This book is explicitly designed to echo the structure of the highly successful book How to Get a PhD, the 2022 edition of which has been co-authored by Colin Johnson. As such, the book functions primarily as a holistic guide for students to all stages of their study at master's level, which is the biggest growth area in UK higher education. The book seeks to address students who are studying in many different academic contexts and will engage with differences in disciplines, national contexts and experience throughout.

Like How to Get a PhD, this book is designed both to be a book that students can read in order to understand the entirety of the master's process, as well as a well-organised companion that students can refer to for advice relevant to different stages of their studies. The book will also contain advice for supervisors of master's dissertations and staff who are in charge of running master's degree programmes, and advice for universities more broadly about strategic issues around master's degrees. This rationale behind this connects to the fact that many academics use How to Get a PhD to help inform their work with their students and employ the materials in HE professional teaching qualifications where books such as this also are also often on reading lists. Consequently, the section aimed at institutional advice will reach audiences in HE staff development who have educational strategy reach as well as colleagues who are mentoring newer academics.

How to Get a Masters Degree will explain the whole process from application to graduation, including how to make a good application, again emphasising what is distinctive about master's degree applications. This, along with materials about the post-master’s options,  will make it the only book currently in the market that covers the whole process and will function as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for readers, despite the plethora of books which engage with Master’s dissertations/theses.

Anna Claydon is Associate Professor in Media and Communication at the University of Leicester, UK. She is Director of Equalities for the School of Media, Communication and Sociology. She previously led the University review on the postgraduate portfolio.

Colin Johnson is Associate Professor in Computer Science at the University of Nottingham, UK and was formerly Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in the sciences at the University of Kent. He is an experienced PhD supervisor and examiner, and has led training courses for new PhD students and advised on postgraduate strategy for a number of universities.