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History

Degree Requirements

The M.A. program at Fresno State offers a traditional track and a teaching option. The traditional track is best suited to students who plan to continue their post-baccalaureate studies, teach at the baccalaureate level, or pursue any of the many other careers open to them outside of teaching. This track offers students two different Culminating Experience choices - thesis or comprehensive examination - designed to help them demonstrate the mastery of the historical content, analytical skills, and advanced writing proficiency appropriate to the holder of a higher degree in the discipline.

Students in the Teaching Option receive instruction in the same coursework required for the traditional M.A. in History. However, this concentration also provides students with the opportunity to achieve a mastery of the application of content knowledge in the classroom setting, engaging issues such as the use and manipulation of historical artifacts and other primary source materials, methodologies useful in the presentation of important historical questions and debates, and the expert use of appropriate classroom technologies for the teaching of history specifically. This option is best suited, therefore, to current or prospective K-12 teachers. Please note: our Teaching Option is NOT a credentialing program. To meet official requirements for the Social Sciences Single Subject Credential, you must complete the program as described in the Credential page.

The 30-unit History M. A. program seeks to provide both breadth and depth of knowledge. To this end, the first 15 units are geared to the investigation of broad methodological and content questions, while the last 15 units concentrate on a narrower area of research and interpretation. The basic requirements are as follows:

 

Traditional Track

Traditional Track Requirements

Note: If a student was admitted to the program prior to 2005-2006, program requirements differ. Please contact the graduate coordinator for more information.
Course Requirements

A. Core. (15 units)

HIST 200A: Graduate Writing & Historiography (3)

HIST 200B: Graduate research & Historiography(3)

HIST 210T: Topics in American History (3)

HIST 220T: Topics in European History (3)

HIST 230T: Topics in World History (3)


Note: HIST 200A/B must be taken within the first year of enrollment in the history program.
B. Electives (6 units)

Six (6) additional units of HIST 210T, 220T, or 230T. (May repeat course numbers but not topics.)

C. HIST 297: History Practicum (3 units)

D. Culminating Experience (6 units)
I. Thesis option:

HIST 299A: Thesis

HIST 299B: Thesis

II. Comprehensive Examination option:

Please see the exam guidelines for more information.

III.  MA Project

Please see the MA Project guide for more information.


Additional Requirements:

Graduate Writing Requirement. In order to command scholarly and professional credibility, graduate students in History must demonstrate writing skills commensurate with society's expectations of persons who hold advanced degrees and develop the ability to write in formats and styles appropriate to our discipline. In accordance with the requirements of the State of California, students must demonstrate competence in written English before they apply for advancement to candidacy. For pedagogical reasons, they should demonstrate such competence as early in their programs as possible.


The Graduate Writing Requirement is met by the submission of a correctly formatted fifteen- to twenty-page paper meeting the requirements set in the Graduate Studies Handbook. The paper to be submitted may be produced in any course, graduate or undergraduate, provided it meets the requirements above. For further information, please contact the Graduate Coordinator.

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Teaching Option

Teaching Option Requirements

A. Core. (15 units)

HIST 200A: Graduate Writing & Historiography (3)

HIST 200B: Graduate research & Historiography(3)

HIST 210T: Topics in American History (3)

HIST 220T: Topics in European History (3)

HIST 230T: Topics in World History (3)

Note: HIST 200A/B must be taken within the first year of enrollment in the history program.

B. Electives (6 units)

Six (6) additional units of HIST 210T, 220T, or 230T. (May repeat course numbers but not topics.)

C. Practicum. (6 units)

HIST 296: Topics in History for Teachers

HIST 297: History Practicum

Prerequisites: HIST 296 and Advancement to Candidacy

D. Culminating Experience. (3 units)

HIST 298: Project

Prerequisites: HIST 297

Additional Requirements:

Graduate Writing Requirement: All students in the Teaching Option must also fulfill the Graduate Writing Requirement as explained above.