The final requirement for the MCP degree is completion of a Client Research (CR) Report, Professional Report (PR), or Master’s Thesis. Differences in the three documents are explained below. All three involve individual work under the supervision of an outside client or DCRP faculty member. DCRP students may enroll for a maximum of three course credits of CY PLAN 299 during the semester in which they are writing a client or professional report, and four credit units while writing a Master’s Thesis.

Regardless of the option selected, students must enroll in both one-unit PR/CR/Thesis Workshop courses prior to graduation. Normally students take the spring workshop—focused on finding a suitable internship and topic, study designs, ethical issues, and human subject’s requirements—during their first year. During the fall of their second year, ideally following their summer work as an intern or graduate student researcher, the workshop focuses on report preparation and communication skills.

The Professional Report

The Professional Report (PR) is the option of choice for many MCP students. The Professional Report is undertaken for an outside client or agency. The PR provides an opportunity for students to diagnose a problem situation, select appropriate analytic methods, evaluate alternative approaches, and recommend an approach or solution. It is a report on a real-world planning task or analysis, carried out in a manner demonstrating professional judgment and competence. Importantly, it also satisfies the needs of one's client.

The Professional Report is undertaken under the supervision of a three-person committee nominated by the student. The PR committee usually includes two members of the DCRP faculty and a third member from outside the University—normally the client or person connected to the actual situation to which the report is directed. Note that the chairperson of the PR committee need not be the student’s regular advisor. Most PRs run 40 to 50 pages, reflecting the scope and depth of work one would expect from full-time summer employment. PRs can count for up to three credits, and are often taken as an independent study (CY PLAN 299) during the student’s third or fourth semester.

The Client Research Report

The Client Report (CR) is also undertaken for an outside client. Each summer, the department solicits a list of researchable questions from a wide variety of planning, policy and research agencies, firms, and non-profit organizations. Alternately, interested students may solicit outside clients themselves.

CR clients, unlike PR clients, will not provide day-to-day input or management, nor specify the report format. The specific research methodology and report format is developed with the assistance of a two-person DCRP faculty committee nominated by the student, consisting of a primary and secondary advisor. The primary advisor need not be the student’s regular advisor. Completion of the Client Report requires the signatures of the primary and secondary advisors. In comparison to the PR, the CR generally focuses more on study design and interpreting findings versus real-world implementation and satisfying the needs and wants of a client. CRs can count for up to three credits, and are often taken as an independent study (CY PLAN 299) during the student’s third or fourth semester. Students undertaking CRs should enroll in the PR/CR/Thesis Workshop prior to graduation.

The Thesis Option

The Thesis is an alternative to the Professional or Client reports. It is most appropriate for students actively involved in academic research projects, and must conform to proper scholarly conventions. It must pose an original research question or issue, develop an appropriate research design, and then carry out that design. A thesis frequently will be longer than a Professional Report and less constrained by the particular context of the planning problem.

Thesis committees are composed of three faculty members, two of whom must be from within DCRP (including the thesis committee chair); the third committee member must be a faculty member in another department. Theses must also satisfy style guidelines set by the Graduate Division. Theses can count for up to 4 credits, and are often taken as an independent study (CY PLAN 299) during the student’s third or fourth semester. Students undertaking theses should enroll in the PR/Thesis Workshop prior to graduation.

Which is Most Appropriate for You?

• The Professional Report is most appropriate for students interested in following up on a summer internship or developing a work product for an outside employer. PRs are applied reports, with an emphasis on data collection, analysis, and interpretation; or plan development; or narrow policy analysis. In many ways, students take on the role of a private consultant, studying a real-world problem, examining alternatives, and developing a credible set of recommendations for one’s client. Students interested in undertaking a PR should satisfy themselves (and their PR advisor) that their PR project is well-defined, is manageable in the context of a three-unit requirement, and that their client will be able to provide regular supervision and feedback. Student-client-advisor agreement on format is as important as agreement on topic and approach.
   
• The Client Report option is most appropriate for students interested in independently conducting policy or planning research for an outside client. CRs are applied policy analysis, and may involve developing and implementing an applied research methodology. Students interested in undertaking a CR should expect to work under the supervision of their committee, more or less independently of their sponsor. This option is particularly suited to topics for which it is difficult to find a client and for which students are willing and able to carry out the work with less supervision than a PR.
   
• The Thesis option is most appropriate for students interested in undertaking an academic study of a particular planning or policy topic. Often, students work as Graduate Student Researchers (GSRs) on a faculty-led research project and are able to carve out a research topic or sub-topic from the larger project for which they have substantial intellectual ownership. Theses typically involve an identification of a hypothesis or core study question; the development of a conceptual model and associated research methodology; and the conduct of primary research. Students interested in undertaking a thesis should satisfy themselves (and their thesis advisor) that their research hypothesis/question is interesting and important, and that their conceptual model and methodology will lead to a conclusion that at some level advances existing knowledge in the urban planning field.