Learning Goals

Learning Goals

Students who complete the history major will:

1. Learn about a wide range of cultures and develop a deep knowledge of key moments and themes in history
2. Critically analyze primary and secondary sources
3. Evaluate how historians construct their arguments
4. Explore historical scholarship as a series of interlocking debates
5. Develop strong written and oral communication skills in both formal and informal registers
6. Design and carry out substantial research projects

Curriculum

FYWS 

• Introduce students to college-level writing and the study of history, with no assumed background
• Require extensive reading, class discussion, and the writing and revising of multiple short critical essays
• Introduce students to academic resources at the college, such as the library and museums
• Provide an overview of academic honesty and citation practices

1000-level lectures

• Explore key events, problems, and topics in history
• Introduce students to the basics of contextualizing and analyzing historical sources
• Introduce the 5 Cs of historical thinking: context, change over time, causality, contingency, and complexity
• Facilitate critical and independent thinking through class discussion and a range of assessments

2000-level lectures

• Teach students to identify historical arguments
• Contextualize different and sometimes contradictory perspectives
• Guide students towards crafting their own interpretations of class materials via discussion as well as formal and informal assessments

2500-level seminars

• Facilitate deeper historical thinking than 1000- or 2000-level courses
• Place significant emphasis on class discussion
• Analyze a wide variety of primary sources
• Explore different ways of doing historical research (for example, museum exhibits, podcasts, contrasting scholarly approaches)
• Teach students how to critique historical scholarship
• Guide students through posing their own research questions

3000-level seminars

• Further develop historiographic and research skills introduced in 2500s
• Demonstrate and continue to improve students’ communication skills through discussion, writing, and presentations
• Build on and refine all skills learned in the major through independent research
• Culminate in an analytical essay c. 20-30 pages long

Honors theses (optional)

• Build on and refine all skills learned in the major, including those developed in 3000-level seminars
• Provide students with an opportunity to engage in original historical analysis by carrying out extensive research over an academic year
• Require students to design a focused research project that articulates a problem or question(s) about a particular subject
• Make an original contribution to the historiographical literature of the field
• Culminate in a substantial analytical essay of approximately 50-75 pages

Options for Majoring or Minoring in the Department

Students may elect to major in history or to coordinate a major in history with digital and computational studies, education, or environmental studies. Students pursuing a coordinate major may not normally elect a second major. Non-majors may elect to minor in history.

Department Website