To receive Honors in History a student must complete the History Honors sequence: HIS 470 and HIS 471, and as of January 2009, the student must have taken HIS 301 in order to qualify for HIS 470, a student must have not only a 3.5 GPA in History and a 3.3 Overall GPA, but a letter from a history professor recommending them to the program.
- Letter of Recommendation from History faculty
- A 3.5 GPA in history
- A 3.3 overall GPA
- A grade of “B” or better in HIS 301
- A grade of “B” or better in both History 470/471
HIS 470 HONORS SEMINAR IN HISTORICAL METHODS
This course will furnish qualified History majors with the methodological tools that they will need to write an Honors thesis. It is the prerequisite to HIS 471 (Honors Seminar in Historical Research). Eligible students will have to complete both courses in order to graduate with departmental honors. HIS 470 will emphasize the honing of basic research skills: understanding historiographical debates, generating detailed bibliographies, developing effective note-taking and outline techniques, picking a feasible research topic, finding useful primary sources and drawing inferences from them, and constructing historiographical arguments in a series of short research assignments. Prereq: The course is open to History majors with a departmental grade point average of 3.5 after at least fifteen credit hours in history.
HIS 471 HONORS SEMINAR IN HISTORICAL RESEARCH
This course will furnish qualified History majors with the faculty supervision that they will need to draft and complete an Honors thesis. It thus serves as the sequel to HIS 470 (Honors Seminar in Historical Methods). Eligible students will have to complete both courses in order to graduate with departmental honors. HIS 471 will emphasize the mechanics of historical research and writing: learning how to skim and take notes with a particular research goal in mind; asking thematically pertinent questions of one’s evidence; turning that evidence into a compelling argument; preparing a detailed “script” before writing a rough draft; drafting an effective introduction; advancing an argument by pruning irrelevant material; writing with clarity and precision; critiquing the work of other students; and making a persuasive oral presentation of one’s own research. Prereq: The course is open to History majors with a departmental grade point average of 3.5 after at least fifteen credit hours in history, who have already completed HIS 470.