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Overview Students may complete the Masters of Arts degree in History with a written thesis or a media/technology digital history project. Before filing the thesis or final project, students should review and carefully follow the guidelines specified on the CSUSM graduate studies site. In addition to completing the core requirements, all students must proceed through the following steps in order to complete their degrees. 1. Students should compose a thesis or project committee composed of three faculty members. The chair of the committee and, at least, one other member must come from the faculty in the Department of History. Other members may be selected from faculty at CSUSM outside of the history department. 2. Students must apply for "Advancement to Candidacy" after completing eighteen (18) units. (The Advancement to Candidacy form is required to be submitted and available on the graduate studies site by clicking here.) Requests for "Advancement to Candidacy" require
3. Complete, submit, and defend either an original thesis or digital history project. The defense of the thesis or project will consist of a twenty minute presentation of the research and findings followed by a question and answer session with committee members. Each semester the CSUSM Office of Graduate Studies sets deadlines for submission of final materials. Students must work closely with committee members to set up dates for submission of the thesis or project and the defense well before the deadlines given the possibility that revisions may be required. If a student does not successfully meet these deadlines, they will have to reenroll the following semester. A student must complete their degree within five years from admission to the program. Final Theses or Digital History Projects must follow the guidelines below: Thesis Standards: A thesis is comprised of a primary source-based written research paper that makes an original and substantial contribution to historical scholarship. The thesis will also demonstrate an appropriate grasp of the secondary materials related to the topic under investigation. The thesis should not run longer than one hundred (100) pages and no shorter than (80) eighty pages. All sources should be appropriately cited and all work must be original. All theses must adhere to the guidelines posted on the masters thesis information site. Multimedia/Digital History Projects: Alternatively, students may submit a media/technology digital history project that applies new media and/or technology techniques to the delivery of a primary source-based research project. In this instance, students will prepare a new media/technology presentation (i.e., a substantial website project, a video or film project, a digitized database, an archival project, etc.) that will be accompanied by a written analysis that discusses the media project and demonstrates how the project both exhibits the appropriate grasp of related secondary materials as well as makes an original, primary source-based contribution. The length of the accompanying written paper will vary according to the project but should be no less than thirty (30) pages and no more than sixty (60) pages long. This will be determined by the faculty sitting on the candidate's committee. All projects must follow the guidelines posted on the masters project information site.
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History MA Catalog Description History MA Application and Instructions
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