Many students pursue a master's degree to attain a higher level of knowledge and expertise in their particular field of study. Some students who enter a master's degree program will not know what their exact field of specialization will be. For instance, master's degree programs in fields like history, psychology, anthropology or sociology offer numerous opportunities for students to pursue concentrations in a sub-discipline. Many programs, particularly those that award a master of arts degree, will also require students to complete a research seminar introducing them to fields of research within the discipline. Research seminars and the practice of conducting research can allow students to discover where their particular interests lie so that they can continue to conduct additional research later in their careers.
Some master's degree programs require students to defend their theses before a committee in the same way that doctoral students must for their dissertations. This process allows faculty members to assess the student's knowledge in certain areas related to his master's degree thesis topic. For instance, a student writing a master's thesis on some facet of economic history of the United States may be asked additional questions about how his thesis relates to other issues in labor history or the history of slavery in America.
Many times a master's thesis will serve as the groundwork for future doctoral research. Master's degree students who intend to go on to pursue a Ph.D. or another similar doctorate in their field of study will often use their master's degree thesis as the first chapter for their dissertation. For this reason, a master's degree thesis needs to have a very narrow focus and attempt to answer one specific question that is either not addressed by current scholarship or has been answered wrongly by contemporary scholars. Once the student has identified a flaw in scholarship, she can begin to construct an answer to the problem. Research completed on a master's degree thesis can provide preparation for this task.