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Graduate Theses

 
Old 06-06-2010 at 01:11 AM   #1
knox
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Graduate Theses
Sorry if this has already been made, to be honest I was just too lazy to search.

I don't know if any graduate students post here at all, but my question to them or to anyone in particular is how do you manage to write 80 to 100 page papers on a given topic?

For the an MA in English/Cultural Studies:

Quote:
Candidates choosing the second option will take two full graduate courses or their equivalent over the fall and winter terms, with grades of at least B- in each, complete the Thesis Foundation requirements (by the end of the first week of December), and write a satisfactory thesis of 25,000 words (100 pages)
For an MA in Philosophy:

Quote:
Candidates are also required to write a thesis and to pass an oral examination on it. Master's theses are normally between 75-125 pages in length and must demonstrate a capacity for independent study and critical judgment
It just seems like an awful lot to talk about. I mean, I'm usually rolling my eyes when I have to write 10-12 page papers (which really isn't a ton). Of course it's a lot easier to write long papers when you're genuinely interested in the topic, which you should be at the MA/PhD level, but it still seems like a lot of writing. Maybe they do this to stop just anybody from getting a graduate degree in the hopes of restricting them to people who are actually interested in the material and not the letters.
Old 06-06-2010 at 08:08 AM   #2
lorend
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I wrote an undergrad thesis in CSCT that was 40 pages, and I could have gone much longer. I didn't find it terribly difficult either.

I'm starting an MA program in the fall (not at Mac, though), and will have to write a thesis/major project paper for that as well.

You just...do it. In my experience it's just going into much more depth and analysis than your typical paper.
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McMaster Combined Honours Cultural Studies & Critical Theory and Anthropology: 2008
McMaster Honours English with a minor in Indigenous Studies: 2010
Carleton University Masters of Arts in Canadian Studies: 2012 (expected)

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Old 06-06-2010 at 08:15 AM   #3
lorend
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I also wanted to do a full year thesis, which you can't do in CSCT. It would have been much easier, I think to have spent one term researching and planning out the writing (which admittedly would have been around 70 pages, like the Poli Sci 4th year thesis), rather than 3/4 of a term researching and 1/2 a term writing.

You can research while still writing (I had to)...and yes I know the math doesn't work out.
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McMaster Combined Honours Cultural Studies & Critical Theory and Anthropology: 2008
McMaster Honours English with a minor in Indigenous Studies: 2010
Carleton University Masters of Arts in Canadian Studies: 2012 (expected)

We are people of this generation, bred in at least modest comfort, housed in universities, looking uncomfortably into the world we inherit. -- Port Huron Statement






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