To fulfill the thesis option, students write one "thesis paper," aimed either at conference presentation or at publication in an appropriate journal. The purpose of the thesis is to help master's students get some experience in scholarly research and gain the skills and experience necessary to function in a doctoral program or in a profession where they may be expected to contribute new knowledge.

The thesis (deleted paper) is typically around 35 double-spaced pages. This paper must be certified by a faculty member as ready for submission to a session-organizer as a conference presentation or to a journal for possible publication.

The paper should both build on and add to the work done by others in the field. It should present new information, a new approach, a new idea, or a new interpretation and should show appropriate familiarity with the theoretical basis of that new information, approach, idea, or interpretation. Although most thesis papers will (deleted probably) begin as course papers, not all course papers will count as thesis papers. They will require revision and will need to be certified by a faculty member as ready for submission to a conference-session-organizer or to a journal. Note that the faculty does not certify them as "publishable" but as "ready for submission."