Master of Arts Program A student who is formally admitted to the Master of Arts program of the Department of History, Queens College, CUNY, should confer with the faculty advisor during the first semester of study within the program. All students admitted to the history MA program must fulfill the following requirements to receive an MA degree in Historynote:
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Note: Some entering students may be required to take additional courses to maintain specified grade-point averages due to deficiencies in history preparation prior to admission to the program. Such additional requirements, if imposed, are set forth at the time of admission. |
Additional Notes: Within the major and minor field, each subject must cover at least a hundred-year time period. A student may define a chronological period (e.g. Medieval Europe, pre-Civil War American history, Modern China) or a topic within the major or minor field that spans at least a hundred-year chronological period (e.g. African-American history to the Civil War, post-Civil War labor history, intellectual history of the Renaissance). MA students should confer with the graduate advisor about how to proceed in setting up the oral well before completing their course requirements. Once the possible subject areas are identified, the sutdent must confer with the professor who will conduct the oral and develop a mutual understanding as the scope of the examination and the reading list. Oral exams are given in December and May. Students intending to take an oral must sign up in advance by October 15 for December orals and by March 15 for the May orals. The oral exam lasts one hour. You will be questioned for twenty minutes in each of the three subject areas you have selected. All three examiners will be present during the test. When sign up for the oral, you must enter your name, address, telephone number, and student number in the oral-exam registration booklet and also list three topics to be tested and the name of each professor who will conduct the test. The registration booklet will be made available by the Department secretary in the Department office, Powdermaker Hall 352. Standards with respect to documentation (notes) and bibliography are those of the "humanities" or "documentary note" system as set forth by The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition (see p. 493). A satisfactory thesis answers a well-focused question and offers conclusions based on a thorough investigation of pertinent evidence. The thesis is conducted under the general supervision of the graduate advisor and the specific direction of a member of the History Department. A thesis generally runs from 50 to 80 pages, with 65 pages considered optimal. |
