Guidelines for the MA Thesis in History

The MA in History with research option, which is intended for students who plan to pursue doctoral studies, requires the completion of a MA thesis.

Thesis Proposal

• Students that select the research option in the History MA Program will assemble a three-member thesis committee, one of whom will serve as the student’s supervising professor. The student will prepare the proposal in consultation the student’s supervising professor and other committee members.
• The committee bears the primary responsibility for reviewing and approving the proposal. This process is designed to recognize the scholarly expertise of the supervising faculty on the committee.
• Although a student may begin work on a proposal at any time, in consultation with the supervising professor, the student may not submit the proposal only after completing the foreign language requirement.

Content and Formatting of the Proposal

• The thesis proposal must include the following:
  • a) A topic and argument for its significance as an example of original research that contributes to historical knowledge.
  • b) A description of the primary sources to be used.
  • c) Identification of a historical research problem or historical question and a method for addressing it.
  • d) A bibliography of relevant secondary literature. the proposal presents a hypothesis and research strategy (methodology).
• A student should be able to accomplish the goals of a proposal in approximately 2,500 words (excluding the bibliography), but occasionally the proposal may exceed the word count as decided in consultation with the dissertation supervisor.
• The proposal should be properly formatted according to the manual of style most appropriate to the field of the dissertation work and be submitted in MS word or as a PDF.

Deadlines

• The deadline for submission of proposals will be the first Monday of every month during the fall(this includes August) and spring semesters. A student will submit the proposal and a committee appointment form signed by all members of the dissertation committee to the Program Head.

Approval

• Approval is issued by the Program Head. The Program Head does not evaluate the substance or content of the proposal but ensures that the composition of the committee is appropriate to the subject matter of the proposed thesis and in line with basic program guidelines. Once approval is given, the Program Head will notify the student and the supervising professor as well as forward the proposal to the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology. The Associate Dean will then submit the proposal to the Office of Graduate Education.
• The Program Head will grant final approval of the proposal typically within two weeks and no later than one month.
• If the Program Head identifies any serious shortcomings, they will communicate this to the supervising professor with a request for revision and resubmission. If a student is asked to revise and resubmit the proposal, they will follow the same process identified above.
• Any disagreements between the Program Head and the supervising professor will be resolved by a vote of the full program faculty at the next regularly scheduled program meeting. If no meeting is scheduled within 30 calendar days of submission of the proposal, a special meeting will be called. The program faculty may choose to accept the proposal as is or require revision and resubmission to the dissertation committee (with specific feedback for revision). The vote is final, subject to any student appeals processes outlined by the university