M.A Thesis

What is the Thesis?
The M.A. thesis is the demonstration of your ability to conduct original research and present the written results.  It is not a class that you simply take and get credit for.  Nor is it a glorified term paper that you can wait to the "eleventh hour" to finish.  Your thesis is a research project that you have spent considerable time in preparatory research (literature review), project design (formulation of a hypothesis), data collection (field and or laboratory), analysis (statistical examination of the data), and finally presentation and synthesis (examination of the statistical results in the context of your hypothesis and literature review). Each of these
individual parts will consume considerable time and effort .

How Long Will it Take?
Chinneck (1999) answers this with: "Longer than you think. Even after the research itself is all done --models built, calculations complete -- it is wise to allow at least one complete term for writing the thesis. It's not
the physical act of typing that takes so long, it's the fact that writing the thesis requires the complete organization of your arguments and results. It's during this formalization of your results into a well-organized thesis document capable of withstanding the scrutiny of expert examiners that you discover weaknesses. It's fixing those weaknesses that takes time."