Graduate
Program: Informational Files
Language
Requirement
Filing
for Candidacy
Preparation
of the Thesis
Plan
B Examination in United States History
Language Requirement
All candidates for the M.A.
degree in history must demonstrate competency in one foreign
language. Exceptions are granted for students enrolled in
the Concentration in History Education program, for whom no
foreign language is required. Students whose primary field
is U.S. history must take an additional two graduate classes in
lieu of the language requirement, if they cannot, or do not
wish to, meet the language requirement.
The language competency requirement
may be met in four ways:
1. Through an examination by a
history faculty member with expertise in your language. The
exam will be a translation of about
500 words to be completed in two hours with a dictionary allowed.
2. By taking two full years of a foreign language at a university
or junior college. An average grade
of "C" must have been attained, and the course work
completed within five years of admission
to the university.
3 If your primary concentration is Ancient and Medieval,
you may also fulfill this requirement by taking
one year of Greek and one year of Latin.
4. By taking and passing the Educational Testing Service Graduate
Foreign Language Exam.
For further details please obtain
the handout "Regulations Governing the Fulfilling of
the Language or Regulations Governing
the Fulfilling of the Language (or Research) Requirement
in the History M.A. Program"
from the History Office.
back
to top
Guidelines for
Filing for Candidacy
What is Filing for Candidacy
Students filing for candidacy must list all the courses they
have taken or will take, so that Graduate Studies can make
sure your program of study meets all their requirements as
you approach graduation. It is also a juncture at which the
Graduate Advisor can check to make sure that you have met,
or will meet, all of the History Department's requirements
for the degree.
When to File for Candidacy
YOU MUST FILE FOR CANDIDACY
AT LEAST ONE SEMESTER BEFORE YOU HOPE TO GRADUATE. (If you
are a conditionally classified student, you must file the
petition with Graduate Studies to obtain classified status
before you can file for candidacy.) While it is permissible
to file for candidacy as a classified student when you have
only nine units, this is probably not a good idea, as you
will probably not know the exact courses you will take for
the remainder of your program. If you guess or assume wrongly,
you will then have to take another step and amend your original
candidacy application (See below).
Deadlines
There is a strict deadline each semester
for filing for candidacy. These deadlines change a little
each year. To obtain them go to: http://www.sjsu.edu/gradstudies/Current/Grad_File_Dates.html.
Procedures
Obtain a copy of the "Departmental
Request for Candidacy" form from http://www.sjsu.edu/gradstudies/forms/candidacy.pdf.
To obtain a record of the courses you
have taken, go to http://www.sjsu.edu/records/
and click on “Academic Transcripts.”
Type out the form carefully, or fill
out the form online at the above website, and when you have
completed the form print it. List courses taken in chronological
order by semester. DO NOT LIST MORE THAN 30 UNITS.
DO NOT LIST ANY PREREQUISITE CONDITIONAL COURSES THAT YOU
MAY HAVE BEEN REQUIRED TO TAKE TO OBTAIN CLASSIFIED STATUS,
ANY COURSES TAKEN IN LIEU OF THE LANGUAGE EXAM, OR ANY EXTRA
COURSES THAT YOU MAY HAVE TAKEN BEYOND THE 30 UNITS FOR THE
M.A. DEGREE. Be sure to list courses you are taking
in the present semester, and ones that you expect to take
in forthcoming semesters, so that the graduate advisor and
Graduate Studies can see that you indeed have a complete program
to graduate.
If for some reason you do not take one or more courses that
you have listed on your degree program form, you must subsequently
fill out the form "Request for Course Substitution in
Master's Degree Program." This form can be obtained at:
http://www.sjsu.edu/gradstudies/forms/coursesubs.pdf.
GRADUATE STUDIES WILL NOT AWARD YOUR DEGREE IF THERE
IS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN THE COURSES YOU LISTED ON YOUR ORIGINAL
CANDIDACY FORM AND THE ONES YOU IN FACT ENDED UP TAKING.
On the above form, you will list the courses you took in place
of the ones you listed on your original candidacy application
form.
All 200 level courses meet
the "Competency in Written English Requirement."
Having filled out the form, come and
see the Graduate Advisor. He/she will review the form to make
sure that you have met, or will meet, all the requirements.
He/she will then sign it.
With the form completed and signed,
take it or send it to the Graduate Studies Office:
Graduate Studies and Research
SSC 430
San Jose State University
San Jose, CA 95192-0025
They will review the form and let
you know by mail if you have met, or will meet, the requirements
for candidacy.
Applying
for Award of the Master's Degree
Enrollment in a
Master's program at SJSU does not mean that you will automatically
be awarded a degree. You will need to
initiate the process by completing the Application for Award
of Master's Degree Form. (Available at the Graduate Studies
Website). Please refer to the filing
deadlines prior to submittal. The deadline for submission of
this document usually comes right at
the beginning of the semester you plan to graduate, so try and
file the form the semester before you
expect to graduate. (See the Graduate Studies website for deadlines).
Presently, there is no fee with this applicaton if you are a
current student, but a $10 one if you
are not -a reactivation fee. This form need only be signed by
you. You must have candidacy approval
from the Graduate Studies Office before this application will
be accepted.
back
to top
Guidelines
for Preparing the Thesis
The thesis must be signed off by the first reader before being
passed on to the second and third readers for signature. A thesis
committee has the option of terminating the thesis option if,
in the opinion of the three readers, the candidate has shown
him- or herself incapable or unwilling to write an acceptable
thesis in a reasonable amount of time. After all three readers
have signed the thesis, the candidate must defend the thesis
orally before it is submitted to the University for final approval.
Students are strongly advised to find and download the “General
Instructions for Master’s Theses” at the Graduate
Studies and Research website before they begin writing their
thesis. Go to http://www.sjsu.edu/gradstudies/Current/Forms.html
and then click on “Thesis Guide.”
As is implied above, it is not the job of the Thesis Committee
to correct standard matters of historical citation. These can
be found in Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term
Papers, Theses, and Dissertations or the Chicago
Manual of Style. Nor is it the job of the Thesis Committee
to do extensive copyediting. If you cannot do this yourself,
you should hire a professional copyeditor and/or proofreader.
If the writing is of a poor standard, the Thesis Committee may
reject the thesis outright or advise the student to switch to
a comprehensive examination, if it is offered. HUMAN
SUBJECT'S REVIEW AND EXEMPTION FOR ORAL HISTORIES
• Any student contemplating using
oral history as a source for their thesis should be aware
that they must complete a "Request for Exemption from
Human Subjects Review" form. At present federal regulations
governing research force the university to review any research
project that entails the use of "human subjects."
Failure to complete this form will result in rejection of
the thesis. The forms can be obtained from Graduate Studies;
go to http://www.sjsu.edu/gradstudies/Current/Forms.html
and see “IRB Forms.” Students that have completed
this form have not found the task too arduous. The Graduate
Adviser has a sample copy of a successful request for an exemption.
• In addition to the above, all
students conducting oral history interviews should get a release
or "informed consent" form signed by the person
they are interviewing for the protection of the student and
to meet university (federal) regulations. The graduate adviser
has a sample copy of such a form. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU
FILL OUT THE HUMAN SUBJECTS REVIEW EXEMPTION FORM AT THE BEGINNING
OF YOUR RESEARCH AND THAT YOU OBTAIN A SIGNED "INFORMED
CONSENT" FORM BEFORE YOU INTERVIEW SOMEONE.
GRADUATE STUDIES THESIS SUBMISSION
REQUIREMENTS
• The Office of Graduate Studies
and Research will be requiring submission of theses in electronic
form as well as in hard copy form in order to improve the efficiency
of processing. Thus, an electronic copy will be required
along with a hard copy. The electronic
version can be submitted in the following formats: (1) Floppy
disk, (2) CD, or (3) Zip-100 disk. The following word processing
documents will be accepted: (1) Microsoft Word for PCs, (2)
Microsoft Word for Apple, or (3) Word Perfect.
back
to top
Requirements
for the Plan B Examination in United States History
Coursework requirements:
Students must take all three courses in the U.S. History 210
sequence, although the courses need not be taken in chronological
order: 210a (Colonial America), 210b (Nineteenth-Century America),
and 210c (Twentieth-Century America). Description
of the Plan B Examination:
Candidates taking the Plan B examination, which includes all
students in the Concentration in History Education program,
will be examined on books and articles either in U.S. History
through the Civil War (part I) or in U.S. History from 1865
onward (part II). The exam will be given toward the end of
the spring and fall semesters only and not during the
summer. The exam will be a 4-hour, closed book exam with 3
questions. Students wishing to take the Plan B exam
should contact the Graduate Adviser no later than the fourth
week of the semester in which they plan to take it.
On the examination candidates are expected
to demonstrate mastery of two areas: a basic factual knowledge
of the period of American history in which they are being
examined, and a grasp of the major historiographical debates
in those periods. A candidate writing an essay about the New
Deal and its impact on America in the 1930s, for example,
would cover in depth and detail key pieces of New Deal legislation
(the date, basic provisions, and deficiencies of the Social
Security Act, for example) and would also name the historians
and the arguments associated with particular interpretations
of the New Deal. Factual information is readily available
in the reading list for the Plan B exam, and students will
also have been exposed to historiography (its definition and
practices) in the U.S. History 210 series, as well as in History
102 and History 200. For an example of a book of historiographical
essays see Eric Foner ed., The New American History
(Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1997). A basic
American history textbook that also contains historiographical
summaries is Alan Brinkley, American History: A Survey
(new editions come out every two or three years). More on
the historiographical essay, and specifically how to write
one, appears in Anthony Brundage, Going to the Sources
(Arlington Heights, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1989), ch. 4.
Readings for the PLAN B Examination:
There are two required reading lists for the Plan B examination,
one for part I and one for part II. Each has approximately
75-80 works on it. All of the works appearing on these lists
are required for the Plan B examination. In other words, if
you are taking part I of the U.S. History examination, you
will be expected to be familiar with all of the books on the
part I list. If you are taking part II of the U.S. History
examination, you will be expected to be familiar with all
of the books on the part II list. Please note that the Plan
B list in U.S. History was revised in fall 2001. It is applicable
to candidates entering the program in fall 2001. The older
list was revised in February 1995 and there are copies in
blue in the history office; it applies to students who entered
before fall 2001.
THE READING LIST MAY BE OBTAINED
FROM THE HISTORY OFFICE (408) 924-5500
Relationship of the required reading
lists to the 210 course series:
In the U.S. History 210 series, 70% of the books used by the
faculty will be drawn from the Plan B exam list. This means
that many, but not all, works will be covered in the 210 sequence.
The main reading selection for each week in the 210
series will be roughly 150-200 pages long. Students
should familiarize themselves with the skill of reading a
historical work rapidly yet carefully for the author’s
thesis, main arguments, historiographical position, evidence,
and methodology.
Although the Department of History
sees the U.S. History 210 sequence as part of the preparation
process for the Plan B exam, students should be aware that
it is not the only preparation that they are required to make
for success on the exam; they must study on their own as well.
Not all topics, or readings on a particular topic, will be
covered in the 210 series. The faculty teaching the 210 sequence
reserves the right to introduce and require important books
or articles that do not appear on the examination reading
lists as a part of their teaching. Graduate students taking
the Plan B exam are expected to read required books not “taught”
in class, in the same way that students writing a thesis do
much work on their own outside the context of a formal class.
For colloquia not taught in the 210 series, the “70%”
rule does not apply (in other words, instructors for those
courses may assign any works of their choosing).
Central to the teaching goals of
the U.S. History 210 series is imparting to graduate students
the methods and skills of professional historians. This includes
learning to assimilate both factual information about a historical
time period, and also learning to understand and critique historiographical
arguments in the assigned readings. At the instructor’s
discretion, various methods will be used to ensure students’
grasp of the readings and historical facts; these methods may
include mini-lectures by the instructor, quizzes on an assigned
textbook, and the like.
Historical journals in full electronic text
A wide range of history journals and their contents in full
text may be obtained in electronic form on and off campus. To
search for a history journal that the King library has in electronic
form, go to the following URL:
http://www.sjlibrary.org/research/ejournals/index.htm
General
Information on PLAN B Exams: Procedures, Expectations, and Format
Grading
Rubric for PLAN B Exams
back
to top
|
