Preparation of the Master's Project (MP) Report

The final report on the Master’s Project (MP) must demonstrate a high level of professional competence through organization, quality of analysis, and ability to communicate findings. Consult the Chicago Manual of Style, or another writer's style manual recommended by your MP Advisor, on the appropriate style to follow.

Approval of the MP: The MP Advisor will approve the MP after a critical assessment of content, format, style of writing, and technical quality. In order for the MP to be considered complete, professionally-bound copies of the report must be submitted to the MP Advisor and the MPP Program Coordinator, accompanied by a Non-Thesis Master’s Examination Card signed by both the MP Advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies. In addition, the student must submit an electronic copy (PDF) of the MP via email to DukeMPP@duke.edu.

The Cover Sheet: The cover sheet gives the title, author, client, advisor, date, and degree. The cover sheet is not numbered. There are two acceptable cover styles: plain front (a plain sheet of white, cream, or light blue cover stock) or window front (a black laminated sheet with a 3” by 5” window through which MP title and author information must be visible).

General Typing Instructions: Use a computer printer that produces sharp, black type. Use white, 8½" by 11" paper of good quality. Allow margins of approximately one inch on sides, top, and bottom. All type, including titles of sections and page numbers, should fall within these margins. Material in the body of the report may be single or double-spaced. (Note: In the interest of conserving paper, MP’s may be printed double-sided, provided that good quality paper is used so that readability is not compromised.) Footnotes and references, charts, diagrams, etc., may follow any generally accepted format for your field and be single-spaced.

General Content: Generally, project reports or research papers contain the following five sections:

1. Introduction (including statement of hypothesis or objective and policy context),
2. Research and methods,
3. Results or observations,
4. Discussion and conclusion with policy recommendations, as appropriate,
5. References (literature cited).

Students are referred to a style manual (such as The Chicago Manual of Style) recommended by the MP Advisor for a discussion of content of these main sections. MP’s may, however, be divided into other sections and subsections as needed. Please discuss content organization with your MP Advisor.

Copying and Binding the Report: One original bound copy of the MP must be submitted to the Program Coordinator. Additional copies may be made for the MP Advisor, client, and the student as desired. The copy of the report that is submitted to the Program Coordinator must have either a thermal binding with tape or a flat plastic strip binding (commonly called "Surebind" or “Velobind”). Use of spiral binding is not acceptable. Devil's Duplicates in the Bryan Center (684-8383), FedEx Kinko’s, OfficeMax, Staples, or other quick copy/printing vendors offer binding services under $5.00 per copy. Turn-around time is usually 24 hours or less. Check with your MP Advisor to determine if s/he wants to receive a bound copy. In addition to the bound copy, an electronic version of the completed MP (in PDF form) must be transmitted by the student via email to DukeMPP@duke.edu.