Pick a person whom you are passionately interested in learning more about. Do your background research and make sure there is enough reference material on the person to support your study.
Start early. At least a year before you are ready to graduate, get to work on writing your master's thesis. Find an adviser who shares your interest in the person. Then set up a thesis committee. Get the paperwork done; remember that all committee members must sign forms that they agree to participate.
Draw up a time frame. Figure out when you will finish the introduction. Identity when each chapter will be ready. Tape your schedule on the wall behind your desk for easy reference so that you will know whether you are on-track. Develop good study habits and writing your thesis will become much easier.
Take copious notes about your subject when you are reading and try to develop a picture of what she was like. Whether you record the information in a journal or on the computer, devise a system whereby you can quickly and easily find the quotations you need to support your research when it is time to write.
Work on your introduction. In this section, you give general but pertinent information about your subject, telling the reader why the person is important, the question you are going to ask about his life and why it is worthy of an answer.
Conduct a review of the literature. In this section, you present an analysis of the reading you did about the person and provide varying opinions about why her life and particular contributions were significant.
Compose your "problem" or "statement of the question" section. Different disciplines use different terms, but the process you are required to follow involves stating the question, asserting that the question has yet to be answered, and then arguing why it is worth studying.
Draft the supporting chapters, such as the methodology you used to study the person's work. You can work back and forth with the material in the chapters, and much of it will depend on who you are studying and what discipline you are working in.
Pull your research together into a tight, well presented conclusion. No new information can be introduced in this section. Rather you are recapping what you have already said. Provide an overview of how your thesis has added to the literature of the field. Also indicate how future researchers may be interested in pursuing your ideas about this particular person and developing the ideas you've generated.
Review your draft thesis with your adviser. Take notes of all comments and suggestions she makes and then revise accordingly.
Add a title page, optional acknowledgments, list of tables, and table of contents. With computers, it is simple to fill in these essential items at the end. Print your thesis and get ready to defend it.