B.A. Degree Requirements

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the nature and practice of writing history and to teach critical reading, writing, research and analytical skills necessary for history majors. Required course in the history major.

The culmination of the History Major, HIST 498 allows students to pursue in depth the research interests they have developed in other history classes. The department offers several sections of various topics each semester. Usually taken in the last year in college, this research seminar teaches students to organize, research, and write a substantial paper (at least 20 pages) or, occasionally, its equivalent in a different form. This project will constitute original research: it will base its argument substantially on a critical evaluation of primary sources (in the original languages when possible, or in translation). It will also actively and critically engage secondary scholarship. Although the research paper is the final product, students will work toward this through a series of structured, graded stages--for example, a research proposal, historiographic essay, rough draft(s), class presentation, and final draft--each of which may involve giving and receiving peer commentary.