WHAT IS A MASTERS THESIS IN PLANNING

The author attempts to answer the question in the title by drawing on his experience in teaching a thesis colloquium, part of a series of co urses at the University at Buffalo that prepares graduate planning stu dents for work on their theses. In search of a definition the author c ompares the rhetorical features of the traditional thesis to those of other kinds of culminating master's degree exercises, namely the essay , project, and evocative presentation. He then suggests that scholarly articles written for professional audiences can serve as good models for the traditional thesis. This paper presents a list of questions fo r guiding the critical reading of these model articles.