Program Requirements

General Program Requirements:
Number of Credits Required Beyond the Baccalaureate: 30

Required Courses:

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With the permission of the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS)/MA Coordinator, MA students may register for up to two courses outside the department. With the permission of the DGS/MA Coordinator and relevant faculty instructors, MA students may register for up to two HIST 9683 Readings in History in conjunction with an upper-level undergraduate course.

Optional thesis: MA students interested in pursuing a thesis will register for 3 credits of HIST 9211 Writing Colloquium to replace one of their electives with permission of the DGS or MA Coordinator and the faculty who will oversee the thesis; theses are limited to 50 pages (including bibliography).

Internship: An internship is required only of students pursuing Public History as a primary or secondary field. 

Culminating Events: Both thesis and non-thesis options are offered as a culminating event. The default position of the department is that students opt for the non-thesis option.

Non-Thesis Option: MA students pursuing the non-thesis option must take one Research Seminar HIST 9208 in which they research and write an original research paper. The Research Seminar is an open research and writing workshop, eschewing a particular time period or geographic focus on which students must concentrate, and instead allowing students to pursue whatever interest they wish. Students work with the course instructor who sets deadlines; provides feedback on argument, structure and writing; and assigns a grade for the course. Students also, where appropriate, work with another faculty mentor whose area of expertise aligns with the student’s research topic. MA students are by default enrolled in the non-thesis option.

Thesis Option:
MA students may choose to write an optional master's thesis. To do so, after their completion of the Research Seminar they must declare to the MA Coordinator and DGS their intention to write a thesis and build on the research paper written in the Research Seminar. With the permission of the MA Coordinator or DGS and their advisor, they will then enroll in Writing Colloquium HIST 9211. This course will count as one of their eight elective courses. The research paper written in the Research Seminar is treated as one chapter in an MA thesis, and a second chapter is written in the Writing Colloquium.

The MA thesis in its entirety must be signed by a first reader, i.e., the thesis advisor, and a second reader, who may or may not be one of the faculty members who taught the Research Seminar or Writing Colloquium classes. The thesis advisor/first reader gathers the necessary signatures. MA theses are limited to 50 pages (including bibliography).