What is the Brown History Department’s policy about writing a Masters thesis?
The consensus within the Brown History Department is that writing a Masters thesis is an option that is only appropriate for a few students. Often more useful for those intent on further graduate study are shorter papers that are suitable for publication in an academic journal; such papers may be written in the context of a thematic seminar. The Masters thesis is an option that is valuable only in those rare cases that a student finds him/herself deeply involved in a well-defined research project that is too large to be encompassed in a semester’s work. Pursuing the option requires the cooperation of a faculty member who is willing to work with the student beyond the traditional one-year Master’s period. If a faculty member agrees to advise a thesis, s/he and the student must work out whether the time required for completion of the thesis would be one or two semesters.
