Political Science
The department has five fields of study: political theory and methodology; Canadian government and politics, including political behaviour and political economy; comparative government and politics; international relations, including foreign policy analysis and international political economy; public policy, public administration, local governance and administration.
間眅埶AV Requirements
In addition to the , the department requires written statements of the student’s current interests and proposed areas of research. Applications for graduate work will be considered with reference to the manner in which the proposed area of the candidate’s research coincides with faculty teaching and research interests. See the for general research interests. Should additional course work be deemed necessary, the graduate studies committee will indicate the same as a prerequisite.
Degree Requirements
The master of arts (MA) program may be completed through an extended essays or project option, a thesis option, or course-intensive option. Students are admitted to the essay or project option and will require approval of the graduate program chair to transfer to another option. Except in extenuating circumstances, students may only transfer once.
In accordance with Graduate General Regulation 1.6.4, each student will be assigned a supervisory committee.
Extended Essays or Project Option
Students who choose the extended essays or project option will complete a total of six courses, including
Students with credit for POL 813 may not take this course for further credit.
and one of
A survey of the principles and techniques of qualitative research design, methods, and data collection tools needed to conduct systematic qualitative political science research.
And four additional courses from at least two of the department's five fields of study. The extended essays or project option also requires completion of either extended essays in two department fields of study or one research project. Students who choose the research project normally will submit a work with a maximum of 12,500 words, with substantial original content. If the extended essays option is chosen instead of a project, each extended essay will elaborate upon course work research and normally will not exceed 7,500 words. Both extended essays and research projects will be defended in an oral defence.
Thesis Option
In the thesis option, students must submit to the thesis supervisory committee a thesis proposal outlining a brief topic summary, its relevance, the methodology to be followed, a chapter-by-chapter outline, thesis completion timetable and a bibliography. The proposal must be approved by the thesis supervisory committee.
Students in the thesis stream complete a total of five courses, including
Students with credit for POL 813 may not take this course for further credit.
and one of
A survey of the principles and techniques of qualitative research design, methods, and data collection tools needed to conduct systematic qualitative political science research.
and three additional courses from at least two of the department's five fields of study.
Students also must write a thesis, normally 18,750 to 25,000 words in length (excluding bibliography) and defend it in an oral defence.
Course-intensive Option
Students in the course-intensive option will complete seven courses, including
Students with credit for POL 813 may not take this course for further credit.
and one of
A survey of the principles and techniques of qualitative research design, methods, and data collection tools needed to conduct systematic qualitative political science research.
and five additional courses from at least two of the department's fields of study. Students will also be required to write either a take-home examination related to their coursework in one of their courses or pass an oral examination of a graduate course research (capstone) essay. For details on the format of the take-home exam and the capstone essay, students should consult the Political Science website or the Political Science Graduate Handbook.
Academic Requirements within the Graduate General Regulations
All graduate students must satisfy the academic requirements that are specified in the , as well as the specific requirements for the program in which they are enrolled, as listed above.