The History Department offers a Departmental Honors Program for highly motivated and qualified students who have distinguished themselves academically and who wish to pursue independent research. Please contact Dr Mary Valante if you are interested or have any questions concerning Honors in History.
Eligibility
History majors with a 3.45 overall GPA or higher are eligible, as long as their GPA is still a 3.45 at graduation and they receive a grade of a B or higher in their Honors coursework. If a student fails to graduate with a GPA of 3.45 or receives a grade lower than a B in an Honors class, they will not receive departmental honors when they graduate.
History majors who are already part of the Honors College are eligible to pursue dual university and departmental honors. Students interested in University Honors should contact Dr Heather Waldroup at the Honors College. Eligible students may complete both History Honors and University Honors using some of the same coursework.
Requirements
-1 3000-level History Honors course, by registering for a 3000-level History class with an Honors cutout section or by History Honors Contract .
-HIS 4509 Senior Honors Research (3hrs). Complete the Special Course Form based upon an agreement reached between the student and a professor in the department. Please email the completed Special Course Form to Caitlain McGuire during Registration.
-HIS 4510 Senior Honors Thesis (3hrs). Prerequisite: completion of HIS 4509. Complete the Special Course Form based upon an agreement reached between the student and a professor in the department. Please email the completed Special Course Form to Caitlain McGuire during Registration. Students will create a two-person thesis committee including the thesis director and another faculty member. HIS 4510 will substitute for the History major capstone course, HIS 4100.
- Thesis Defense. The defense should be scheduled at least one to two weeks prior to the first day of exams to allow time for any recommended changes or additions requested by the committee upon completion of the defense. Students should provide a copy of the thesis to the committee for review at least two weeks in advance of the defense date. Students are responsible for scheduling their thesis defense date and reserving a room.
Thesis Requirements
The length of the thesis will vary according to the particular research problem and methodology, but the number of pages should run somewhere between the length of the average history course research paper and a master's thesis in history. The paper will address a highly delimited problem, will largely research and analyze primary sources, and will argue its thesis on the basis of evidence documented from the sources.
The "defense draft" of the thesis should be turned in to the thesis adviser by April 15 (for spring graduation) or November 15 (for December graduation). In the event that the 15th is on a weekend, the due date will be the following Monday. The oral defense of the thesis should be conducted by May 1 or December 1 (or the nearest Monday) of the semester in which the student expects to graduate.
The final draft of the thesis should be submitted electronically to Caitlain McGuire in the History Department Office, and for students doing both Departmental Honors and University Honors, to the Honors College (click here for instructions on submitting to the Honors College).