Writing the MS Thesis
The master's thesis represents a work of higher standard than a
term paper. Students work at their own pace to write the thesis
essay, which advances a specific view in the students' chosen field
of learning as a result of research. The written thesis essay is
between 18,000 and 30,000 words in length. Writing the thesis
involves one to two semesters of individual scholarship and
research usually uninterrupted by other studies. The thesis essay
demonstrates the student's sophistication, skill and ability to
undertake independent research using the established methods of
analysis most appropriate for the essay's subject. The essay
provides an opportunity to explain the practical usefulness of the
research results for the business profession.
A good thesis essay not only advances a specific view, but it
does so in writing that is clear, concise, convincing and
objective. Look at the following advice for writers of these and
other research papers: On writing clearly from the editors of The
Economist magazine, on beginning and writing a thesis and
more on beginning and writing a
thesis.
Thesis and research papers should conform to the APA
Publication Manual published by the American Psychological
Association. Any charts or tables should conform to the
principles in Tufte's The Visual Display of Quantitative
Information (ISBN 0-9613921-4-2). Students are responsible for
following all Masters Thesis
Procedures of The Peter J. Tobin College of Business.
Sources of Recorded Knowledge
You can access (using your student passwords) over the Internet
the extensive electronic databases at the St.
Augustine Library, and at WRDS.
Also from inside the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom
Davis Library you can access CD-ROM and text-based databases
specific to insurance. There are also many web sites full of
practical instructions, thought-provoking ideas, useful data and
insightful animation. Here is a small sample (in random order):
- In-depth
Explanation of economic-related concepts.
Statsoft
- In-depth explanation of
risk-related concepts.
Riskglossary
- Explanations and
illustrations of math-related concepts.
Mathworld
- Download
OPTION! to compute different types of option
and swap values
Robert W. Kolb
- Explanations and discussion
on corporate governance.
Aarhus School of Business, Denmark
- Foreign exchange princes and
tutorials.
FXMC Group, FX retail brokers
- Foreign exchange
time series.
University of British Columbia
-
Sigma reports on the risk industry, and other high quality best
practice reports.
SwissRe
- Reports
and Publications by risk consultants on a range of risk and
reinsurance topics.
Tillinghast-Towers Perrin
- Definitions of insurance-related
concepts and insurance industry performance highlights.
Insurance Information Institute
- A link to other
global links.
-
Another link to other links.
- U.S. Government statistics
gateway to federal agencies.
- Insurance
industry detail statistics.
National Association of Insurance Commissioners
-
Reinsurance industry detail statistics.
Reinsurance Association of America
- Banking industry
detail statistics.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
- Equity and fixed income
international indices.
Morgan Stanley Capital International
-
Valuation and risk-related spreadsheets.
Damodaran Online
-
Market historic data.
Damodaran Online
- Economic policy
analysis and data.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
- Market and
financial policy analysis.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
-
Rating criteria for insurers, banks, bond issues…
Standard & Poor
- Catastrophe risk
derivatives, analysis and data.
Lane Financial LLC
- Macroeconomic risk
derivatives, tutorial and hands-on pricing simulation.
Goldman Sachs
- Environmental
risk derivatives, tutorials and data.
Evolution Markets LLC
- Credit risk derivatives,
definitions, tutorials, analysis, data…
DefaultRisk.com
- Human development
indicators from The Project on Human Development
Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range
Future, Boston University
- Weather derivatives, examples and
data
Weather Risk Management Association