Honors Program in History

• You must be a declared History major.
• You must complete HIST 281 and HIST 282 and received grades no lower than a B in both courses.
• You must have completed at least 12 credits in History major courses at the 200/300 level. Of those 12 credits, at least 9 must have been taken at RIC.
• You must have a minimum GPA of 3.25 in the History major and an overall GPA of at least 3.0 or consent of the Honors Committee.
• You must consult with a faculty member whom you wish to act as your supervisor for the honors project and present a topic proposal at time of application.

All prospective honors candidates should email Professor Gregory Golden at ggolden@ric.edu for further details and to apply.

• first semester: HIST 491 (Directed Study), 4 credit units
• second semester: HIST 492 (Directed Study), 4 credit units

HIST 491 and 492 must be taken in successive semesters and you must maintain a 3.50 GPA in both, and in your history major overall. Before you start HIST 491 you will have selected a topic agreed upon with your Honors Advisor. It can be from any period, deal with any geographical area and focus on any sub-field, such as politics, ethnicity, gender, foreign policy, religion, labor, class, or any one of many other possibilities.

HIST 491 is for directed reading and research; HIST 492 is primarily for the completion of a History Honors Thesis and submission of it to an Examining Committee established for that purpose.

During HIST 491 you will meet with your Honors Advisor in a series of regularly scheduled tutorial conferences. They are designed to instruct you in areas such as historiography, the discovery and analysis of source materials, and the advanced mechanics of independent research. Depending on your topic, you may wish to consult with other members of the Department of History.

Toward the end of this semester, you will submit a written assignment (at least a complete chapter outline or precis of your topic). Your grade for HIST 491 will be based upon your Honors Advisor's assessment of your cumulative oral and written performance. Students who fail to achieve at least a B in HIST 491 will be dropped from the program, but will be awarded 4 credits as long as the grade is passing.

Should you fail to complete HIST 491 or elect to drop out of the Honors Program after completion of HIST 491, you will be required to take HIST 389 to complete the major's graduation requirement.

HIST 492 is the final phase Honors. During this semester you will complete the research and writing of your Honors Thesis. The length of the text should range between 40 and 70 double-spaced pages, not including the bibliography and other apparatus. You will meet frequently with your Honors Advisor for supervision of the writing of the thesis.

When you and your Honors Advisor have agreed upon an acceptable version, you will submit 3 copies to them. Thereupon, the Chair of the Honors Committee will appoint an Examining Committee composed of your Honors Advisor, at least two other members of the Department of History, and if appropriate, an outside reader. If the Examining Committee gives your Honors Thesis defense a passing mark, you then may be asked to make revisions. Once these have been made, you will send the newly-revised version to your Honors Advisor. All candidates completing the Honors Program in History satisfactorily shall be granted "Honors in History," and have this information inscribed on their permanent college record. Students successfully achieving Honors in History are exempted from the HIST 389 graduation requirement.

Please Note: Honors candidates taking HIST 492, but who fail to complete the Honors Thesis or its oral defense, shall be granted 4 credits in history at the discretion of the Honors Thesis advisor. If you have produced sufficient written work that can become a research paper identical to the requirements for HIST 389, you shall proceed to write up your work and receive a grade in HIST 492 for it, but cannot receive honors. If, when taking HIST 492, you generate either no or insufficient written work you will be required to take HIST 389 in order to graduate with a history degree.