History Honors Thesis
Students who would like to experience the rigors of doing historical research using primary source materials on a topic of their own choosing can pursue a year-long independent project under the guidance of a department faculty member. This page should provide all the information you need, but for further information please contact Professor James Delbourgo, History Department Undergraduate Vice Chair.
Application: In order to take part in this program, students must submit an application by Friday, December 4, 2020 to the History Department Undergraduate Office. Acceptance is subject to the approval of the Undergraduate Vice Chair. Please note that the application is only being accepted via email at this time.
- Participants must be declared History majors or minors
- They must have a minimum 3.2 GPA overall
- They must have a minimum of 3.5 in their History Courses
- They must have a supervising professor with whom to work
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- DUE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2022.
* Please note that this two semester program counts only once towards your upper level courses within your History major.
Coursework: Once admitted Honors students must enroll in the two-semester Honors Program in History course 506: 495, 496. Students who aspire to write a major research paper of approximately 100 pages may register for up to 6 credits for the Honors Program course each semester, 3 of which can be counted towards the major requirements. Students who aspire to write a more modest thesis of around 50 pages may register for 3 credits each semester for the Honors Program course, which can be counted towards the major requirements.
Students accepted into the program each December will take 506:495 the following Spring. This course will guide them through the stages of finding a thesis topic, seeking out secondary and primary sources, and developing a research strategy. In consultation with their thesis supervisors students will apply these lessons to their own research topics. During the summer of the same year they will conduct the bulk of their primary source research in archives suited to the topics they have chosen. In the following Fall semester they will take 506:496. Here they will produce the first drafts of their manuscripts, obtain feedback on the draft from their supervisors, and find a second reader to serve as thesis examiner. Students in the course will also provide feedback to one another. The most important work of the semester will be the revision in light of that feedback.
The grade for these courses will be determined in light of the student's paper and his or her participation in the honors seminar.
Research: Much of the actual research will be conducted during the Summer. Students will identify appropriate archives and frame research questions in the Spring Semester. They will complete the drafting and revision of their theses in the Fall semester.
Oral Examination: Each thesis will be read and evaluated by the supervising professor and by the second reader. Each student will be examined orally by the two professors on the argument of the thesis, the kinds of sources used, and the implications of the research.
Honors Conference: Each student will make a public presentation of his or her thesis at the annual Honors Conference, to be held in the Spring semester after the thesis has been submitted and the oral examination has been completed. Winners of Honors awards will be presented with their prizes at the same event; the top prizes include the Harold Poor Memorial Prize, the Ceil Parker Lawson Memorial Prize, the Margaret Atwood Judson Prize, and the James Reed Award.
Honors Recommendations: An Honors Committee, chaired by the Vice Chair for Undergraduate Education, will make the final determination of the level of honors (honors, high honors, highest honors) to be awarded based upon the recommendations of the examining professors and upon the thesis itself. Only history majors will receive the designation of honors in history on their transcripts.
For a glimpse of a finished thesis, please read: "Raiders of the Lost Past: Nineteenth-Century Archaeology and French Imperialism in the Near East 1798-1914," by Andrew H. Bellisari, RC 2010.
