Graduate Program
MA Program
Earning the MA in history entails a program of study that normally takes approximately two years to complete. Students must earn a minimum of 24 credits (a full-time student registers for a minimum of 9 credits per semester). MA students must take a graduate seminar on historiography/methodology (Hist 2015/Hist 2001) and History 2012, Graduate Writing Seminar. All candidates for the M.A. degree must demonstrate competency in a foreign language before sitting for the M.A. examination. In addition, they must take 6 credits in seminars on transnational/thematic history and 6 credits in a regional field (Europe, United States, Asia, Latin America). Arts and Sciences regulations require that 3 credits must be taken outside the Department of History. Six credits may be in Arts and Sciences courses numbered 1002 through 1999 (undergraduate courses).
The primary substantive prerequisites to the MA examination entail the fulfillment of a research tool, and the completion of a research paper. The paper, based on original research, should be potentially publishable. A copy of the paper should be filed with the graduate secretary before the MA examination is taken.
MA Examination
Students will defend their research paper to a committee composed of three faculty, chaired by the primary advisor, in the course of a one-hour oral examination. The examiners will decide whether or not to recommend that a student be awarded the MA degree. In addition, if the student has declared a desire for admission into the PhD program, the committee will include its recommendation for admission or nonadmission in the report it submits to the department. The following criteria will be used in both judgments: (a) the student's command of factual and substantive material acquired in course work and embodied in the paper; (b) ability to conceptualize historical problems with clarity and to demonstrate command of research methods.
Immediately after the end of the examination, the committee will inform the student of its judgment. Within the next week, it shall submit a written evaluation of the student’s performance. Additional evaluations by those dissenting from the majority report may also be attached to the committee report. These evaluations will not enter the student’s file until they are reviewed by the primary advisor and the candidate (read procedural issues for procedures to appeal the committee report).
Evaluations of MA examinations must be reported to the department, which will decide on admission into the PhD program.
