Curriculum

History faculty teach a range of courses—from introductory survey courses, first year writing seminars, intermediate lecture courses, seminars to advanced seminars—with distinctive pedagogies for each. What differentiates history courses across the curriculum is the level of difficulty and the workload as students progress through the major and hone their historical skills.

Courses at the 100-level introduce students to the historical discipline and focus on a particular region and time period. Students explore key concepts and methods of historical study and learn to read, interpret, and write about historical (primary) and academic (secondary) sources. Classes are lecture-based, but often include discussion. 100-level courses prepare students for more advanced classes at the 200-level and beyond.

History W1s introduce students to college-level writing through the study of history as a discipline. Students develop the analytical skills necessary to read both primary and secondary sources critically and write about them clearly. These seminars are reading and writing intensive, with scaffolded writing assignments, and rely on class discussion. Like our introductory 100-level courses, history W1s prepare students for more advanced classes at the 200-level and beyond.

The department’s intermediate courses are found at the 200-level. These courses offer a topical or thematic approach to the study of the past in a particular region and time period. Students learn about significant historiographical debates and historical knowledge production. There is more focus on honing critical reading and writing skills. These are predominantly lecture-style courses, but include significant discussion sessions as well as more complex and elaborate writing assignments. Intermediate courses prepare students for the practice of history at the 300-level and beyond.

Prerequisite for history majors: HI276 Patterns & Processes in World History
Seminars at the 300-level introduce students to the practice of doing history—in the form of more independent research and scholarship—and learning about the discipline’s methodology, history, and theories by focusing on a specific topic or theme. These courses are reading and writing intensive and include a significant research component. Seminars are discussion based and in addition to reading and writing hone students’ presentation skills. The 300-level seminar is an essential preparation for writing advanced research papers in 400 level seminars.

Prerequisite for history majors: HI376 Doing History
The advanced seminar is the capstone to the major. It draws on and refines all skills learned in lower-level history courses. The advanced seminar is reading and discussion intensive with the goal of developing, honing, and deepening students’ understanding of research and writing methodologies. Students are charged with developing their own research question and engaging with primary and secondary sources to write a seminar paper of substantial length. At this stage, students should also be comfortable articulating (and challenging) original ideas based on their research and readings and those of others in the seminar.