Master of Arts Requirements
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Student’s can take courses in any of the following core areas:
Africa
East Asia
Europe
History of Science & Technology
Latin America
United States
West Virginia/Appalachian Regional History
Public History
Program Requirements:
1. Completion of a minimum of 30 credit hours of course work with at least a GPA of 3.00. This shall include a well-defined area (selected from the above list or approved by the Graduate Studies Committee) of at least 12 hours, as well as 6 hours in a minor area outside of the student’s main interest. Minor areas can include US history, European, African or Latin America (other areas can be considered with the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee.) At least 3 hours of the minor area must be taken at the 500 level or higher. Courses taken to acquire a language or research skills will not be accepted as part of the 30 hours.
2. 3 Hours of Historiography (History 791).
3. Completion of at least one readings/seminar sequence in the department, the research paper of which shall become a part of the student’s departmental file. Readings and seminar courses are 700-level courses.
4. History Department Foreign Language and Research Skills Requirement
Individual faculty may require their students to master one or more languages, to demonstrate proficiency in particular research methods (quantitative analysis, paleography, GIS, etc.) or to develop other skills as necessary for their fields of study and dissertation projects.
5. Submission and acceptance of a thesis proposal at the beginning of the semester when the student intends to graduate.
6. The completion of a master’s thesis. A maximum of 6 hours of credit for History 697, Research, can be offered toward the 30 hour MA requirement.
7. Passage of an oral defense on the thesis. There must be at least three faculty on the thesis committee.
8. All fulltime, regular M.A. students are required to be enrolled in HIST 799 Department Colloquium. Credit for this course does not count towards the degree.
Successful completion of these requirements shall be determined by the Departmental Research and Graduate Studies Committee. Students completing the MA who desire to continue graduate studies at WVU must apply for admission to the Ph.D. program. The Research and Graduate Studies Committee shall then determine whether admission is appropriate. A student may qualify but not be accepted because we have no historian in his or her area of interest.
Thesis Requirements:
A master’s thesis should represent research and writing skills beyond those displayed in a seminar paper. It must demonstrate the ability to define an historical problem or issue, a critical familiarity with the literature on the topic, and facility with use of primary source materials and appropriate research methods to write successfully an extensive analysis or narrative on the topic.
All students will form a thesis committee, composed of a director and at least two other members. Students are required to submit an abstract of their thesis to the director. After completion, students are required to defend the thesis.
The length of the thesis is determined by the nature of the project, the goals of the student, and the types of material available. While there are no hard rules, theses normally average 75 to 125 pages in length.
For a complete description of University requirements, consult the WVU Graduate Catalog. The actual mechanics of preparing texts are discussed in ””Regulations Governing the Preparation of Dissertations and Theses.””:http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/theses/index.htm
Master of Arts in Public History
The M.A. in Public History is most appropriate for students with a B.A. in History. Students from related areas, such as archeology, may need to complete extra requirements. Students in the Public History program will take most of their courses in the History Department, but may also include Cultural Resource Management courses in other university units.
The Public History Program consists of 30 hours of coursework and a 6-hour internship or thesis, for a total of 36 Credit Hours. Half of the courses will be selected from other history offerings. Students must take one readings-seminar sequence. All full-time M.A. in Public History students are required to be enrolled in HIST 799 Department Colloquium. Credit for this course does not count towards the degree. Relevant coursework outside the Department will be considered. Public History students are not required to meet the foreign language-research skill requirement.
