Master of Arts in History

The Department of History offers a Master of Arts (MA).  Students may earn a Master of Arts in any field of our academic research clusters, which are featured on the department’s website along with the faculty in these specialties. 

There are three options for earning a MA in the History Department: a multi-chapter thesis option, an article thesis option, or a non-thesis option. 

Thesis Option

At the end of their formal coursework, students in the thesis track will produce an MA thesis.  Working with their advisor, the student will select one of two MA Thesis options. 1) Multi-chapter Thesis Option, generally 100 pages in length.  The research will be based in primary source material.  The expectation for successfully defending is that the committee judges the thesis to have an original narrative and make an original contribution to historical scholarship.  2) Article Thesis Option.  Students who select this option will work with their primary advisor to choose a peer-reviewed publishing venue and will write an article-length thesis appropriate for publication in the selected venue.  The research will be based in primary source material and make an original contribution to the historical scholarship.  The expectation for successfully defending an article thesis is that the committee judges that the thesis is ready for submission to the selected venue.

Non-Thesis Option

The MA degree, non-thesis option, requires a minimum of 36 hours of coursework. A minimum of 21 hours must be taken within the department with at least 9 more hours taken in a supporting field. An MA non-thesis student must have more than one area of specialization, but both may be within history.  However, the MA non-thesis student may not use any History 691 (Research) hours as part of the degree plan. The student receives the MA degree upon completion of the required coursework and passing comprehensive written and oral examinations.