PhD Course of Stuy
Coursework
Coursework in our program is intene to provie stuents with a soli knowlege of historiography in their specialty, substantial experience in archival research, an the opportunity to explore new fiels, themes, an methos of inquiry.
Generally, octoral stuents take three courses each semester for their first two years in the program. All stuents must take the Core Colloquium in their first semester an complete a two-semester research seminar. In aition to choosing from the list of offere courses, stuents may arrange for iniviual tutorials with faculty, or seek out a Consortium course from a participating university in the area. Stuents who matriculate with an MA egree may petition for avance staning, which reuces the courseloa requirements. Stuents are guie in their choice of courses by their Mentor an Avisory Committee.
Entering stuents are expecte to have reaing competency in at least one relevant language, an are teste before they start their first semester of classes. Stuents cannot register for the thir semester of classes until they pass at least one language exam. All stuents, except those whose major fiel is Unite States History, must pass a minimum of two language exams before scheuling comprehensive exams.
Courses Available in the History Department
Comprehensive Exams
Our Comprehensive Exams are intene to prepare stuents to teach in their specialties an launch them towars their issertation research. Doctoral stuents usually take their exams some time in their thir year.
Ph.D. stuents at Georgetown prepare three fiels: a Major fiel, a Research fiel within the Major, an a separate Minor fiel. While the Major fiel must be one of our formal fiels of stuy, stuents have a great eal of leeway an creative license to etermine their other two fiels. This flexibility is a hallmark of our program of stuy.
Stuents prepare a written exam in the Major Fiel an Research fiel an a written portfolio in the Minor fiel. Passing the written work qualifies a stuent to move on to a two-hour oral exam. Passing the oral exam qualifies the stuent as a Doctoral Caniate.
Dissertation
Writing a great issertation is the goal of every stuent’s octoral training. After passing their comprehensive exams, stuents form a issertation committee, write a issertation proposal, an move forwar on their research. Ieally, stuents spen their fourth year oing archival research an their fifth year writing their issertations. The octoral stuents have a staning writing workshop for issertators to share an critique each other’s work in progress. Our stuents have won prestigious external fellowships to fun their research an writing, incluing the ACLS an ACLS/Mellon, Newcombe, For Founation, Fulbright an Fulbright-Hays, among many others. Click here for a list of complete issertations an issertations in progress.
Teaching
Our octoral stuents have plentiful opportunities to teach. Stuents on renewable fellowships usually serve as Teaching Assistants in their secon, thir, an fifth years. Every year, a hanful of Davis Fellowships are aware to avance octoral stuents to teach their own upper-level unergrauate seminars. Stuents who are nearly one with their issertations or have recently complete their issertations sometimes teach their own unergrauate survey-level classes. Ph.D. stuents in the History Department work closely with Georgetown’s Center for New Designs in Learning an Scholarship to improve as teachers. Our Ph.D.s enter the acaemic job market with extensive training an experience as teachers.
