All RSEA degree candidates must complete a thesis under the guidance of and in close consultation with the student’s faculty academic adviser and/or thesis adviser. The minimum thesis standards for the RSEA A.M. degree are:

 • The thesis should demonstrate original research and fresh interpretation of a subject.

 •The thesis should employ a significant degree of original sources in one or more East Asian languages.

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

• The thesis should follow the appropriate scholarly format and include proper scholarly apparatus, including footnotes and bibliography (see The Form of the PhD Dissertation on the GSAS website).

 • The typical thesis is approximately 60 to 80 pages in length (with Times New Roman font size 12, double spacing, and standard margins as required by GSAS) or of a length deemed appropriate by the student’s thesis adviser.

 For further information about thesis writing, see More Information on Thesis Writing and for more information on thesis formatting please see RSEA Thesis Binding and Title.