Master’s Paper

All students will write a Master’s Paper in their third year of the program. A master’s paper is a scholarly work on a topic relevant to the area of study in which you are being trained (always involving BP or DMT). The paper can either be a case study from your internship site, or an article submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. The publishable article option can use either theoretical, research, or community project methodologies. This process is an opportunity for self-discovery and to demonstrate your skills as a theoretician, researcher, or activist.  It must be an original contribution to the field, i.e. new information or a new way of looking at information, and demonstrate your ability to conduct independent research, to integrate the concepts and theories within your field into a broader perspective, and to extrapolate viable conclusions toward clinical or research applications.  The master’s paper also shows that you can think critically, synthesize and extend the work of others, and communicate clearly and professionally. The length and scope of the paper must reflect that you have both assimilated and integrated the various learnings in the program with a specialized area of scholarship.

The Master’s Paper must be written in APA format and submitted and approved by the department in order for the student to graduate. If a student has not completed the master’s paper after taking the required course work, the student must enroll in the Extended Master’s Paper course every semester (including summer) until graduation.