History Major / Minor Requirements
2008-2009 Course Catalog
Required for the history major
- The minimal requirement for the major is 10 six unit courses.
- Students must complete a sequence of three courses specifically designed to promote the
skills and method of disciplined historical inquiry and to culminate in the
production of an original and substantial piece of historical research.
These courses must be taken in order and at specified times, so students must take
special care when planning their advancement through the major.
- Students are required to take History 101: Clionautics: An Introduction to Doing History, during their freshman or sophomore year.
- Students are required to take History 620: Historiography, during their junior year.
- Students are required to take History 650: The Practice of History, during their senior year. Exceptions may be granted, however, for majors who petition to complete a piece of advanced and original historical research in suitable off-campus programs.
- Students must complete seven additional courses that will serve both to broaden and to deepen
their historical knowledge. One of the seven courses must be a seminar or independent study in
which students will begin a research project to be completed in History 650.
- Students are required to take at least one six-unit course from each of the following three categories: North America (NA), Europe (E), and Global and Comparative (G&C).
- Students are required to take at least one course that covers materials up to the year 1750.
- Students are required to take at least one course designated as a seminar (numbered between 400 and 599) or one designated as an independent study (numbered between 400 and 599), during their junior year or during the Fall Term of their senior year.
- Students are encouraged to take as many additional courses focusing on their own areas of interest as they and their advisors deem appropriate for the completion of the major.
- Students must have a C average in the major.
Required for the history minor
- The minimal requirement for the minor is 6 six-unit courses.
- Students must take at least one introductory course (numbered between 100 and 199).
- Students must take at least five additional courses.
- No more than one may be an introductory course.
- At least one must be a seminar or independent study (numbered between 400 and 599).
- Students must have a C average in the minor.
Senior Experience in History
The Senior Experience in the History Department consists of a collaborative one-term seminar culminating in an original and substantial piece of historical research. Students will be introduced to the standards of research and writing common to the historical profession and will be guided, as apprentice historians, through their own individual projects.
The Practice of History represents the culmination of a course sequence that includes Clionautics: An Introduction to Doing History and Historiography. It is open to history majors who have completed an advanced seminar, tutorial, or independent study and have outlined a research topic that they are prepared to pursue intensively.