MMS students must prepare and submit five assessed Interim Research Papers (IRPs) during the first fifteen months of the program to agreed deadlines. IRPs, after the benefit of discussion with fellow students and tutors shall be incorporated in the thesis as appropriate. All five IRP's suitably revised, amended and extended, will form the main body of the draft theses.

Each IRP shall focus on the following research issues:

1. The proposed thesis topic and the underlying conceptual issues.

2. The action research process and its implications for change management, particularly in the student's own workplace.

3. The research methodological options available and the rationale of the choice which the candidate wishes to make.

4. The content of the research project and the literature search and critical review of its findings.

5. The initial research findings, description and discussion, to be continually updated.

     Failure to submit IRPs 1-5 on agreed deadlines constitute withdrawal from the program excepts on medical grounds or major job changes.

The final output of the program will be your thesis, which is assessed. Your supervisor will be responsible for its internal assessment. External assessment will be made by the appointed external examiners. Other persons may be called upon to give a further opinion, where necessary.