All M.A. students must take a historiography course. Most choose CH 6010 because it is offered every fall, but that course cannot be applied simultaneously to this requirement and the secondary field. Students should complete CH 6020 and CH 6930 for a secondary field in Contemporary History if CH 6010 is used to satisfy to the historiography requirement.
All M.A. students (including those on the non-thesis track) must complete HIST 6800, the research seminar, which is normally offered every spring semester with a rotating roster of faculty members.
Languages
In general, M.A. students do not have to satisfy a language requirement. At the discretion of a thesis supervisor, however, a student may be required to demonstrate proficiency in a language other than English if necessary to his or her degree program, particularly in European, Latin American, and other non-U.S. fields of history. Students who take a non-thesis M.A. degree have no language requirement.
History Master's Thesis Prospectus & Defense
Students choosing the thesis option must convene a review committee consisting of their primary advisor (thesis supervisor) and two additional faculty members familiar with the topic of investigation. A written prospectus articulating the student’s research plan for the proposed thesis must be presented to the committee members and approved by them before the research portion of the thesis may begin. No formal, in-person defense of the thesis prospectus is required.
History M.A. students must write and subsequently defend a thesis before their review committee that is 1) based on original research in primary (firsthand) historical sources and 2) presents, in the opinion of the committee members, a well-articulated argument in dialogue with relevant historiography on the subject.
Provisional advisors are assigned to all M.A. students upon admission, but they can be changed according to evolving research interests. The advisor is a faculty member whose expertise coincides with a student’s primary field; they should be consulted on a regular basis about the ongoing program of study. Each semester, students will update a departmental planning form (available as an editable Qualtrics survey) to ensure that they are meeting all course requirements in a timely fashion.
