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• Students beginning the MSIR program in Term 1, 2018 or later are required to take the Capstone course or complete a Thesis.  The thesis option is not available to online students.

• The Capstone course is a 3-credit hour course.  It must be taken in the final term of enrollment in the program. Students will complete a major research paper on a project to be determined in consultation with the course instructor.  The paper should be finished by the end of Week 6 in a 9 week term. If the instructor deems the paper acceptable, the paper will go to a second faculty member for review. If the second faculty member deems the paper acceptable, the student will pass the course.  If the second faculty member assigns the paper a grade less than "B" the paper will go to a third tie-breaking grader.  If the student does not receive a "B" on the paper, the Capstone course will have to be repeated.

• The Capstone paper is a formal research paper testing a hypothesis via a rigorous research design.  It draws heavily upon the required Research Methods in International Relations course.  For online students, there is little time to do a substantial amount of work, so it is highly recommended that students think about their topic and develop the substantive expertise they will need well prior to enrolling in the course.  The Department has prepared the following Official Guidance for the Capstone course.

Comprehensive Exams

• Students who began the MSIR program prior to August 2018 may still take the Comprehensive Exam rather than the Capstone course if they continue to follow the Graduate catalog at the time they began the program.  If they have switched catalogs to one from 2018-19 or later, they will have to take the Capstone course.

• The Comprehensive Exam is a closed book, essay exam.  There are four sections to the exam.  Students select one of two questions to answer in each of the four sections. The exam is a proctored exam, with Sections 1 & 2 administer in a 3 hour morning session, and Sections 3 & 4 administered in a 3 hour afternoon session.

• The exam is graded separately by two Troy faculty members who do not know the identity of the examinee.  Each section is graded either Pass or Fail.  If both graders agree on a grade, that is the mark for that section.  If the graders disagree, the exam will be sent to a tie-breaking grader.  Thus, a student may pass one or more sections and fail one or more sections on the same exam.  If a section is failed, the student will need to re-take that section until he or she passes in order to complete the exam and earn the degree. 

• The exam sections include: (I) Principles and Theories of IR; (II) International Political Economy and Development; (III) Security; and     (IV) Research Methods in IR.  (Students who began the MSIR program prior to 2013 will have a different fourth section, entitled Instruments of IR).

• The Department has prepared the following Official Guidance for the Comprehensive Exam, outlining the correct way to approach the exams, common mistakes, examples of authors/scholars with whom students should be familiar, and an extensive reading list of works that will help students ensure they are well-prepared:  Official Guidance.