The standards which the RSEA Committee considers a research seminar paper must reach in order to be accepted as a piece of scholarship that fulfills the Committee's thesis requirements for the A.M. degree are as follows:

o The paper should demonstrate original research and/or fresh interpretation of a subject.

o The paper should demonstrate significant use of primary sources in one (or more) East Asian language.

o The paper should demonstrate the candidate's familiarity with previous scholarship related to the subject matter.

o The paper should have the accepted scholarly apparatus, including footnotes and bibliography (for standard guidelines, see The Form of the Doctoral Thesis, published by the Office of the Registrar).

o A typical paper is expected to consist of a text of at least 50-60 typed pages in length and at most 75-80 pages or, in special circumstances, of a length approved as appropriate in advance by the Committee.

Please see the Thesis Guidelines, for a more detailed discussion of the development, writing, and approval of the RSEA A.M. thesis.