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College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Master of Arts in History

Degree Requirements

The Department of History requires that students complete 30 semester hours of credit work, all of which must be in graduate courses (6000-level or above), including at least three to six semester hours in historiography or readings (depending upon field) in the appropriate area, at least one research seminar, and a maximum of six semester hours of thesis credit. Exclusive of the thesis courses, 15 or more semester hours must be in the major history area, and six to nine semester hours must be either in a minor area or in another department approved by the graduate director.

All students in this plan must satisfy a requirement of competency in one foreign language, either through language course work or approved examination. See department for approved methods of meeting this requirement.

The Department of History requires that students complete a major exercise in research, interpretation, and writing: a thesis on an original historical problem. The department also requires that students, after completing the final draft, defend their thesis and answer questions over one field of their major area in an oral examination conducted by the faculty thesis committee.

Plan II: Thesis Option with Focus on Public History

The requirements of Plan I pertain to Plan II, except that there is no minor field or historiography requirement. Students take at least one methodology course and must complete an internship for six semester hours of credit. Admission to Plan II requires the approval of the Director of Public History. A total of 30 semester hours is required.

Students in this plan must satisfy a requirement of competence in one foreign language, as in Plan I. A quantitative methods requirement may substitute for foreign language, with approval of the Director of Public History and the Graduate Director.

Plan III: Non-thesis Option

The Department of History requires that students complete 36 semester hours of credit work, all of which must be in graduate courses (6000-level), including at least three to six semester hours in historiography or readings in the appropriate area (depending upon field) and at least one research seminar. Students following this plan must take 21 or more hours in their major area, as well as at least six hours in a minor field. During the last semester of course work, the student must also take an oral examination over the major field. This plan has no foreign language requirement.

Plan IV: Expedited MA/PhD

The Department of History requires that students admitted by the Graduate Committee under this plan complete thirty semester hours of credit work, 27 hours of coursework and 3 hours of Special Problems in which students write a 30-page paper based on primary source research and subject to an oral exam given by a faculty committee. Required coursework includes 18-21 semester hours in the major area, and 6-9 in the minor area, depending on student's areas of study. Students must also fulfill the foreign language requirement as described in the Plan I option. Students completing these requirements with a GPA of 3.67 or better may advance to the Ph.D. program without reapplying.

Additional information concerning required courses in major and minor fields should be obtained from the Department of History's graduate director.