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Completing the Program
The Supervisory Committee
The supervisory committee consists of three full-time, regular members of the UMKC History department who are also members of the graduate faculty, with the student’s faculty adviser serving as chair of this committee.
- For Non-Thesis students, the supervisory committee will ordinarily serve as the final examining committee. In consultation with the supervisory committee, the student should select fields for examination.
- For Thesis students, the supervisory committee will serve as the readers for the thesis.
With the approval of the faculty adviser:
- One member of the committee may be a full-time, regular member of another UMKC department so long as that person is also a member of the graduate faculty.
- A fourth member may be added to the committee from the adjunct graduate faculty or from the graduate faculty of another institution.
Final Masters Examination for Non-Thesis Students
Candidates for the M.A. degree without thesis will be examined in any three fields. (See List of Fields offered by regular graduate faculty.) In each, the student must demonstrate mastery of the historical knowledge:
- Including chronology, bibliography, major themes and interpretations.
- Implying that the student’s knowledge significantly exceeds his or her class work.
- Reflecting an in-depth knowledge of that field of historical scholarship.
In all of the fields, students must also demonstrate mastery of the skills of historical scholarship. This means:
- In writing and orally, to summarize a body of literature and take a critical position in that historigraphic debate.
- To use particular historical facts to draw interpretive conclusions.
- To use historical interpretations to engage in critical debates about how history should be written.
In terms of procedure, students will typically:
- Propose a list of no fewer than 15 landmark monographs and essays to each committee member that reflect the trends and debates in the field for which they are responsible.
- Meet with the individual member of the faculty to discuss these texts (possibly as part of Non-Thesis Reading/Research 5597).
When the student has demonstrated his/her preparedness to each individual member of the committee, the faculty committee will
- Meet to develop an integrated set of questions for that particular student’s exam.
- Meet with the student in advance of the examination to explain what is expected.
Written exams will be held on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the 4th week before "finals week". The student will typically be given:
- One exam per field.
- One exam per day.
- Three hours for each exam.
- A choice of questions for each exam.
At least one week later, but before classes are finished, the student will be examined orally for no more than two hours in which the exam is discussed by faculty and students and follow-up questions are posed. Students are encouraged to reflect on their own written examinations. Each examiner will evaluate the examination according to the following scale: Superior, Good, Fair, and Inferior (Fail). A grade of Fair or better in all three fields is required for the award of the master's degree.
Suggested Fields of History
- American Studies
- Ancient History
- Arab-Israeli Conflict
- Colonial Latin American History
- Communities and Identities
- Contemporary European History
- Contemporary United States History
- Cultural History
- Early Modern European History
- Early Modern World History
- Early United States History
- Environmental History
- European Social History
- Intellectual History
- Islamic History
- Gender History
- Globalization
- History of Everyday Life
- History of International Relations
- History of Material Culture
- History of Medicine
- History of Religions
- History of Science
- History of Sexuality
- History of Technology
- History of the Body
- History of the Family
- Japanese History
- Medieval England History
- Medieval European History
- Medieval Italy History
- Medieval Jewish History
- Medieval World History
- Middle East History
- Modern British History
- Modern European History
- Modern German History
- Modern Latin American History
- Modern United States History
- Modern World History
- 19th Century United States History
- Nordic History
- Ottoman History
- Pre-Colonial Latin America History
- Regional History
- Renaissance History
- South Asian History
- Southern United States History
- 20th Century United States History
- Western United States History
- Women’s History
- United States Constitutional History
- United States Diplomatic History
- United States Social History
Master's Thesis (for the Thesis Option)
Candidates for the M.A. degree with thesis will be required to write an original piece of historical scholarship based on their own research in primary sources and to make a contribution to the existing literature on the subject.
By the 15th of October or 15th of March (before the completion of their 30th credit hour) the students must submit a research proposal for the thesis, approved by the faculty adviser, to the M.A. adviser for filing. Students should:
- Meet regularly with the faculty adviser during research and writing.
- Solicit the advice of the other members of the committee before submitting a final draft to the entire committee.
The completed thesis will:
- Summarize the literature/s relating to this area of research and take a critical position in it/them, engaging questions about chronology, bibliography, major themes and interpretations.
- Explain and justify its theory and methodology.
- Tell a story about the past eloquently on the basis of primary sources.
- Comply with academic standards of honest and disciplinary standards of evidence.
- Comply with all formal and administrative, University-wide guidelines for thesis submission. (Students are highly encouraged to attend a workshop offered by the School of Graduate Studies on proper thesis format held typically during the third week of each semester. See Appendix for links to formatting guide.)
The final draft of the thesis is due no later than two semesters after the completion of coursework. Written requests for extensions to this deadline, approved by the faculty adviser, should be submitted to the M.A. adviser in advance of this deadline.
Students must abide by the Completion Timeline for Theses and Dissertations prescribed by the School of Graduate Studies (see Appendix for links.)
Defense of Master's Thesis
Candidates for an M.A. degree with thesis will be required to defend their thesis in an oral examination, advertised and open to the public, in which the student will
- Make a 20 minute conference-style presentation of his/her research.
- Respond to questions from the audience and the committee about events, interpretation, theory, method and historiography.
Each examiner will evaluate the thesis according to the following scale: Superior, Good, Acceptable, Acceptable with Revisions, and Unacceptable (Fail). A grade of Acceptable or better by all members of the committee is required for the award of the master's degree.
Honary Organizations
The department sponsors a chapter of the national history honorary, Phi Alpha Theta. Admission into the honorary requires a 3.2 grade-point average in a minimum of 12 credits of graduate work. The honorary sponsors programs and lectures during the school year, and members are often invited to read papers at the regional conventions. Membership in Phi Alpha Theta is noted on each honoree's official transcript.
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