CHOOSING TO WRITE THE PAPER FORMAT THESIS

Graduate students today may be faced with the option of writing either a traditional format thesis or a paper format thesis. In contrast to the traditional format in which the text body consists of four or five chapters, the body of the paper format thesis can be comprised of an introductory chapter, two or more papers written as publishable manusc ripts, and a conclusion. In this article, an overview of the paper for mat thesis is presented and contrasted with the traditional format the sis. The description of the paper format thesis is followed by its adv antages and disadvantages for writers and readers. It is by weighing a ll possible pros and cans, as well as considering one's individual sit uation, that the graduate student will be able to decide which format of thesis to write.