We appreciate your taking time from your busy schedule to serve as a Master's Paper reader. In order to give all readers a common starting point, we have developed these basic guidelines for reading and evaluating the Health Care and Prevention (HC&P) Master's Paper.

Most important, the Master's Paper should synthesize the knowledge the student has acquired from all his or her sources--courses, the practicum experience, and the research for this Master's Paper--and make a contribution to the field of health care and/or prevention.  This means that the Master's Paper is a more intensive and extensive exercise than is any assignment in a given course.  Most papers have at least 50 references and are usually 40 to 70 pages long, double-spaced, but these are suggestions and not requirements.  Papers must meet margin and other requirements of the Graduate School.

References should be in JAMA style. Depending on the type of Master's Paper and the research methods it requires, students may be required to use JAMA style for the biomedical literature and additional citation styles as well (for example, for the addition of page numbers in the case of direct quotations of published literature, correct citation of primary source documents, and original stakeholder interview data in a policy analysis paper).  Students should rely on their Master's Paper readers for guidance on when and how to incorporate additional citation styles into JAMA style.

The topic of the paper should be tightly focused, in consultation with the Master's Paper advisor.  This is a Master's Paper, not a doctoral dissertation, and students should concentrate on answering a small question well, within the limited scope of the paper, rather than trying to answer a large question poorly.  The paper should be well written.  It should be able to communicate the research question, its context, and the student's findings clearly, even to nonspecialists.  Even a well-researched paper on a good idea should not be approved unless it is well written.

Note that this is not a "thesis"--it is a "Master's Paper."  The Graduate School has a specific definition for master's theses, and the word "thesis" should not appear in an HC&P Master's Paper in order to avoid any confusion about which requirements govern the work.

HC&P students usually choose from five general types of papers:

• A thorough systematic review of the research literature related to a specific health-related topic.  This must be a critical review and summary for the purpose of making recommendations for development of a program, change in policy, establishment of standards, program evaluation, or other application of the current evidence.
  
  
• An evaluation of a public health or clinical program (including any curriculum, intervention, project, or other program implementation).  This can be limited to the development of a scientifically valid evaluation plan without actually collecting the data to perform the evaluation, or it may involve collecting or examining existing data that would contribute to an actual program evaluation.
  
  
• A research design that includes a description of the data collection phase, including construction of data collection instruments, plans to pilot test measurement instruments, and methods of analysis of data, but stops short of actual data collection.
  
  
• An analysis of original data collected by the student or collected by others (e.g., a faculty member), or a secondary data analysis of data collected for other reasons.  This may be written in either of two ways:  (1) as a typical Master's Paper; or (2) as a research paper potentially suitable for submission to a journal for publication.  If the student chooses option #2, the Master's Paper must also include appendices providing more in-depth information about the research question (including a systematic review of what is known on the topic), more discussion of research methods and of why the research design and measurement/analysis approach was chosen, as well as a detailed discussion section that considers strengths and weaknesses of the research and implications for future practice or research.  This paper may use quantitative or qualitative methods.
  
  
• A policy analysis, in which an important health policy question is subjected to rigorous analysis, including recommendations for practice, research, or further policy development.
  

Although the first type of paper described above is a systematic review, note that it is a more extensive systematic review.  All other papers should include at least a limited systematic review of some part of the medical/health literature.  All papers should deal with a question of importance to the health of the public or the improvement of the functioning of the health care system.  All papers should discuss the implications of their findings for public health.

The following table may help you consider the quality of the student's paper.