Anthropology, MS

Required Courses (18 credits)

Statistics Course (0-3 credits)

Students must take at least three semester hours of statistics in the social sciences or must have had an equivalent course at the undergraduate or graduate level. This course must be taken for a grade. Students must receive a C- or better to fulfill the requirement. Courses taken to satisfy the statistics requirement do not count towards the 36 credit hours required for the MS. If the student’s particular research orientation requires more sophistication in quantitative methods, such further work may be used as an elective to satisfy a portion of the 36 credit hours required for the MS.

• ANTH 30600 - Quantitative Methods For Anthropological Research Credits: 3.00
• SOC 38200 - Introduction To Statistics In Sociology Credits: 3.00

Thesis Research (6 credits)

Within the 36 credits required for the MS degree, MS Thesis students may include up to six credits of thesis-directed thesis research to substitute for some of the elective courses in their plan of studies. To register for research hours, students must complete an agreement with their major professor regarding expectations of work to be completed for the semester. 

• ANTH 69800 - Research MS Thesis Credits: 1.00 to 18.00

Electives (9-12 credits)

The remaining course credits will be made up of additional core courses as needed, 600-level seminars, 590s, and specialty courses outside the department.

Required Courses (18 credits)

Option A: Applied and Practicing Anthropology Courses (9 credits)

For students pursuing Option A: Applied and Practicing Anthropology for their non-thesis Master’s degree, the following three courses are required.

• ANTH 64000 - Foundations And Frameworks: Applying Anthropology Credits: 3.00
• ANTH 64100 - Discovery And Design: Making Projects Work Credits: 3.00
• ANTH 64200 - Public Engagement: Using Anthropological Knowledge Credits: 3.00

Statistics Course (0-3 credits)

Students must take at least three semester hours of statistics in the social sciences or must have had an equivalent course at the undergraduate or graduate level. This course must be taken for a grade. Students must receive a C- or better to fulfill the requirement. Courses taken to satisfy the statistics requirement do not count towards the 36 credit hours required for the MS. If the student’s particular research orientation requires more sophistication in quantitative methods, such further work may be used as an elective to satisfy a portion of the 36 credit hours required for the MS.

• ANTH 30600 - Quantitative Methods For Anthropological Research Credits: 3.00
• SOC 38200 - Introduction To Statistics In Sociology Credits: 3.00

Electives (6-18 credits)

The remaining course credits will be made up of additional core courses as needed, 600-level seminars, 590s, and specialty courses outside the department. For students completing the Non-Thesis Option A: Applied and Practicing Anthropology, courses in the student’s strategic focus area, as available, and additional 590s, other 500 or 600-level courses may be
taken, including methods and specialty courses outside the department.

Additional Requirements - Option A: Applied and Practicing Anthropology

• This program option may be appropriate for students seeking a MS degree in anthropology with an applied orientation or as preparation for employment or training outside of anthropology. This program option enables students to prepare a substantial research paper or analytic project based on original research done in conjunction with the student’s major professor and committee. The project demonstrates the student’s mastery of a set of data collection and analytical methods to prepare them for employment. The resulting paper or project should demonstrate a high level of competency in the student’s research specialization and should be written in a manner that would be consistent with a publishable research report. Typically, the paper or project will include appropriate bibliographic citations to relevant theory and methods publications, a careful description of methods and a concluding section that relates the body of work to other similar published works where appropriate.
• Summer Internship: Students will conduct an internship/research project with a relevant agency ororganization during the summer between their second and third semester.
• Final Exam: The project produced from the internship experience will serve as the basis for the final exam. Written documentation should be consistent with that of a publishable research report. The form of this assignment may need flexibility depending on the type of project in which the student engages.
• All other requirements of the MS degree in anthropology pertain to this option. Students who choose to continue onto the PhD program after completing this MS Non-Thesis option should have passed the qualifying exam with distinction. In addition, students may apply 30 credit hours of MS coursework toward the PhD degree. Students will submit the Non-Thesis research project paper as part of the final MS exam process. It will be followed by an oral exam in which the students will be required to demonstrate achievement of the MS learning outcomes for Anthropology.

Additional Requirements - Option B: Doctoral Pre-Proposal

• This option is appropriate for those students planning to go on to pursue PhD training at Purdue. Students will only be admitted to the PhD program with committee approval. Final approval is contingent upon passing the qualifying exam with distinction. This option allows the student aiming to integrate the preparation for PhD work with their MS training by combining a thesis-equivalent project with the development of the eventual proposal for the dissertation.
• Students pursuing this option benefit by being able to begin development of the dissertation proposal during the second year of graduate school rather than postponing this work to prepare a Master’s thesis that may inhibit more directed efforts towards the eventual completion of the PhD.
• This more focused track is important given the necessity to write competitive proposals to obtain external funds for dissertation fieldwork in anthropology. Students in this program will be required to produce a final MS paper that provides evidence of completion of a pilot research project and demonstrates progress towards the development of a dissertation proposal.
• Typically, the research project paper and oral exam will include a clear statement of a research problem that contextualizes the problem within an anthropological subfield, reviews the relevant literature and demonstrates the feasibility of the research program. This option is only considered sufficient for the awarding of a MS as part of the development towards a PhD program.
• Students will submit the Non-Thesis MS paper as part of the final MS exam process. It will be followed by an oral exam in which the students will be required to demonstrate achievement of the MS learning outcomes for Anthropology.