proceed to the PhD and seek a final \u201ccapstone\u201d to their academic career<\/li><\/ul><\/td>
Will be particularly valuable for students who:
  • have a wide range of scholarly interests and do not feel strongly drawn to a single topic<\/li><\/ul>
    • hope to proceed more quickly to a PhD and do not feel they need to conduct major research at this stage<\/li><\/ul>
      • do not plan a future research career and would rather develop general writing and analytical skills<\/li><\/ul><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

         <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        The following are unofficial guidelines comparing the master\u2019s thesis (PSCI 5909) and master\u2019s research essay (PSCI 5908) and their relative features. Thesis Research Essay 80-100 pages 65-80 pages based around original research using primary sources (e.g. – documents, interviews, raw data such as election studies, etc.) original theoretically-filling clear gap in existing literature while incorporating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":48,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cu_dining_location_slug":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_page_type":[96],"class_list":["post-10382","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","cu_page_type-graduate"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/polisci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/polisci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/polisci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/polisci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/polisci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10382"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/polisci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40767,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/polisci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10382\/revisions\/40767"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/polisci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/48"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/polisci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_page_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/polisci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_page_type?post=10382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}